# Behind That Curtain — Character guide

> Key figures in Behind That Curtain by Earl Derr Biggers.

- [Sergeant Charlie Chan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/sergeant_charlie_chan.md): Chan arrives in San Francisco as a visiting detective, only to find himself indispensable to a case that refuses to release him. His mild manner and flowery aphorisms conceal a relentless intelligence that his louder col
- [Barry Kirk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/barry_kirk.md): Kirk is a rich, charming young man-about-town whose hospitality draws the investigation into his own building and social circle. His breezy wit masks a real appetite for the puzzle, and his growing admiration for June Mo
- [June Morrow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/june_morrow.md): Morrow works alongside the police investigation, her legal training and steady nerve making her far more than a secretary. She navigates the egos of Captain Flannery and the suspicions of the wealthy suspects with cool p
- [Captain Flannery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/captain_flannery.md): Flannery commands the murder investigation with the confidence of long experience, but the pressure of a Scotland Yard victim rattles him. He bristles at being assigned a female lawyer and a visiting Chinese detective, s
- [Sir Frederic Bruce](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/sir_frederic_bruce.md): Sir Frederic is the celebrated detective whose arrival at Barry Kirk's building sets the tragedy in motion, a man whose reputation precedes him everywhere. He has spent years hunting a murderer connected to a vanished wo
- [Colonel John Beetham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/colonel_john_beetham.md): Beetham is a famous explorer and military man, honored wherever he goes, whose past contains one indiscreet kindness he has never regretted. His connection to Eve Durand's flight from India makes him a suspect and a prot
- [Bill Rankin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/bill_rankin.md): Rankin is the press man on the case, forever angling for a morsel to feed his paper's million panting readers and half-afraid his dear old Chief will cast him off for failing to solve the mystery. He reads sentiment into
- [Inspector Duff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/inspector_duff.md): Duff enters the case as the Yard's answer to Sir Frederic's cable, and his presence terrifies at least one guilty conscience before he ever speaks. He admits he was new to the work when he once judged Paradise harshly, a
- [Major Eric Durand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/major_eric_durand.md): Durand is the brooding figure at the edge of the case, a man whose nerve is gone and whose past includes a murder he does not deny. His leap from the garden rail ends his pursuit in a huddled heap beneath a street lamp, 
- [Eve Durand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/eve_durand.md): Eve Durand is the woman the whole mystery circles, the reason Charlie Chan counsels cherchez la femme and the reason Sir Frederic gathered certain guests to his table. She may be Eileen Enderby with darkened hair, or Glo
- [Dawson Kirk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/dawson_kirk.md): Barry Kirk's mother, a socialite.
- [Paradise](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/paradise.md): A Chinese servant in the Kirk household.
- [Gloria Garland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/gloria_garland.md): An actress with a connection to the case.
- [Li Gung](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/li_gung.md): A Chinese man working in San Francisco.
- [Helen Tupper-Brock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/helen_tupper_brock.md): A woman with knowledge of the Durand affair.
- [Eileen Enderby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/eileen_enderby.md): A young woman connected to the Enderby family.
- [Miss Lila Barr](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/behind_that_curtain_se/characters/miss_lila_barr.md): A woman who comes to San Francisco seeking help.

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