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Captain Faustino Equi

"I'm being exiled?"

"Not exactly. You're being sent abroad to work with a special police force."

"Where?"

"You know the Tangier International Zone in Marocco?"

Dead in Tangier began when Hughes wanted a distraction during intense physiotherapy and workouts. Hit by a painful and unusual rheumatoid condition, unable to type, or read much, he dictated drafts using a microphone attached to a laptop during not entirely effortless workouts. Equi's cycling and angry, prickly, stubborn side is likely a residue of that process.

We first meet Equi on the terrace of the Continental Hotel overlooking Tangier's harbour, on the day he arrives in the summer of 1936. A thirty-six year-old Italian WWI veteran, a seasoned carabiniere, he has been sent to Tangier to serve on the International Zone of Tangier's multi-national police force. A reluctant aristocrat, in a pinch he looks to the family motto "Everything but honour" - or sketchy self-serving variations - to prop up his resolve.

Equi won't give up his aristocratic title, though he cringes when thers call him Cavaliere; he has been in Italy's national military police, the Royal Carabinieri, since he left the army after the Great War. He loathes Mussolini and fascism and stays in the force because sympathetic commanders keep him away from political crimes.

Equi went to war on the White Front against the Austro-Hungarian Empire when he was sixteen. His English mother raised him on the estate in Tuscany, but left Italy after the war and lives in France in '36.

He survived the war fiercely determined to be unlike his father, an abusive, pompous, cowardly aristocrat. Haunted by battlefield traumas, like many italian veterans Equi is outraged by the "mutilated peace," the scraps of victory tossed Italy by the other Allies. Returning to Tuscany after the war, he was not satisfied to take on the family estate now that his father was dead. That was when his uncle Umberto put him on to cycling and rigorous physical exercise as a partial remedy to the emotional wounds of war.

He married, but lost his wife to influenza.

An ex-army comrade convinced him to join the Carabinieri where he stood loyal to Cesare Mori, Prefect of Bologna, who fought fascist Blackshirt thuggery until Mussolini came to power. Mori invited Equi to stay in the Carabinieri to secretly "dance on the bosses' dicks" and to be a good cop as long as he could stand it.

Later, Mori brought Equi to Sicily when he led government forces during the Mafia War. Dismissed by Mussolini in 1929, Mori made certain that Equi was assigned to a like-minded commander and old friend in Tuscany, where he led a flying squad that tackled what his Colonel called "red meat" crime, avoiding political cases and the dreaded OVRA secret police.

By 1936, Equi could no longer fend off the bitterness over Mussolini's regime. Flouting the rules becomes irresistible. He overstepped in a case that led to crimes by important fascists. His commander brokered a deal that sent Equi to Tangier, a plum job or exile, depending on how you look at it.

Equi has become italy's contribution to the international police force, for one year. Once the mess he caused in Italy is tidied up and the offenders dealt with (secretly to protect the Fascist party's reputation), Equi can go home -- as long as he keeps his nose clean in Tangier.

A dedicated anti-fascist and policeman who believes in compassion, fairness and justice, Equi does not consider himself a racist or an imperialist; but at the same time, he isn't uncomfortable with Europeans running Tangier. He doesn't give much thought to what Moroccans might think. His views evolve, but he is in many ways a European of his time.

Giosetta Fratini

He glanced at her and decided, as good-looking as she was, he had to give up any thought of her earthy appeal if he was to help her for honorable reasons with honorable consequences.

Giosetta Fratini needs a job when her employer dies in suspicious circumstances. She is about Equi’s age and from Turin, but her background is a mystery. Equi hires her as a cook and housekeeper, because she is an Italian in a tough spot. They become friends, and their relationship evolves.

She makes a fusion of European and Moroccan food – including some of Equi’s favourite Italian dishes. She converts him to irresistible Moroccan beghrir – pancakes and other dishes that begin his appreciation for local food.

Sergeant Benhassi

Benhassi was a renowned lock-pick. Apparently, he had won some sort of timed competition for picking locks against an ex-burglar at Malabata prison. He seemed to be a versatile man after all.

Benhassi is the first Moroccan police officer Equi knows and he quickly regards him as an indispensible and trusted colleague.

Respectful as Equi is, he is slow to see any injustice in the European imposed International Zone and is naively taken in by the apparent harmony between Europeans and Moroccans in the Zone.

Inspector Paula

World-weary Paula is nicknamed “Sonja” for Sonja Henne the movie star whom he adores. A hulking Portuguese detective, he is ostentatiously well dressed and moonlights as a private detective. He proves useful to Equi, although besides his cologne there is a troubling whiff of corruption about Paula.

Chief Inspector Inman

As Inman drove, he constantly plucked at lapels, at shirt and jacket cuffs, fingered his loose tie, incessantly jittery, never taking his eyes off the road or at least never moving his head.  What variety of mania plagued the Chief Inspector?

Inman is a battered Scot (born in India), who served in Iraq before coming to Tangier with his daughter Shona. He is Equi’s immediate boss at the Surete or CID detective branch. Friction ignites between them from the start. Inman distrusts Equi because he’s been sent from fascist Italy and he suspects Equi is a troublemaker.

Commissioner Joubert

Equi doubts Police Commissioner Joubert is as shallow as he seems, because the Frenchman astutely navigates the murky politics of the International Zone. Ex-officer of the colonial Armee d’Afrique, Joubert is gentlemanly and tries to mentor Equi to keep him out of trouble as the investigation catches the attention of the menacing Administrator.