FLORENCE GENTRIE — Mrs. Arthur Gentrie, mother of three with an executive’s eye for detail
HESTER — her maid, who may or may not be stupid
REBECCA GENTRIE — her sister-in-law, an old maid with a fondness for crossword puzzles
ARTHUR GENTRIE — her husband, who owns a hardware store and can sleep through anything
JUNIOR — her son, 19, who won’t tell all he knows
PERRY MASON — criminal lawyer who is not averse to compounding a felony to solve a murder
DELLA STREET — his attractive secretary whose gun moll activities cause complications
RODNEY WENSTON — tall, handsome playboy pilot with an odd lisp and loquacious charm
GOW LOONG — inscrutable, soft-spoken, quick-moving Number One boy of
ELSTON A. KARR — rugged individualist with an Oriental angle of approach and secrets to keep
JOHNS BLAINE — who’s always in the background and calls himself “a sort of nurse”
LIEUTENANT TRAGG — quiet, efficient member of the Homicide Squad who knows Mason of old
DELMAN STEELE — the Gentries’ boarder who has made himself a member of the family
PAUL DRAKE — detective with a lot of explanations to make and sleep to catch up on
OPAL SUNLEY — a pretty young stenographer who wants to stay out of the papers
MRS. SARAH PERLIN — housekeeper, whose disappearance helps start it all
DORIS WICKFORD — exotic ex-actress who reads the “Personal” columns and has a claim to make
L. O. SAWDEY — a busy doctor who holds an important key to the solution of the murders