Beauvoir, the acting head of homicide and Gamache’s son-in-law, functions as the novel’s deuteragonist. His character arc is defined by an intense internal conflict between his institutional duty and his personal loyalty to Gamache. A round and dynamic character, Beauvoir is torn by the immense pressure from the Sûreté’s internal investigation to distance himself from Gamache, an act he views as a betrayal. This struggle highlights the collateral damage of Gamache’s morally ambiguous decisions, which place those closest to him in untenable positions. Beauvoir’s journey is one of navigating a landscape of shifting allegiances, where his deeply ingrained cynicism clashes with the steadfast morality he has come to admire in Gamache.

This novel in the series forces Beauvoir into a morally precarious state. He is offered a “lifeboat” by the investigators and Francis Cournoyer of the Ministère de la Justice, an opportunity to save his own career by validating the official narrative that casts Gamache as a reckless leader. This temptation weighs heavily on him, especially when Cournoyer plants seeds of doubt by suggesting Gamache is withholding crucial information. Beauvoir’s frustration causes him to question the man who has been his mentor for years, but his fundamental loyalty and investigative integrity win out. He continues to work in concert with Gamache, sharing information about the Baumgartner case while wrestling with his own professional anxieties.

Ultimately, Beauvoir’s development concludes with a decisive choice to change his life entirely. His weariness with the political machinations of the Sûreté and the constant proximity to death and violence culminates in his decision to accept a corporate job in Paris. However, this choice isn’t made to avoid accountability or break from Gamache; instead, it is a prioritization of his own family and well-being. He recognizes the brutal, unsustainable nature of his career and chooses a different path, one of peace rather than perpetual conflict. Over the course of the novel, Beauvoir learns that his greatest responsibility is to his wife and child, a realization that marks his maturation and provides a quiet, poignant resolution to his arc.

Hugo Baumgartner is the antagonist of the novel, his villainy concealed behind a carefully constructed facade of unassuming mediocrity. As a round but static character, his core motivations of resentment, jealousy, and greed remain constant, driving him to commit fraud and murder. He perfectly embodies the novel’s examination of the gap between appearances and reality. Described as short, round, and “toad-like,” especially in comparison to his handsome brother Anthony and elegant sister Caroline, Hugo is consistently underestimated, even by Gamache. This physical description is a key element of his characterization, serving as a form of camouflage that allows him to operate without suspicion. He is the overlooked child, a fact symbolized by the height chart on the doorframe where his growth lags behind his siblings, and this perceived inferiority fuels a deep-seated bitterness that festers for decades.

Hugo is intelligent, cunning, and deeply ambitious. He leverages his position as a senior vice president at a prestigious investment firm to orchestrate a massive embezzlement scheme, methodically stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from clients. In a move of calculated cruelty, he uses his brother’s laptop to conduct the illicit transactions, effectively framing Anthony for the crime. This act is the culmination of a lifetime of resentment toward the brother he saw as favored. When Anthony discovers the fraud and confronts him at their abandoned childhood farmhouse, Hugo’s carefully built world is threatened. He murders Anthony, crushing his skull, and allows the dilapidated house to collapse on the body in an attempt to make the death look like an accident. This act reveals the ruthless core beneath his bumbling exterior and represents the most destructive outcome of the family’s legacy of conflict.

Choquet is a volatile and complex character whose journey in the novel illustrates the repercussions of Gamache’s high-risk, high-reward methods. A cadet in the Sûreté academy with a history of substance use, addiction, and sex work, she is intelligent, defiant, and deeply resilient. Her character is a study in contradictions; she is an autodidact who taught herself Latin and Greek while living on the streets, and her aggressive, spiky persona conceals a fierce will to survive and succeed. As a dynamic character, her journey through the novel tests her limits and forces her to confront the world she desperately tried to escape. Her expulsion from the academy for possessing opioids is revealed to be a ruse, a calculated move by Gamache to deploy her as an undercover operative to find the missing carfentanil. This act places her in extreme danger but also demonstrates Gamache’s faith in her unique skills.

Once back on the streets, Amelia transforms into a leader, navigating the brutal underworld with a combination of street smarts and Sûreté training, gathering a following of vulnerable people with addictions who see her as a protector. Ultimately, her quest leads her to the drug factory, but she is captured and given a lethal dose. Her survival, thanks to Gamache’s timely intervention, leaves her future uncertain but proves her incredible fortitude and foreshadows a role for her in Gamache’s future investigations.

