LYNNE E. CHANDLER

Mrs Baul, well-intentioned but fearful wife of Rev. Baul, minister of St. John’s Church in Cairo.  She imagines herself as an influential type of Mother Teresa meet 007, but in reality she is more like a Mother Teresa meet Don Quixote.  Mrs. Baul believes moving their family to the Middle East at the height of the War of Terror is madness on the part of her husband.  Her paranoia of terrorists is a source of great angst and she concludes her husband is on a mission working as a secret agent, in addition to his priestly duties, a “double opportunity,” as she comes to call it.  Armed with mail-order gadgets and a suspicious mind, she and her friend Madame Napoleon attempt to rescue a kidnapped bishop and expose a terrorist ring they believe is smuggling weapons of mass destruction.

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Rev. Baul, quite oblivious to his wife’s meddling; he dotes on her with great admiration.  Raised in West Africa, but American by nationality, as is the rest of his family, he speaks French and Arabic fluently.  Due to an exceptional eye for good art, Rev. Baul’s income skyrocketed years earlier.  Not dependent on his meager clergy stipend, he funds charities and adventuresome whims openhandedly.  Most of his free time is spent as an avid racing pigeon fancier, an obsession that only seems to worry Mrs. Baul.  A solid admirable presence in the Baul family, the reverend is sheltered from the knowledge of reconnaissance efforts exerted to prevent his wife from destroying family, if not world, peace.

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Grandpa Baul, high-tech gadget inventing father of Rev. Baul and widower of ten years, he lives with the Baul family in the detached converted servant quarters of their garden villa.  Thankful not to be confined to a routine of leisure in retirement, he plays an active role in damage control and is happily in league with his beloved teenaged grandchildren.  Only Mrs. Baul is convinced his presence is a source of great strain on Rev. Baul.

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Miriam Baul, fifteen-year-old prodigy linguist and eager for adventure, she often finds herself as a diplomatic buffer between her mother and ensuing disaster.  She attends school with her brother at an American international school in Cairo whose students mirror the United Nations.

Joseph Baul, thirteen-year-old high-tech apprentice of his grandfather, he manages many of the details their operations require.  Good friends with his sister and grandfather he is always up for a new adventure.  His friends call him Joe.

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Madame Napoleon, esteemed wife of the European Union Ambassador to Egypt.  As an Egyptian who grew up in London she is thrilled to be posted in the land of her ancestors.  Fluent in Arabic, dedicated to charity work, and paranoid of terrorists, she is an inseparable friend of Mrs. Baul’s.

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Musa, a Sudanese refugee from a mixed marriage (Christian/Muslim parents) fled to Cairo up the Nile River when war hit his homeland.  As a brilliant tech-expert who couldn’t find a job in exile, he was recruited by Grandpa Baul to help manage their reconnaissance missions and is well loved by the whole family.  Musa lives on a well-equipped felucca sailing boat on the Nile River and shares Rev. Baul’s passion for pigeons.

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Kubri, a famous Muslim Egyptian artist, whose name in Arabic means “bridge.”  As a new friend of Rev. Baul, Mrs. Baul suspects he is a terrorist cell leader.  His cousin works with the secret police and he proves invaluable in the Baul reconnaissance efforts.

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Sir Peter Radcliffe, British godfather of Joe and renowned medical doctor through the Middle East region, he and his wife are close friends of the Bauls and come to the rescue when needed. He is currently serving as a freelance physician with the Red Crescent, alongside his wife, in the Middle East.

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Lady Sarah Radcliffe, British godmother of Joe and renowned medical doctor, her claim to fame in the Baul family is the successful delivery of their dear son Joseph, thirteen years earlier in Tunisia.

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Bishop Kareem, Egyptian Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Africa and the Middle East.  He is a great admirer of Mrs. Baul and her passion for charity.

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The Rt. Rev. Edwin Cornwall-McGrath III, his Grace had been seated as a bishop in Chichester, England where Rev. Baul had been recruited for seminary.  He served as Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury and is currently negotiating inter-religious dialogue on a worldwide scale.  He disappears during a two-week vacation to the Middle East.  MI6 agents tell his frantic mother in London that none of the signs of her son’s disappearance follow classic kidnapping patterns.

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Haj Sayed,an old wise Muslim Siwan man, he befriends Kubri and the Baul entourage, and is essential in unraveling the mystery of the missing of the bishop.

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Mrs Baul Investigates is available for purchase on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.