# Annette Boirac — The Cask character guide

> Annette Boirac in The Cask by Freeman Wills Crofts.

**Role:** major

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

**First appearance:** 0000-part-i-london

## Snapshot

The woman whose body fills the cask — a wife whose possible elopement with Felix turns every question of motive inside out.

## Who they are

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.

## In the story

### [VIII: The Opening of the Cask](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/viii-the-opening-of-the-cask)

Found dead inside the cask, strangled, with a typewritten note pinned to her dress.

### [Part II: Paris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/part-ii-paris)

Her possible involvement is considered as the investigation progresses.

### [XIII: The Owner of the Dress](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xiii-the-owner-of-the-dress)

Deceased; her dress is identified by M. Boirac and traced to her purchase.

### [XIV: M. Boirac Makes a Statement](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xiv-m-boirac-makes-a-statement)

The subject of the statement; her farewell letter reveals she has left her husband for Léon Felix.

### [Inspector Burnley Up Against It](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xvi-inspector-burnley-up-against-it)

Disappeared after the dinner party; believed to have eloped with Felix; her shoes and coat were taken.

### [XX: Some Damning Evidence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xx-some-damning-evidence)

The presumed victim; Burnley theorizes she discovered the letter, quarreled with Felix, and was murdered; the diamond pin may be hers.

### [Part III: London and Paris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/part-iii-london-and-paris)

Identified as the woman whose body was found in the cask.

### [XXII: Felix Tells a Second Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xxii-felix-tells-a-second-story)

Referred to as the deceased; Felix describes his past acquaintance with her as Mlle. Annette Humbert.

### [XXIII: Clifford Gets to Work](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xxiii-clifford-gets-to-work)

Annette is the victim; her disappearance and the events of the night of the dinner party are central to the case.

### [XXVIII: The Unravelling of the Web](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xxviii-the-unravelling-of-the-web)

The victim; her body was placed in the cask by her husband.

### [A Dramatic Dénouement](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/chapters/xxix-a-dramatic-d-nouement)

The murdered wife; her body was placed in the cask and her clothes disposed of by Boirac.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/characters/annette_boirac
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cask_se/characters