Death on the Nile characters

Appears from the start

A young Englishwoman who has inherited an American fortune and is admired everywhere she goes for her looks, her money and her competence. She buys a country estate, reorganises it, and is used to arranging the world to suit herself, including the lives of the people who depend on her. She is generous by habit and does not always notice what her generosity costs other people.

First appears in chapter 2

Linnet's school friend, small, dark, and intense, whose family lost everything and who now has nothing at all. She is passionately in love with Simon Doyle and says so without embarrassment. She comes to Linnet to ask a favour for him, and warns, half laughing, that she loves too fiercely for her own good.

First appears in chapter 2

A large, good-looking, cheerful young man with no money and no head for office work, engaged to Jacqueline de Bellefort. He is straightforward to the point of simplicity, hates towns, and wants a job in the country where he can manage land.

First appears in chapter 4

The Belgian detective, on holiday and determined to remain on holiday, who keeps meeting the principals of this affair by accident, first in a London restaurant and then in Egypt. He gives warnings that nobody takes and observes people at length in the sun.

First appears in chapter 5

A pleasant, sensible Englishwoman of limited means travelling with her son, on whom she dotes and about whom she is not deceived. She makes friends easily and enjoys Poirot's company.

First appears in chapter 5

Mrs Allerton's son, an idle, charming young man of uncertain health and uncertain occupation, who lives abroad cheaply and writes a book he never finishes. He is a distant cousin of Linnet's circle and is vague about his London acquaintances.

First appears in chapter 8

An American trustee of the Ridgeway fortune, one of the firm that has managed Linnet's money since her father died. Hearty and expansive in manner, he turns up in Egypt claiming a chance meeting and is anxious to have documents signed without too much reading.

First appears in chapter 15

A British colonel with a vague official position, travelling on the Nile steamer in pursuit of an agitator believed to be aboard under an assumed identity. Dry, capable and discreet, he has worked with Poirot before and shares the investigation with him.

First appears in chapter 13

A once-popular novelist of overheated romances, now drinking heavily and convinced that her books are suppressed by conspiracies. She talks loudly about her work to anyone within reach and is a constant embarrassment to her daughter.

First appears in chapter 13

Salome Otterbourne's daughter, a sullen, defensive young woman worn out by managing her mother and hiding the bottles. Her rudeness is armour, and Poirot treats it as such.

First appears in chapter 13

An elderly and immensely snobbish American, travelling with a companion and a nurse and interested only in people whose families she recognises. She is rude to nearly everyone and expects deference as a matter of course.

First appears in chapter 13

Miss Van Schuyler's poor relation and unpaid companion, a plain, patient young American who is fetched and scolded all day and considers herself lucky to be travelling at all. She is kinder and shrewder than anybody gives her credit for.

First appears in chapter 13

A calm, sturdy hospital nurse engaged to attend Miss Van Schuyler, professionally incurious and entirely unimpressed by her employer's rank. She keeps her patient's business to herself.

First appears in chapter 13

A stout, elderly Austrian physician of considerable European reputation, travelling for pleasure and pleased to lecture anyone who will listen. His cabin becomes the ship's sickroom when it is needed.

First appears in chapter 13

A scruffy, loudly opinionated young man who denounces wealth, leisure and the whole class of people travelling with him, and is particularly offensive about Linnet Doyle. He takes an interest in Cornelia Robson and is contemptuous of Miss Van Schuyler.

First appears in chapter 14

Linnet Doyle's French maid, who dresses her, guards her jewellery and is discontented with her position and her prospects of marriage. She is quick to feel a slight and quick to see an advantage.