Characters in Sad Cypress

Hercule Poirot

Belgian detective brought in by a desperate doctor; he enters relatively late and works the case largely through conversation and overlooked detail rather than physical pursuit.

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

Elinor Carlisle

Composed, intelligent young woman on trial for murder; her reserve and evident motive make her appear damningly guilty even as her inner anguish is laid bare.

Mary Gerrard

The lodge-keeper's beautiful, gentle daughter, favoured by the wealthy aunt and the unwitting object of a shifting engagement; her poisoning drives the case.

Dr Peter Lord

The local doctor in love with Elinor; refusing to accept her guilt, he engages Poirot to clear her name.

Roddy Welman

Elinor's cousin and fiance, proud and shallow, whose sudden infatuation with Mary fractures the engagement and supplies the motive others read into Elinor.

Nurse Hopkins

Brisk, capable district nurse and the village's foremost gossip, free with the family's secrets and present at key moments.

Nurse O'Brien

Tall, red-haired Irish nurse engaged to care for the ailing aunt, offering her own vantage on the household's tensions.

Mrs Laura Welman

Wealthy, stroke-stricken aunt whose affections and undecided estate set the inheritance rivalry in motion; her death precedes the central crime.