Harriet Vane
Harriet is the protagonist of the novel. She is a mystery writer and a graduate of Shrewsbury College, Oxford, a period in her life about which she has decidedly mixed feelings; she loved the student experience and the solace that she finds in academia and research, but she also went through a terrible ordeal there, and was forced to stand trial for murder.
Harriet has a relationship of sorts with amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey, about whom she has conflicting and very confusing feelings. Much of her confusion comes from her own inability to decide how she feels about love in general and being in love with Wimsey in particular. The experiences that she goes through in this novel really help her to be introspective and realize that she does love Wimsey, and she is finally able to both accept his love and offer him hers.
The novel covers a pivotal time in Harriet's life as she also realizes that she has a tendency to hide in her writing and in academia in general, rather than facing difficult realities in her life.
Lord Peter Wimsey
Wimsey is the archetypal British aristocrat who is bored and looking for something to do; Wimsey is an amateur detective of some considerable ability and it is in this capacity that Harriet Vane calls for his help during the novel. Wimsey is deeply in love with Harriet and has been for some considerable time but his affections have not generally been reciprocated because his intensity of feeling and the strength of his declarations scare her.
Wimsey is a very intelligent man who is able to investigate in a logical and effective way. This is invaluable to Harriet in her search for the sender of the poison pen letters. Wimsey is also the protagonist of a series of novels in which his and Harriet's roles are reversed and in which she is called upon to help him, rather than the other way around.
Letitia Martin
Martin is the Dean of Shrewsbury College and the person who asks for Harriet's help in solving the crimes of vandalism and sending poison pen letters. Martin is loyal to the college and the university, and wants to bring in only those whom she feels have the same intention. The Dean never wavers in her support of Harriet during her murder trial and the two remain on good terms, despite Harriet's initial trepidation about going back to the college.
Helen de Vine
Helen is a new research fellow at Shrewsbury College. Attractive, sincere, and bookish, she is also sensitive. She is the recipient of several extremely nasty poison pen letters which almost drive her to suicide. We later learn that she has become a target for the letters because Annie Wilson, the sender, resents women who pursue a life in academia instead of confining themselves to domestic service.
Miss Hillyard
A don (professor) at Shrewsbury College, Hillyard is unmarried, but some believe her to be married to her academic studies. She is an excellent professor and her class is popular, but she receives a poison pen letter of extreme vituperativeness because of her career in academia.
Viscount Saint-George
Although not a key character in the mystery plot, the Viscount is nonetheless an important character in Harriet's life, because he changes the course of it, without even realizing he is doing so. The Viscount is Wimsey's nephew, and it is by talking to him that Harriet learns a great deal more about Wimsey than she knew already and she also comes to realize from what the Viscount tells her that he is the kind of man one should make the effort to fall in love with.
Annie Wilson
The antagonist of the story, Annie is the widow of a professor who was caught perpetrating academic fraud. She is angry about this, and directs her anger at the examiner who caught him out, and also at academia in general. When she learns that the examiner has moved to Shrewsbury College she follows him with the intention of getting revenge. Annie is a tortured individual filled with spite. She writes a series of terrible poison pen letters, both to the examiner, and also to women who are pursuing careers in academia. Annie is a Scout, which is actually a housekeeper, at Shrewsbury College, and deeply resents women who do not pursue a life of domestic service. She is apprehended at the end of the novel after evading detection for quite some time.
