Character guide

Franklin Blake

major

Also known as Mr. Franklin Blake, Mr. Franklin, Franklin Blake, Mr. Blake, Master Franklin, the Master Franklin

Franklin Blake returns from abroad with European polish, a taste for experiments, and the unlucky errand of carrying the Diamond to Rachel's birthday. He is fond of Rachel, distrusted by her after the theft, and tormented by the suspicion that his own conduct that night is somehow to blame. His restless guilt drives the middle of the book, as he refuses to let the mystery lie and slowly turns detective against himself.

Rachel Verinder

major

Also known as Miss Rachel, Rachel, cousin Rachel, Rachel Verinder, Miss Verinder

Rachel Verinder is the daughter whose coming-of-age gift sets the whole catastrophe in motion, and whose refusal to explain herself baffles family, police, and suitors alike. She cuts Franklin cold, dismisses the investigation as an insult, and will not be reasoned with even by her mother. Her obstinate secrecy is the emotional engine of the early-middle arc: everyone wants to know what she knows, and no one can make her speak.

Godfrey Ablewhite

major

Also known as Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite, plain Mr. Ablewhite, Mr. Godfrey, Mr. Ablewhite, old Mr. Ablewhite, Godfrey, cousin Godfrey

Godfrey Ablewhite is the family favorite: handsome, eloquent, endlessly useful on committees, and perpetually short of money. He courts Rachel with the blessing of half the neighborhood while quietly juggling obligations he cannot meet. His charm is the story's most dangerous surface, and the gap between his public virtue and private need keeps the reader watching him long before the ledger is opened.

Sergeant Cuff

major

Also known as Sergeant, the celebrated Cuff, Sergeant Cuff's, The Sergeant, The great Cuff, the great Cuff

Sergeant Cuff arrives at the Verinder house with a reputation, a melancholy manner, and an infuriating habit of announcing the truth before he can prove it. He reads the household like a garden bed, suspects the least likely person, and is dismissed for his trouble. His early, half-ignored conclusions hang over the rest of the book, making him the standard every later investigator must measure against.

Ezra Jennings

major

Also known as Ezra, the everlasting Ezra Jennings, Mr. Jennings, Mr. Ezra Jennings

Ezra Jennings is the outcast of the neighborhood: a man with a mysterious past, a worn face, and a medical training that nobody wants to consult. He is devoted to Mr. Candy, tolerated by almost no one, and quietly in possession of the one piece of physiological insight the case requires. His willingness to be useful, even at the cost of his own dignity, makes him the hinge on which the mystery's solution turns.

Gabriel Betteredge

major

Also known as Betteredge, Gabriel, old Betteredge, old Gabriel, Mr. Betteredge, Dear old Betteredge

Gabriel Betteredge has served the family for decades, knows every servant, every habit, and every grudge at the house, and opens his account of the Diamond with the confidence of a man who has seen everything. He is devoted to Rachel, suspicious of foreigners, and fond of Franklin in a fatherly way. His stubborn common sense and his habit of reading providence in Defoe make him both the story's warmest voice and its most unreliable witness.

Rosanna Spearman

supporting

Also known as Rosanna, Rosanna Spearman, Spearman

Lady Verinder plucked Rosanna from prison and reformatory on the matron's word that she was 'one in a thousand,' and the girl repaid the trust with quiet, careful work. Plain, solitary, and marked by a faint air of something not quite housemaid, she reads or sews while the other women gossip, making no friends but Penelope. Her secrecy and her habit of walking alone toward the lonely bay make her the household's most watchful and least legible figure.

Mr. Bruff

supporting

Also known as the unsuspecting Mr. Bruff, Mr. Bruff—the Great Mr. Bruff, Bruff

Bruff claims a prescriptive right to the Moonstone's romance: he knew Herncastle's fears, drew the will leaving the jewel to Rachel, and pushed Franklin Blake to carry it to Yorkshire. When a grave, European-dressed Indian calls at his office with a jeweled casket and a request for a loan, Bruff refuses and is struck by the man's unnerving courtesy. His professional caution and dry humor make him both a witness and a brake on the story's mounting recklessness.

Lady Verinder

supporting

Also known as dear Lady Verinder, poor Lady Verinder, Poor Lady Verinder, the late Lady Verinder

Lady Verinder is the estate's moral center: she consults her steward Betteredge on most things, gives Rosanna a fair chance no other household would, and keeps her daughter's world ordered and gracious. She is wary of the diamond from the start, sensing the trouble it carries, and her judgment shapes how the household receives both the jewel and its bearer. Her steadiness and her private kindnesses make the disruptions that follow feel like a violation of something genuinely good.

Penelope Betteredge

supporting

Also known as Penelope, Penelope Betteredge

Penelope moves easily among the servants and shares her father's plain-spoken, observant temperament, but she is never quite intimate with anyone, including Rosanna. She is the only woman in the house who treats the reformed thief with steady decency, though even she keeps a certain reserve. Her position as her father's confidante and the household's quiet witness makes her a useful pair of eyes on the tensions gathering around the diamond.

