Gary McAvoy · Vatican Thriller Universe
The Codex
Personae
The definitive guide to every soul who has walked the halls of the Vatican, prowled the archives of history, and risked everything in the shadows of three interlocking series — offered freely to every reader who wants to go deeper.
Explore the CodexA Reader's Companion
Every character.
Every detail. Every secret.
Across three interconnected series and more than a dozen novels, the Vatican thriller universe has grown into one of the most richly populated fictional worlds in contemporary suspense fiction. The Codex Personae is the living record of every person in it.
The Codex began as a tool I developed for myself — a way to keep continuity across the thousands of details that accumulate when you've written fifteen books in the same universe. Physical descriptions. Character histories. Who knew whom before the first page of the first novel. How a relationship changed from book to book. The quiet detail in The Magdalene Deception that resonates quietly in The Medici Heresy years later.
What I discovered was that readers wanted it too. The questions I receive most often aren't about plot — they're about people. What happened to Marco after Avignon? How old is Karl Dengler? When exactly did Hana and Michael fall in love? The Codex Personae answers all of that, and considerably more.
Each profile is built from the texts themselves — no invention, no speculation. If it's in the Codex, it's in the books. Consider it the authoritative companion to a world you already know, offered to you at no cost as my gratitude for the extraordinary community of readers who have made these series possible.
The Universe
Three Series.
One Interconnected World.
The Magdalene Chronicles
Where it began — the discovery of an ancient papyrus, the abduction of Hana Sinclair, and the first collision between Father Michael Dominic and the forces determined to keep history buried. Three novels that introduced the characters readers return to across all three series.
Vatican Secret Archive Thrillers
The world expands. Dominic and Hana at the center of papal intrigue, musical forgeries, ancient prophecies, stolen gospels, and a chess match between the Church's reformers and its most entrenched powers. The longest and most intricately interwoven series of the three.
Vatican Archaeology Thrillers
Marcus Russo leads a new series into the buried past — wartime secrets beneath a German monastery, the mysteries of Pompeii, and history found not in documents but in the earth itself.
What's Inside
More than a character list.
A companion written for readers.
Full Identity & History
Birth names, nationalities, backstories that never appear on the page but inform everything that does. The quiet facts that explain why a character behaves as they do.
Physical Descriptions
Precise, book-sourced detail on how each character looks, moves, and presents themselves — so the person in your imagination matches the one in the text.
Personality & Motivation
What drives them, what they fear, what they want that they'll never say aloud. The internal architecture beneath the action.
Relationships & Loyalties
How every significant relationship began, how it evolved across books, and where it stands at last appearance. The web of connection that makes the universe feel lived-in.
Series-Spanning Arc
Where each character appears, in which books, and how they change. From first appearance to final trajectory — with spoilers clearly flagged.
Story Function
The role each character plays in the larger narrative architecture — what questions they answer, what tensions they create, and why the story needs them.
A Sample Entry
The depth of every
profile in the Codex
Father Michael Dominic
Prefect, Vatican Apostolic Archives
All Three SeriesBorn Michael Patrick Petrini in Queens, New York — though he carries his mother's surname and has spent most of his adult life not knowing why. Jesuit-trained, lacrosse-hardened, intellectually ravenous, and constitutionally incapable of leaving a mystery unopened. He arrived in the Vatican as a scrittore in his late twenties and rose to Prefect of the Apostolic Archives in his early thirties, a trajectory almost unheard of in an institution that measures ambition in centuries.
Physical
Tall, athletically toned, long black hair typically tied back, deep brown eyes. Clerical black shirt, white collar, black trousers. Runs the Tiber embankment most mornings before the tourists arrive.
Known only to those who read closely
His biological father is Cardinal Enrico Petrini — later Pope Ignatius. His mother Grace kept the secret for decades. Dominic does not learn it until it is weaponized against him by Cardinal Dante in The Magdalene Veil.
→ Full profile: 3,200 words ←
Fully Profiled Characters
spanning fifteen novels, three series, and nearly a decade of publishing
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Begin reading
the Codex Personae
Choose a Series
Browse by Magdalene Chronicles, Vatican Secret Archive Thrillers, or Vatican Archaeology Thrillers
Find a Character
Alphabetical index, series filter, or browse by book — every major character in the universe is here
Go Deeper
Each profile links back to the books in which the character appears — perfect for rereading with new eyes
The Codex Personae is offered free of charge to all readers, always.
No email. No account. No paywall. Just the characters — in full.
