All characters crime fiction per story

The blue carbuncle – Arthur Conan Doyle

 Sherlock Holmes aka Mr. Cocksure
 John H. Watson
 Mrs. Hudson: the landlady of Sherlock Holmes
 Peterson the commissionaire or hotel doorman. Peterson was
heading home from an evening of fun around 4:00 o'clock in the
morning when he witnessed a man being assaulted by a group of
guys. Peterson is a ''very honest fellow'' and good guy, so he tried to
break through and ''protect the stranger from his assailants.
 Henry Baker: When Holmes places an advertisement he shows up
wanting his goose and hat back. Replacement bird, but shows no
interest in regaining the original goose.
 Mrs Baker
 Countess of Morcar: the blue carbuncle belongs to her
 John Horner: has been arrested on suspicion of the theft as he
performed a small job in the dressing room on the day of the crime
 James Ryder aka John Robinson aka Jem: Alarm previous bullet point
given by upper-attendant. Ryder explains that he had planned the
theft with the help of the Countess' maid, Catherine Cusack. After
the arrest of Horner he felt it would be best to hide the stone
somewhere away from the hotel. He went to the house of his sister,
Mrs Oakshott, in order to think things over.Ryder resolved to take
the stone to a friend in Kilburn who could start the process of selling
the valuable jewel. With his mind made up Ryder had only to think of
a way to avoid losing the stone as a result of a search as he made
his way to Kilburn. Ryder’s sister had promised him one of her geese
for a Christmas present and he hit upon the idea of force-feeding the
stone to a goose and then carrying it away with him. Ryder managed
to feed the stone to one of the geese but it escaped from him and
when he came to leave he picked up the wrong bird. When he took
the goose to his contact there was no sign of the stone inside it.
Ryder raced back to his sister’s house only to find that the birds had
gone to the dealers. When he went to question Breckinridge he had
come up against a brick wall.At this point Ryder bursts into tears and
Holmes lets him go. Holmes points out to Watson that as long as
Ryder does not give evidence against Horner the charge against him
will break down. The justification for this protection of Ryder is that
the man is too scared by his experiences to ever turn to crime again.
 Catherine Cusack
 Inspector Bradstreet

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  Windigate
 Mister Breckinridge: the geese sold to customers of the inn came
from Mr Breckinridge of Covent Garden
 Bill
 Maggie Oakshott
 Mr. Oakshott: supplier of the geese
 King of Proosia (Prussia)
 Maudsley
 Mary Sutherland
 Irene Adler
 Jove

The murders in the rue morgue – Edgar Alan Poe

 Auguste Dupin: A Parisian crime solver. Dupin discovers the truth
behind the violent murders of two women after the Paris police
arrest the wrong man. He employs psychological analysis and
intuition and considers possibilities not imagined by the police to
conclude that the murders were committed by an orangutan.
 The narrator: A friend and housemate of Dupin. The narrator
attempts to provide an objective chronicle of the crime, but his tone
celebrates Dupin’s brilliance.
 Madame L’Espayana: The older of the two Parisian murder victims.
Violently beaten with a club, Madame L’Espanaye dies from a cut
throat and is thrown through the window to a courtyard below her
apartment.
 Mademoiselle Camille: Daughter of Madame L’Espanaye.
Mademoiselle Camille is choked to death by the murderer and then
stuffed into the chimney.
 Aldophe Le Bon: A bank clerk and the first suspect in the two
murders.
 The sailor: The owner of the orangutan. The sailor witnesses the two
murders but is unable to interfere. His inability to restrain the
orangutan also represents the limits of the Paris police to imagine a
nonhuman explanation for the vicious murders.

The thirty-nine steps – John Buchan

 Richard Hannay: Hannay is a retired mining engineer recently return
from Africa and getting bored with British life. That boredom is
interrupted by the arrival of a stranger with an even stranger story.
The story not only intrigues him, but eventually draws him into a
world international espionage and a German plot to invade England.

