Character guide

Perkins

supporting

Also known as Derrick, Miss Derrick, II Perkins Miss Derrick, Presently Derrick, Perkins knocks, no Perkins

Perkins stayed on at Beech Lodge after the Thursbys left, and Jean Millicent recognizes her instantly as part of the house itself. She is a queer woman, best left alone, as Martin warns with a meaningful touch to his forehead — yet her unconscious babbling in an Eastern tongue becomes a thread Derrick cannot ignore. Her presence keeps the cottage's buried history alive, making her a quiet hinge between the household's daily life and the mystery beneath it.

John Martin

major

Also known as Martin, Fetch Martin

Martin tends the Lady Hillingdons and Richmonds with a tradesman's competence, but his mottled face and clenched fingers betray a tension his master reads easily. Twice proven a liar about whether he has met the mysterious peddler before, he stiffens at any mention of Eastern languages or of Perkins, insisting she is best left alone. His hidden history with the Orient makes him the story's most watchful and dangerous presence in the early arc.

Edith Derrick

major

Also known as Derrick, Edith

Edith watches her brother closely as the novel stalls and the strange events accumulate, saying little but missing nothing. She is practical where he is occult — she scrubs panels, worries about dilapidations to the Thursbys, and urges him not to burden young Jean with what is grim. Her steady, slightly cheeky presence anchors the household and gives Derrick the one person who can laugh him out of his own darkness.

Jean Millicent

major

Also known as IV Jean, Jean, Jean Millicent, Millicent

Where her mother bows to fate with hopeless wonder, Jean reads the blow as deliberate and feels the power behind it still at large. She is drawn back to Beech Lodge against every instinct of avoidance, sensing the house is somehow glad to see her, and she alone recognizes the jade god's significance when Derrick reveals it. Her resilient, questioning mind makes her Derrick's true ally as the mystery deepens.

Sergeant Burke

supporting

Also known as Burke

Burke receives Derrick at the station with the official's suspicion of the amateur, but interest overtakes him before the interview ends. He is dogged, silent, and honest about his failure, qualities that make him useful rather than obstructive as Derrick reconstructs the night of the murder. His willingness to reopen a closed wound gives the investigation its official foothold in the middle stretch of the book.

Mr. John Derrick

supporting

Also known as Mr. Derrick, Derrick

Derrick came to Beech Lodge for quiet and a novel, and instead inherited a study where a murdered man's presence lingers and a hidden panel yields an image from Burma. He matches wits with Martin over flower beds and Hindustani, pockets a wax copy of the god, and stages a dangerous reconstruction in the dead man's chair. His restless curiosity and willingness to chance what is not his drive the story's central investigation.

Blunt

supporting

Also known as Simultaneously Blunt

Blunt moves through the household as a guest whose ease with the occult unsettles as much as it charms, and his offhand remark that without the jade god he would never have found Jean ties his fate to the carving's. He treats the idol less as a curiosity than as an old acquaintance, smiling where others shudder. That ambiguous intimacy makes him the story's most disquieting presence, a man whose real errand the reader keeps trying to read.

Mr. Thursby

minor

Also known as Mr. Thursby, Mrs. Thursby, Thursby, Whereupon Mr. Thursby, Meanwhile Mrs. Thursby, Mr. and Mrs. Thursby, in Thursby

A neighbor involved in the unfolding mystery.

Mrs. Millicent

minor

Also known as Millicent, Mrs. Millicent, who she thought was going off her head, the Millicent

A matriarch of the Millicent family, possibly unstable.

Mr. Millicent

minor

Also known as Millicent, the Millicent, The Millicent

The patriarch of the Millicent family.

Mr. Jarrad

major

Also known as Jarrad

Jarrad arrives to catalogue an old house's furnishings but spends at least as much attention on the appetites that gathered them, musing that humanity is run by things, just things. His running debate with the younger Dawkins about whether objects can exert influence turns from dry professional banter into something closer to prophecy once the jade god enters the frame. He matters because he supplies the novel's central question before the plot has finished asking it.

Unknown

supporting

He presents himself as a worn-out trader too exhausted to move on, yet Martin's stammered evasions and the man's failure at Hindustani and Malay expose a story stitched together badly. Derrick, testing him, finds the lies point nowhere and everywhere at once. His presence forces the household to ask who else has come around the world for the idol, and whether the danger is already inside the gates.

The Woman

minor

Also known as The woman

A mysterious woman whose presence haunts the narrative.

Her Brother

minor

Also known as Her brother

A brother of a central female character, mentioned frequently.

The Stranger

minor

Also known as The stranger

An unknown person who appears at a critical moment.

Henry Millicent

minor

Also known as Millicent

A male member of the Millicent family.

Jack

minor

Also known as the old Jack

An older man with ties to the Derrick household.

Her Father

minor

Also known as her father

The father of a central female character, referenced often.

Mr. Dawkins

minor

Also known as Dawkins

A local man who may know more than he lets on.

The Doctor

minor

Also known as The doctor

A physician called to attend to the ill or injured.

The Thursbys

minor

Also known as the Thursbys

The Thursby family, neighbors with a role in the plot.

Constable Peters

minor

Also known as Peters

A local constable assisting in the investigation.

Lung Sen

minor

Also known as Lung

A mysterious figure from the East with occult knowledge.

Beech Lodge

minor

Also known as Beech

A location, possibly a house, central to the story.

Miss Millicent

minor

Also known as Millicent

A younger member of the Millicent family.

Dr. Henry

minor

A doctor who treats characters in the story.

Your Master

minor

Also known as Your master

A figure of authority referenced by servants.

Master

minor

Also known as Master

A term used for a male head of household.

His Master

minor

Also known as his master

A master referenced by a male servant.

Father

minor

A paternal figure, possibly a priest or parent.

The Unknown Derrick

minor

A mysterious Derrick family member with hidden identity.

Things

minor

Vague entities or objects referenced in the narrative.

The Derricks

minor

The Derrick family as a collective.

The Millicents

minor

Also known as the other Millicents

The Millicent family as a collective.

Poor Martin

minor

Also known as Martin

A pitiable version of John Martin, possibly a different aspect.

James

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or visitor.

Mother

minor

A maternal figure referenced in the story.

Burma

minor

A location mentioned as a place of origin or reference.

George

minor

A minor character, possibly a friend or relative.