Danny De Leon is an actor in pornographic films, and is originally from Sark in the Channel Islands.  His professional alias is ‘Dangerous Dick de Lion’.

He first comes to the agency’s attention when Strike finds an anonymous note, written in what he recognises as pigpen cipher, on the doormat of the office.  He translates it as ‘the man in the safe was dangerous dick delion I don’t know who had him killed but he is on TV’ (Chapter 27).

Strike discovers that Dick de Lion is a porn star.  He pins a picture of him to the corkboard on the office wall which shows his ‘fake tan, his peroxided hair and his very white teeth’ (Chapter 38). 

‘Dangerous Dick’ was registered with London’s ‘premier adult entertainment agency, Triple XR’ but is now no longer on their books. He asks Robin to make the next approach by pretending she is casting a porn shoot, but she feels unable to do this (Chapter 33).

Strike thinks the woman who left the encrypted note at the office looked like she is in the industry too (Chapter 27), and through the method of perusing porn films discovers that her professional name is Fyola Fay, real name Fiona Freeman (Chapter 43).

Robin tracks down Fiona Freeman who tells her his that Danny’s real name is Danny de Lion and that he is from a ‘weird place’ where ‘there aren’t any cars’. She says he is twenty-five and has been in the adult industry for two or three years.  She believes that he was blackmailing or scamming a rich and powerful man who then had him killed (Chapter 69).

From this, Strike tracks Danny to Sark. Strike and Robin decide to visit Sark together to interview Danny.

Despite the best efforts of Danny’s brother, Richard, they eventually find Danny working in a neighbour’s garden. His previously peroxided hair is now brown again, and the ‘perfect teeth’ now ‘stood out, very white, against a face that was now naturally weather-beaten as opposed to fake tanned. He was short, strongly built and handsome…’ (Chapter 85).  He and Richard finally agree to speak to Strike and Robin.