Character guide

John Quincy Winterslip

major

Also known as John Quincy, Quincy, Mr. Dan Winterslip, Mr. Quincy, Winterslip

John Quincy arrives in Honolulu expecting a brief errand and instead inherits a corpse, a scandal, and a crash course in island life. Bound by honor to Agatha back home yet unnerved by his cousin Barbara's sudden freedom, he keeps misreading his own impulses and blaming the moonlight. His eagerness to prove himself to Chan makes him the reader's eyes on a mystery that keeps widening.

Charlie Chan

major

Also known as Chan, Mr. Chan, Mr. Charles Chan, Detective-Sergeant Chan

Chan works the Winterslip murder with patient good humor, treating each false lead as a lesson rather than a defeat. A devoted husband and father of nine, he watches John Quincy's romantic missteps with amused concern and warns him to put on the armor of preparation. His method — slow, courteous, relentless — quietly outclasses the louder police work around him.

Dan Winterslip

major

Also known as Mr. Winterslip, Mr. Daniel Winterslip, Mr. Dan, Cousin Dan

Dan lived lavishly, made his own laws, and left a trail of whispers that the family would rather bury with him. In his last weeks a cable from Roger shattered his composure, and he paced his lanai like something cornered. His murder forces the Winterslips to confront the indiscretions they spent decades pretending not to see.

Miss Minerva Winterslip

supporting

Also known as Minerva, Miss Minerva, Aunt Minerva

Minerva presides over the household with Boston propriety and an unexpectedly tender eye for island beauty, torn between packing her trunks and watching one more sunset. When Dan is killed she refuses Amos's moralizing and takes charge, insisting the family investigate before the police drag its secrets into daylight. Her brisk competence and willingness to face the Widow of Waikiki herself make her far more than a maiden aunt.

Captain Hallet

supporting

Also known as Hallet, Captain

Hallet grinds through the investigation with method and a certain satisfaction at watching prominent people squirm, pressing Jim Egan hard in a shabby hotel office. He bristles at the family's attempts to manage the inquiry privately, and his rivalry with Chan over how the case should be run sharpens the tension. His determination to leave nothing dark on anyone's account drives the plot toward uncomfortable revelations.

Jim Egan

supporting

Also known as Egan, Mr. Jim Egan, Mr. Egan, Mr. James Egan

Egan runs a failing establishment on the edge of town, a man whose better days are visibly behind him and whose appointment with Dan Winterslip the night of the murder makes him the obvious suspect. He admits the meeting but insists he left his old associate alive and in good spirits, a claim Hallet clearly disbelieves. His nervous cigarette and furtive glance at the departing trolley suggest a man with more to hide than he is telling.

Amos Winterslip

supporting

Also known as Amos, Mr. Amos Winterslip, Uncle Amos, Cousin Amos

Amos Winterslip is the estranged brother of the murdered Dan, a man who made avoiding beauty the first rule of his life and who knows more about Dan's secrets than he ever let on. He carries the Winterslip gypsy strain under a Puritan's rigid surface, and his cold, precise knowledge of Dan's affairs—including the Compton woman and the South Seas jewelry—makes him a quiet but essential witness. His refusal to speak to Dan while alive haunts the investigation into how Dan died.

Carlota Maria Egan

supporting

Also known as Carlota Egan, Carlota, Miss Egan

Carlota Egan moves through Honolulu as the daughter of the Reef and Palm's proprietor, a girl whose quiet dignity sets her apart from the carefree beach crowd. Her father's hidden past and his desperate act to protect her bind her to the Winterslip murder in ways she cannot escape. John Quincy's growing fascination with her pulls him deeper into the case and into the islands themselves, making her both a romantic anchor and a moral compass.

Barbara Winterslip

supporting

Also known as Barbara, Miss Barbara, Miss Barbara Winterslip, Poor Barbara

Barbara Winterslip is the daughter of the murdered Dan, a gentle presence in a family full of hard men and old grudges. Her broken engagement to Harry Jennison—partly tangled up with a misunderstood cousinly kiss—leaves her exposed just as she inherits both Dan's fortune and his secrets. Her welfare becomes the stated reason Miss Minerva conceals evidence from the police, making Barbara the emotional stake over which the investigation's ethics are fought.

