Faber Whitehead is an award-winning architect and the father of Hugo, the young man who borrowed Tyler Powell’s car and crashed it, killing him and his passenger, Ann-Marie. 

Robin and Strike first hear his name from Ian Griffiths whilst waiting for Dilys Powell at his house in Ironbridge. Griffiths asks if the detectives have been hired by Faber Whitehead. He explains that the Whiteheads moved into a big house in Ironbridge.  ‘Plenty of money. He’s an architect, she’s a yoga teacher.  Hot tub out the back, Range Rover in the drive – you know the type’ (Chapter 66).  He then goes on to tell Strike and Robin about the car crash that killed the Whiteheads’ son Hugo and Tyler’s ex-girlfriend Ann-Marie, and says that the Whiteheads were blaming the crash on Tyler having tampered with the car (Chapter 66).

Faber Whitewhite calls Robin and agrees to meet her at his house whilst his wife is out, as it upsets her to talk about the crash (Chapter 97).

After Hugo’s death, the Whiteheads left Ironbridge and moved to Tilsworth Road in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.  Robin drives there to interview Faber on a Monday evening.

Robin thinks he is ‘an odd-looking man who reminded her of a beluga whale in glasses, having very pale skin, small eyes and a massive domed, bald forehead’. He is ‘wearing a baggy black sweater and jeans, and the lenses of his glasses, which had bright red frames, were so thick they reduced his eyes to small points’ (Chapter 102). 

Faber Whitehead gives Robin background on what happened in the months preceding Hugo and Ann-Marie’s deaths, and outlines what he believes to be the cause of the car crash (Chapter 102).