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 The only clue to stopping the invasion is an obscure note left behind
the stranger.
 Franklin Scudder: The strange man is Franklin Scudder, a private
dick from America. He arrives at Hannay’s in a state of absolute fear
for his life from an organization of spies known as the Black Stone.
When he stabbed to death, the future of England hangs in the
balance upon Hannay’s deciphering the handwritten message that
Scudder has left behind.
 Sir Walter Bullivant: Bullivant is the high-ranking official at the
Foreign Office who becomes indispensable in helping Hannay stop
the invasion despite being extremely skeptical of Scudder’s story.
The association which begins in this novel is broadened in later
sequels into an outright recruitment of Hannay as a spy due to his
talents for working as an undercover agent.
 Alexander Turnbull: Turnbull is essential in creating that aspect of
Hannay’s character. He first appears as a drunk whose identity
Hannay briefly steals in a successful effort to escape the clutches of
the Black Stone. Later Turnbull will also turn out to be of great
assistance in helping Hannay deal with the consequences of
contracting malaria.
 Members of the Black Stone: The various members of the Black
Stone with whom Hannay comes into conflict are a various and
assort group that change according to how much Hannay has
learned about them at any particular time. Accordingly, a man who
may seem the ultimate in harmless benevolence one minute may
suddenly take on a malevolence never suspected a short time later.
 Constantine Karolides: This character is the Greek Premier who
Scudder claims will be assassinated as part of the anarchists'
schemes
 Sir Harry: This character is a young, excitable man with a sense of
adventure, and a desire to rise above his status. He is a self-
described Liberal and is politically active, though he is a poor
speaker and may not even believe his own party's beliefs or
understand them well.
 Marmaduke Jopley: This character is an upper-class stockbroker from
London.
 Ainsly: The identity that Hannay makes up on the spot
 Henry Irving: Stage actor

Death by drowning – Agatha Christie

 Miss Jane Marple: Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who acts as an
amateur detective and lives in the village of St. Mary Mead. Claims
Rose was murdered

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  Sir Henry Clithering
 Arthur Bantry and Dolly Bantry: The friends with whom Henry
Clithering is staying
 Terence Melchett: Chief Constable of the County where St.
Mary Mead is located
 Inspector Drewitt: who is investigating the case
 Dr Haydock: physician
 Tom Emmott
 Rose Emmott: The girl who possibly drowned herself.
 Rex Sandford: Local gossip was that she was pregnant by a young
man called Rex Sandford who is an architect from London and the
local feeling now is that she killed herself, unable to face her father
with the truth.
 Mrs Bartlett: Mrs Bartlett, who has a young lodger called Joe Ellis
staying with her. He then confronts Mrs Bartlett to the effect that
she too was in the woods near the river. The "wheelbarrow" that was
seen was the pram with the washing and it was Mrs Bartlett who
threw Rose in the water, as she herself was in love with Joe.
 Joe Ellis: This young man was besotted with Rose and he states that
he would have married Rose and brought up the baby as his own. At
the time of the murder, he was putting up some shelves in Mrs
Bartlett’s kitchen and she can provide his alibi.
 Mr Footit
 Henry Footit
 Jimmy Brown
 Peasegood

Something the cat dragged in – Patricia Highsmith

 Tom Dickinson: Bill’s boss and murderer
 Portland Bell: cat
 Michael Herbert
 Gladys Herbert
 Phyllis: Eddie’s American niece
 Colonel Edward (Eddie) Phelps: neighbour
 Edna: maid
 W.R. – M.T. : initials on ring, William Reeves and Marjorie
 Mary Jeffrey: portal clerk and grocery salesgirl
 Bill Reeves: murdered
 Mister Vickers
 Peter: 2nd killer

SUMMARY

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Playing scrabble, when the cat comes in with something. They are all
guessing whether it is a pigeon or something else, when they found out
they are HUMAN FINGERS. Gladys were practical, but liked to let her
husband Michael make the decisions. She wants to call the police from the
beginning, but Michael wrapped them in a piece of newspaper. Eventually
they decide to put the fingers in a shoe box overnight, as it is already 5
p.m. on a sunday. Michael and Eddie decide to study the fingers and see
that they should be of some kind of workman. They find a gold ring as
well. Calls Dickinson (Bill’s boss), but does not seem interested in finding
out where he is. Then Dickinson admits that he killed Reeves, because his
wife had an affair with him. He says there was “a second victim”.
Dickinson started smashing Bill with an axe, but Peter finished the job.
Took a vote and decided to not report Dickinson to the police. Phyllis said:
“I bet Mr Dickinson wrecks his car on the way home. That’s often the way
it is, because he feels guilty”. The ending sentence is: Tom Dickenson did
not wreck his car.

