Character guide

Mr. Georges La Touche

major

Also known as La Touche, Georges, Mr. La Touche, Touche, Georges La Touche, M. La Touche

La Touche works the margins of the investigation, paying porters for descriptions and staking his dwindling funds on hunches the official police overlook. His restless night produces the insight that the reward notices have been aimed at the wrong man entirely, and he drafts a circular under a false name to reach the carter's employers. His willingness to spend and dissemble for an accused man's sake makes him the story's quiet engine of alternative inquiry.

Mr. Felix

major

Also known as Felix, Mr. Léon Felix, Léon, Léon Felix, M. Léon Felix, M. Felix

Felix is the consignee whose name is stencilled on the cask, a designer with a housekeeper conveniently away on holiday when the body travelled. He produces envelopes to prove his identity, signs for the shipment, and disappears for twenty-two hours that the police cannot account for. Whether he is a grieving man, a fugitive, or something stranger, his absence shapes every question the detectives ask in the early and middle chapters.

M. Boirac

major

Also known as Raoul, M. Raoul Boirac, Armande, M. Armande Boirac

Boirac sits at the centre of the case's most obvious motive: a husband who may or may not have known his wife was leaving him for another man. The discovery of a matching cask unpacked in his study briefly hardens suspicion, then dissolves into an explanation that leaves the Chief doubting again. His love, or lack of it, for Annette becomes the pivot on which the whole theory of the crime turns.

M. Lefarge

supporting

Also known as Lefarge

Lefarge is the steady, methodical half of the investigative pair, the one who remembers that the cask's weight was extraordinary and that the carter's description might be worth fifty francs. He is not afraid to challenge the Chief's narrowing focus, suggesting that someone entirely outside the Felix-Boirac triangle may be responsible. His patient reconstruction of the cask's movements gives the middle chapters their spine.

Inspector Burnley

major

Also known as Burnley, Mr. Burnley

Burnley is the official mind of the case, cautious with his suspicions and careful with his evidence, refusing to commit himself even to Felix on the walk to the Yard. He supervises the unpacking himself, sifting sawdust through his fingers until the sovereigns give way to something far worse. His disciplined, almost reticent method contrasts with La Touche's gambits and sets the tone for the investigation's slow, granular progress.

Annette Boirac

major

Also known as Madame Annette Boirac, Madame, Madame Boirac, Annette Humbert

Annette is known to the reader first as a dress sold in February, then as a name on a hotel register, and only gradually as a woman with a life the detectives must reconstruct from fragments. Her marriage to Boirac, her connection to Felix, and the question of whether she left willingly or was taken become the case's central ambiguity. She never speaks in the passages, yet her choices — or the choices attributed to her — determine who is suspected and why.

Clifford

supporting

Also known as Mr. Clifford

The solicitor who takes on the suspected man's defence, drawn less by duty than by his private delight in the uncommon and bizarre.

Mr. Broughton

supporting

Also known as Broughton, Tom Broughton

A shipping clerk with salt in his veins and romance in his head, he longs for far-off ports while tallying wine casks in a London hold.

Dr. William Martin

minor

Also known as Dr. Martin, Martin

A medical professional who examines the body.

M. Le Gautier

minor

Also known as Le Gautier, Alphonse Le Gautier, M. Alphonse Le Gautier

A French contact or suspect in the investigation.

Mr. Avery

minor

Also known as Avery

A minor character who provides information.

Constable Walker

minor

Also known as Walker

A police constable assisting Burnley.

François

minor

Also known as M. François

A servant or employee in the Boirac household.

Pierre Bonchose

minor

Also known as Bonchose, Mr. Pierre Bonchose, Mr. Bonchose

A witness or minor figure in the case.

Mr. Harkness

minor

Also known as Harkness

A minor character who appears in the investigation.

Watty

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or worker.

M. Chauvet

minor

Also known as Chauvet

A French character involved in the plot.

Jean Dubois

minor

Also known as Dubois, M. Jean Dubois

A minor French character.

M. Mallet

minor

Also known as Mallet

A minor French character.

Lucius Heppenstall

minor

Also known as Heppenstall, Mr. Lucius Heppenstall, Mr. Heppenstall

A minor character, possibly a friend or associate.

M. Dumarchez

minor

Also known as Dumarchez

A minor French character.

Henri François

minor

Also known as François

A minor character, possibly a servant.

Suzanne Lemaître

minor

Also known as Suzanne

A minor female character.

M. Paul Thévenet

minor

Also known as M. Thévenet

A minor French character.

Mrs. Bridget Murphy

minor

Also known as Mrs. Murphy

A minor character, possibly a housekeeper.

Sergeant Hastings

minor

Also known as Hastings

A police sergeant assisting the investigation.

Sergeant Kelvin

minor

Also known as Kelvin

A police sergeant.

John Hill

minor

Also known as Hill

A minor character, possibly a witness.

M. Thomas

minor

Also known as Thomas

A minor character in the story.

Walter Palmer

minor

Also known as Palmer

A minor character mentioned in the investigation.

Mr. Henry Gordon

minor

Also known as Henry Gordon, Mr. Gordon

A minor character, possibly a business contact.

Messrs. Dupierre

minor

Also known as Dupierre, MM. Dupierre

A firm or individuals involved in shipping.

Mlle. Lambert

minor

Also known as Éloise Lambert, Lambert, Mlle. Éloise Lambert

A young woman connected to the case.

Jim Brown

minor

Also known as Jim

A minor character.

Mr. Huston

minor

Also known as Huston

A minor character.

Jules Fouchard

minor

Also known as Jules, Fouchard

A minor character.

Farol

minor

A minor character.

M. Pascot

minor

A minor French character.

Miss Gladys Devine

minor

Also known as Miss Devine

A celebrated actress mentioned in the story.

M. Jaques de Belleville

minor

Also known as M. de Belleville, Jaques de Belleville

A minor French aristocrat.

Emmie

minor

A minor character, possibly a child.

Mlle. Blaise

minor

Also known as Blaise

A minor female character.

M. Dufresne

minor

A minor French character.

Jean Duval

minor

Also known as Jean, Duval

A minor character.

Suzanne Daudet

minor

Also known as Suzanne

A minor female character.

Mr. Wilcox

minor

Also known as Wilcox

A minor character.

John Lyons

minor

Also known as John

A minor character.

M. Humbert

minor

Also known as André Humbert

The late father of Annette Boirac.

Captain M'Nabb

minor

A minor character, possibly a sea captain.

M. Guillaume Leblanc

minor

Also known as M. Leblanc

A minor French character.

M. Guillaume Faneuil

minor

Also known as M. Faneuil

A minor French character.