Character guide

John Thorndyke

major

Also known as Doctor John Thorndyke, Thorndyke, Doctor Thorndyke, Dr. Thorndyke, John

Thorndyke teaches forensic medicine at St. Margaret's, where his habit of dissecting contemporary newspaper cases in class first draws his students into the Bellingham mystery. He is a man of inexhaustible curiosity and method, equally at home with chemistry, biology, and the trivia of human habit, and he treats each puzzle as a chance to demonstrate that the smallest detail can decide a life. His involvement matters because he alone sees the legal and scientific stakes in a disappearance that others dismiss as mere scandal.

Arthur Jellicoe

major

Also known as Mr. Jellicoe, Jellicoe, Arthur Jellicoe

Jellicoe is the confidential agent and lawyer for the Bellingham family, a man so cautious he negotiates his own surrender through a window before admitting visitors. He receives Thorndyke and Inspector Badger with stiff courtesy, offering sherry and cigarettes while coolly announcing he has expected this visit since spotting the detective at the Inner Temple gate. His composure and his evident foreknowledge make him a pivotal, unsettling presence in the early investigation, a man whose silences are as telling as his words.

John Bellingham

major

Also known as Mr. John Bellingham, Bellingham, the late John Bellingham, Poor John Bellingham

John Bellingham is the man at the center of the mystery: a well-known collector who came back from Egypt, called on his relative Mr. Hurst at Eltham, and was never seen leaving the house. His disappearance leaves a will in dispute, a brother suddenly impoverished, and a daughter adrift, while the scarab found in the grass becomes the first tangible clue. His absence, more than his presence, drives the novel's early arc, forcing everyone around him to reconstruct a man from fragments.

Godfrey Bellingham

major

Also known as Mr. Godfrey Bellingham, Godfrey, Mr. Bellingham

Godfrey Bellingham lives quietly at Woodford with his daughter, his health and fortune both broken, when his brother's disappearance leaves him entangled in legal complications he cannot afford to fight. He tells Berkeley the strange story of the ill-drafted will, revealing a family already strained by money and suspicion before the vanishing. His poverty and his dependence on others make him both sympathetic and suspect, and his testimony is one of the threads Thorndyke must test against the physical evidence.

George Hurst

supporting

Also known as Mr. Hurst, Hurst, George

Hurst is the relative John Bellingham came to visit, a conventional man whose orderly household becomes the stage for an impossible disappearance. He arrives home, passes into his study, and emerges to find his guest gone, with the housemaid certain no one left by the front. His prompt report to Jellicoe and the Bellinghams sets the investigation in motion, and his account of that evening remains one of the case's most puzzling and consequential testimonies.

Miss Bellingham

supporting

Also known as Bellingham, Murdered Man Miss Bellingham

Ruth lives with her father Godfrey in reduced circumstances, her learning and self-possession setting her apart from the ordinary run of young women Berkeley has known. His growing fascination with her pulls him deeper into the Bellingham affair, and her composure under family disgrace makes her both vulnerable and formidable. She matters because the mystery is not only a puzzle of law and evidence but a human wreckage she must navigate, and because her connection to Berkeley gives the investigation its beating heart.

Miss Oman

supporting

Also known as Poor Miss Oman

Miss Oman moves between the Bellinghams' lodgings and Dr. Berkeley's surgery, carrying news, opinions, and a tongue like a whiplash. Her sardonic sparring with Berkeley masks a deep attachment to Ruth Bellingham, whose injured hand she dresses before anyone else is told. She matters because her blunt errands and tart asides keep the household's daily life — and its vulnerabilities — in plain view.

Jervis

supporting

Also known as Doctor Jervis

Jervis accompanies Thorndyke into the locked room where Jellicoe holds court, part of the small circle admitted to the lawyer's strange surrender. He is the steady second pair of eyes — observant, wry, and content to let his senior take the lead. His presence grounds the investigation in professional routine, reminding readers that this is a case worked by trained men, not merely a puzzle solved by genius.

Ruth Bellingham

supporting

Also known as Ruth, Bellingham

Ruth supports her father through the disappearance of her uncle John, earning her living by scholarly work on cuneiform tablets even as suspicion settles on her. She faces her peril with a cold self-possession that chills Berkeley even as it draws him in, and she refuses to indulge false hope about her uncle's fate. Her quiet conviction that the evidence points to her gives the early investigation its emotional stakes.

Dr. Norbury

supporting

Also known as Norbury, Doctor Norbury

Norbury brings word of a letter from a German colleague who recalls an Englishman seen in Vienna, a thread Thorndyke wants Ruth and her father to pull. His scholarly connections open a possible continental trail just when the case seems closed by the discovery of a body. He matters because his information tests whether the dead man might still be alive — and whether Ruth's guilt is as certain as she believes.

Inspector Badger

supporting

Also known as Badger, Mr. Badger

Badger leads the official investigation and finds himself negotiating Jellicoe's surrender through a window, then seated at the lawyer's table with a glass of sherry he barely touches. He is competent but conventional, and his instinct to hurry the business collides with Thorndyke's patient method. His presence marks the boundary between official police work and the scientific detection that will ultimately resolve the case.

Mr. Loram

minor

A witness or associate in the legal proceedings.

Doctor Berkeley

minor

Also known as Berkeley, Dr. Berkeley

A medical doctor who provides testimony.

Paul Berkeley

minor

Also known as Berkeley, Paul

A younger man possibly related to Doctor Berkeley.

Polton

minor

Also known as the trusty Polton

Thorndyke's loyal laboratory assistant.

Doctor Barnard

minor

Also known as Barnard, Dick Barnard

A doctor who appears in the narrative.

Mr. Marchmont

minor

Also known as Marchmont, old Gray

A solicitor from Gray's Inn.

Osiris

minor

Also known as the good Osiris

Egyptian god of the dead, referenced in the narrative.

Uncle John

minor

Also known as poor Uncle John, Poor old Uncle John

Affectionate name for John Bellingham used by family.

The Judge

minor

Also known as the judge, the Judge

Presiding judge in the probate court proceedings.

Pope

minor

Also known as Mr. Pope

A minor character involved in the case.

Adolphus

minor

A minor character mentioned in the story.

Dr. Summers

minor

Also known as Summers, Doctor Summers

A medical professional consulted in the case.

Mrs. Gummer

minor

A housekeeper or servant in the Bellingham household.

Mrs. Jablett

minor

A woman connected to the Bellingham family.

Mr. Heath

minor

Also known as Heath

A minor character in the legal proceedings.

Davis

minor

Also known as Constable Davis

A police constable assisting in the investigation.

Nevill

minor

A character mentioned in the story.

Artemidorus

minor

Also known as XVI O Artemidorus

An ancient author referenced in the Egyptological discussions.

Sebek-hotep

minor

Also known as Sebek

An ancient Egyptian figure mentioned in the story.

Miss Dobbs

minor

Also known as Dobbs

A minor female character.

Jacob

minor

A minor character mentioned in passing.

Dr. Brandon

minor

A doctor briefly mentioned.

Herr Lederbogen

minor

Also known as Lederbogen

A German scholar or acquaintance.

Mr. Finneymore

minor

A minor character in the story.

Tahuti

minor

Also known as Tahuti Jellicoe

An Egyptian deity or alias used by Jellicoe.

Horus

minor

Egyptian god mentioned in the Egyptological context.

Sir Morgan Bennett

minor

Also known as Sir Morgan

A baronet or dignitary mentioned in the story.