Fortesque Island
an excerpt

Dramatis Personae

Admiral Sir Cuthbert Fortesque. A retired naval officer and a grumpy, conservative old bastard. No longer one of the most senior military officers in Britain, he’s adapted to his retirement by finding himself a new niche as one of the most objectionably wealthy old men in Britain instead. For the last six years he’s lived with his lifelong wife, Lady Gwen, on a small island off the west coast of Scotland; the two of them and Cuthbert’s manservant Marcus share the vast, sprawling custom-built monstrosity known in polite circles as Fortesque Mansion.

Lady Gwen Fortesque. Long-suffering wife of Sir Cuthbert. Born into nobility in her own right, she married young – she was eighteen, he was thirty-eight – and she’s been regretting it pretty much ever since. Admittedly, there were compensations: while he was off gallivanting around the world at the height of his naval career, she lived a life of leisure and relative luxury, enjoying the independence that came with her husband’s considerable financial wealth. But now he’s retired and dragged her off to this godforsaken Scottish island, things have taken a turn decidedly for the worse and she dreams of making her escape.

Marcus Maxwell. The charismatic American manservant of Sir Cuthbert. Marcus has only been in the UK for about six years, having crossed the Atlantic from Texas to seek fame and fortune working in service, and working for the old man is his first job. He seems nice enough, and Sir Cuthbert certainly seems to get on well with him; the two spend a lot of time together. Neither Cuthbert’s wife Gwen nor his daughter Violet are overjoyed by Marcus’s constant presence, but frankly they have other things to worry about.

Violet Fortesque. Young, ambitious and implausibly pretty daughter of the Fortesques. The seventeen-year-old is bright, energetic, independent, well-travelled... everything Lady Gwen wishes she’d been at that age, and everything her father is grateful Lady Gwen never was. There is one fly in the ointment, though: not entirely unlike her mother thirty years ago, she’s fallen head-over-heels in love with a handsome young naval officer, Archibald Stumpe.

Lieutenant Archibald Stumpe. Born into poverty in a grim northern industrial town, young Master Stumpe always dreamed of two things: a career in the military and a glamorous, fabulously wealthy bride. When a chance meeting with Violet Fortesque followed hot on the heels of his acceptance into the navy, both those dreams suddenly moved a lot closer to reality. Archie may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he knows when he’s onto two good things, and seems pretty keen to hang onto them both.

Elinor Stumpe. Archie’s sister, both older and wiser, though the latter can hardly be considered a distinctive character trait. Opinion is sharply divided over Elinor: Archie frequently describes her as ‘wonderful’, while the assessments of others tend to throw up rather different words, including ‘manipulative’, ‘callous’, ‘suspicious’, and (most commonly of all) ‘deeply irritating little harlot’. Be that as it may, it’s unarguable that Elinor has certainly inherited the brains of the family, and for whatever reason, she and Archie seem inseparable.

Cardinal Gildas Sinne. A Roman Catholic cleric with close ties to the Fortesques. Lady Gwen and the Cardinal have been lifelong friends, and he has acted as spiritual mentor to both her and Violet at various times during their lives. In recent years, particularly since the Admiral’s retirement and the decamping of the Fortesque family to their island mansion, the increasingly isolated Lady Gwen has relied ever more heavily on her friendship with the Cardinal, something which her husband has begun to resent.

Count Wilhelm von Konstantinos. Utterly bizarre Transylvanian nobleman. Count Wilhelm is a classic Dracula-esque caricature, making an appearance more for entertainment value than to enhance plot coherence. Predictably enough, he wears a long black cape with a blood-red lining, and he spends most of his time alone in his terrifying mountaintop castle in Eastern Europe.

Nurse Gunnhild Egilsson. Did we say ‘alone’? Not quite. The Count’s companion in recent years has been a slightly odd Norwegian gypsy orphan, who seems not only genuinely to like the man, but willingly to indulge his strange fantasies. Apart from her clearly having the patience of a saint, few people know much about the mysterious Nurse – except possibly for Violet, who has corresponded with her regularly since they met on Violet’s recent holiday to the Baltic.

One 1930s dinner party. Eight guests. One grumpy, unpopular and fabulously wealthy old host. One small island, separated from civilisation by an hour-long boat ride. And predictably enough, storm clouds are gathering.

Can you guess what happens next?