A timid, anxiety-ridden lad, Owen takes pride in being an expert rule-follower and all-around Good Boy. Recently adopted by two great-uncles he never knew he had, and brought to live in the strange town of Crooked Mile.
A man of science, Mortemius can seem cold and even frightening, but it’s only out of his fervent belief in Reason and Discipline. Certainly not because he has anything to hide. And if he is hiding anything, it’s only to keep the half-wit townsfolk in Crooked Mile from interfering with his scientific endeavors.
A voracious reader of lurid dime novels, Claire Cayot is determined to be just like the detectives in her favorite books. She’s assisted by her (purportedly) super-intelligent and highly-trained magpie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Highly emotional and easily distracted by sweets, Uncle Orphadel dotes on his nephew and doesn’t want to make the same mistakes with him that he did in raising Owen’s father. Though he, too, is dedicated to their scientific research, Orphadel isn’t as ruthlessly rational as his brother Mortemius. . .or is he?
Claire’s younger brother and sisters. Hardly worth mentioning, at least in Claire’s opinion. Also known as the Rugrats, the Brats, the Small Fry, etc. (There’s a baby, too, but he’d been mislaid at the time of this picture.)
The daughter of a local mining tycoon, Lavinia is fabulously wealthy and not exactly what you’d call “normal” or “well-adjusted” or “nice.” But she may be Owen’s only hope of finding out what dark secrets are hidden in the town of Crooked Mile.
