Character guide

Gordon Davenant

major

Also known as young Davenant, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Davenant, Mr. Davenant Gordon, the mysterious Mr. Davenant, the literal-minded Gordon

A literal-minded clubman whose habit of hiding in secret passages and dodging the police makes him the investigation's most suspicious innocent man.

Mordaunt Reeves

major

Also known as Reeves, XIX Mordaunt Reeves

The sharp-witted investigator who punctures every theory with logic, insisting that observation and inference are two very different things.

Mr. Carmichael

supporting

Also known as Carmichael, VII Carmichael

A steady presence in the investigation who produces the photograph that cracks open the case's most guarded secret.

Marryatt

supporting

Also known as Mr. Marryatt, The Test Marryatt, Poor old Marryatt

A nerve-ridden clergyman who has given up whisky on doctor's orders and cannot shake the feeling that Brotherhood is haunting him.

Momerie

supporting

Also known as Brotherhood, old Brotherhood, the Momerie, Brotherhood that Momerie

A theological work by Brotherhood that passes through guilty hands and becomes a quiet clue in the murder investigation.

Old Brotherhood

supporting

Also known as Brotherhood, Mr. Brotherhood, Poor old Brotherhood, Mrs. Brotherhood

Brotherhood is the absent center of the case: a daily commuter, recently ruined, whose body the four golfers believe they have found — though no one has actually heard from or of him since. The evidence cuts both ways, since a man with a season ticket and a bungalow ten minutes from the viaduct seems an odd fit for the stranger in the third-class carriage. Whether he is victim, suicide, or a debtor who staged his own disappearance to dodge creditors is the question that keeps the investigation alive through its middle stretch.

Miss Rendall-Smith

minor

Also known as Miss Rendall, Rendall-Smith

A lady who appears in the narrative with limited presence.

Sullivan

minor

Also known as Mr. Sullivan

A minor character mentioned in the investigation.

Mr. Brotherood

minor

Also known as poor Mr. Brotherood

A variant spelling of a Brotherhood member with limited mentions.

Alexander Gordon

minor

Also known as Gordon

A variant name for Gordon, possibly a different person.

Mrs. Bramston

minor

A minor female character with a few mentions.

Colonel Steele

minor

A minor military figure mentioned in the narrative.

Sergeant

minor

A minor police figure with limited role.

Mr. Masterman

minor

Also known as old Masterman

A minor character with a few mentions.

Mr. Reeves

major

Also known as Reeves

The narrator whose wheezing behind a secret panel accidentally terrifies a nervous clergyman into believing he has heard a ghost.

Mr. Campbell

minor

Also known as a Mr. Campbell, Campbell

A named individual with a minor role in the story.

Ginger

minor

A minor character or nickname mentioned briefly.

Sherlock Holmes

minor

Also known as Holmes, Sherlock

Referenced as a method or allusion, not a direct character.

Beazly

minor

A minor character with limited narrative presence.

Miss Frobisher

minor

A minor female character mentioned in passing.

Mr. Bramston

minor

A minor male character with a couple of mentions.

Jarrold

minor

Also known as Mr. Jarrold, old Jarrold

A minor character, possibly an older figure.

Binver

minor

A minor character or place name with few mentions.

Mr. Murdoch

minor

Also known as Murdoch

A minor character with a few proper mentions.

Watson

minor

Also known as J. B. S. Watson, old Watson

Referenced as an allusion, not a direct character.