Myrna, the owner of the Three Pines bookstore and a retired psychologist, is a key supporting character who provides insight, stability, and courage. As one of the three liquidators of Bertha Baumgartner’s will, she is drawn into the central mystery alongside Gamache. Her initial reaction is one of cautious skepticism, but her innate curiosity compels her to participate. Myrna is a round and static character; her core traits of intelligence, empathy, and astuteness remain consistent, serving as a reliable anchor in a narrative filled with deception. Her professional background makes her a keen observer of human dynamics, allowing her to analyze the Baumgartner family’s complex psychology and the strange legacy left by the Baroness.

Myrna functions as both a confidante and a practical ally to Gamache in the Baumgartner investigation. She is a sounding board for his theories and often voices bewilderment at the increasingly strange circumstances of the will. However, her role transcends that of a passive observer. During the collapse of the crooked farmhouse, she demonstrates bravery and resourcefulness. While the men attempt to use brute force, Myrna thinks to use the car jack to lift a collapsed beam, creating the opening that allows them to reach Benedict. This act of ingenuity and physical courage proves that she is far more than an intellectual presence and solidifies her role as an essential member of the impromptu team. Her character represents the quiet strength and grounded wisdom of the Three Pines community.

Benedict Pouliot is introduced as the most perplexing of the three liquidators, a seemingly naive and goofy young builder whose presence on the will appears entirely random. His affable, simple-minded exterior masks a much more complex role in the story, illustrating the novel’s examination of the deceptiveness of appearances. As a round and dynamic character, Benedict’s true nature and motivations are gradually revealed. His absurdly long red-and-white tuque and unfortunate haircut, supposedly the work of his girlfriend, contribute to his initial portrayal as a slightly comic figure. This persona is a deliberate deception, as he is secretly the partner of Katie Burke and is acting as her proxy to carry out the Baroness’s true final wishes.

Despite his involvement in a scheme built on lies, Benedict possesses a core of genuine kindness and bravery. He struggles with the deception, particularly when lying to Gamache, a man he comes to respect. His defining moment occurs during the farmhouse collapse, where his terror is palpable. In this moment of crisis, his first instinct is to pull Gamache into a protective doorway and then shield him with his own body. This act of selfless courage reveals the true man beneath the goofy facade. His lie about his girlfriend is not malicious but part of a larger, well-intentioned plan to heal a generational feud. Benedict’s character complicates the novel’s exploration of truth, suggesting that deception can sometimes be employed in the service of a noble goal.

The Baroness is central to the novel’s main mystery, embodying the theme of Choosing Forgiveness Over Conflict, even though she dies before the novel begins and never appears in a scene. She is the deceased matriarch of the Baumgartner family, whose bizarre will initiates the mystery. A cleaning woman who clung to a fantasy of aristocratic lineage, she is a posthumously developed round character. Her life was defined by a mixture of pride, bitterness over a perceived injustice, and a deep love for her children. Her late-in-life friendship with Baron Kinderoth signifies a profound shift, leading to her final wish: to replace her family’s legacy of resentment with one of peace. Her will is the flawed, desperate instrument of this wish, illustrating a desire to free her children from the burdens of the generational feud.

The Baroness’s eldest son Anthony is the murder victim. In life, he was perceived by family and friends as handsome, successful, and decent—the family’s golden child. His character is posthumously complicated by revelations of a professional disgrace and his brother’s attempt to frame him for embezzlement. His choice to hang Clara’s painting of Ruth in his study suggests an empathetic nature capable of seeing hope within bitterness, making him the son the Baroness believed would understand her final wishes. In the end, he is revealed to be an innocent victim of his brother’s crimes, killed for seeking to uncover and right the wrongs that Hugo perpetrated.

Katie Burke is the architect of the clandestine plan to fulfill the Baroness’s final wishes. As a descendant of the rival Kinderoth family, she is personally invested in ending the century-long feud. Intelligent, resourceful, and willing to engage in elaborate deception, she is a flat character whose motivations remain fixed throughout the narrative. She befriends the Baroness Baumgartner and orchestrates her meeting with Baron Kinderoth (Katie’s grandfather), supporting their plan to marry and unite the families. After the Baron’s death, she devises the scheme to install neutral liquidators—including her boyfriend, Benedict, as a proxy—to ensure that the Baroness’s desire to share any potential inheritance is honored. While her methods involve significant lies, her goal aligns with the novel’s theme of choosing reconciliation over a legacy of conflict.