Cast of Characters
- Nero Wolfe — The private investigator
- Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's assistant, and the narrator of all Wolfe stories
- Carlo Maffei — Italian-American metalworker whose disappearance forces Wolfe to begin working
- Maria Maffei — Sister of Carlo Maffei and friend of Fred Durkin's wife
- Peter Oliver Barstow — President of Holland University (fictional), whose bizarre death on a golf course is the key to the mystery
- Lawrence Barstow — Peter Barstow's son, who was with him when he died
- Ellen Barstow — Widow of Peter Barstow
- Sarah Barstow — Peter Barstow's daughter who graduated from Smith College
- E.J. Kimball — Grain broker who was one of the foursome when Barstow died
- Manuel Kimball — E.J. Kimball's son who was also one of the foursome, and also an aviator
- Dr. Nathaniel Bradford — Family physician of the Barstows and friend of Peter since childhood
- Anna Fiore — Cleaning girl at Carlo Maffei's boarding house
- Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, Orrie Cather and Bill Gore — Freelance detectives employed by Wolfe
Read more about this topic: Fer-de-Lance (novel)
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