Person

Book/Story

Nicknames

Family

Description

Barrie, J. M.*

ENVIOUS CASCA

Playwright who wrote, in addition to Peter Pan, a play called Dear Brutus, in which there is a character named Coade to whom Major Bolton compares Joseph Herriard; Inspector Hemingway recognizes the allusion immediately.

BELFORD, Earl of

ENVIOUS CASCA

Earliest employer of Sturry, who began there quite young as an under-footman.

Black Maria

ENVIOUS CASCA

Nickname for a police patrol wagon. Mathilda Clare says Stephen Herriard is acting as if Black Maria were at the door.

BLYTH, John

ENVIOUS CASCA

Solicitor to Nathaniel Herriard and a member of Filey, Blyth and Blyth in London; short, stout, cold, and not happy to be called out on Christmas.

Bodmin’s

ENVIOUS CASCA

A fictional bookseller in London. Maud Herriard is going to write them and describe the book on Empress Elizabeth of Austria in hopes they will know which one it is.

BOLTON, Major

ENVIOUS CASCA

Chief Constable in Hampshire, nearest to Lexham Manor, hence called in on the Herriard case. A nervous man, though with the manner of a major, he will undoubtedly call in Scotland Yard.

BRADFORD

ENVIOUS CASCA

Deputy Inspector (also Detective Inspector) in Hampshire, nearest to Lexham Manor; ill with influenza, leaving Inspector Colwall in charge.

Burne-Jones, Edward Coley* (1833–1898)

ENVIOUS CASCA

English painter, designer, and illustrator, trained by Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Bury, Linda

ENVIOUS CASCA

An apparently fictitious actress once interested in Willoughby Roydon’s play Wormwood.

Capel

ENVIOUS CASCA

Police Sergeant in Hampshire, nearest to Lexham Manor, hence called in on the Herriard case.

CLARE, Mathilda

ENVIOUS CASCA

Tilda

A distant cousin but is well-known to her cousins Paula and Stephen Herriard. She has good eyes and beautiful hair but is not pretty, compensating for her plainness by dressing particularly well, and she has an ever lively sense of humor. She is nearer 30 than 20, of private means supplemented by occasional journalism and breeding bull-terriers, and lives in a cottage not uncomfortably far from London.

COLWALL, Inspector

ENVIOUS CASCA

In Hampshire, near Lexham Manor, and should have been at home filling his kids’ Christmas stockings but is called in on the Herriard case because Chief Inspector Bradford is ill. He is serious and self-important, unresponsive and stolid, and has deep faith in the skill of specialists, hence he is only too glad to call in Scotland Yard.

Crewes’

ENVIOUS CASCA

The people at whose home Valerie Dean met Stephen Herriard.

DEAN, Mavis

ENVIOUS CASCA

Mentioned in passing as Valerie Dean’s sister.

DEAN, Mrs.

ENVIOUS CASCA

Mummy

Mother of Valerie and Mavis Dean. A large woman, she arrives at Lexham Manor wearing a Persian lamb coat and a skittish hat perched over elaborately curled golden hair; underneath, her awe-inspiring bosom is encased in a tight-fitting lace blouse and her tightly corseted lower body in a short, tight skirt. She is lavishly made-up and scented and often speaks to her “girlies” in the 3rd person, combining sugared sweetness with a very busy brain and a will of iron. She sees her job in life as protecting her daughters and making sure they marry suitably rich young men.

DEAN, Valerie

ENVIOUS CASCA

Val

Fiancée of Stephen Herriard and apparently much like his mother, “Kitten” Herriard, boneheaded but lovely. She has large blue eyes and sleek golden curls, and her main concern is that the latter not become disarranged. She is accustomed to being admired by men.

ELIZABETH, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, (1837-1898)*

ENVIOUS CASCA

Formerly Elizabeth of Bavaria, married to Franz Joseph (1830-1916) Emperor of Austria. Heroine of the book Maud is reading, The Life of the Empress of Austria, which crops up repeatedly throughout the book.

Elizabeth, Queen, I*

ENVIOUS CASCA

Was reluctant to name her successor, like Nathaniel Herriard, who resisted making a will.

ESHER

ENVIOUS CASCA

Local police constable near Lexham Manor; the fingerprint man.

