# The Ponson Case — Character guide

> Key figures in The Ponson Case by Freeman Wills Crofts.

- [Inspector Tanner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/inspector_tanner.md): Tanner moves between Luce Manor's green lawns and London's stifling streets, testing alibis and gathering photographs, guest lists, and cigarette ash with equal care. He keeps up a tiresome friendship purely for the info
- [Austin Ponson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/austin_ponson.md): Austin never shared his father's political ambitions, preferring books and research, yet he suggested the move to Luce Manor and remained on good terms with the family. A letter from Miss Drew transforms him in his cell 
- [Jimmy Daunt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/jimmy_daunt.md): Daunt serves as the conduit between Austin in his cell and the world outside, carrying news and receiving confidences with a lawyer's caution. He marvels at his cousin Lois's ability to cut through detail to the essentia
- [Sir William Ponson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/sir_william_ponson.md): Sir William wanted Austin at the bar and in Parliament, a plan that drove his son to set up a separate household in Halford, though the two never openly quarreled. His move to Luce Manor at Austin's suggestion kept them 
- [Cosgrove Ponson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/cosgrove_ponson.md): Cosgrove keeps rooms at Number 174B in Knightsbridge, furnished with leather chairs, sporting books, and roses in silver bowls — a man plainly not hard up. Tanner gains entry under a false name and picks the roll-top des
- [Lois Drew](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/lois_drew.md): Lois listens to Daunt's account without flinching, then reconstructs the murderer's movements with a precision that leaves him marvelling at her grip. She reasons that the killer must have known the family, resembled Aus
- [Tom Dale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/tom_dale.md): Tom Dale was the handsome, fascinating rival who won Ethel Osborne's hand over the steadier, stodgier William Ponson, only to reveal on his wedding night the drinking and mercenary motives that would wreck the marriage. 
- [William Douglas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/william_douglas.md): Douglas enters the case as a figure whose name and movements intersect with the Ponson household in ways that resist easy explanation, drawing the attention of Tanner and the police alike. The ambiguity surrounding who h
- [Parkes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/parkes.md): A servant or employee at Luce Manor.
- [Innes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/innes.md): A character who interacts with the Ponson family.
- [Betty Belcher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/betty_belcher.md): A young woman with a role in the unfolding events.
- [Enid Ponson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/enid_ponson.md): A member of the Ponson family.
- [Albert Potts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/albert_potts.md): A young man who works at the manor.
- [Sergeant Longwell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/sergeant_longwell.md): A police sergeant assisting Inspector Tanner.
- [Lucy Penrose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/lucy_penrose.md): A woman mentioned in connection with the case.

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