The big sleep – Raymond Chandler

 Philippe Marlowe: The novel's protagonist and in many ways its
modern "knight." Marlowe is a private detective who is asked to deal
with a blackmailing case for the wealthy General Sternwood.
Although he is apparently attractive to women, he is not prone to
take advantage of them, and he remains respectful in his own hard-
boiled way. Marlowe is a man of the streets, tough and clever, but
he is honest and good-willed. Other characters even call him naïve in
several instances. His dialogue and manner of speaking are
particularly raw and witty, often brash. A good judge of human
character, he is perfect for his line of work.
 General Sternwood: The rich and very ill oil baron who has fathered
two wild daughters—Vivian and Carmen Sternwood—and who has
hired Marlowe as a private detective. Chandler implies that the
General has fathered Carmen quite late in life and that his life has
wild in its own fashion, and corrupt as well. Nevertheless, we may
feel sorry for Sternwood because he seems to have a genuinely
sentimental side to him. Although he is aware of his daughters' wild
behavior, he is unaware of their true malice, particularly Carmen's. It
is General Sternwood that introduces both plot lines—that of Geiger
and that of Regan.
 Arthur Gwynn Geiger: A pornographer who runs an illegal smut
rental shop under the guise of a rare bookstore. Geiger, who is
homosexual (or perhaps bisexual), blackmails General Sternwood,

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 and murdered in the act of attempting to further his blackmail by
taking nude pictures of Carmen Sternwood. Though Geiger is
murdered early on in the novel, his death causes a series of events
that set the plot in motion.
 Terrance Regan: An ex-bootlegger and husband of Vivian Sternwood.
Regan is somewhat of a phantom character: we never meet him
because he is dead long before the narrative begins. He remains,
however, one of the novel's main characters in the sense that much
of the novel revolves around him and the search for him. General
Sternwood wants Regan found because he had been a good friend to
the General, sweating with him in the greenhouse many a day,
providing conversation to a sick and dying man. In the end, Regan is
one of the very few characters who is saved from the plight of the
novel and its aftermath—he exists only in a long sleep, "the big
sleep," far away from the everyday reality of a seedy Los Angeles.
 Vivian Sternwood: The elder of General Sternwood's wild daughters.
Vivian is seductive but dangerous, a beautiful and smart temptress
whose dark eyes hide many secrets. She is a gambler and a drinker
and an accomplice to murder. Vivian is a spoiled brat who always
gets her way, and she is capable of cruelty. Nevertheless, it is
possible that she has murdered her husband all to keep her father,
General Sternwood, from the pain of the truth.
 Carmen Sternwood: Vivian's younger sister. Carmen is flirtatious,
wears provocative clothing (and occasionally none at all), and could
be considered not only a psychotic but also a nymphomaniac. She
sucks her thumb, giggles, and has a habit of repeating "You're cute"
to the men who cross her path. Whether or not Carmen is a
nymphomaniac, she is clearly prone to drinking, drugs, and sexual
behavior, and is mentally unstable. Beneath her innocent, thumb-
sucking, child-like veneer, she is the murderess of Rusty Regan.
 Eddie Mars: The novel's antagonist, the thoroughly corrupt leader of
a gambling racket who has at least an indirect hand in almost all the
murders that take place in the novel. Though Mars is a ruthless man,
he will not taint his own hands with blood; instead, he hires others to
do his dirty work. He manages a hold on many of the characters in
the book through his manipulative threats and offered "protection."
 Owen Taylor: The Sternwoods' chauffeur, a young man. Taylor is in
love with Carmen Sternwood, and tries to run away with her, but is
jailed because Vivian, Carmen's sister, presses charges. The only
way Taylor can see to save Carmen and her name is to murder
Geiger. Not very much is known about Taylor, as his is the only
death in the novel that remains ambiguous—whether he commits
suicide or is killed is unclear. Because we do not know the nature of

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 his death, we do not know how he feels about the murder he
commits. Regardless, Taylor is one of the two characters in the novel
—Carol Lundgren being the other—who "kill for love."
 Carol Lundgren: Geiger's young and handsome lover. Lundgren is
both despicable and endearing: his crude, limited vocabulary annoys
Marlowe while he is under his custody for killing Brody. The boy kills
Brody thinking that Brody has killed Geiger, his lover. However,
Lundgren honors Geiger's body in a ritualistic way, which makes us
empathetic to what he may be feeling under his "tough kid" front.
 Joseph Brody: A man who tries to take over Geiger's porn racket.
Brody is a common criminal who blackmails and gets involved in any
scheme or illegal activity that might make him a dollar. He
blackmails Vivian Sternwood with the pictures of Carmen he has in
his possession. He is not incredibly smart, and his life seems almost
an accident, just like his death, which is a mere misunderstanding—
Lundgren thinks it is Brody who has killed Geiger.
 Agnes Lozelle: The front girl for Geiger's pornography rentals. Agnes
is the equivalent of Brody: she is a common criminal, a grifter in
search of a buck. She has an expensive drug addiction that has
landed her in a deep hole. Agnes takes up with Brody and then with
Harry Jones, both times in schemes to make an easy dollar. She is
unhappy with her life, but she does nothing to better herself, instead
blaming the men around her.
 Harry Jones: A man involved in crime, but for whom crime is the
wrong business. Indeed, though Harry Jones is bad at criminal
activity, he seems to have no other option. He is bad at tailgating, as
illustrated by his poor performance in following Marlowe. He plans a
moneymaking scheme with Agnes—trading his knowledge of the
hiding place of Mona Grant (Eddie Mars's wife) for money—but gets
killed before he ever sees the money. Harry is not very smart, but he
illustrates a good will when he gives Canino the wrong address and
when he protects Agnes, his partner in crime.
 Taggart Wilde: The local district attorney
 Bernie Ohls: The D.A.'s chief investigator. Ohls is a friend of Marlowe
and tells the detective about the Sternwood job. Chandler uses Ohls
and the other "cops" to illustrate a tension between "coppers" and
detectives. Ohls is, generally, a good person.
 Captain Cronjager: A local police captain who appears to feel a
rivalry with Marlowe, or perhaps with private detectives in general.
 Captain Gregory: An officer at the Missing Persons Bureau who
chides Marlowe for taking matters into his own hands
 Mona Grant: The loyal and faithful wife of Eddie Mars. Though
rumors abound that Mona has run off with Regan, this is not the

