Braxton’s Fall Festival: Day 13 – Character Overview (The Supporting Cast)

Braxton’s Fall Festival – What’s Happening Today?

Welcome to Braxton’s Fall Festival. Today we’re celebrating the launch of Haunted House Ghost with a thirty-one (31) day virtual festival, where we share the scoop on all the exciting book promotions coming up this month. Who’s ready for…

The Braxton Campus Mysteries wouldn’t exist without the clever, witty, sarcastic, hilarious, and tough characters who make the series shine. When you spend the day at a Fall Festival, you’re often with your family and friends, people-watching and interacting with tons of new acquaintances. As part of Braxton’s Fall Festival, we’re going to introduce you to the characters in the books over several different posts. Today… we share the supporting cast of the series, including all the folks around Wharton County and Braxton Campus. One key thing to keep in mind is the structure of the setting. Wharton County is in north-central Pennsylvania. There are four (4) towns, one of which is Braxton. Braxton is also the name of the college, which is becoming a university. I’ve separated the supporting cast into key individuals and larger families.

Supporting Characters Around Town

Key Individuals

April Montague: The Sheriff of Wharton County. She moved from Buffalo, New York (90 miles away) to Pennsylvania a few years ago and is doing her best to keep Wharton County safe. Murder was a rarity until Kellan Ayrwick moved back home after a decade’s absence. At first, she wanted to kill him. Then, she tried to put him in prison. With each book, she lets down her guard. By Haunted House Ghost, things are getting a bit more personal.

Connor Hawkins: Kellan’s best friend from childhood and college. His family is from the Caribbean and South Africa, but he’s lived in Wharton County most of his life. He worked at Braxton College until a role opened at the Sheriff’s Office. He’s always had a crush on Maggie, Kellan’s ex-girlfriend. Now, he’s determined to catch her attention… but he’s too busy protecting his best friend from getting killed while investigating murders.

Alexander Betscha: A distant cousin of Nana D’s. He’s the main doctor in town, but he rarely appears in the books. He’s always referenced as part of an investigation, and occasionally he’ll provide a few lines of input. We will meet him soon, but for now, he’s a bit of a mystery.

Flatman: A young officer at the Sheriff’s Office with hopes of making detective one day. Unfortunately, Kellan keeps stepping on his toes. They have an adversarial relationship, and Flatman frequently rats Kellan out to his grandmother for things like speeding tickets and other minor crimes. Known for his rather flat face… Kellan avoids him at all costs.

Lara Bouvier: A news reporter and former model. She’s brilliant, gorgeous, and one of the nicest women around town. She and Kellan have been growing closer throughout the books, and she often lends a hand when he needs research. It also helps that she was once married to a man from the Grey family, so she has contacts at the highest levels.

Finnigan Masters: An attorney most of the county’s citizens know and work with. Kellan went to school with Finnigan’s brother, a famous hockey player. Finnigan and Lara have been dating, but it’s never set it stone. Luckily, Finnigan’s pretty easy on the eyes, so if needed, he’ll scoop up another beautiful woman rather quickly.

Ursula Power: Braxton College’s newest President. She’s an ethereal Scandinavian beauty who has a troubled past, as readers find out in Flower Power Trip. She’s married to a woman who is the complete opposite of her, Myriam Castle. Ursula’s name came from a popular Disney story, as she’ll tell you herself one day in the book. Don’t underestimate how savvy and brilliant she is at running the campus.

Myriam Castle: Kellan’s mortal enemy and boss. She’s acerbic, odd, and ruthless. Myriam quotes Shakespeare lines all day long, and she’s often looking to oust Kellan from the college, claiming he only got the job because his father had been President at the time. Even when she’s berating Kellan for something he’s done in the classroom, she’s also demanding that he use his amateur sleuthing skills to get her wife off the sheriff’s list for murder.

Fern Terry: Dean of Student Affairs at the college. She was a dean when Kellan had attended Braxton and been the president of his fraternity. They’ve figured out how to co-exist together as colleagues, but she’s often been on his suspect list for murder. Some days, she’s his friend. Fern is puzzle to him, and he’s usually good at figuring out such complexities.

