Taverner Character Analysis: The Anchoring Presence in Killers of a Certain Age
Overview
Taverner is Billie Webster’s longtime lover and former colleague, a fellow assassin recruited from Her Majesty’s Army into the Museum. He first appears on a Greek island where the two are living together in early retirement, and he reconnects with Billie after she is summoned back to action. Although he does not participate directly in the women’s mission against the Lazarov family and their ally Galina, Taverner provides essential logistical support—most notably a remote safe house in Sardinia—and serves as Billie’s primary emotional anchor. His character embodies themes of loyalty, chosen family, and the tension between domestic intimacy and the killer’s life.
Plot Role
Taverner’s plot role is that of a steadfast enabler rather than an active combatant. In the opening chapters, he is the person who understands Billie well enough to let her leave when duty calls. When Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie flee England after the arson attack on Benscombe, Taverner is already established at the Sardinian farmhouse with a roast lamb dinner and homemade sourdough bread, having arrived via a quick connection through Sicily. He later recognizes a string of numbers from Pasha Lazarov’s diary as a Venetian phone number, a clue that redirects the team’s hunt toward Galina. Through his contact with a Sardinian contessa, he arranges the Venice rental house in Campo Santa Margherita. During the Venice segment he cooks, offers emotional ballast, organizes a pigeon-shooting outing with water pistols to defuse team tension, and independently tails Galina to Trieste. In the closing chapters he arrives in Montenegro on a motorcycle, and Billie rides away with him, signaling the resolution of both the mission and their personal arc.
Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions
Taverner’s primary motivation is love for Billie—not a possessive love but one that accepts her true nature. This is demonstrated most clearly in Chapter Two, when he tells her, “You need more. It’s taken me four decades to understand it, but I do. I’m not enough for you.” He does not try to stop her from leaving; instead he zips her bag and says, “Go on, then. Get out of here and go kill somebody. I’ll be waiting when you get back.” This sentence is described as “goddamned poetry” because it proves he understands her completely.
He is emotionally intelligent and blunt. In Sardinia, after Billie deflects his concerns, he recites Emily Dickinson by heart and then calls her out: “You can’t stand it, can you? That you, just occasionally, might need someone else.” He carries a lighter for her even though he does not smoke. He is also resourceful and domestically competent—he travels with a sourdough starter, cooks elaborate meals, and wins over the local Sardinian family through food.
Taverner’s patience is remarkable. He and Billie have known each other for forty years, and he has lived through her comings and goings, her refusals to commit fully, and her inability to let her guard down. Yet he persists, not as a supplicant but as a man who knows his own worth and will walk away if necessary—as he does in the Sardinian starlight scene, leaving his lighter in her hand.
Chronological Arc
Taverner’s presence in the narrative is bookended by his relationship with Billie.
- Greek island (Chapter Two): He and Billie are living together. She receives a summons and he lets her go without resistance, acknowledging that she needs purpose beyond domestic life.
- Sardinia (Chapter Eleven): He is already at the farmhouse when Billie’s team arrives, having made the journey ahead of them. He re-establishes himself as a trusted ally, welcomed by the other women.
- Sardinia night argument (Chapter Sixteen): He confronts Billie about her refusal to depend on him, pushing her to recognize her own limits. She gives him no satisfaction, and he walks away.
- Venice (Chapters Seventeen–Twenty): He arranges the rental, cooks, organizes the pigeon-shooting distraction, and reveals that he has been following Galina independently. Tensions with Billie simmer but do not break the partnership.
- Montenegro resolution (Chapter Thirty-One): He appears on a motorcycle and Billie rides away with him, achieving closure.
- Final reflection (Chapter Thirty-Two): Billie thinks of “our little house in Greece with a longing I’d never felt before” and tells Helen, “We’re good. We’re forever. Just as we are.”
Relationships
The central relationship is with Billie. Taverner knows her better than anyone else in the story. He is the only character who consistently calls her on her emotional defenses, and he does so with a mix of affection, exasperation, and respect. Their dynamic is one of equals who have chosen each other repeatedly over four decades, despite Billie’s inability to offer the conventional commitment he once sought from a marriage to another woman.
With the other members of Project Sphinx, Taverner is warmly regarded. Mary Alice tells him that if she and Akiko ever open their marriage, he would be her choice for a third. He is comfortable with all of them and uses hospitality—cooking, wine, a rooftop pigeon shoot—to bind the group together in moments of fracture.
Key Decisions and Consequences
| Decision | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Letting Billie leave the Greek island without protest | Preserves their connection; she returns to him at the end of the novel |
| Reaching Sardinia ahead of the team and preparing the safe house | Provides essential refuge after Benscombe burns; re-establishes his role in her life |
| Recognizing the Venetian phone number in Pasha’s diary | Redirects the investigation from a dead end to Galina’s location in Venice |
| Following Galina to Trieste independently | Yields intelligence that informs the team’s Montenegro plan |
| Walking away after the starlight argument | Forces Billie to sit with his words and eventually, implied in the ending, to let him in |
| Appearing in Montenegro on a motorcycle | Allows the story to end on a note of reunion and mutual choice |
Themes and Symbol Connections
Aging and competence: Taverner is a retired assassin who has not lost his edge. He is still observant, resourceful, and capable of tailing a target. His competence is domestic and relational—skills that are undervalued in the world of the Museum but prove essential to the mission’s success.
Loyalty and chosen family: He functions as an honorary member of the Project Sphinx found family. The other women welcome him without reservation. His loyalty to Billie spans decades and survives separation, marriage, and her emotional walls.
Deception and disguise: Taverner does not engage in the operational disguises the women use, but he practices a form of emotional misdirection by appearing laid-back while being deeply strategic about winning Billie’s trust.
Revenge and justice: He supports the women’s mission against Galina without moral qualms. His own history as a Museum assassin means he shares the same framework of justice-through-elimination.
Art and legacy: Taverner quotes Emily Dickinson, cooks traditional recipes like risotto al nero di seppia, and carries a sourdough starter—small acts of cultural preservation that mirror the Museum’s original mission of recovering looted art. He is a keeper of traditions.
Questions and Answers
1. What is Taverner’s background before the events of the novel?
Taverner was recruited into the Museum after a stint in Her Majesty’s Army. He and Billie have known each other for approximately forty years at the time of the main narrative. They worked together as assassins for the organization, and at some point he married another woman because he “wanted things that [Billie] didn’t”—presumably conventional domestic life.
2. Why does Taverner let Billie leave the Greek island without trying to stop her?
He understands that Billie needs purpose beyond their relationship. He tells her, “You need more” and accepts that he is not enough to satisfy her drive. By letting her go freely, he ensures she will come back to him on her own terms.
3. How does Taverner contribute to the team’s investigation in Venice?
He recognizes that a string of numbers in Pasha Lazarov’s diary is a Venetian phone number, which points the team toward Galina. He also independently tails Galina to Trieste, gathering intelligence that later helps the women plan the Montenegro operation.
4. Why does Taverner argue with Billie in Sardinia, and what is the outcome?
He confronts her about her inability to rely on anyone else. The argument ends with Taverner walking away after saying, “Someday you’ll have to decide to start [trusting].” The confrontation does not end their relationship but forces Billie to confront a truth she has been avoiding.
5. What does the ending imply about Taverner and Billie’s future together?
Billie rides away with him on his motorcycle, and in the final chapter she thinks warmly of their house in Greece and tells Helen, “We’re good. We’re forever. Just as we are.” The implication is that they will remain together in a flexible, long-term partnership that accommodates both her need for autonomy and his desire for closeness.