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 case. Mona allows herself to be hidden in order to protect her
husband, whom she does not believe or want to believe to be a
crooked gambler and a ruthless murderer. Mona becomes a symbol
under the name of "Silver-wig"—the name that Marlowe, who is
taken by Mona, calls her.
 Lash Canino: Eddie Mars's cruel, rash, and trigger-happy gunman.
Canino poisons Harry Jones with cyanide and attempts to kill
Marlowe.
 Norris: the sternwoods’ butler

The empty hours – Ed McBain

 Landlady: knew something was wrong because of the milk
 Steve Carella
 Cotton Hawes: Hawes was supposed to be on a skiing holiday, but he
couldn't just stand by and watch the local cops make a mess of the
case. He had to catch the ski-slope slayer before he killed again.
 Officer

SUMMARY

In cold blood – Truman Capote

 Herbert William Clutter: he head of the Clutter family, Herbert is 48
years old and owns a ranch. He provides well for his family and
employs several ranch hands. He is a hard worker, a generous
employer, a strict but fair father, and a faithful husband to his
bedridden wife. He is a college graduate, having a degree in
agriculture from Kansas State University, and a self-made man. He is
the embodiment of the American Dream and the pinnacle of respect.
 Bonnie Clutter: Wife of Herbert, mother of four, and bedridden with
severe depression since the birth of her youngest, Bonnie is fragile,
affectionate, and deeply ashamed of her condition. She is always
cold, even in the summer, and her room is always heated. She
collects miniature things and once studied to become a nurse. In the
opening of the book, she has recently been given a sliver of hope for
recovery by a doctor who suggested her condition may be the result
of a "pinched nerve."
 Nancy Clutter: Daughter of Bonnie and Herbert Clutter and described
as the "town darling," Nancy is smart and beautiful, and she
involved in the community. She is the class president, a leader of
the 4-H program, a musician, and an excellent student. She is
generous and kind to her friends and neighbors.

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 Kenyon Clutter: The youngest of the Clutter children at 15, Kenyon is
a loner. He has one friend, who he no longer sees often because the
friend has recently taken a girlfriend. Kenyon is highly intelligent and
likes to build and modify electronic gadgets and other machines.
 Perry Smith: One of the two murderers of the Clutter family, Perry
grew up under difficult circumstances. He was abandoned by his
family and severely abused by nuns (who he develops a life-long
aversion to) and other caregivers. He has a reoccurring dream about
a large bird that saves him from bullies, abusers, and anyone who
might cause him harm. Perry is described as a small man, but very
muscular in his upper arms and chest. His feet and legs, however,
are small and delicate. This is one of Perry's many contradictions. He
never passed the third grade, but as an adult he has an incredible
thirst for knowledge, vocabulary, and literature. He is calm and
gentle, and he seems to want love and acceptance, but he is
eventually revealed to be the more brutal of the two men. One of his
main motivations is to take Dick to Mexico, and to hunt for treasure
and go skin diving. After the murders, Perry seems unable to
reconcile his personal opinion of himself with the crimes he has
committed. Perry also appears to have homosexual tendencies,
which are revealed via his affections for both Dick and a former cell
mate by the name of Willie-Jay.
 Dick Hickock: One of the two murderers of the Clutter family, Dick is
motivated by carnal impulses: lust, greed, vanity, and indulgence of
any kind. He is the mastermind and instigator of the murders, having
heard about a "big score" at the Clutter ranch. He is further
motivated by the fact that there is a teenage girl in the house; Dick
intends to rape her. After the murders, Dick shows no remorse or
interest in discussing the crime; he remains focused on finding
money and women, and avoiding capture. He is uneducated but very
street-wise and charming; he is able to con shop owners and
vulnerable women out of money and property. His friendship with
Perry stems solely from a lie Perry told him in which he killed a man
with a bicycle chain. Dick was amused by the story and had hoped
to bring forth Perry's murderous nature again during the Clutter
robbery.
 Alvin Adams Dewey: Head of the Clutter murder investigation, Al
Dewey had been a sheriff of Finney County and a Special Agent of
the F.B.I. He becomes completely obsessed with the Clutter case,
spending all of his emotional energy — sometimes at the cost his
family — on solving the crime: The clues, leads, theories, and his
general meditations on both the family and the crime. He admits to
be "haunted" by the crime and he intends to continue his

