Margaret Strayhorn
Names: Margaret StrayhornMaggieMargaretMama
First appears in Book 2: Jack the Bodiless, chapter 21 (18 HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, EARTH 31 OCTOBER 2051)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: Jack the Bodiless
- Ch 21A powerful operant who recently married Davy MacGregor; she is pregnant, as the dinner toast to the embryo reveals.
- Ch 21Margaret is thirty years old, tall and raven-haired, an Intendant Associate for Europe, married to Davy MacGregor and pregnant.
- Ch 21She cannot tolerate ships with high superluminal displacement factors; even slowtrack translations make her feel ill, so she will travel to Orb on a different ship.
- Ch 21Strong in coercion and creativity, she survived the Hydra's attack by a split-second guarded reaction and a creative-power barricade, though it drained all her strength.
- Ch 23Margaret Strayhorn, Davy MacGregor's wife, suffered a psychocreative drain-burn like the one that killed Brett; she and Davy are due to arrive in Orb soon.
- Ch 23Margaret arrived on Orb by starship from Earth, still weakened from a trauma, and recovered through lovemaking in the Pool of the Monsters with Davy.
- Ch 23Margaret enjoys cooking and prefers Darjeeling tea; Davy prefers Spiderleg tea.
- Ch 23Margaret is murdered in her apartment by Hydra, who arrives invisible; her last farspoken scream to Davy contained the word 'Five.'
- Ch 23A handwritten suicide note attributed to Margaret cited pressure from Davy's Concilium nomination and First Magnate candidacy, and refusal to raise their unborn child among nonhumans.
- Ch 23Margaret was reported to have shorted out the fail-safe on the waste decompositor and climbed in, matching Fury's staged plan.
- Ch 25Davy MacGregor's wife; apparently died by suicide in a waste destructor, leaving a note in her handwriting; Davy believes she was coerced and murdered.
- Ch 26A Magnate-Designate and wife of David Somerled MacGregor, she was killed in Orb; her note claimed suicide but the Magistratum declined to confirm it.
- Ch 26Before dying she transmitted to Davy a hint about the identity of her killer, Hydra.
- Ch 26A previous attempt on her life used the same lifeforce-draining technique seen in Brett McAllister's murder.
- Ch 26Margaret was murdered; her dying cry was the word 'five'.
- Ch 34Before dying she projected the thought 'Five' to Davy MacGregor, which now seems to refer to Hydra.
- Ch 37Margaret, Davy MacGregor's wife and Will's stepmother, left a suicide note, but Davy believes she was murdered and heard her farspoken death shout, 'Five.'
Book 3: Diamond Mask
- Ch 7Margaret, wife of Davy MacGregor, survived a chakra attack in 2051 and later vanished, her last farspoken cry being 'Five'.
Connections
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 21Dinner party at the President's House
Socorro Ortega hosts a Mesoamerican dinner for the Poltroyans, MacGregors and Remillards; talk covers Poltroyan fetal education, proctor races and coadunation, and Margaret's pregnancy is toasted.
- Book 2 · Ch 21Hydra attacks Margaret Strayhorn
Margaret answers the door to trick-or-treaters, who are disguised operant children. The Hydra strikes at her crown chakra, burning her scalp in a lotus pattern. She blocks it and collapses, survives, and recalls only a presence.
- Book 2 · Ch 21Fury rebukes and recommits the Hydra
Fury and the Hydra communicate mentally after the failed attack. Fury promises painful further training during the trip to Orb, and the Hydra will try again.
- Book 2 · Ch 23Adults seen in the connubial vat
Through the viewing window, Marc sees Ilya Gawrys, Katy MacGregor, Davy MacGregor, Margaret Strayhorn, his father Paul and Laura Tremblay in the vat.
- Book 2 · Ch 23Margaret murdered by Hydra
While Davy is away, Margaret unpacks in their Rialto apartment and Hydra, invisible, enters and destroys her mind. She screams 'Five' to Davy.
- Book 2 · Ch 23Paul reports Margaret's death
Paul tells Lucille that Margaret is dead, apparently a suicide, while Marc listens by farsense.
- Book 2 · Ch 26Lylmik Supervisors discuss Strayhorn murder
At the Christmas fête, four Supervisors tell Unifex of Margaret Strayhorn's murder and the danger to Davy MacGregor; he refuses Lylmik intervention despite their suspicion that he knows the killer.
- Book 2 · Ch 26Davy reveals the 'five' clue
At the Christmas crèche, Davy tells Will and Cordelia that Margaret's dying word 'five' indicates a five-mind metaconcert killer, probably also behind Brett's death, and the question is which five Remillards.
- Book 3 · Ch 7Hydra's murders and the investigations
From 2051 Hydra killed Brett McAllister, attacked and apparently killed Margaret Strayhorn, and killed Addie. Investigations of the Remillards, including the mind-probe, found no proof.