# Mrs. Pickett — Short Fiction character guide

> Mrs. Pickett in Short Fiction by P. G. Wodehouse.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-when-papa-swore-in-hindustani

## Snapshot

A dry, sharp-eyed boardinghouse resident who demolishes the detective's clever solution and coolly demands a warrant for murder.

## Who they are

Mrs. Pickett moves through Mr. Snyder's office with the authority of a schoolmistress grading a disappointing pupil, dismissing his assistant Oakes as a conceited young fool. She alone refuses to accept the snake-in-the-room theory, insisting there is a commonsense explanation and that she has already found it. Her stubborn certainty — and her startling demand for an arrest — turns a settled case back into an open question and makes her the quiet engine of the mystery.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/i)

Owner of the Excelsior Boardinghouse; discovers the body and is inwardly tormented by the potential damage to her establishment's reputation.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/ii)

Owner of the boardinghouse who hired the agency, believes the death was murder.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/iii)

Mentioned as a silent, seemingly unintelligent woman whom Oakes suspects may know more about the murder.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/iv)

The proprietress of the Excelsior Boardinghouse, whose quiet scorn unnerves Mr. Oakes.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/v)

Mentioned as the dull landlady who invited Oakes to dinner.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/vi)

The determined woman who insists Oakes' solution is wrong and demands a warrant for murder, claiming to have the true explanation.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/chapters/vii)

Hostess of the dinner; reveals her true nature as an ambitious and cunning woman who has orchestrated the evening to expose Captain Muller as the murderer of Captain Gunner.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/characters/mrs_pickett
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_42_se/characters