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In a strange way the recurring villain in a series of mystery stories almost becomes as popular as the main detective character. Famously, Sherlock Holmes had his Professor James Moriarity, G.K/Chesterton’s Father Brown had Flambeau, Agatha Christi’s Pirot had the Countess Vera Rassakoff, and one of the greatest detective characters of the 20th Century, Rex Stout’s Nero Wolf had Arnold Zeck. A recurring villain becomes an important part of a series of mysteries because he (or she) ties the books in the series together. Generally each mystery story is complete – the Hero solves the crime and the story is over. But with a recurring villain it is never completely over. Also the villain highlights the main character by virtue of the contrast between them. And often the villain is a mysterious shady character who is a mystery in himself. Rocky Road’s adversary El Patron is a deliberately shadowy figure, presiding over a criminal empire from a luxury apartment in Brazil, only his hands are seen. Although his native language is Spanish, his origins are totally unknown. So far Rocky has had no contact with El Patron and is unaware of his existence. But El Patron is very aware of Rocky.
