# The Benson Murder Case — Character guide

> Key figures in The Benson Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine.

- [John Markham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/john_markham.md): Markham is the city's chief prosecutor, a man of methodical rigor who projects the District Attorney's office into every corner of the Benson investigation. His instinct is to build a case against the obvious suspect, an
- [Philo Vance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/philo_vance.md): Vance is a wealthy, cultured amateur who becomes an unofficial consultant in Markham's investigations, armed with a languid drawl and a habit of quoting the obscure. He disdains the obvious suspect and the legal mind's r
- [Ernest Heath](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/ernest_heath.md): Heath is the NYPD's boots-on-the-ground man, reporting to Markham and executing the legwork that turns suspicion into evidence. He is skeptical of Vance's airy methods but respects results, and his instinct for pressure 
- [Alvin Benson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/alvin_benson.md): Benson is the murder victim, a man whose fortune and appetites — for money and for other men's women — made him widely disliked. His treatment of his secretary and his financial dealings with clients like Miss St. Clair 
- [Major Anthony Benson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/major_anthony_benson.md): Major Benson is the surviving brother, a soldier whose strained history with Alvin colors how the family is viewed by investigators. He provides Markham with information about Alvin's personal affairs and social circle, 
- [Captain Philip Leacock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/captain_philip_leacock.md): Leacock is an army officer whose engagement to Miss St. Clair puts him in direct conflict with Benson's attentions to her. His height, his possession of the murder weapon, and his evasive protectiveness of the woman he l
- [Leander Pfyfe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/leander_pfyfe.md): Pfyfe and Benson were inseparable in the old Haymarket days, living together before Pfyfe married a woman who now makes him toe the mark. He dabbled in speculation through Benson and Benson and, by his own airy admission
- [Muriel St. Clair](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/muriel_st_clair.md): Muriel St. Clair is an independent artist who had been losing money through Benson's firm and suspected he was engineering her losses on purpose. Her resentment of his attitude that final evening drove her to abandon his
- [Colonel Bigsby Ostrander](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/colonel_bigsby_ostrander.md): A military acquaintance of the Bensons, present at the crime scene.
- [Anna Platz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/anna_platz.md): Housekeeper for Alvin Benson, who discovers the body.
- [Miss Hoffman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/miss_hoffman.md): A stenographer or secretary connected to the Benson household.
- [Phelps](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/phelps.md): A minor character involved in the case.
- [Captain Carl Hagedorn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/captain_carl_hagedorn.md): A sea captain and acquaintance of the Bensons.
- [Paula Banning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/paula_banning.md): A woman connected to Pfyfe and the Benson circle.
- [Dinwiddie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/dinwiddie.md): An assistant district attorney working on the case.
- [Currie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/currie.md): Vance's valet or servant.
- [Snitkin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/snitkin.md): A minor character, possibly a police officer.
- [William M. Moran](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters/william_moran.md): A police inspector involved in the case.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_benson_murder_case_se/characters