Fer-de-Lance (novel) - Cast of Characters

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