# The Chinese Parrot — Character guide

> Key figures in The Chinese Parrot by Earl Derr Biggers.

- [Bob Eden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/bob_eden.md): A young San Francisco firm's representative sent into the desert to buy the Phillimore Pearls, impatient to close the deal and prove himself.
- [P. J. Madden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/p_j_madden.md): A wealthy, imperious magnate whose isolated desert ranch, loaded gun collection, and nervous moods make him a host worth watching.
- [Charlie Chan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/charlie_chan.md): A Honolulu detective posing as a servant, he trades dignity for disguise and trusts patience over the hot-headed haste of youth.
- [Will Holley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/will_holley.md): A desert newspaperman who knows the local gossip, drives Bob Eden to Madden's ranch, and asks quietly whether his passenger is armed.
- [Martin Thorn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/martin_thorn.md): Madden's meagre-faced secretary, wary at the door until he hears the words Post Street, then suddenly eager to welcome the expected messenger.
- [Alexander Eden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/alexander_eden.md): The elder Eden of Meek and Eden, whose family name and business obligations hang over Bob's desert errand.
- [Paula Wendell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/paula_wendell.md): Paula Wendell moves through Eldorado with the easy confidence of someone who knows the town and its secrets, and she quickly becomes a useful counterweight to Bob Eden's impulsive East Coast energy. Her willingness to he
- [Evelyn Madden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/evelyn_madden.md): Evelyn Madden occupies the uneasy space between her father's immense wealth and the isolation of his desert retreat, carrying herself with a hauteur that keeps most people at a distance. Her involvement in the tangle of 
- [Louie Wong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/louie_wong.md): Louie Wong has spent five years tending Madden's desert ranch in near-total solitude, speaking to almost no one except the grey Australian parrot that shares his exile. His silence and self-sufficiency have made him a fi
- [Jerry Delaney](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/jerry_delaney.md): Jerry Delaney carries the wary bearing of someone who has learned to keep his past to himself, and his connection to the Madden ranch makes him a figure worth watching. He moves through the story's margins with an air of
- [Ah Kim](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/ah_kim.md): Ah Kim appears at Madden's ranch as an opportunely available cook, shuffling and bowing and speaking in the pidgin English expected of him. In truth he is Charlie Chan in disguise, and the strain of performing a caricatu
- [Sally Jordan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/sally_jordan.md): Sally Jordan belongs to the world of the pearls — the valuable string at the center of the errand that brings Bob Eden and Charlie Chan to the desert. Chan's loyalty to her is personal and deep; he jokes that he would do
- [Victor Jordan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/victor_jordan.md): Victor belongs to the Jordan family orbiting Madden's ranch, and his movements—or lack of them—draw quiet suspicion from the moment trouble surfaces. He is caught between family obligation and the pull of his own uncerta
- [Tony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/tony.md): Tony is the old caretaker Louie's only companion on the isolated ranch, a bird who rattles along in two languages and repeats anything he hears—including things nobody meant him to keep. His rough past and uncanny mimicr
- [Madame Jordan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/madame_jordan.md): Madame Jordan presides over the Jordan family with a dignity that masks how carefully she watches everyone around her, especially where her son Victor is concerned. She is protective without being sentimental, and her aw
- [Captain Bliss](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/captain_bliss.md): Captain Bliss represents the official machinery of justice in the desert community, and he approaches the case with a self-assurance that Charlie Chan quietly finds laughable. His instinct is to seize the obvious explana
- [Eddie Boston](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/eddie_boston.md): A movie actor in town with the film crew.
- [Shaky Phil Maydorf](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/shaky_phil_maydorf.md): A shady character involved in the pearl theft.
- [Norma Fitzgerald](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/norma_fitzgerald.md): A young woman connected to the movie crew.
- [Mr. De Lisle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chinese_parrot_se/characters/mr_de_lisle.md): A jeweler involved in the pearl transaction.

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