Characters in Four-and-twenty Blackbirds

Supporting characters

• Hercule Poirot

  Drawn to the case not by evidence of crime but by a fastidious dislike of a detail that does not fit a man's lifelong habits.

  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

• Henry Bonnington

  A genial creature of routine himself, whose musings on the fixed habits of regular diners first draw Poirot's attention to the old man.

• Henry Gascoigne

  A poor, solitary artist of rigid habits whose single uncharacteristic meal becomes the thread Poirot pulls.

• Anthony Gascoigne

  His own circumstances and timing of death prove material to understanding the situation Poirot uncovers.

• George

  Provides Poirot with an offhand domestic observation that helps frame the question of habit and behaviour.

• Molly

  Her recollection of what the old regular ate on his final visit supplies the detail that troubles Poirot.