# Countess Flavio — The Midnight Guest character guide

> Countess Flavio in The Midnight Guest by Fred M. White.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Flavio, Countess

**First appearance:** 0001-ii-no-1-fitzjohn-square

## Snapshot

A woman tried five times on the capital charge two decades ago, now living under another name — and the Italian detective Berti insists she is Mrs. Delahay.

## Who they are

Countess Flavio belongs to the Flavio affair, a nearly twenty-year-old case that the police alone remember, and Berti's claim that she and Maria Delahay are the same woman — both born Signora Descarti — throws Walter Lance's certainties into confusion. The identification forces Lance to admit how little he truly knows of his friend's wife, and raises the chilling possibility that Delahay married a woman once tried for murder. Her shadowy double identity is the engine of the novel's central puzzle.

## In the story

### [After Many Years](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se/chapters/xviii-after-many-years)

Long-lost sister of Maria, initially distressed by the reunion; reveals she has suffered greatly and is implicated in the murder by Maria's accusation.

### [Carlotta's Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se/chapters/xix-carlotta-s-story)

Reveals her past to Maria Delahay, including her escape from her husband, meeting Louis Delahay, and her search for her missing daughter Vera.

### [Bred in the Bone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se/chapters/xxv-bred-in-the-bone)

Revealed as the woman who met with Silva, not Mrs. Delahay.

### [Mother and Child](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se/chapters/xxxv-mother-and-child)

Reveals herself as Vera's mother, explains her past suffering, and accuses Lord Ravenspur of being a scoundrel.

### [A Woman's Heart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se/chapters/xlvi-a-woman-s-heart)

Reveals the truth about her husband's suicide, Silva's plot to save her, and her own longing for Vera; explains her hatred for Ravenspur and her desire to avoid violence.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se/characters/countess_flavio
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_midnight_guest_se/characters