Mr. Greene

supporting

Also known as Greene

Greene serves as the Winterslip family's attorney, a man comfortable navigating the gray space between the law and the family's reputation. He presses Jim Egan toward confession while promising to keep the story out of the newspapers, revealing a pragmatism that treats truth as a commodity to be managed. His presence in the case's middle stretch shows how thoroughly the murder has entangled the family's legal, financial, and personal affairs.

Thomas Macan Brade

supporting

Also known as Mr. Thomas Brade, Tom Brade, Mr. Brade, Brade

Thomas Macan Brade is a broken-down colonial official who surfaces in Honolulu with a story about Dan Winterslip's theft aboard the blackbirder Maid of Shiloh in the 1880s. Humble and defeated in bearing yet capable of sudden flashes of defiance, he travels under an assumed name and claims never to have met Dan in his life. His demand for restitution—or the threat of publicity—forces Barbara and John Quincy to reckon with how far the Winterslip fortune reaches back into other people's ruin.

Harry Jennison

supporting

Also known as Jennison, Mr. Jennison

Harry Jennison is Barbara's fiancé, a young man from the mainland whose courtship of a Winterslip daughter places him squarely inside the family's orbit. When he witnesses what he takes to be a romantic moment between Barbara and her cousin John Quincy, the engagement collapses—an estrangement that ripples through the household just as the murder investigation tightens. His wounded pride and uncertain standing make him a figure the reader must keep watching, even as the case pulls attention elsewhere.

Roger Winterslip

minor

Also known as Roger, Dear Roger, Dear old Roger

John Quincy's father, a Boston businessman concerned about the family.

Steve Leatherbee

minor

Also known as Mr. Leatherbee, Leatherbee, Mr. Stephen Leatherbee, little Stevie

A young man involved in the Honolulu social scene.

Captain Arthur Temple Cope

minor

Also known as Captain Cope, Cope, Arthur

A sea captain with a past connection to the Egan family.

Agatha Parker

minor

Also known as Agatha

A friend of Barbara Winterslip from Boston.

Haku

minor

Also known as the startled Haku

A Hawaiian servant in the Winterslip household.

Madame Maynard

minor

Also known as the sprightly Madame Maynard

A fortune teller and eccentric figure in Honolulu.

Kamaikui

minor

A Hawaiian woman connected to the island's history.

Lieutenant Booth

minor

Also known as Booth

A naval officer involved in the investigation.

Mr. Bowker

minor

Also known as Bowker

A detective working with Captain Hallet and Charlie Chan.

Mr. Saladine

minor

Also known as Saladine

A friend of Dan Winterslip who appears at the house.

Dick Kaohla

minor

Also known as Kaohla, Mr. Kaohla, Mr. Dick Kaohla

A Hawaiian man with a grudge against Dan Winterslip.

Arlene Compton

minor

Also known as Mrs. Compton, Mrs. Arlene Compton

A glamorous woman staying at the Reef and Palm hotel.

Pete Mayberry

minor

Also known as Mayberry, Pete Mayberry, Mr. Mayberry

A young man who becomes a suspect in the murder.

Lau Ho

minor

A Chinese man with knowledge of the island's secrets.

Mr. Hepworth

minor

Also known as Hepworth

A businessman acquainted with the Winterslip family.

Willie Chan

minor

Also known as Chan, Willie

Charlie Chan's son, who assists his father.

Joe Clark

minor

Also known as Clark

A sailor with information about the case.

José Cabrera

minor

Also known as Cabrera, the Spaniard

A Spanish sailor with a role in the story.

Frank Upton

minor

Also known as The Reverend Frank Upton, Reverend Mr. Upton

A minister who appears in Honolulu.

Okamoto

minor

A Japanese man encountered during the investigation.

Henry Chan

minor

Also known as Chan

Another of Charlie Chan's sons.

Okuda

minor

A Japanese servant in the Winterslip household.

Bill Compton

minor

Also known as Bill

Arlene Compton's husband.

Hagin

minor

A man who appears at the Reef and Palm hotel.