Characters in Cat Among the Pigeons

Supporting characters

• Hercule Poirot

  Arrives well after the murders begin and unravels the affair largely through reasoning rather than presence at the scene.

  Also in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Murder on the Links, Poirot Investigates, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Big Four, Mystery of the Blue Train, Black Coffee, Peril at End House, Lord Edgware Dies, Murder on the Orient Express

• Miss Honoria Bulstrode

  Commands the school with shrewd authority while quietly weighing who should succeed her on retirement.

• Julia Upjohn

  Acts as an amateur sleuth, grasping the meaning of a tennis racquet and seeking Poirot out through a family connection.

• Jennifer Sutcliffe

  Her complaints about an unbalanced racquet and a casual swap prove unexpectedly important.

• Princess Shaista

  Sent to Meadowbank for safety and convinced that people mean to harm her.

• Miss Vansittart

  Widely assumed to be Miss Bulstrode's natural successor.

• Miss Eileen Rich

  A less conventional candidate for the headship whom Bulstrode also considers.

• Miss Springer

  Abrasive and prying; her late-night presence in the new Sports Pavilion sets the tragedy in motion.

• Adam Goodman

  Not quite what his role suggests, with intelligence connections behind the spade.

• Ann Shapland

  Capable and composed, one of several recent arrivals whose background invites scrutiny.