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 investigation until he finally understands why the Clutters were
murdered. His motivation becomes the narrative, and the reader
finds it equally imperative to continue reading to discover, finally,
what actually happened.
 Willie-Jay: A friend of Perry's from a previous incarceration. Perry
considers Willie-Jay to be a true kindred spirit, a smart man. Perry's
desire for a relationship like the one he had with Willie-Jay leads him
to begin his journey with Dick.
 Floyd Wells: A former cell mate of Dick Hickock and a former ranch
hand of Herbert Clutter, Floyd becomes a catalyst for the murders by
allowing Dick to believe that the Clutters had a safe in the house.
The murders take place ten years after Dick and Floyd share a cell,
but Wells becomes the only person who can tie the murders to Dick
and Perry.
 Susan Kidwell: Nancy's best friend, and one of the last people to see
the Clutters alive, Susan discovers the bodies after the family is
killed. Her grief causes her for form an intense bond with Bobby
soon after the murders.
 Bobby Rupp: Nancy Clutter's long-time boyfriend, he is the very last
person, except for the killers, to see the Clutter's alive. Bobby
becomes the main person of interest following the killings.
 Herbert Nye: The youngest member of the investigation team, he
discovers most of the evidence, including the gun, and Perry's
belongings.
 Don Culliver: A friend of Perry's from the army who comes to provide
companionship and sympathy for Perry after his arrest.
 George Ronald York: A prisoner on death row with Dick and Perry
who went on a mass killing spree over several states with James
Douglas Latham.
 James Douglas Latham: George's accomplice on the killing spree,
James is another prisoner on death row with Dick and Perry.

SUMMARY

In Cold Blood tells the true story of the murder of the Clutter family in
Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. The book is written as if it were a novel,
complete with dialog, and is what Truman Capote referred to as "New
Journalism" — the nonfiction novel. Although this writing style had been
used before, the craft and success of In Cold Blood led to its being deemed
the true masterwork of the genre. For Truman Capote, it was the last in a
series of great works, which included Breakfast at Tiffany's, Other Voices,
Other Rooms, and The Grass Harp. In Cold Blood was originally published
in four parts in The New Yorker and then released as a novel in 1965. In
Cold Blood took six years for Capote to research and write, and it took an

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incredible toll on Capote, personally — so much so that he never published
another book again. In Cold Blood is said to have been his undoing.

The book tells the story of the murder of the Clutter family, consisting of
Mr. and Mrs. Clutter and their two teenage children, Kenyon and Nancy
(two older daughters were grown and out of the house), and the events
that lead the killers to murder. The family was living in Holcomb, Kansas,
and in November 1959, they were brutally killed, with no apparent motive,
by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The family was discovered bound and
shot to death, with only small items missing from the home. Capote read
about the crime in The New York Times soon after it happened, and before
the killers were caught, he began his work in Kansas, interviewing the
people of Holcomb and doing extensive research with the help of his friend
Harper Lee, who would go on to write the classic To Kill a Mockingbird.

Perry and Dick initially get away with the murder, leaving behind scant
clues and having no personal connection with the murdered family. Capote
explores the motive again and again within his text, eventually concluding
that any real motive for the crime lays within Perry — his feelings of
inadequacy, his ambiguous sexuality, and his anger at the world and at his
family because of his bad childhood. Dick plays the role of true outlaw, but
the impact of the killings weighs heavily on him, and his own role in the
murders remains unexplained and unclear.

