Characters in Crooked House

Supporting characters

• Charles Hayward

  Drawn into the case as both suitor and observer; his Scotland Yard ties give him access to the family while his feelings for Sophia keep him personally invested.

• Sophia Leonides

  Clear-eyed and self-possessed, she refuses to marry until the murder is solved, unwilling to begin a marriage under the shadow of suspicion.

• Aristide Leonides

  A wealthy, magnetic self-made man whose strong personality shaped and dominated the entire household; his poisoning sets the story in motion.

• Brenda Leonides

  Decades younger than her late husband and an outsider to the family, she draws immediate suspicion as the convenient suspect.

• Roger Leonides

  Warm-hearted but floundering under the burden of the family business and his father's long shadow.

• Philip Leonides

  Reserved and bookish, he has retreated into history and the library, marked by a lifetime of feeling second to his brother.

• Magda Leonides

  A modestly successful stage actress who treats even a family murder as a role to be played, perpetually performing.

• Josephine Leonides

  A precocious child obsessed with detective fiction, convinced she can outwit the police and determined to insert herself into the investigation.

• Edith de Haviland

  Stern and forthright, she raised the children after her sister's death and makes no secret of her dislike for the old man.

• Chief Inspector Taverner

  Methodical and professional, he conducts the formal questioning and works alongside Charles's father.