Mr. Candy

supporting

Also known as Unluckily Mr. Candy, little Mr. Candy, Poor Mr. Candy, poor Mr. Candy, Mr. Candy Frizinghall

Mr. Candy is the kind of country physician who knows everyone's business and is not shy about sharing his opinions, a fixture at Frizinghall and in the Verinder sickroom. His habit of speaking too freely, and his collapse after the birthday festivities, place him awkwardly close to the night the Moonstone vanishes. His presence gives the early investigation a medical dimension and a reminder that even the well-meaning can become entangled in the mystery.

Miss Clack

supporting

Also known as Clack, Dear Miss Clack, Drusilla, Drusilla Clack

Drusilla Clack is a poor relation whose chief pleasures are distributing religious Extracts, correcting others' morals, and recording her own good deeds for posterity. When Franklin Blake asks her to stick to her personal experience, she bombards him with letters protesting the restriction, convinced her perseverance is itself a Christian triumph. Her unctuous diary voice and her inability to see herself clearly make her both a comic irritant and a sly commentary on the reliability of any single narrator.

Mr. Murthwaite

supporting

Also known as the immovable Mr. Murthwaite, Murthwaite

Murthwaite is the family solicitor whose professional life has been entangled with the Moonstone since India: he drafted the will, received Herncastle's letters, and urged Franklin Blake to carry the gem to Yorkshire. When a disguised Indian visits his office offering a jeweled casket as security for a loan, Murthwaite recognizes the man's grave politeness and lethal purpose, yet calmly refuses him. His cool expertise makes him the story's most reliable witness to the diamond's origins and the forces pursuing it.

John Herncastle

supporting

Also known as Herncastle, the Honourable John, Colonel Herncastle

Herncastle is the family's shameful connection: a cousin and fellow officer whose frenzy in the armoury at Seringapatam left an Indian dead and a curse spoken over the stolen gem. He denies everything, exchanges regiments to avoid his accuser, and lives out his years as a recluse, taunted about the diamond and feared for his temper. His bequest of the Moonstone to his niece Rachel sets the entire mystery in motion, carrying his guilt into an innocent household.

The Indians

supporting

Also known as Indians, Hindus, The Hindus

They are the diamond's rightful guardians, sworn to return it to the temple from which Herncastle tore it, and they pursue it with quiet, methodical devotion. One visits Murthwaite disguised as a client, offering a jeweled casket as security and asking only how long a loan might run, his grave politeness barely concealing the assassin beneath. Their watchful presence shadows the Verinder household from the moment the Moonstone arrives, turning a family celebration into a contest over a sacred object.

Mr. Septimus Luker

supporting

Also known as Mr. Luker, Luker

Luker is the professional lender to whom the disguised Indian is referred, a man cautious enough to send a stranger to Murthwaite rather than advance money himself on such suspicious security. His name on the card links him to the diamond's shadowy movements through London, and his refusal hints at how carefully he guards his own interests. As the gem's fate tangles with pawnshops and creditors, Luker becomes a pivot between the respectable world and the criminal one.

Mrs. Yolland

minor

Also known as Good Mrs. Yolland, good Mrs. Yolland, Mrs. Yolland

Kindly cottager who shelters Rosanna Spearman and knows her secrets.

Gooseberry

minor

Street-smart boy who assists Sergeant Cuff in his investigation.

Sir John Verinder

minor

Also known as John Verinder, Sir John, the late Sir John, John, the late Sir John Verinder

Deceased husband of Lady Verinder and father of Rachel.

Superintendent Seegrave

minor

Also known as Mr. Seegrave

Inept local police superintendent who initially investigates the theft.

Aunt Ablewhite

minor

Also known as My Aunt Ablewhite, Aunt Ablewhite

Aunt of Rachel and mother of Godfrey Ablewhite, a gossipy relative.

Limping Lucy

minor

Also known as Lucy

Lame servant girl and close friend of Rosanna Spearman.

General Baird

minor

Historical figure mentioned in connection with the Moonstone's origin.

Samuel

minor

Verinder family footman who assists with household duties.

Nancy

minor

Also known as Miss Jane Ann Stamper

Servant at the Verinder estate who provides information to the police.

Mrs. Merridew

minor

Friend of Lady Verinder who attends Rachel's birthday dinner.

The late Mrs. Betteredge

minor

Also known as Mrs. Betteredge

Deceased wife of Gabriel Betteredge, remembered fondly.

Mr. Smalley

minor

Also known as Smalley

Lawyer consulted by the Verinder family regarding the Moonstone.

Mrs. Threadgall

minor

Housekeeper at the Verinder estate.

Mr. Joyce

minor

Also known as Joyce

Verinder family butler who assists during the investigation.

Selina Goby

minor

Also known as Selina

Servant who provides testimony about the night of the theft.

Mr. Begbie

minor

Guest at Rachel's birthday dinner who discusses the diamond.

Mr. Jeffco

minor

Also known as Jeffco

Local tradesman who provides information about the diamond.

Duffy

minor

Also known as Little Duffy

Servant at the Verinder estate who assists with errands.

Cobb

minor

Local man who helps with the search for the missing diamond.

Mrs. Hotherstone

minor

Also known as Hotherstone

Woman who runs a lodging house in the area.

De Quincey

minor

Author referenced by Ezra Jennings regarding opium experiences.