The townspeople of Holcomb and other friends of the Clutters are deeply
affected by the murders. This includes Nancy's best friend, Sue, and
Nancy's boyfriend, Bobby. The townspeople perceived the Clutters as the
family "least likely" in the world to be murdered. Unable to conceive that
the killers were strangers, many of them become suspicious of everyone
and anxious about their own safety in the company of their neighbors. The
man who heads the murder investigation, Al Dewey, becomes obsessed
with both the murderers and the Clutter family. His need to find the killers
becomes his driving force in life.

While the anxiety in Holcomb grows, the killers move on with their lives.
The book follows Perry and Dick to Mexico and back, and incredibly, it
seems that they might never be found out and brought to justice.
Ultimately, a living witness who can tie the two men to the Clutters,
footprints at the crime scene, and the possession of a pair of binoculars
and a radio from the Clutter home become the pair's undoing. They are
arrested and both confess to their part in the crime. They are tried for
murder and convicted; after many years on death row, both men are
hanged. During their time on death row, Perry slowly reveals his personal
thoughts, his ambitions, and the motives that contributed to his life
choices, including the fateful night he and Dick entered the Clutter home.
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The girl on the train – Paula Hawkins
 Rachel Watson
 Megan Hipwell (Jess)
 Anna Watson
 Tom Watson
 Scott Hipwell (Jason)
 Dr. Kamal Abdic: Kamal Abdic is a Muslim refugee from Bosnia
working as a therapist in Witney, a suburb of London. When he
begins seeing Megan Hipwell as a patient, Kamal is determined to
help the troubled, restless young Megan unspool the traumas of her
past and make sense of how they’re impacting her in the present.
Together, they work through Megan’s sense of self; her marriage to
her husband, Scott; and her relentless need for male attention and
approval. Abdic is a quiet, soft-spoken man who does his best to
resist Megan’s quickly-growing romantic feelings for him, as acting
upon them could lose him his practice. When Megan mysteriously
disappears,
 Cathy: Rachel’s roommate
 Detective inspector Gaskill: In charge of Megan’s case
 Detective sergeant Riley: Detective Sergeant Riley is a young female
detective working Megan’s case. Riley, like Gaskill, is suspicious and
wary of Rachel—but unlike Gaskill, Riley is more ready to pin Rachel
down as a “sad” and lonely
 The redheaded man/ Andy: Commuter. He often rides the train to
and from the city at the same time as Rachel. On the fateful
Saturday night when Rachel travels to Witney to confront Tom and
Anna, she remembers little from her blackout except for the
redheaded man helping her up the stairs near the station after a fall.
Rachel begins to fear the redheaded man, believing that he harmed
her in the underpass or was otherwise connected to Megan’s murder
—yet Andy eventually reveals himself to be a harmless, fun-loving
man who simply came to Rachel’s aid in a moment of need.
 Craig ‘Mac’ Mckenzie: Megan’s first love and a friend of her older
brother Ben
 Libby: was their daughter
 Tara Epstein: Tara is one of Megan’s acquaintances. Megan often
uses hanging out with Tara—which she actually does very rarely—as
an excuse to get out of the house. This allows her to get away from
Scott so that she can rendezvous with her lover, Tom. Tara is
indifferent to Megan and happy to lie for her.
 Evie: Evie is Tom and Anna’s baby. She’s about a year and a half old
during the novel’s main timeline.

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  Ben: Ben is Megan’s long-deceased older brother. An adventurous
spirit throughout his 19 short years, Ben always encouraged Megan
to pursue freedom and autonomy.
 Damien: Damien is Cathy’s boyfriend.
 Rachel’s Mother: Rachel’s mother is a flighty but apparently wealthy
woman who constantly has a new boyfriend in her life.
 Scott’s Mother: Scott’s slightly overbearing mother comes to town to
help him cope in the wake of Megan’s disappearance.

SUMMARY

Rachel Watson is an alcoholic woman in her mid-thirties. She recently got

divorced from her now-ex-husband Tom, and she’s also lost her home and
her job amid debilitating struggles with infertility, depression, and
alcoholism. Rachel occupies herself by riding the train back and forth
between London and her suburb of Ashbury each day because it offers a
view of the back garden at her old home, 23 Blenheim Road in the suburb
of Witney. Rachel enjoys spying on a gorgeous young couple who live a
few doors down at 15 Blenheim Road and imagining what their lives must
be like. One morning, Rachel spies the woman who lives in number 15
kissing another man on her terrace. Rachel becomes furious at the
woman’s infidelity yet intrigued by what could be happening beneath the
surface of her picture-perfect life.

