Character guide

Anthony Gethryn

major

Also known as Anthony Ruthven Gethryn, Mr. Anthony Gethryn, Gethryn

Gethryn moves through Marling as an old friend of the Yard and a gentleman of the village, which lets him press Boyd for the wood-rasp and the fingerprint enlargements while everyone else considers the murder solved. He admits he is groping in the dark, yet the certainty of his doubt — that Deacon's guilt is too neat, too convenient — sets him against the official story. His stubborn refusal to accept an easy answer is the engine that keeps the case from closing in the early chapters.

Sir Arthur Digby-Coates

major

Also known as Sir Arthur, Arthur Digby, Digby-Coates

Sir Arthur is the deceased's closest friend and a guest at Abbotshall, and he throws himself into the investigation with a rage that startles even Gethryn — he speaks of torture, of sleepless nights, of getting his hands on the animal who did it. He also quietly arranges books, cigars, and Marshall, K.C. for the man accused of the crime, a generosity that sits oddly beside his fury. His grief and his interventions keep the reader guessing where his loyalties truly lie.

Mr. Deacon

supporting

Also known as Archie, Archibald Deacon, A. B. T. Deacon

Deacon is the man Scotland Yard has all but convicted: his alibi is broken, a hundred pounds from the dead man's bank sits in his collar-box, and his prints are on the wood-rasp. Yet he faces it with a composure that moves Gethryn — books, cigars, and a good counsel arranged, and a steady insistence that it will all come right. His courage and the suspicious neatness of the evidence against him make him the emotional center of the early mystery.

Lucia Lemesurier

supporting

Also known as Lucia, Madonna Lucia

Lucia is Dora's older sister, the composed one, the one who consoles — except that half her mind is elsewhere, tangled in a note that went unanswered and a man she barely knows. She is mortified by her own distraction, and her private thoughts about Gethryn (not fat, not white-moustached, but lean and hawky with disturbing eyes) betray an attraction she refuses to name. Her divided attention makes her the quiet emotional counterweight to the murder's noise.

Colonel Gethryn

supporting

Also known as Superintendent Boyd, Boyd, Old Bloodhound Boyd

Boyd is the official investigator, methodical and a little proud of a case he considers 'easy,' and he walks Gethryn through the locked-room problem, the open window, and the wood-rasp with the air of a man who has already closed the file. He is loyal enough to share the fingerprint enlargements and to ask Gethryn to keep quiet about them, and honest enough to admit the case has a nasty, puzzling feel. His friction with Gethryn — the sane law versus the mad amateur — gives the early investigation its productive tension.

Miss Margaret Warren

supporting

Also known as Margaret Warren, Margaret, The efficient Miss Margaret Warren

Miss Warren works for Hastings at The Owl, and she is the one who brings the first word of Hoode's murder — calm, unemotional, already thinking about the next edition. She is so sufficient, so calmly adequate, that Hastings sometimes wishes she weren't, and the one glimpse of her trembling and white-faced pleases him in a way he doesn't examine. Her competence and her single crack of feeling make her the newsroom's quiet anchor in the opening chapters.

Mr. Hastings

supporting

Also known as Hastings

A Fleet Street editor whose sharp instincts and grudging admiration for Gethryn make him the reader's sceptical, indispensable ally in the hunt for Hoode's killer.

Spencer Hastings

supporting

Also known as Spencer Sutherland Hastings, Spencer

A decorated ex-aviator and onetime ace of the flying corps, undone less by any enemy than by his paralysing fear of the cool, efficient woman he loves.

John Hoode

supporting

Also known as John Howard Beauleigh Hoode, Hoode

The murdered Cabinet Minister whose hidden family history — a bastard half-brother, blackmail, and a face like a mirror — proves far stranger than his respectable death suggests.

Miss Dora Masterson

supporting

Also known as Dora, Dot, Miss Masterson

A young woman whose telephone voice and borrowed book of essays pull Gethryn down a trail of newspaper clippings, private detectives, and a stage-door rendezvous.

