Charlie Parker

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*This page is about the character. For the book series he stars in, see Charlie Parker (book series).*

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## Charlie Parker

### Aliases

BirdBirdman

The Detective

### Relatives

William Parker (father)Elaine Parker (adoptive mother)

Caroline Carr (mother)

Sarah Parker (half-sister)

Susan Parker (wife)

Jennifer Parker (daughter)

Sam Wolfe (daughter)

Bob Warren (adoptive maternal grandfather)

Charles Edward Parker (great-uncle)

Unnamed paternal grandfather

### Occupation

Private investigatorBartender (part-time)

Detective Second Grade (formerly)

## Appearances

### Appears in

Every Dead ThingDark Hollow

The Killing Kind

The White Road

Bad Men (cameo)

The Reflecting Eye

The Black Angel

The Unquiet

The Reapers

The Lovers

The Whisperers

The Burning Soul

The Wrath Of Angels

The Wolf In Winter

A Song Of Shadows

A Time Of Torment

A Game Of Ghosts

The Woman In The Woods

A Book Of Bones

The Dirty South

The Sisters Strange

### Debut

Every Dead Thing

Charles "Charlie" Parker is a private investigator and the central character of the Charlie Parker book series. He was a Detective Second Grade for the NYPD, but left the force shortly after the murders of his wife and daughter.

## Appearance

Charlie is a white, middle aged man just under six feet tall, with short, dark hair that is prematurely graying around the temples and fringe. He has gray-blue eyes that shade to green in certain lights and have a wintery warmth to them. His pupils are always small and dark.

After the events of *The Wolf In Winter*, some of his hair has grown back white, resulting in odd streaks.

He is described as being almost monochrome in appearance, as though from an old photograph, and wears aftershave that smells of incense.

Charlie has a lifter's build, slim but muscular with wide shoulders, and a slightly long face, with wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. He has a variety of scars on his body and face.

He wears a simple Byzantine pilgrim's cross, given to him by his grandfather when graduating high-school, on a leather cord around his neck.

## Injuries

A list of major physical injuries Charlie suffers during the course of the series. WIP

## Trivia

* Charlie shares his name with famous jazz musician Charlie Parker. This was not intentional on his parents' part, as neither of them were jazz fans. Much like the musician, Charlie is sometimes nicknamed "Bird" or "Birdman", though mainly in earlier books. He's not very fond of the nickname as he sees it as a relic from his days on the force.
* There are currently three different in-universe explanations behind Charlie's name. *Every Dead Thing* states that his parents simply liked the name. *The Lovers* states that Charlie was named after his father's uncle, Charles Edward Parker. In *The Dirty South* Charlie tells that he was named after an old match dispenser and a spectacle case that Charlie's father inherited, made by the Charles Parker Company of Meriden, Connecticut.
* Charlie has a strong dislike of seafood, stating that he has a natural aversion to eating anything with more than four legs, or no legs at all.
* According to John Connolly, if Charlie was an animal, he would be a mongrel.
* He supported the Portland Pirates hockey team.
* His blood type is B.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Every Dead Thing, chapter 6
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Reapers, chapter 3
3. ↑ The Burning Soul, chapter 3
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Every Dead Thing, Chapter 17
5. ↑ The Lovers, Chapter 20
6. ↑ The Dirty South, Chapter 32
7. ↑ http://www.writerswrite.co.za/essentially-john-connolly/
8. ↑ The Unquiet, Epilogue