As the novel progresses, Hawkins alternates between Rachel’s narration

(which takes place over the summer of 2013 after the woman at number
15, Megan Hipwell, goes missing), and the narration of Megan herself. The
voice of Tom’s new wife, Anna, is also interspersed. Megan’s narration
begins in the spring of 2012 and catalogues the tumultuous year leading
up to her disappearance. During this year, Megan experiences marital
problems with her possessive but passionate husband, Scott, and she
visits a therapist named Dr. Kamal Abdic who helps her unspool the
threads of her dark past. She also an affair with Tom Watson, whom she
meets through babysitting his daughter Evie.

Megan quits her nanny job at the end of the summer of 2012,
uncomfortable with the responsibility of caring for a baby each day and
increasingly nervous that Anna will discover her affair with Tom. Megan
struggles to parse her romantic and sexual feelings for Tom and Scott—
and all the while, old traumas create a nagging sense of restlessness
within her. During this time, she confides in Dr. Abdic about her painful
past—notably about a relationship during her teen years with Mac (a friend
of her deceased brother Ben), and the child they had (and lost) together,
Libby. Megan gradually develops romantic feelings for Dr. Abdic, and when
Megan discovers that she is pregnant and realizes that the baby could be
13
either Scott’s or Tom’s, she asks Dr. Abdic for advice about what to do. He
assures her that she has come far enough in life to be a good mother.
Emboldened by Abdic’s faith in her, Megan reaches out to Tom to tell him
about the baby. When he encourages her to get an abortion, an incensed
Megan starts screaming at Tom, threatening to make him pay for the
child. Tom picks up a rock and bludgeons Megan to death.

Meanwhile, in 2013, Rachel wakes one Sunday morning to discover that

she is covered in cuts, bruises, and dirt. She cannot remember what
happened the night before—except that she went to Blenheim Road and
had a fight with Tom and Anna. As Rachel tries to piece together the
events of Saturday night, she is shocked to learn from the news that
Megan Hipwell—the woman she has been observing from the train—is
missing. Rachel feels certain, because she was in Witney, that she must
have seen something important. Rachel obsessively reads articles about
Megan’s disappearance—none of which mention the fact that Megan was
having an affair. Rachel eases up on her drinking as she becomes
determined to investigate Megan’s disappearance on her own. She returns
to Witney to visit the underpass beneath the train station, remembering
that she was there on the night Megan disappeared. While in the
underpass, she has a sensorially vivid flashbacks of pain, fear, and
violence.

When Rachel returns home, she finds that the police and a detective by
the name of Gaskill are waiting for her. Tom and Anna have told them that
Rachel was in Witney the night of Megan’s disappearance—and that
Rachel recently snuck into their house, carrying Evie off into the garden.
Rachel insists she would never harm Tom, Anna, or Evie, and that she
doesn’t recall seeing Megan on Saturday. The police urge Rachel to stay
away from Blenheim Road. Feeling guilty, Rachel goes to the police station
the following day to inform Gaskill and another detective, Riley, about
Megan’s affair. During the interview, Rachel is shocked to learn that
Megan worked as a nanny for Tom and Anna. Afterward, she gets in touch
with Scott via email, feeling that she needs to inform him about Megan’s
affair. When the police call Rachel in for more questioning, she gets drunk
(breaking her sobriety) and blacks out again one evening, sending more
emails to Scott—and Tom—in the process. Rachel is surprised when Scott
emails her back and wants to meet up to discuss Megan.

Rachel meets with Scott and describes having seen Megan kiss another
man from the train. Scott shows Rachel a picture of Megan’s therapist, Dr.
Kamal Abdic, and asks if Abdic is the man Rachel saw. She confirms that
he was. As Scott begins confiding in Rachel about his relationship with
Megan, Rachel wonders how much she can trust Scott—he is, after all, a

14
murder suspect. The next morning on the train, Rachel spots a man
reading an article about an arrest made in the Hipwell case. Rachel
disembarks at Witney and hurries to Scott’s house. Scott pulls her inside
and explains that Rachel doesn’t need to worry—it’s Abdic the authorities
have arrested. As Rachel departs, she runs into Tom, Anna, and Evie on
the street. The next day, Rachel ignores calls from Tom as she watches
the news and drinks. She blacks out and falls asleep. In the morning, she
discovers she placed multiple calls to Tom and Scott in the middle of the
night. She calls Scott back, and Scott accuses her of lying to him—he has
spoken to the police and learned that Rachel is not a friend of Megan’s and
that Rachel herself was at one point a person of interest in the case.

The summer stretches on. Abdic is released due to insufficient evidence.

