Character guide

The Narrator

major

Also known as Unknown, I, me, myself, your, yourself, yours, mine

Everett Raymond is a professional man whose legal mind and personal sympathies collide when he takes up the Leavenworth case, convinced that Eleanore is shielding someone. His growing devotion to her drives him to challenge the detective's conclusions and pursue suspects the police overlook, even as he questions his own objectivity. His struggle between duty and desire shapes how the reader sees every clue and every suspect.

Mary Leavenworth

major

Also known as Miss Mary Leavenworth, Molly, Mary, Molly O'Flanagan, the two Misses Leavenworth, Mary Leavenworth

Mary Leavenworth is the beautiful, socially gifted niece whose composure under suspicion strikes observers as either innocence or extraordinary self-command. She deflects inquiry with sweetness and retreats behind notes and headaches when pressed, leaving the narrator unsure whether she is a victim, an accomplice, or something worse. Her evasions and her secret ties to Henry Clavering make her the emotional and moral puzzle at the center of the investigation.

Eleanore Leavenworth

major

Also known as Miss Eleanore, Miss Eleanore Leavenworth, Eleanore, Miss Leavenworth, the Misses Leavenworth, Leavenworth

Eleanore Leavenworth is the quieter, more austere of the two nieces, and the one the evidence most directly incriminates. Rather than defend herself, she refuses to explain her actions, accepting suspicion with a stoicism that reads as guilt to the police but as sacrifice to the narrator. Her refusal to speak, combined with her obvious anguish, makes her the mystery the narrator is most desperate to solve.

Mr. Gryce

major

Also known as Instantly Mr. Gryce, X Mr. Gryce Receives New Impetus, this Mr. Gryce, Ebenezer Gryce

Ebenezer Gryce is the methodical police detective whose quiet, almost indifferent demeanor conceals a sharp and stubborn intelligence. He tolerates the narrator's interference with dry amusement but never abandons his own theory of the crime, even when the narrator insists he is wrong. His professional certainty becomes the wall the narrator must break through if Eleanore is to be spared.

Henry Clavering

major

Also known as Mr. Henry Clavering, Mr. Clavering, Clavering, Henry Ritchie Clavering, Henry

Henry Clavering moves through the case under assumed names, calling at the house as Mr. Robbins one night and as himself another, and his connection to Eleanore is the subject of servants' whispers. The threatening letter he sent to Horatio Leavenworth reveals a man who believed he had a claim on one of the nieces and was willing to destroy her reputation to enforce it. His presence turns the investigation toward questions of love, blackmail, and motive that the police are slow to pursue.

Horatio Leavenworth

supporting

Also known as Mr. Leavenworth, the late Mr. Leavenworth, Horatio, Mr. Horatio Leavenworth

Horatio Leavenworth was a millionaire recluse who doted on his beautiful niece Mary until an anonymous letter from Henry Clavering shattered his trust in her. The letter, intercepted by his secretary, drove a wedge between uncle and niece in the days before the murder, giving investigators a motive to trace. His death is the crime, but his private correspondence and favoritism are the engine of the mystery.

Amy Belden

supporting

Also known as Hamlet, Belden, Mrs. Amy Belden, Mrs. Belden, Amy

Amy Belden keeps the kind of quiet household where a stranger's knock is weighed before the door is opened, and where old loyalties outlast old scandals. Her knowledge of the family reaches back through years of service and silence, making her both a refuge and a risk for anyone tracing the Leavenworths' hidden connections. When investigators begin pulling at threads the family would rather leave knotted, Mrs. Belden's guarded memory becomes a room they must enter, whether she opens the door or not.

Hannah

supporting

Also known as Hannah niver, Hannah Chester

Hannah Chester is the kind of servant who sees everything and says nothing, which makes her sudden centrality to the murder inquiry both dangerous and inevitable. Her knowledge of the household's private hours places her at the intersection of loyalty, fear, and self-preservation, and the question of what she will reveal — and to whom — shadows every interview. When her voice is permanently silenced, the mystery deepens rather than closes, and the fact of her death becomes one of the case's most damning pieces of evidence.

Mr. Harwell

supporting

Also known as James Trueman Harwell, James Harwell, Harwell, Trueman Harwell, Trueman

Trueman Harwell works in the library with the mechanical precision of a man who has trained himself to feel nothing, yet his employer's narrator finds him impossible to read and impossible to dismiss. His refusal to speak of the family's troubles, his unvarying diligence, and the faint suggestion that his silence is a choice rather than a temperament keep suspicion circling him without ever landing. He is the quiet center of the household's unease — a man whose restraint may be discipline, or may be the lid on something far more volatile.

Raymond

minor

Also known as Mr. Raymond

A lawyer or associate involved in the legal proceedings.

Q

supporting

Also known as Q.

Q writes in a hand no one can trace and knows details that should be private, making every letter a small crisis of trust for the detectives who receive them. The correspondence arrives at precisely the moments when the case most needs a push, which raises the uncomfortable question of whether Q is a helpful citizen, a guilty party, or something stranger still. In a mystery built on sealed rooms and family secrets, Q is the voice from outside the house — and no one can decide whether to follow it or fear it.

Thomas

minor

Also known as Thomas Dougherty, Thomas Loworthy, Thomas the butler

The butler in the Leavenworth household.

Mr. Monell

minor

Also known as Monell

A character who appears in connection with the investigation.

Mr. Fobbs

minor

Also known as the man Fobbs, Fobbs

A minor figure encountered during the inquiry.

Kate

minor

Also known as Katherine Malone, Katherine

A maid or servant in the Leavenworth home.

Mr. Veeley

minor

Also known as Veeley, Ask Mr. Veeley

A person of interest or witness in the case.

Mr. Le Roy Robbins

minor

Also known as Mr. Robbins, Robbins, LeRoy Robbins

A character mentioned in relation to the Leavenworth affairs.

Mamma Hubbard

minor

A minor character, possibly a neighbor or acquaintance.

Timothy Cook

minor

Also known as Cook, Tim

A witness or servant with information about the crime.

Mr. Cook

minor

A separate individual from Timothy Cook, possibly a relative.

Mrs. Veeley

minor

Wife of Mr. Veeley, involved in the household.

Mr. Stebbins

minor

Also known as the deceased Mr. Stebbins

A deceased person whose past connects to the case.

Dr. Maynard

minor

A physician who examines the body or provides testimony.

Dick Furbish

minor

Also known as Dick

A minor character, possibly a servant or acquaintance.

Mrs. Leavenworth

minor

Possibly the late Mr. Leavenworth's wife or a relative.

Mary Clavering

minor

A relative of Henry Clavering, possibly his mother or sister.

Mrs. Clavering

minor

Also known as Mrs. Henry Clavering

Henry Clavering's mother, a minor character.

Mrs. Wilson

minor

Also known as this Mrs. Wilson

A minor character, possibly a housekeeper or neighbor.

Mrs. Darrell

minor

A minor figure in the story's social circle.

Smith & Jones

minor

Also known as Smith

A firm or individuals mentioned in passing.