List of Invisible Detective Characters

This is a list of characters in "The Invisible Detective" series by Justin Richards.

A

Arthur "Art" Drake - "Art first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. He is one of the five main characters in the book"

Art is the leader of the Cannoniers, one with very good leadership skills. He is often the one who comes up with a plan to the problems that they face. Though tall for a 14 year old boy, he is slightly built too. He has dark brown hair that he constantly flicked to move it away from his high forehead.

Art acts as Brandon Lake, providing the voice and figure (silhouette) in the armchair for him.

Arthur Drake II - "Arthur first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. He is one of the five main characters in the book"

The grandson of the original Arthur "Art" Drake, leader of the Cannoniers. On a rainy afternoon, Arthur decided to seek shelter in an antique shop on Cannon Street. While inside there, he bought back Art's famous Casebook and the loadstone, that was used to control the puppets back in 1936, for a pound each.

The casebook is slightly shorter than A4 size, in dark red/brown. The drawings and sketches were done in pencil, while the text were in ink.

Arthur had found a clock in a deserted house at Jursall Street, where Art and the Cannoniers had solved one of their mysteries - the Ghost Soldiers. With this clock, Arthur was able to communicate with Art in the cellar.

The loadstone had a strange power as well. In Stage Fright, when Arthur stared straight into the deeper inner light, he felt himself slipping away into the darkness and transported to 1937 as Art Drake. With that, Art Drake was then transported to the present London as Arthur Drake.

In the final book, Legion of the Dead, Art (Arthur's grandfather) revealed that there is a volume 2 to the Invisible Detective's Casebook.

Albert Norris - "Albert first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. Since then, he has been a recurring character in the book"

Albert Norris is the landlord of the Dog and Goose pub on the Cannon Street. His customers are often part of the plot and he always asks The Invisible Detective to find out what had happened. Norris is a big man, almost as broad as he is round.

Professor Anton Bessemer - "Professor Bessemer first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show"

Professor Bessemer was the creator of the life sized mannequins, where their movements seemed to work by clockwork. He created Liza, who was one of his first few experiments, and made her his assistant.

He was later shot by Liza, who said she wanted to be free of his hold.

Anne Worthington - "Worthington (like her father) first appeared in the book, Legion of the Dead"

The daughter of Mr. Worthington, she is a curator and proprietor who runs the current Myton Museum today. Like her father, she is able to speak and read Latin.

Inside the museum, she kept the sword and the stone casket from 1937, as her father believed that the evil Darkening would be back and one day, someone would need the sword (again) to defeat Darkening once and for all.

B

Brandon Lake - "Brandon Lake first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. He is one of the main characters in the book"

Brandon Lake, the Invisible Detective, can solve any mystery, great or small - but no one has ever seen his face. He is seated in a faded burgundy armchair, though it is hard to tell in the gloom. All that can be seen of the person in the armchair was the shadow of a hand - a hand that gestured and punctuated the detective's speech.

But the truth is, Brandon Lake does not exist. He is a detective created by 4 extraordinary kids who combat crimes in his name.

Arthur "Art" Drake is the one who provided the voice (by deepening his own voice) of Brandon Lake and wears a heavy coat that is far too big for his small figure, while the rest of the Cannoniers help Art out in anyway possible during the consultation sessions, which is held every Monday evening.

C

Charles "Charlie" Etherbridge, Earl of Fotherington - "Charlie first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. Since then, he has been a recurring character in the book"

Charlie is an elderly man, with wrinkled face, a kind voice and eyes are alive with intelligence and humour.

After warning the Cannoniers about a watchman working his way along the street and checking the empty buildings, he soon made friends with the four children and even became a representative for the Invisible Detective (Brandon Lake).

In the book, Legion of the Dead, Charlie is able to speak Latin.

As of now, Charlie still does not know that Brandon Lake does not exactly exist.

Mr. "Old Creepy" Crabtree - "Mr. Crabtree first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show"

Mr. Crabtree walks with a stoop and has a wrinkled face that was twisted into a scowl of disapproval.

Later in the story, Jonny's feet caught on something on the ground behind him - it was the curled, motionless body of Old Creepy Crabtree. It turns out that Liza hit him with something, knocking Creepy Crabtree out cold.

In the end, Creepy Crabtree turned out know nothing about what had happened.

D

E

F

Flinch - "Flinch first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. She is one of the five main characters in the book"

The youngest of the Cannoniers, being only 9 or 10 years of age (though she likes to think of herself at 12 years of age). Short and slight of build, she has long fair hair that was distinctly bedraggled and stained almost grey with dirt and dust.

She has been living on the streets for as long as she could remember, with no family members that she knew of, apart from Meg, Jonny and Art. Her "home" was the old carpet warehouse that the children had made their den and where Flinch slept, curled up in a nest of old carpet fragments with a couple of thin blankets to keep her warm, and the rats keep her company.

Besides being street wise, she has the ability of squeezing through the smallest gaps by dislocating her joints at will.

G

H

Sir Henry Crichton - "Sir Henry first appeared in the book, Web of Anubis"

Sir Henry and Charlie went to Oxford together a long time ago.

He was always interested in archaeology, and recently discovered the tomb of Ramenaten, a high priest.

Harry Jerrickson - "Jerrickson first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show (although his name was not mentioned till in the second book, Shadow Beast)"

Harry Jerrickson is the owner of the antique shop - the one that Arthur had seek shelter in the first book. He is friends with Art Drake, Arthur's grandfather.