Rachel drinks heavily and experiences nightmares about the underpass in
Witney. Rachel reaches out to Tom, begging him to tell her what happened
the night of Megan’s disappearance, but he is evasive. Scott reaches out
to Rachel and apologetically invites her over. The two bond as they
discuss Rachel’s issues with infertility and Scott’s struggles to inspire
maternal instincts within Megan. Anna spots Rachel in the neighborhood
and, believing Rachel is dangerous, becomes perturbed by Rachel’s
frequent visits to the Hipwell house. One morning, while watching the
news, Rachel learns that the body of a pregnant woman has been found in
Corly Wood, near Witney—it is Megan. Rachel begins experiencing more
flashbacks to the night of Megan’s disappearance: she remembers ducking
from a man’s fist and seeing a woman in blue getting into a car on the
other side of the underpass. Determined to recover her lost memories—
and to get a read on Abdic—Rachel makes an appointment at his practice.
During the session, Rachel tells Abdic about her failed marriage and her
struggles with alcoholism. She tells him that she often blacks out—but that
when she’s told the horrible things she said and did while drunk, she feels
she couldn’t have done them.

The next morning, Rachel experiences a dream which is really a memory:

a horrible fight with Tom culminating in smashed photographs and angry
words. Rachel takes a walk to clear her head. At a newsstand, she sees a
front-page headline about Megan being a “child killer”—authorities have
discovered that Megan accidentally (or purposefully) killed her infant
daughter years ago. Anna sees the headline too, and she becomes
ashamed of hiring Megan to look after Evie. Anna tells Tom that she wants
to leave Witney forever, but Tom shrugs her off. A few days later, when
authorities recover the remains of Megan’s first child buried in a seaside
town, Rachel heads over to the Hipwell house to comfort Scott. The two of

15
them get drunk and have sex. In the morning when Rachel leaves, she
runs into Anna once again. Anna lobbies Tom to call the police and get rid
of Rachel once and for all, but instead, Tom asks Rachel to meet to discuss
her frequent presence on Blenheim Road. Rachel insists that she’s become
friendly with Scott and has no interest in disrupting Tom and Anna’s life.
After another session with Abdic, Rachel returns to the underpass to try to
recall more memories. Anna, having seen Rachel on the street yet again,
becomes convinced that Tom and Rachel are having an affair.

Soon after, Scott asks Rachel over again. When she arrives, he drunkenly
tells her that the DNA tests done on Megan’s corpse have shown that the
baby she was carrying was neither his nor Abdic’s. Scott demands to know
what Megan told Rachel, eventually discovering that Rachel didn’t know
Megan at all. Scott attacks Rachel and imprisons her in the spare room
upstairs for a short time before letting her go, after which Rachel calls the
authorities and tells them what happened. They warn her again to stay
away from Scott. Rachel calls Tom and begins pressing him for more
details about the night of Megan’s disappearance, but he is cruel and
dismissive as he orders her to stop contacting him. That night, as Rachel
drifts off to sleep, she has a flashback of Tom attacking her in the
underpass while the woman in blue—a woman she now believes to be
Megan—looked on. Meanwhile, Anna is increasingly worried about Tom’s
infidelity, so she goes through his laptop and his belongings. She finds a
burner phone in his gym bag while he’s out at the pub. Later, Anna takes
the phone out to the garden and listens to the outgoing voicemail
message: the phone, she realizes, belonged to Megan.

Rachel begins experiencing increasingly vivid flashbacks of drunken nights

when Tom attacked her. Though Tom always told Rachel that she was the
instigator in all their fights, Rachel realizes that Tom was gaslighting her:
for the entirety of their relationship, he was the abusive one. Rachel,
concerned for Anna, travels to Tom and Anna’s house and urges Anna to
pack a bag, take Evie, and leave. Anna says that she knows Tom’s a liar—
but that she refuses to leave him simply because he was having an affair
with the nanny. Rachel suggests that Tom killed Megan, but Anna cannot
accept such an idea.

Just then, Tom comes home and confronts the two women. Rachel begs
Anna to stand up to Tom, but when Tom picks up Evie and begins
essentially holding her hostage, Anna is powerless. Rachel tries to run for
the door, but Tom knocks her unconscious and moves her into the kitchen.
As Tom tells Rachel the story of how he killed Megan, Rachel slyly reaches
into a kitchen drawer and retrieves a corkscrew. She manages to run out
to the garden, but Tom catches up with her. Rachel stabs Tom in the neck

16
as a train screeches past. Anna approaches the scene, places her hands
on Tom’s neck, and drives the corkscrew in further. In the aftermath of
Tom’s death, Rachel takes a train journey northward toward Scotland,
stopping in Megan’s hometown to visit her and Libby’s graves. Rachel
remains haunted by the things that have happened to her—but free of
Tom and newly sober, she is grateful to be alive

17