FORD

ENVIOUS CASCA

Valet to Nathaniel Herriard. A wiry little chap of 35 or 36 and relatively sure of himself, he has been at Lexham Manor for about 9 months, which is longer than most previous valets.

FRATTON, Mrs.

ENVIOUS CASCA

Cook-housekeeper at Lexham Manor.

GALLOWAY, Mr.

ENVIOUS CASCA

Head gardener at Lexham Manor, he has gone off home with the key to the disused stable in which a potentially suspicious ladder can be seen.

HANNASYDE - Detective Superintentendent

ENVIOUS CASCA

Of Scotland Yard; he takes the call from Inspector Colwall and allocates the job to Detective Inspector Hemingway.

HEMINGWAY, Detective Inspector

ENVIOUS CASCA

A good man from Scotland Yard, put on the Herriard murder case. Bird-like, bright-eyed, and very perceptive with regard to people (he has flair), he is particularly interested in drama and psychology and believes in the fundamental stupidity of murderers.

HERRIARD, “Kitten”

ENVIOUS CASCA

Small, featherbrained, and lovely, with nerves and extravagant tastes, the mother of Stephen and Paula Herriard. She is now married for the third time and living in Chicago as Mrs. Cyrus P Thanet.

HERRIARD, Joseph

ENVIOUS CASCA

Joe

Uncle Joe

Youngest of the three Herriard brothers and husband of Maud, he is invincibly cheerful, overflowing with kindness of heart, wears his white locks rather long and grandly waving, evinces a childlike enjoyment of Christmas, and touches people a lot—virtually a Santa Claus figure brimming with clichés. A rolling stone, he has been everything from an underling in a solicitor’s office to a coffee grower in East Africa to an actor, in which profession he was particularly good at character parts. He returned to England via Liverpool two years ago and has since lived at Lexham Manor. He is the motivating force behind the Christmas party there.

HERRIARD, Matthew (deceased)

ENVIOUS CASCA

Between Nathaniel and Joseph Herriard in age, deceased husband of “Kitten” Herriard, and father of Stephen and Paula Herriard.

HERRIARD, Maud

ENVIOUS CASCA

Joseph met and married her during one of his acting spells when she was a chorus girl, in the same production. She is placid, self-contained and takes no part in family quarrels or discussions, preferring to play Patience, or read chatty biographies of famous people. She is reading a biography of the Empress of Austria, during this family gathering. Maud goes her own way, not interfering with anyone. She likes a quiet life.

HERRIARD, Nathaniel

ENVIOUS CASCA

Nat

Oldest of the three Herriard brothers, he has grown wealthy as an importer from the East Indies, a business he now leaves mainly to his partner, Edgar Mottisfont, since he purchased the show-place Lexham Manor a few years ago. Though capable of a twinkle, he is not gregarious and enjoys a good quarrel; a hypochondriac with lumbago and sometimes sciatica, he hates to be touched.

HERRIARD, Paula

ENVIOUS CASCA

Sister of Stephen Herriard, several years younger and not like him, and an actress. Pretty in a Burne-Jones way with thick, springy hair, a short, full upper lip, dark, changeable eyes set widely under thick lashes and discontented brows, and a hungry mouth in her vivid little face, she is frank in the modern way and has an overpowering personality. She is restless, with thin, nervous, expressive hands, impetuous movements, and an air of urgency, and her voice is beautiful, mellow, and flexible, ideal for Shakespeare. She does not like Lexham Manor, finding its atmosphere sinister. Despite poor logic, her dramatic delivery is very fine, and she always gets what she wants.

HERRIARD, Stephen

ENVIOUS CASCA

Sole nephew of Nathaniel Herriard, hence expected to be his heir. Lanky, with deep-set gray eyes and a dark, rather saturnine face—an unprepossessing exterior—he is carelessly rude, rough-tongued with no manners and not enough to do, being of independent means. He likes Lexham Manor and adored his mother.

Houdini, Harry*

(1878–1926)

ENVIOUS CASCA

Escape artist par excellence; since Nathaniel Herriard appears to have been murdered in a locked room, Inspector Hemingway feels as if he is after just such a person.

JAMES

ENVIOUS CASCA

Footman at Lexham Manor.

LANCING, Sir Barnabas

ENVIOUS CASCA

Of Lancing Towers and Upper Eaton Place; a previous employer of Sturry.

