Character guide

Unknown Narrator

major

Also known as yourself, Your, right—you, your, mine

A rising barrister and reluctant detective who narrates the affair, matching wits with a criminal artist who hides in plain sight among London's best clubs.

Mr. Chapman

major

Also known as Routh—you, your, mine

A bluff Labour MP with Yorkshire granite in his voice and a boy's romance in his heart, recruited as the narrator's flatmate and self-appointed bodyguard.

Tommy Deloraine

supporting

Also known as Tommy, the sage Tommy, Whereupon Tommy

A restless Yorkshire squire and gadfly MP who abandons Westminster for Venezuela on a mysterious errand, leaving his friend Leithen a trail to follow.

Charles Pitt-Heron

major

Also known as Pitt - Heron, Charlie, Charles, old Charles

A wealthy, sensitive gentleman whose sudden secretive dealings and abrupt flight abroad set the whole machinery of the mystery in motion.

Mr. Andrew Lumley

major

Also known as Mr. Lumley, Lumley, Andrew Lumley, old Lumley, Dear Mr. Lumley, the Lumley I had met two nights before at dinner

A rich Albany bachelor, clubman, and quiet Wedgwood collector whose philanthropic surface conceals a colder and far more dangerous design.

Macgillivray

supporting

Also known as himself

A Scotland Yard man whose name is used as bait in a Bloomsbury trap, drawing the narrator into a locked room and a face from an old burglary case.

Mr. Docker

supporting

Also known as Docker, Your, your

He belongs to the domestic machinery of Charles Pitt-Heron's London life, yet his composure and the odd deference he commands from his supposed master mark him as something more than a hired man. The narrator's instinct that this 'super-butler' is worth investigating — that Lumley himself might be baffled where Docker might not — turns him into the first thread worth pulling. His presence sharpens the sense that the household has been quietly infiltrated long before anyone bolted.

Monsieur Felix

supporting

Also known as Felix

Felix is a rising young man of the Foreign Service, learned, ambitious, and just boyish enough beneath the gold lace to bend protocol for a friend. He and the narrator trade ciphers and confidences over a German atlas, mapping the mad routes a fugitive might take south of Bokhara. His willingness to wire the Military Governor — and his quiet grasp of how far a man in danger might run — makes him the story's hinge between London drawing rooms and the wild country beyond.

Mr. Routh

minor

Also known as Routh, the sorrowful Mr. Routh

A sorrowful figure connected to the Pitt-Heron affair.

Bill Docker

minor

Also known as a certain Bill Docker, Bill, I

A relative or associate of Mr. Docker, possibly a criminal element.

Mr. Leithen

minor

Also known as Leithen, yourself, your

A friend or colleague of the narrator, possibly a lawyer or advisor.

Pavia Lumley

minor

Also known as Lumley, Pavia, your

A member of the Lumley family, possibly a relative of Andrew.

Mr. Tuke

minor

Also known as Tuke

A character encountered during the investigation, possibly a suspect.

Mr. Julius Pavia

minor

Also known as Mr. Pavia, Pavia, a Mr. Julius Pavia, a Mr. Pavia, himself

A mysterious figure with connections to the Lumley network.

Stagg

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or informant.

Ethel Pitt-Heron

minor

Also known as Ethel, Pitt - Heron, that unfortunate fellow Pitt - Heron

A relative of Charles Pitt-Heron, possibly his sister or daughter.

Jenkinson

minor

Also known as himself

A minor character who provides information or assistance.

Mrs. Pitt-Heron

minor

Also known as Those

The wife or mother of Charles Pitt-Heron, concerned for his fate.

Jim

minor

Also known as James

A minor acquaintance or servant mentioned in passing.

Hewins

minor

A minor character, possibly a tradesman or local.

Bokhare Saronov

minor

Also known as Saronov

A foreign agent or diplomat involved in the conspiracy.