Miss Laura Hoode

supporting

Also known as Laura Hoode, Laura, Miss Hoode

The murdered minister's only sister, whose grief the newspapers package for public consumption while the real woman behind the headline remains, for now, unseen.

Jimmy Masterson

supporting

Also known as Jim, James Masterson, Jimmie

Dora Masterson's brother, a young man whose temper and entanglements make him one of the loose threads Gethryn cannot afford to leave unplucked.

Old Mr. Poole

minor

Also known as Poole, Mr. Poole, the aged Mr. Poole

The elderly and somewhat senile father of the Hoode family butler.

Mr. Belford

minor

Also known as Belford, Robert Belford

A solicitor involved in the affairs of the Hoode family.

Mr. Lucas

minor

Also known as Mr. Egbert Lucas

A friend of the Hoode family who is present at the house party.

Mrs. Roland Mainwaring

minor

Also known as Mrs. Mainwaring, the flirtatious Mrs. Mainwaring

A flirtatious society woman who knew the victim.

Father Gethryn

minor

Anthony Gethryn's brother, a Catholic priest.

Madam Vander

minor

A mysterious woman who appears at the inquest.

Uncle Charles

minor

A relative of the Hoode family mentioned in conversation.

Bob Belford

minor

A relative of Mr. Belford the solicitor.

Mr. John Hoode

minor

Also known as old John, poor old John, the late Mr. Hoode

The elderly father of John and Laura Hoode.

Mr. Gethryn

minor

Also known as Dear Mr. Gethryn

Anthony Gethryn's father, a retired clergyman.

Cock Robin Hoode

minor

Also known as Robin Hoode, poor Cock Robin

A deceased member of the Hoode family, whose death is referenced.

Mr. Josiah Syme

minor

Also known as Mr. Syme

A local businessman with a connection to the case.

Mrs. Lemesurier

minor

Lucia Lemesurier's mother.

Elsie Syme

minor

Also known as Elsie Duboise

A young woman who works for the Syme household.

Mr. Pellett

minor

A local tradesman who provides information to the police.

Tom Diggle

minor

Also known as Thomas Diggle, Diggle

A gardener at the Hoode estate.

Mabel Smith

minor

A maid in the Hoode household.

Marshall

minor

Also known as Edward Marshall, the great Marshall

A famous actor mentioned in connection with the case.

Loo

minor

A nickname for a character, possibly a servant.

Jasper Standish

minor

Also known as Jasper

A friend of the Hoode family.

Marling

minor

A character mentioned in passing, possibly a servant.

Sergeant Higgins

minor

A police sergeant assisting Superintendent Boyd.

Annie Holt

minor

A maid at the Digby-Coates household.

Mr. Easy

minor

A character mentioned in a humorous context.

Alfred Poole

minor

Also known as the butler Poole

The butler at the Hoode estate.

Miss Halford

minor

A friend of the Hoode family.

Martha Forrest

minor

A servant in the Hoode household.

Jack Lemesurier

minor

Also known as Jack

Lucia Lemesurier's brother.

Lily Ingram

minor

A young woman who was a friend of the victim.

Harry Wright

minor

Also known as Wright

A journalist covering the murder case.

Williams

minor

Also known as Mr. Williams

A police constable.

Mr. Lemesurier

minor

Lucia Lemesurier's father.

Vanda

minor

Also known as the Vanda

An orchid, a prized possession of Mr. Deacon.

Bealby

minor

A character mentioned in passing.

Mr. Diggle

minor

Also known as the horticultural Mr. Diggle

A horticultural expert consulted in the case.

Sir Richard

minor

Also known as Richard

A character mentioned in a letter.

Mr. Cocker

minor

Also known as Cocker

A local gunsmith.

Miss Monteith

minor

Also known as Miss Adeline Rose Monteith

A woman who writes a letter to the police.

Pooley

minor

A character mentioned in the context of the inquest.