# The Murders in Praed Street — Character guide

> Key figures in The Murders in Praed Street by John Rhode.

- [Mr. Elmer Ludgrove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_elmer_ludgrove.md): Ludgrove is a venerable Praed Street resident who reads the newspaper accounts of the murders with a cynic's eye for the police's familiar promises of a clue. When a numbered counter arrives as a warning, he refuses to a
- [Mr. Samuel Copperdock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_samuel_copperdock.md): Copperdock keeps the shop where keys are left and news is exchanged, escorting Mrs. Tovey and Ivy home from the inquest and pressing Ludgrove for details of the latest killing. He clings to a suspicion that Wal Snyder an
- [Inspector Whyland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/inspector_whyland.md): Whyland is the officer in charge of the murders, under direct pressure from Headquarters to produce a clue or lose the case to a sharper man. He methodically traces Martin's movements, unearths twenty years of jewel robb
- [Inspector Hanslet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/inspector_hanslet.md): Hanslet recounts the murders from Tovey to Martin for the Professor, admitting he was not on the spot and cannot vouch for every detail. He is candid about Whyland's limitations, calling him keen but lacking imagination,
- [Ted Copperdock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/ted_copperdock.md): Ted works in the family business and has lately acquired a new smartness of appearance and carefulness of speech, evidently the effect of his frequent time with Ivy. He presses her to walk out with him, but she holds bac
- [Dr. Morlandson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/dr_morlandson.md): Morlandson was tried at the Old Bailey for killing a patient with an overdose of morphia, sentenced to Dartmoor, and released on licence in 1920 after fourteen years. He vanished into seclusion to devote himself to chemi
- [Mr. James Tovey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_james_tovey.md): Tovey is a working-class family man, fond of his Sunday paper and his fireside chair, whose murder sets the whole neighborhood on edge and gives Inspector Whyland his first impossible problem. His wife and daughter Ivy a
- [Dr. Priestley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/dr_priestley.md): Dr. Priestley is an amateur criminologist whose earlier theories about the Praed Street murders were brushed aside by Inspector Hanslet, and the slight has lodged in his pride. Determined to redeem himself, he reaches ou
- [Mr. Jacob Martin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_jacob_martin.md): Martin once kept a shop in Praed Street and now returns after fifteen years, summoned to an empty house by a man named Lacey and armed with an automatic he is all too ready to use. Proud of his powers of intimidation, he
- [Harold Merefield](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/harold_merefield.md): Harold Merefield serves as Dr. Priestley's secretary and is introduced to visitors as a matter of course, a steady presence in the professor's study while theories are tested and witnesses interviewed. He occupies the us
- [Mr. Richard Pargent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_richard_pargent.md): Pargent is a published poet living in Praed Street, killed by the same method as Tovey and thereby doubling the public alarm. The newspapers seize on his death, misstate his Christian names and titles in his obituary, an
- [Mrs. Tovey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mrs_tovey.md): The wife of James Tovey, grieving his murder.
- [Ivy Tovey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/ivy_tovey.md): Ivy is the Toveys' daughter, a young woman whose outings with Ted Copperdock prompt her father's uneasy warnings and her mother's brisk defense. She is absent from the family teatime on the evening her father is killed, 
- [Wal Snyder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/wal_snyder.md): A young man associated with the Copperdock household.
- [Ben Colburn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/ben_colburn.md): An elderly resident of Praed Street, a friend of Ludgrove.
- [The Black Sailor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/the_black_sailor.md): The Black Sailor is the shape the killer wears when moving through Praed Street's crowds and back alleys — a scarred, bearded figure whose appearances are as deliberate as they are theatrical. Behind the disguise sits a 
- [Waters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/waters.md): A police constable assisting in the investigation.
- [Mr. Houlder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_houlder.md): A character mentioned in connection with the case.
- [Lord Whatley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/lord_whatley.md): A nobleman referenced in the investigation.
- [Mr. Goodwin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_goodwin.md): A character mentioned in passing during the investigation.
- [Miss Margaret](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/miss_margaret.md): A young woman associated with the Copperdock household.
- [Mr. Deacon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/mr_deacon.md): A character mentioned in the narrative.
- [Clara Pargent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/clara_pargent.md): The daughter of Richard Pargent.
- [Joe Stiggs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters/joe_stiggs.md): A minor character mentioned in the story.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murders_in_praed_street_se/characters