Characters in Elephants Can Remember

Supporting characters

• Hercule Poirot

  Works the puzzle with characteristic patience, relying on order and method rather than fresh physical evidence

  Also in The Chocolate Box, The Kidnapped Prime Minister: a Hercule Poirot Short Story #2, The Lemesurier Inheritance, The Affair at the Victory Ball, The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim, The Plymouth Express: a Hercule Poirot Short Story, The Adventure of the Cheap Flat: a Hercule Poirot Short Story, The Submarine Plans: a Hercule Poirot Short Story, The Adventure of the Clapham Cook: a Hercule Poirot Short Story, The Cornish Mystery: a Hercule Poirot Short Story

• Ariadne Oliver

  Drives the human side of the inquiry by tracking down her elephants, the long-memoried witnesses to the past

  Also in Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly, Cards on the Table, Mrs. McGinty's Dead, Dead Man's Folly, Third Girl, Hallowe'en Party

• Celia Ravenscroft

  Caught between wanting the truth and being made a condition of her own engagement

• Desmond Burton-Cox

  Anxious to clear the way for the marriage despite his mother's interference

• Mrs Burton-Cox

  Her insistence on the truth carries more behind it than simple maternal concern

• General Alistair Ravenscroft

  His marriage and final months are reconstructed through the recollections of others

• Margaret Ravenscroft

  Remembered for small oddities, including a set of wigs, that take on weight in hindsight

• Superintendent Garroway

  Supplies Poirot with the case details that the inquest could never resolve

• Zélie Meauhourat

• Superintendent Spence

  A retired police officer whom Poirot consults about the old case and the people connected to it.

  Also in Taken at the Flood, Mrs. McGinty's Dead, Hallowe'en Party

• Mr Goby

  A private investigator who works for Poirot and digs up background facts on the people involved.

  Also in Third Girl