Character guide

Hercule Poirot

major

Also known as Monsieur Poirot, Poirot, the great Hercule Poirot, Monsieur Hercule Poirot, Papa Poirot

Poirot is the retired policeman whose little grey cells have made him a society fad, complete with a mocking notice in Society Gossip and a stream of fashionable clients at his door. Laid low by influenza, he still orchestrates investigations by dispatching Hastings to Derbyshire and demanding daily reports, his vanity and his method inseparable. His refusal to leave his bed while solving a murder is the engine of the book's early cases: the mind travels where the body cannot.

Captain Hastings

supporting

Also known as Hastings, the good Hastings, Mon ami Hastings

Hastings is Poirot's partner and narrator, a man who sees a glamorous woman trailed by strangers and instantly invents a crime drama. He trusts beautiful women, leaps at the chance to carry a revolver, and is repeatedly deflated by Poirot's sly corrections, as when a porter proves the Robinsons have lived in Montagu Mansions for six months. His credulity is the reader's own, and his wounded dignity makes the deductions land harder.

Inspector Japp

supporting

Also known as Japp, the good Japp

Japp is the professional policeman whose cases keep colliding with Poirot's amateur genius, and he knows better than to resent it. He brings the weight of the Yard but yields the final word to the little Belgian, a working partnership built on grudging respect. His presence grounds the stories in real police machinery, making Poirot's leaps feel like triumphs over method rather than mere cleverness.

Miss Mary Marvell

supporting

Also known as Mary Marvell, Miss Marvell, Mary

Mary Marvell arrives in England with her actor husband Gregory Rolf to a reception bordering on hysteria, her furs and jewels the talk of the town. She is followed through the streets by a bevy of admirers she is perfectly aware of, and she comes to Poirot because her prized Western Star is at the center of a threat. Her glamour is the bait, and her jewel the puzzle: a public woman whose private fear drives the case forward.

Lady Yardly

supporting

Lady Yardly belongs to the world of titles and country houses that the Western Star case cuts across, her diamond set against Mary Marvell's in a contest of possession and prestige. She is caught between the discretion her rank demands and the danger circling the stone, a woman whose composure may conceal more than it shows. Her stake in the jewel makes the theft personal, widening the mystery from a single actress's panic to a clash of two very different worlds.

Lord Yardly

minor

Also known as the present Lord Yardly, Yardly

The current Lord Yardly, husband of Lady Yardly.

Mr. Philip Ridgeway

supporting

Also known as Philip, Mr. Ridgeway, Ridgeway, Philip Ridgeway

Ridgeway is the respectable, conscientious bank official through whom a fortune in negotiable bonds passes, a man whose whole career rests on being trusted. When the bonds vanish, his professional world and his personal honor are suddenly on the line, and he must submit to Poirot's scrutiny to clear himself. He is the human cost of the case: a solid man made desperate by a theft that looks, at first, like his own failure.

Mr. Davenheim

supporting

Also known as Mr. Poirot, Mr. Davenheim Poirot, Davenheim

Davenheim keeps The Cedars, a palatial country place at Chingside, and his habits are so regular that his disappearance reads like a hole cut out of the day itself. He tells his wife he is walking to the village to post letters and expects a business caller named Lowen; a quarter of an hour later a dark man with a thick moustache arrives and waits in the study for a host who never returns. The broken safe, the locked windows, and the missing bearer bonds turn a domestic puzzle into the case Poirot must untangle.

Mrs. Davenheim

minor

Also known as Madame Davenheim, Madame

The wife of the missing banker Mr. Davenheim.

Count Foscatini

supporting

Also known as the late Count Foscatini, Foscatini, the Count, The Count

Foscatini lives quietly in London attended by his manservant Graves, and his affairs are orderly enough that his pocketbook holds the address of the man who will be suspected of killing him. Two Italians call on him with what Graves overhears as a monetary proposition built on a threat; the Count coolly postpones the argument to a dinner at eight. When he sends his servant out for the evening, the gesture signals a business too unusual to be witnessed, and the stopped clock on his writing-table fixes the hour of his death.

Signor Ascanio

minor

Also known as Signor Paolo Ascanio, Ascanio

An Italian man involved in the Count Foscatini case.

Mr. Roger Havering

supporting

Also known as Roger Havering, Mr. Havering, Havering

Havering moves through the world of fashionable London, where reputations are made of furs, jewels, and the right introductions, and where a robbery at a grand hotel becomes a social event as much as a crime. He is the kind of man whose ease in that world makes him useful and slightly suspect at once, since Poirot's cases turn on who noticed what and who chose not to. His presence gives the investigation its human texture, a reminder that theft among the wealthy is rarely only about the object taken.

Mrs. Opalsen

minor

Also known as Opalsen

A wealthy woman whose pearls are stolen at the Grand Metropolitan.

Mr. Opalsen

minor

The husband of Mrs. Opalsen, present during the jewel theft.

Mr. Bleibner

supporting

Also known as young Mr. Bleibner, young Bleibner

Young Bleibner belongs to the moneyed transatlantic set that treats archaeology as spectacle, and his name surfaces in the orbit of a discovery that has already made men nervous. He is caught between the glamour of the expedition and the ugly rumors that trail it, a tension that sharpens once the tomb's treasures begin to exact their price. His involvement gives Poirot a living thread to pull, since the dead of ancient Egypt are far easier to blame than the living who profit by them.