I

J

Jonny Levin - "Jonny first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. He is one of the five main characters in the book"

A thin 13 year old with short black hair. He was in-charged of holding the fishing rod which he would flick a hastily written message, from either himself or Meg, across to Art in the armchair when necessary. The line, invisible in the near darkness of the room, travelled very fast. Almost as fast as Jonny himself could run - had to run - like no one else, as he often gets bullied by the older boys in school.

In the book, Legion of the Dead, Jonny reveals that sometimes after school, he would go to the Myton Museum to get away from the bullies and to have a look around the interesting artifacts. He has been there so often that the owner, Mr. Worthington, knows him by his full name.

He is also the treasurer of the Cannoniers, better with sums than any of the others - even Art.

K

L

Liza - "Liza appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show"

Lisa was one of Professor Bessemer's first experiments (now assistant to the professor), with more of a mind than the others, making her almost human. Her face, round and pale, was framed by long, fine dark hair. Her eyes were large and china-blue. Her lips were full and very red. She looked about the same age as Art, or maybe a little older - perhaps 15, but no more. She later confessed to liking Art.

Being the first few experiments, she had problems walking hence needed braces on her legs. Due to Professor Bessemer's constant control, how he was like and things that he had done, Lisa wanted to break his hold her, hence decided to shoot him.

In the end, she was shot and killed by Charlie inside the warehouse. With that, one by one, the figures from the pub scene buckled and fell - their legs gave way beneath the weight of their bodies and collapsed like a puppet with no strings.

M

Margaret "Meg" Wallace - "Meg first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. She is one of the five main characters in the book"

Meg was almost as tall as Art - and almost as old. Her bulky clothes hid the shape of her 13 year old body, and she always wore long sleeves and high-necked collars. She like to cover as much of herself as she could. Her auburn hair was a riotous cascade that curled over her shoulders, the warm colour at odds with her usually sour expression - Meg rarely smiled.

She has the ability to know instinctively when someone was lying, though the way she learned it was from her violent father and uncaring brothers.

Inspector Mervyn Gilbertson - "Inspector Gilbertson first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show"

Inspector Gilbertson was a huge figure who almost filled the office doorway, accompanied with a loud booming voice. Each time he sucked in his cheeks, his whiskers would quiver.

Messy Mike - "Mike first appeared in the book, Web of Anubis"

Messy Mike lived in the middle of a terrace of narrow houses not far from Cannon Street. His house was easy to tell - the pain had peeled away from the window frames, exposing the cracked wood beneath. Several of the windows, caked in dust and grime, were broken, the holes covered inadequately with cardboard. The front door, pitted and rotting, and the handle was hanging at an angle that could fall off if someone tugged at it too hard.

Recently, an Egyptian man, Zahi Nassul (the hereditary leader of the Sons of Ramenaten) approached his house and asked to place a stone pyramid in his kitchen, in exchange for money. Inside the stone pyramid hid a scroll edged with gold and tied with a faded ribbon.

His body was later found, by the Cannoniers, to be swathed in a mess of cobwebs that appeared to have erupted from inside the pyramid. He was mummified and sent to have an eternal sleep.

However, in the end, the curse was broken and Messy Mike awoke after being mummified by the Seth Spiders.

N

O

P

Detective Sergeant Peter Drake - "Sergeant Drake first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show. Since then, he has been a recurring character in the book"

Father of Art Drake, the leader of Cannoniers. He is a detective of Scotland Yard. His cases and Art's cases were often the same, so Art tends to rely on his father for additional clues.

Paul Bustle - "Paul first appeared in the book, Ghost Soldiers"

The brother of Sarah Bustle, Paul is 7 years old. He has a round face with freckles on it. His hair is almost as black as Sarah, but while hers was long and straight, his was a close-cut mass of dark curls.

Q

R

Sarah Bustle - "Sarah first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show (although her name was not mentioned till in the second book, Shadow Beast). Since then, she has been a recurring character in the book"

Sarah goes to the same school as Arthur, but is a year above him. She has long black hair that is often tied back in a ponytail. She lives with her mother, Linda and her 7 years old brother, Paul.

In the book, Web of Anubis, Arthur mentioned that Sarah looked like like Princess Anuka - with longer hair and without makeup.

In the book, Stage Fright, Art mentioned to Arthur that Sarah is quite headstrong - a bit like Meg.

T

U

V

Victoria - "Victoria first appeared in the book, The Paranormal Puppet Show"

Victoria is a secretary for Inspector Gilbertson. She is a middle-aged woman, thin and efficient like her poised pencil. Her hair was tied into a tight bun and she wore horn-rimmed spectacles that, together with her severe expression, made her look older than she really was.

W

Mr. Worthington - "Worthington (like his daughter) first appeared in the book, Legion of the Dead"

Mr. Worthington is a small, dark-haired middle-aged man, though his face was lined and saggy. He wears a crumpled jacket that seem as though he had slept in it. And inside his jacket pocket, he keeps a gold watch that he uses to keep track of time. He is a curator and historian who runs the Myton Museum, located in Myton Gardens. He is able to read and speak Latin - the ancient language of the Romans.

He has a daughter, Anne Worthington, who runs the current Myton Museum today.

X

Y

Yusuf Faiyum - "Faiyum first appeared in the book, Web of Anubis"

Faiyum, a small Egyptian man, is the manager of the exhibition. He is responsible for the transportation of the artefacts from Cairo and their safe return, as well as ensuring their safety while the artefacts are here.

Z

Zahi Nassul, the hereditary leader of the Sons of Ramenaten - "Zahi Nassul first appeared in the book, Web of Anubis."