Character guide

Nancy Drew

major

Also known as Nancy, Miss Drew

A teenage detective who turns a mantel clock's chime into a clue, chasing a missing will with the patience of a psychologist and the nerve of a pursuit driver.

Josiah Crowley

major

Also known as old Josiah Crowley, Crowley, old Crowley, the late Josiah Crowley, Uncle Josiah, Mr. Crowley

An eccentric dead man whose hidden notebook and scattered household goods turn his estate into a puzzle box that his greedy relatives never learned to open.

Carson Drew

supporting

Also known as Mr. Drew, Father

Nancy's father, a calm lawyer whose court order and steady skepticism keep his daughter's hunches tethered to what a judge will actually accept.

Grace Horner

supporting

Also known as Grace, the Horner

A Horner relative drawn into the Crowley search, whose connection to the family gives Nancy another thread to pull when the will seems hopelessly lost.

Allie Horner

supporting

Also known as Allie

A young Horner whose stake in the Crowley estate makes the missing will personal, and whose help keeps Nancy's investigation moving through family channels.

Abigail Rowen

supporting

Also known as Abigail, old Abigail, poor old Abigail, Miss Rowen

An elderly friend of Josiah Crowley whose memory, jogged by a chiming clock, releases the notebook clue that reframes the entire search.

Helen Corning

supporting

Also known as Helen

Helen Corning is the kind of friend whose ordinary summer plans accidentally hand Nancy Drew the excuse she needs, since her camp sits on Moon Lake, right where the Tophams banished the old Crowley timepiece. She belongs to Nancy's everyday world of roadsters and dinners with Carson Drew, a life Nancy deliberately keeps her in the dark about while chasing clues. Her easy presence reminds readers that Nancy is a girl with friendships and a social calendar, not just a detective, and her camp invitation quietly sets the middle of the mystery in motion.

Ada Topham

supporting

Also known as Ada, Miss Ada

Ada Topham presides over the family that inherited Josiah Crowley's estate and treats Nancy's charity-ticket call as an opportunity to condescend about old junk. Her snobbery is her undoing: convinced the shabby Crowley clock is beneath her modern home, she casually reveals it was shipped off to the Moon Lake bungalow. That unwitting disclosure is the hinge of the early investigation, turning Nancy's vague suspicions into a concrete destination and proving the Tophams are schemers who underestimate a polite young caller.

Richard Topham

supporting

Also known as Mrs. Topham, Richard, Topham, this Mrs. Topham, Mrs. Richard Topham, Mr. Topham

Mrs. Richard Topham rules the household that took Josiah Crowley in and now enjoys the estate his missing will would overturn. She cannot resist belittling the old Crowley clock to Nancy, boasting that it was too out of place for her modern home and was sent to the bungalow at Moon Lake. That vanity is precisely what Nancy came for, and it makes the Tophams the story's chief obstacles: wealthy, hostile, and confident that no one will ever trace the fortune back to a discarded heirloom.

Jeff Tucker

supporting

Also known as Jeff, Miss. Ole Jeff

Jeff Tucker is a shuffling, storytelling old man who once worked around the Crowley house and remembers its mantel clock as plain as day. He is comic and maddening by turns, insisting on a sobering wash at the cistern pump while Nancy frets that robbers are escaping, yet his testimony is the piece that convinces her the stolen clock is the one she is after. Without Jeff, Nancy's theory stays a hunch; with him, the hunt for the thieves and the missing notebook becomes urgent and concrete.

Isabel Topham

minor

Also known as Isabel

Daughter of the Topham family, involved in the conflict over the will.

Mr. Rolsted

minor

A lawyer involved in the legal matters surrounding Josiah Crowley's estate.

Judge Hartgrave

minor

A judge who presides over legal proceedings related to the will.

William Mathews

minor

Also known as William, the Mathews

A person involved in the events surrounding the missing will.

Hannah Gruen

minor

Also known as Hannah

The Drew family housekeeper who helps Nancy at home.

Edna Turner

minor

Also known as the Turner sisters, Edna, the Turner

One of the Turner sisters, who have information about the Crowley family.

Matilda Turner

minor

Also known as Matilda

One of the Turner sisters, who are acquaintances of the Crowley family.

Josiah Harkston

minor

Also known as Harkston

A man mentioned in connection with the Crowley family history.

Fred Mathews

minor

Also known as the Mathews, Mathews, Fred

A relative of William Mathews, connected to the will mystery.

Archimedes

minor

A pet or animal mentioned briefly in the story.