The Wrong Letter · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Wrong Letter by Walter S. Masterman.
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Sylvester Collins
major
Also known as Mr. Collins, Collins, Mr. Sylvester Collins, Alone together Collins
Collins abandoned a promising legal career to work cases alongside Scotland Yard, where his keen, trained brain is both welcomed and feared by officials who prefer tidy conclusions. He arrives at the Home Office inquiry looking like a man who has walked three days through Devonshire, then calmly announces he knows who killed Sir James — and that the culprit doesn't exist. His refusal to explain, and his private conviction that the official case is a fraud, makes him the uneasy conscience of the investigation.
Arthur Sinclair
major
Also known as Superintendent Sinclair, Even Sinclair, Sinclair, Mr. Sinclair
Sinclair earned his post through solid work in India and makes no claims to brilliance, which is precisely why he values Collins's help and tolerates his riddles. When a woman's voice coolly informs him the Home Secretary has been murdered — and signs off as the murderer — he is staggered but not shaken, and sets the machinery of official inquiry in motion. His steady, procedural mind becomes the counterweight to Collins's leaps, and the reader's anchor as the case turns strange.
Eric Sanders
major
Also known as Mr. Eric, Mr. Eric Sanders, Mr. Sanders, Sanders, Eric
Eric Sanders occupies an impossible position: trusted insider in the Watson household, yet barred by Sir James from courting Mabel, with words exchanged between them that the servants overheard. A visiting card found in Collins's pocket — 'For God's sake, see me. I will not detain you' — suggests a man with something urgent and dangerous to say. Whether he is a grieving suitor or something far more compromised, his shadow falls across every early theory about the murder.
Mabel Watson
supporting
Also known as Mabel, Miss Mabel, Mabel Watson
Mabel grew up motherless in a country house full of roses, preferring her garden to London's gloomy social round, and never learned that her father had been watching her admirers with anxious suspicion. She carries one buried sorrow — a brother banished from Oxford and sent abroad, whose whereabouts her father refused to reveal. When Collins arrives to tell her Sir James is dead, her stunned, uncomprehending grief opens the novel's emotional register and ties her fate to the mystery's heart.
Sir James Watson
major
Also known as Sir James, Sir James Watson, poor Sir James, James Watson, young Watson, Watson
Sir James kept his home life simple and his friendships few, a haughty widower who could never quite believe his only daughter had grown up. He had already banished one child — a son sent down from Oxford and shipped off to Monte Video — and now watched Mabel's suitors with silent, possessive anxiety. His murder at his own house, phoned in to Scotland Yard by the killer himself, transforms a private, guarded man into the still centre of a public scandal.
F. D. Boyce
supporting
Also known as Mr. Boyce, Boyce, the oily Boyce
Boyce has inflated since the murder, trading on departmental authority while clumsily letting sensitive details slip to colleagues and then sulking when Collins calls him out. He bristles at Collins's contempt, questions Sinclair's jurisdiction, and demands the criminal be brought to justice in the loudest possible voice. His vanity and carelessness are a running irritant — and a quiet warning that the official machinery around this case is not as watertight as it looks.
Mr. Allery
major
Also known as VIII Enter Mr. Allery, Mr. Allery, Allery
Allery of Allery & Watkins has handled the Watson family's legal affairs long enough to hold its most dangerous confidences, and his fatherly courtesy on a departure platform masks a professional's careful discretion. He likes Collins and works beside him, yet his loyalty runs to the family and to the will he once tried to talk Sir James out of making. His knowledge of that buried document makes him a quiet hinge on which the mystery's middle turns.
Mrs. Simmons
minor
Also known as Mrs. Simmons
Housekeeper or local woman providing information or lodging.
Miss Watson
supporting
Also known as Miss Watson, Watson
Mabel Watson moves through the drawn blinds of Leveson Square with a composure that costs her, grateful for Collins's tactful management yet chilled whenever he admits he is hunting a criminal. Her wistful invitation to the golf links hides a loneliness that the men around her keep failing to answer. The striking resemblance between her portrait and another woman's is the quiet oddity that pulls the early investigation toward its strangest questions.
Lewis
minor
Also known as Lewis
Servant or assistant who appears in the household.
Old John
minor
Also known as John, Old John, old John
Elderly servant or groundskeeper at the estate.
Sir Ronald Watson
supporting
Also known as Sir Ronald Watson, Ronald Watson, Watson, Ronald, Sir Ronald
Sir Ronald Watson was cut out of his father's will and sent abroad in disgrace, and he comes home to an inheritance of suspicion rather than estate. His father's letter, and the secret panel he alone knows how to open, hand him both a fortune and an accusation against the man who lured him to London. His honour, once pledged to silence, now makes him the story's reluctant key-holder to the truth.
John Henry Jackson
minor
Also known as Jackson, John Henry Jackson, John, John Jackson
Distinct from other Jacksons, possibly a police officer.
Jackson
minor
Also known as Bt . Jackson, Jackson
Minor character possibly a butler or local official.
The Doctor
minor
Also known as the doctor, The doctor
Medical professional called to attend to the victim.
The Little Doctor
minor
Also known as the little doctor, The little doctor
Small-statured doctor who assists with the case.
Mrs. Allery
minor
Also known as Mrs. Allery, Allery
Wife or relative of Mr. Allery, appears briefly.
The Stranger
minor
Also known as the stranger, The stranger
Mysterious figure who appears at a critical moment.
The Old Servant
minor
Also known as the old servant, The old servant
Aged domestic servant in the Watson household.
A. Sinclair
minor
Also known as A. Sinclair, Sinclair
Possible relative or alias of Superintendent Sinclair.
Miss Allery
minor
Also known as Miss Allery, Allery
Female relative of Mr. Allery, appears in later chapters.
Colonel Fairfax
minor
Also known as Colonel Fairfax
Military man mentioned in connection with the case.