Maggie Roarke: Kellan’s college girlfriend. The night before graduation, they broke up. He was going to LA, she was heading to Boston. Although they loved one another, they moved on with separate lives. Kellan married Francesca. Maggie married a man who died very young. She returned to Braxton the previous year as the Head Librarian. Now, she’s dating Connor.

Families of Importance

The Greys: A powerful clan headed by Judge Hiram Grey. He has lots of children and grandchildren, and various members of his family have appeared throughout the books. They live on Millionaire’s Mile, the wealthy section of town between the two campuses. Kellan has had to fend off advances from a few of them in the past, which made for several laughs.

The Paddingtons: A well-respected but mean-spirited family who are often clashing with one another. Millard and Eustacia are the two oldest, and they look after various nieces and nephews. The Tafts are closely aligned with this family since they married into it years ago. They feature prominently in Broken Heart Attack, but Eustacia is Nana D’s frenemy who appears quite often. She’s usually in a bright pink tracksuit.

The Nutberrys: A core family in town who run the funeral homes and pharmacies. We’ve met several members, and they mostly appear in Flower Power Trip and Mistaken Identity Crisis. Kellan’s Aunt Deirdre is close with them, as they went to college together years ago. Some have spent a few years abroad, but they always seems to come back home.

The Roarkes: Maggie is one of many girls in the family headed by Ben and Lucy. Sister Helena is prominent in Flower Power Trip, and she is very forward with Kellan. The Roarkes own and operate a historic bed and breakfast, and they represent the regular citizens of the county. They are still hoping Kellan and Maggie get back together one day.

The Stantons: Wealthy supporters of the college, we’ve mostly interacted with Marcus’s branch of the family. Marcus was the Town Councilman representing Braxton. He and Nana D often have conflicts, and something happened in the past that neither will talk about. Will we ever discover the truth?

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Those are the key supporting players who live in Wharton County. It’s difficult to decide who to include and what to reveal, as sometimes, these folks are suspects and might be guilty of murder. I’ve purposely kept some vague and/or excluded anyone who shows up just for a small part. These are people you will see in at least two books, but just because they are here, it doesn’t mean they are innocent of any crimes. By the end of book five, there are over 100 characters, some who are minor and others who appear frequently. I always include a “Who’s Who” guide at the beginning of each book to help sort out names and roles throughout the story. I hope you enjoyed getting to know the rest of the Braxton Campus Mysteries characters.

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The section below here will repeat at the end of every successive post, so we don’t have to explain the Fall Festival in the beginning each day. We’ll dive right into the content but also allow newcomers to catch up. Previous posts include…

October 1st – Overview & Kickoff

October 2nd – Great Escapes Book Blog Tour

October 3rd – GIVEAWAY for FREE Kindle Copy of Haunted House Ghost

October 4th – Name Kellan’s House Poll

October 5th – Excerpt from Academic Curveball

October 6th – Guest Post: Interview with Noriko on Halloween & Autumn

October 7th – Get to know the Core Characters

October 8th – Bookmarks, Book Formats, Book Signing

October 9th – Guest Post: Interview with Tyler & Characters

October 10th – GIVEAWAY for FREE Signed Copy of Haunted House Ghost

October 11th – Excerpt from Broken Heart Attack

October 12th – Guest Post: Shalini Releases the Characters Who Torture Us

What is the Braxton Fall Festival?
For the entire month of October 2019, we are celebrating three events: (1) Autumn, (2) Halloween, (3) Haunted House Ghost, the fifth book released in the Braxton Campus Mysteries by author James J. Cudney. Each day, we will share a post to promote the new book with readers and fans. Throughout the 31 days, we will have guest posts, excerpts, giveaways, contests, videos, blog tours, and other surprises. You can currently purchase the book from Amazon as a Kindle or a physical copy. In the near future, it will be available in large print and as an audiobook. To learn more, sign up for the author’s quarterly newsletter or follow him on this site and any of his social media profiles from the About the Author page.