# The Red Thumbmark — Character guide

> Key figures in The Red Thumbmark by R. Austin Freeman.

- [Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/thorndyke.md): Thorndyke occupies an unusual position in this case: he is not the prosecuting detective but the scientific consultant retained for the defense, working alongside solicitor Lawley and junior counsel Anstey. His methods a
- [Reuben Hornby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/reuben_hornby.md): Reuben is the nephew and trusted employee of John Hornby, a diamond merchant whose safe was opened and whose gems vanished, leaving behind a thumbprint that Mrs. Hornby's own Thumbograph confirmed as Reuben's. His own so
- [Juliet Gibson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/juliet_gibson.md): Juliet moves through the case with a devotion that embarrasses Reuben and quietly captivates Dr. Jervis, who narrates her visits with barely concealed admiration. She is the one who insists on accompanying Jervis to the 
- [Walter Hornby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/walter_hornby.md): Walter shares with Reuben the two things that made them both suspects: access to the keys and a place in their uncle's confidence. The police wanted prints from both young men, but John Hornby refused to subject his neph
- [Mrs. Hornby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/mrs_hornby.md): Mrs. Hornby is the aunt whose well-meaning attempt to clear Reuben by comparing his print to the incriminating mark produced the opposite result, and the horror of that moment has not left her. She clings to the Thumbogr
- [Mr. Anstey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/anstey.md): Anstey is the legal mind paired with Thorndyke's scientific one, a man who leans over in court to tell Jervis and Polton to join Thorndyke on the dais because they may as well see the fun. Off the clock he is pseudo-friv
- [Polton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/polton.md): Polton keeps the machinery of Thorndyke's practice running, receiving terse instructions about boxes and portfolios with a speculative, unflappable efficiency. He is the gatekeeper of the chambers, announcing visitors li
- [Dr. Christopher Jervis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/jervis.md): Dr. Jervis moves between Thorndyke's chambers and the anxious households of the accused, gathering the Thumbograph from a tearful Mrs. Hornby and smoothing over his own tactless remarks to Juliet Gibson. He is loyal but 
- [Sir Hector Trumpler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/sir_hector_trumpler.md): Sir Hector Trumpler embodies the weight of the Crown's case against Reuben Hornby, a barrister whose wig and obsolete habiliments seem to belong to an older, more rigid order. His presence in the trial raises the stakes 
- [Mr. Lawley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/mr_lawley.md): A witness or minor legal figure in the case.
- [John Hornby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/john_hornby.md): Reuben's father, a businessman involved in the background.
- [Sergeant Bates](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_red_thumbmark_se/characters/sergeant_bates.md): A police officer involved in the investigation.

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