Ledbury

ENVIOUS CASCA

Chauffeur at Lexham Manor.

Lucetta Mae

ENVIOUS CASCA

A prostitute; the central character in Willoughby Roydon’s play Wormwood.

MAGGIE

ENVIOUS CASCA

Second housemaid at Lexham Manor.

MOTTISFONT, Edgar

ENVIOUS CASCA

Business partner of Nathaniel Herriard and now managing director of the import firm Herriard & Montisfont. A nervous man with weak gray eyes, glasses, and a meaningless little laugh, he has known the Herriards for 30 years and frequently spent Christmas with them.

Perkins, Mrs.

ENVIOUS CASCA

Landlady of the bawdy lodging-house in Willoughby Roydon’s play Wormwood.

Pinero, Arthur Wing (1855–1934) *

ENVIOUS CASCA

English writer of comedies that Joseph Herriard played in while an actor.

PRESTON, Mrs.

ENVIOUS CASCA

Head housemaid at Lexham Manor.

ROYDON, Willoughby

ENVIOUS CASCA

An unknown dramatist who has written a play called Wormwood to be staged with Paula Herriard in the leading role if they can only find financial backing. Sallow, with rather indeterminate features and an over-emphatic manner, he is the clever son of worthy, middleclass parents and is made nervous by butlers and policemen. He is obviously hard-up, with a worn and badly cut dinner-jacket, unsure of himself, and aggressive from lack of poise. He works in a bank to support himself and often has nosebleeds.

Sarah

ENVIOUS CASCA

The devoted retainer who constitutes Mathilda Clare’s domestic staff; her sister has broken her leg, and Mrs. Jones can’t stand in for her, so Mathilda invites herself to Lexham Manor for Christmas.

Shakespeare*

ENVIOUS CASCA

Playwright (dates); shrugged off by Willoughby Roydon. Plays alluded to include Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar (Casca), Romeo and Juliet.

Siddons, Mrs. Sarah* (1755–1831)

ENVIOUS CASCA

The leading tragic actress of her time; alluded to in the context of Paula Herriard’s histrionics.

Siegfried

ENVIOUS CASCA

Hero of Richard Wagner’s operas The Ring Cycle; jokingly suggested by Mathilda Clare as a role for Joseph Herriard

Stafford, Henry

ENVIOUS CASCA

An apparently fictitious producer in London of the equally fictitious play Fevered Night, which only ran for a week; Willoughby Roydon hasn’t approached him about Wormwood but is considering it.

STOKE, Dr.

ENVIOUS CASCA

Family doctor to Nathaniel Herriard, hence called to Lexham Manor to examine the body. He is a spare, active man.

Strindberg, Johan August * (1849–1912)

ENVIOUS CASCA

Swedish playwright known as a father of modern theatre; regarded by some as misogynist. Influenced Willoughby Roydon.

STURRY, Albert Reginald

ENVIOUS CASCA

Lord High Everything Else

The majestic butler, who has been with Nathaniel Herriard for 4 years and 7 months. Having served 35 years in the best of families, beginning as under-footman for the late Earl of Belford and including Sir Barnabas Lancing, he is very starchy and often speaks in Capital Letters; he is affronted by the murder of his master and has a tendency to listen at keyholes.

THANET, Mrs. Cyrus P.

ENVIOUS CASCA

see: Kitten Herriard

Tilda

ENVIOUS CASCA

see: Mathilda Clare

TINTERN, Jerry

ENVIOUS CASCA

Valerie Dean actually prefers him to Stephen, but he is not so well-off and so does not get Mrs. Dean’s approval. Mentioned in passing.

Torquemada, Tomás de (1420–1498)

ENVIOUS CASCA

Particularly known for his cruelty during the Spanish Inquisition. Mathilda Clare refers to Inspector Colwall thus.

WALTER

ENVIOUS CASCA

Indoor servant at Lexham Manor.

Wardle, Mr.

ENVIOUS CASCA

The hearty and hospitable owner of Manor Farm, Dingley Dell, in Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers.

WARE, Sergeant

ENVIOUS CASCA

From Scotland Yard; assists Inspector Hemingway with the Herriard murder case. An earnest young man, sure if not quick, and painstaking in his efforts to broaden his knowledge, he was never much of a one for theatre, having been brought up strict, and enjoys doing a bit of carpentering.