Character guide

Sydney Atherton

major

Also known as Mr. Atherton, Atherton, Sidney, bee Sydney, Mr. Sydney Atherton, The mercurial Sydney

Sydney Atherton moves through drawing rooms and deathbeds with the same restless intelligence, whether he is coaxing a final testimony from the ruined Robert Holt or openly accusing Paul Lessingham of being 'leprous.' He wants Marjorie Lindon, and he wants to understand the uncanny force that seems to cling to the man she prefers, a curiosity sharpened by wounded pride. His willingness to interrogate, provoke, and follow the horror where others flinch makes him the reader's most active guide into the mystery's middle chapters.

Paul Lessingham

major

Also known as Mr. Lessingham, Lessingham, Mr. Paul Lessingham, the great Paul Lessingham, Paul

Paul Lessingham commands the political stage and the devotion of Marjorie Lindon, yet he is a haunted man whose composure cracks at the mere sight of a scarab. His past in the East has left him with a dread he will not name and a rival, Atherton, who suspects him of being not merely secretive but contaminated. His refusal to speak of what pursues him, even as it closes in on the woman he loves, drives the novel's central tension between respectable English life and an older, predatory evil.

Marjorie Lindon

major

Also known as Miss Lindon, Lindon, Miss Marjorie Lindon, Miss Marjorie

Marjorie Lindon is the strong-willed daughter of a wealthy, blustering father, and she refuses to be ordered out of her attachment to Paul Lessingham. Her courage and independence are tested when she becomes the Beetle's target, culminating in a night of terror in which she tears off her ball gown and cowers from an unseen buzzing thing. Her ordeal transforms the abstract menace haunting Lessingham into a visceral, intimate threat, and her fate becomes the measure of the story's stakes.

Robert Holt

major

Also known as Mr. Holt, Holt, hysterical Mr. Holt

Robert Holt is a starving, out-of-work clerk whose desperate entry into an empty house makes him the Beetle's first victim and instrument. Broken in body and mind, he is found dying in a workhouse bed, able only to gasp that 'the beetle killed me' and that it is now going to kill Miss Lindon. His ravings provide the investigation with its first concrete clues, and his degradation shows how completely the entity can consume an ordinary man.

The Beetle

major

Also known as Beetle, The Beetle, the Beetle, the stranger, the man, this man, An Arab, Arab, The Arab, the Arab, Mr. Pleesman, Harab, the Harab

The Beetle is a supernatural predator from Egypt, capable of appearing as an Arab man, a monstrous insect, or something in between, and it pursues Paul Lessingham with patient malice. It kills Robert Holt, terrorizes Marjorie Lindon, and leaves a trail of panic and paralysis wherever it goes, its presence always heralded by a buzzing that seems to come from everywhere at once. As the unseen engine of the plot, it turns a political rivalry and a love triangle into a struggle against an ancient, inhuman will.

Mr. Lindon

supporting

Also known as Lindon, Old Lindon, old Lindon, Papa, papa

Mr. Lindon is a wealthy, short-tempered patriarch who worships Lord Cantilever, detests Lessingham's politics, and forbids Marjorie to speak to the man she loves. His rages are comic and exhausting, full of repeated commands and self-important references to the greatness of the Lindons, but they also reveal a father who cannot see past his own side of any question. His opposition raises the social stakes of Marjorie's choice and makes her defiance a matter of principle as much as passion.

Percy Woodville

supporting

Also known as Percy, Woodville

A jealous young suitor of Marjorie Lindon, Percy Woodville burns with resentment toward his older, colder rival Lessingham and cannot quite let her go.

Augustus Champnell

supporting

Also known as Mr. Champnell, Champnell, a Mr. Augustus Champnell

A private detective drawn into the strange affair surrounding Lessingham, Champnell gathers testimony from witnesses who have glimpsed things no rational inquiry can explain.

Miss Louisa Coleman

supporting

Also known as Louisa, Miss Coleman

Elderly, proprietorial, and gloriously blunt, Miss Louisa Coleman guards her West Kensington property and the odd secrets of the house across the road.

Mrs. Henderson

supporting

Also known as Mrs. ’ Enderson

The lodging-house landlady where Robert Holt collapses, Mrs. Henderson smirks, deflects, and doles out her account of the night's horrors on her own terms.

Dora Grayling

supporting

Also known as Miss Grayling, Grayling, Miss Dora Grayling

Sweet-faced, grey-eyed Dora Grayling is the kind, overlooked woman Percy Woodville abandons at a dance while he broods over Marjorie Lindon.

Mr. Bellingham

minor

Also known as Bellingham, George Bellingham, George

A colleague or acquaintance of Lessingham with a role in the political subplot.

Matthews

minor

A servant or employee in the Lindon household.

Edwards

minor

A minor functionary or servant mentioned in the narrative.

Mr. Stone

minor

A minor acquaintance or official encountered in the story.

Mr. Phillips

minor

A minor character, possibly a lawyer or business associate.

Cabby

minor

A cab driver who provides transportation and information.

Dr. Glossop

minor

A doctor consulted regarding the strange events.

Andrews

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or police officer.

Fanchette

minor

A French maid or servant in the Lindon household.

Gustus Barley

minor

A minor character, possibly a constable or local figure.

Lord Cantilever

minor

A nobleman mentioned in connection with political circles.

Dr. Cotes

minor

A doctor who examines or treats one of the characters.

Hartridge

minor

A minor character, possibly a colleague of Atherton.

Jones

minor

Also known as Jones the Notorious

A criminal or notorious figure mentioned in passing.

Hollo

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or local.

Ellis

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or police officer.

Mr. and Mrs. Clements

minor

Also known as Mrs. Clements

A couple who run a lodging house or shop.