Colonel Edward Graves is the father of the Stolen Prophet, Alexander Graves. Strike finds his name in the obituary notice for Alexander in The Times (Ch 29).

Strike calls Colonel Graves and asks to meet with him to talk about Alexander, his granddaughter Daiyu and the Universal Humanitarian Church.  They arrange to meet at Graves’ home, Garvestone Hall in Norfolk (Ch 32).  

The Colonel is an elderly man who greets Strike at the top of the stone steps to the front door of Garvestone Hall.  He is leaning on a mahogany stick and tells Strike he can no longer manage the steps without help.  He is wearing a shirt under a tweed blazer and the blue and maroon regimental tie of the Grenadier Guards.  He has a thick white moustache and a slight overbite. His eyes are milky with cataracts, and he wears steel rimmed glasses and a large hearing aid.  He has a fat yellow Labrador called Gunga Din (Ch 38).

Also present at the interview are Colonel Graves’ wife Barbara, their daughter Phillipa Delaunay, and Phillipa’s husband Nicholas.

Colonel Graves tells Strike about Alexander’s early life and explains how he came to join the Universal Humanitarian Church (Ch 38).