# The Hollow Needle — Character guide

> Key figures in The Hollow Needle by Maurice Leblanc.

- [Isidore Beautrelet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/isidore_beautrelet.md): Beautrelet is a Lycée Janson-de-Sailly pupil, industrious and of exemplary behavior, whose reputation as an observer whom nothing escapes has reached the examining magistrate before he ever appears in the case. He carrie
- [Arsène Lupin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/arsene_lupin.md): Lupin moves through the story as a myth that reality cannot account for, a man whose infinite resources still require a sure retreat and the certainty of impunity. The Needle supplies both: a royal strongroom of Meroving
- [Inspector Ganimard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/ganimard.md): Ganimard is the professional whose place, the magistrate insists, is in the room whenever Beautrelet speaks, though the inspector would clearly rather be elsewhere. He is nonplussed by the boy's low bow, skeptical of arm
- [Raymonde de Saint-Véran](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/raymonde_de_saint_veran.md): Raymonde is a guest in the de Gesvres household, quick to rise and look out when a noise wakes her, and steady enough to think through what she sees even as her cousin Suzanne clings to her in fear. She weighs calling fo
- [Comte de Gesvres](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/comte_de_gesvres.md): The Comte de Gesvres presides over a country house of lawns, thickets, and the tragic ruins of an old abbey, a setting whose peace is broken by intruders and a shot. His room adjoins the boudoir where the thieves worked,
- [M. Filleul](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/m_filleul.md): A local magistrate or official involved in the early investigation.
- [Mlle. de Saint-Véran](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/mlle_de_saint_veran.md): A relative of Raymonde, present at the de Gesvres château.
- [M. Massiban](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/m_massiban.md): Massiban belongs to the world of archives and erudition that Beautrelet must consult when deduction alone runs out, an elderly authority on the deep history of the Havre estuary and the old centres of French power. He re
- [Holmlock Shears](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/holmlock_shears.md): A famous English detective who briefly collaborates with Lupin.
- [Suzanne de Gesvres](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/suzanne_de_gesvres.md): Daughter of the Comte de Gesvres, a young woman at the château.
- [Mme. de Villemon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/mme_de_villemon.md): A mysterious woman connected to the crime and Lupin's past.
- [M. Brédoux](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/m_bredoux.md): A police officer or detective involved in the case.
- [Froberval](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/froberval.md): A local character who provides information to the investigators.
- [Baron Anfredi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/baron_anfredi.md): A nobleman who appears in the historical backstory.
- [M. de Larbeyrie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hollow_needle_se/characters/m_de_larbeyrie.md): A nobleman involved in the historical conspiracy.

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