Sir Guy Willard

minor

Also known as Sir Guy, Willard

A government official involved in the kidnapping of the Prime Minister.

Mr. Bernard Dodge

minor

Also known as Mr. Dodge, Dodge

A man who seeks Poirot's help regarding a mysterious flat.

Mr. Lowen

minor

Also known as a Mr. Lowen, Lowen, pauvre M. Lowen

A man involved in the mystery of Hunter's Lodge.

Major Norman

minor

Also known as Norman

A guest at Hunter's Lodge during the murder.

Dr. Hawker

minor

Also known as Hawker

The local doctor called to Hunter's Lodge after the murder.

Miss Violet Marsh

supporting

Also known as Miss Marsh, Miss Violet, Violet Marsh

Violet Marsh dresses plainly but neatly and carries herself with the assurance of someone used to being taken seriously, which makes her uncle's final testament all the more galling. The will leaves her a puzzle rather than a fortune, and she comes to Poirot not as a supplicant but as a client with a case to argue. Her steadiness gives the mystery its spine, since the question of whether she can outthink a dead man's joke is the question the story asks.

Mr. Vavasour

minor

A solicitor involved in the case of the missing will.

Captain Daniels

minor

Also known as Daniels, this Captain Daniels, the clever linguistic Captain Daniels

A suspect in the Marsdon Manor case.

Gregory B. Rolf

minor

Also known as Gregory, Greg, Gregory Rolf, Rolf

A film director involved with Mary Marvell.

Mr. Rolf

minor

Also known as Rolf

Possibly a separate character or duplicate of Gregory Rolf.

Ed

minor

A minor character mentioned in the stories.

Shaw

minor

Also known as Mr. Shaw

A minor character mentioned in the stories.

Mr. Graves

minor

Also known as Graves

The secretary to the late Count Foscatini.

Mrs. Havering

minor

Also known as the Hon. Mrs. Havering

The wife of Roger Havering, implicated in the jewel theft.

Rupert Bleibner

minor

Also known as Young Rupert Bleibner

The nephew of Mr. Bleibner, also connected to the Egyptian tomb case.

Lady Willard

minor

The mother of Sir Guy Willard, involved in the kidnapping case.

Mrs. Robinson

minor

Also known as Robinson, a fair-haired Mrs. Robinson

A woman connected to the cheap flat mystery.

Mrs. Maltravers

minor

Also known as Maltravers

The widow of the murdered Mr. Maltravers at Hunter's Lodge.

Mr. Maltravers

minor

Also known as a Mr. Maltravers

The murdered man at the center of the Hunter's Lodge case.

Captain Black

minor

Also known as Black, young Black

A suspect in the murder at Hunter's Lodge.

Mr. Harrington Pace

minor

Also known as Mr. Pace, Harrington Pace

A wealthy American whose murder is investigated in the Italian Nobleman case.

Dr. Ames

minor

Also known as the Dr. Ames, Ames

A doctor involved in the disappearance of Mr. Davenheim.

Andrew Marsh

minor

Also known as Andrew, old Andrew Marsh

The deceased uncle whose will is the subject of the mystery.

Mr. Marsh

minor

Also known as the late Mr. Marsh

Another reference to the deceased Andrew Marsh.

Miss Esmée Farquhar

minor

Also known as Miss Farquhar, Esmée

A woman involved in the tragedy at Marsdon Manor.

Mrs. Middleton

minor

Also known as this Mrs. Middleton

A housekeeper at Marsdon Manor.

Célestine

minor

A maid in the service of Mary Marvell.

O'Murphy

minor

Also known as Monsieur O'Murphy

A character mentioned in the Western Star case.

Lord Estair

minor

A nobleman involved in the kidnapping of the Prime Minister.

Mr. David MacAdam

minor

Also known as MacAdam, Mr. MacAdam

A character in the million-dollar bond robbery case.

Elsa Hardt

minor

Also known as Elsie, a Miss Elsa Hardt, Miss Elsa Hardt

A young woman involved in the cheap flat mystery.

Mr. Parker

minor

Also known as Parker

A butler or servant in one of the stories.

Dr. Tosswill

minor

Also known as Tosswill

A doctor involved in the Egyptian tomb case.

Gerald Parker

minor

Also known as Parker

A character possibly distinct from Mr. Parker.

Baker

minor

Also known as Mrs. Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Baker

A couple involved in the cheap flat mystery.

John Willard

minor

Also known as John, Sir John Willard, John Willard, Sir John, young Willard

A younger relative of Sir Guy Willard.

Billy Kellett

minor

Also known as Kellett

A character in the disappearance of Mr. Davenheim.

Dr. Ralph Bernard

minor

Also known as Dr. Bernard, Bernard

A doctor involved in the Egyptian tomb case.

Miller

minor

A minor character mentioned in passing.

Hoffberg

minor

Also known as Mr. Hoffberg

A character in the million-dollar bond robbery.

Luigi Valdarno

minor

Also known as Valdarno

An Italian involved in the Count Foscatini case.

Hassan

minor

A servant in the Egyptian tomb case.

Zoe Havering

minor

Also known as 1913 Zoe

A relative of Roger Havering mentioned in the jewel robbery case.

Mr. Schneider

minor

Also known as Schneider

A character in the million-dollar bond robbery.

Hunter

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or lodge owner.

Harper

minor

Also known as Mr. Harper

A minor character in one of the stories.