Characters / Agent Pendergast

---

This is the Character Sheet for the Agent Pendergast series of novels.

---

Main Characters

Special Agent Aloysius Xingu L. Pendergast

Eccentric FBI Agent with a keen interest in Serial Killers. Originally from New Orleans, he spends most of his time in New York where he owns a luxury apartment and inherited an old mansion. Was the Only Sane Man of a rich and unusual family, which has almost died out. Doesn't have much regard for his superiors - or conventional investigative methods.

Appears In: The Relic, Reliquary, The Cabinet of Curiosities, Still Life with Crows, Brimstone, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, The Wheel of Darkness, Cemetery Dance, Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, Two Graves, White Fire, Blue Labyrinth, Crimson Shore

• Badass in a Nice Suit: Never seen without one of his three dozen identical hand-tailored black Italian suits, except when in disguise.
• Breakout Character: The main character in The Relic and Reliquary was anthropology post-grad Margo Green, with FBI Agent Pendergast being a supporting character alongside Lt. D'Agosta. Indeed, in the movie version of Relic the Pendergast character was removed completely to focus on Green and D'Agosta instead. However, Pendergast proved so popular that the authors made him the focus of the following books in the series, so much so that the series of novels has become informally named after him.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: An FBI agent who spends almost zero time working on actual FBI cases.
• Busman's Holiday: In both The Wheel of Darkness and White Fire Pendergast starts out taking some time off away from his usual haunting grounds to recover from stressful events, only to be roped into some new case.

• Catchphrase: "A very bad habit, but one I find hard to break."
• Cowboy Cop: Technically, he's an FBI agent, but Pendergast is quite willing to bend or break the rules when he needs to.

• Cultured Badass: His wife was one too before she died.
• Eccentric Millionaire: Mostly talks in a Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness fashion, drives a Rolls Royce, has a Zen garden inside his apartment, and looks like an undertaker. He gets along with competent people, but he is most definitely eccentric and old money rich.
• Enlightenment Superpowers: His studies of an obscure branch of meditation techniques, combined with other mental disciplines he studied, allow him to experience the past in his mind. In some cases he can even converse with dead people, reconstructed from his memories of them.
• Expy: Described by the authors as a modern-day version of pulp-hero The Shadow.

• I Work Alone: Generally averted as he is willing to accept help, but during the events of the second two books in the Helen Trilogy he's much more insistent on handling matters on his own due to how much of a personal impact it has on him.
• Implacable Man: When he has an objective in mind, he will not stop until he carries it out. He's even actually called such in Cold Vengeance.
• Interdisciplinary Sleuth: Pendergast is improbably well versed in a wide array of fields.
• Last-Name Basis: Pendergast does not like to be called Aloysius.
• Limited Wardrobe: Pendergast has three dozen identical suits made out of the same antique bolt of fabric. The only times he's not wearing one of them is when he's in disguise.

• Manly Tears: He actually sheds a few tears of relief after discovering that Corrie survived her apparent death in White Fire.
• Martial Pacifist: Who sometimes uses all kinds of weird Tibetan martial arts.
• Master of Disguise: Which is a real feat, considering his very distinguishing looks.
• Non-Idle Rich: Pendergast certainly doesn't work for the money.

• Not So Stoic: In Cemetery Dance, White Fire, and the Helen Trilogy.

• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Though he still enlists the help of Nora, or others, if he encounters problems.

• Sanity Slippage: The entire Pendergast family line is known for this trait, and Aloysius begins going through a nasty case in later books, particularly in The Wheel of Darkness and the Helen Trilogy.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: All the time. What's more, he pulls his friends and helpers into it.

• Southern-Fried Genius: Pendergast is reminiscent of Atticus Finch. He sports a strong New Orleans accent paired with a razor-sharp wit and legal mind. He's so good at solving the bizarre crimes he comes across that he's been accused of being too perfect.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: As a part of said Sanity Slippage, Pendergast's demeanor has gradually been becoming more... unpleasant to say the least, so much that even his usual friends like D'Agosta have started having trouble working with him.
• Ultimate Job Security: Pendergast has been threatened with getting fired countless times for unorthodox and occasionally downright illegal procedures, but still retains his job at the FBI. Later books explain that since he gets results the FBI is willing to let some of his more egregious offenses slide. It's also suggested that there are higher ups protecting Pendergast from official reprisal.
• What You Are in the Dark: A theme examined over the course of the books. Pendergast starts out (apparently) excelling at everything he does, but some dissonance begins popping up around him by the time of Dance of Death, and then he comes close to Jumping Off the Slippery Slope in Fever Dream. He's definitely moving deeper into Anti-Hero territory the longer his story gets.

Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta

Pendergast's friend on the NYPD who helps and serves as a sidekick on most of his cases. He was first introduced in The Relic when he was the investigating officer for the Museum Murders.

Appears In: The Relic, Reliquary, Brimstone, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Cemetery Dance, Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, Two Graves, Blue Labyrinth, The Obsidian Chamber, City of Endless Night, The Cabinet of Dr Leng

• Awesomeness by Analysis: Gets better at this, partly due to associating with Pendergast.

• Deuteragonist: The most common one in the series; to Margo in the original books and to Pendergast in nearly every book he appears in.

• Hero on Hiatus: Halfway through Fever Dream he's shot in the chest by Judson Esterhazy and spends the rest of the novel hospitalized while Laura takes over as Pendergast's main ally. Though still weakened, he's back on his feet by Cold Vengeance.

• Out of Focus: In Cold Vengeance, due to him still recovering from the events of the previous novel, as well as Pendergast's insistence on handling matters on his own as much as possible.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: In Brimstone When it looks like Fosco is going to get off scot-free for his crimes and also that he's killed Pendergast, D'Agosta winds up killing him with his own device
• Put on a Bus: Was revealed to have taken off for Canada sometime prior to The Cabinet of Curiosities.
  • The Bus Came Back: D'Agosta returns in Brimstone, and has appeared in nearly every novel since.

Dr. Nora Kelly

An archaeologist with the New York Museum of Natural History. She first gets involved in a case with Pendergast when he consults her for her expert opinion in The Cabinet of Curiosities. She stars in the prequel, Thunderhead.

Appears In: Thunderhead, The Cabinet of Curiosities, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Cemetery Dance

• Put on a Bus: After the events of Cemetery Dance, which sees her return to Utah by the end.

Bill Smithback

Funny, he tends to make a bad first impression, until you realize he's got a heart of gold... and the courage of a lion to match.

The Intrepid Reporter who injects himself into most cases in search of the next big scoop. He first appeared in The Relic, working within the museum on a book about the Superstition exhibit that was in the works.

Appears In: The Relic, Reliquary, Thunderhead, The Cabinet of Curiosities, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Cemetery Dance

• Bavarian Fire Drill: Smithback is very skilled at these. It serves him well in gaining exclusives and access to important people who refuse to see the press.

• Chew Toy: Smithback gets mangled quite often. By The Cabinet of Curiosities, he seems upset and nervous just to see Pendergast again. He's probably anticipating what horrors he'll get into thanks to his involvement with the FBI agent this time around. Sadly, this comes to its ultimate apex and becomes no longer an issue as of Cemetery Dance.

• Distressed Dude: He tends to be held as a hostage frequently, often after he's been caught snooping (see Constantly Curious), and takes a lot of physical punishment.

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Smithback is described as egotistical and careerist by most of the other characters when they first meet him, but usually manages to prove himself a worthy sidekick. Although he can be cocky, he's also courageous, protective of people he cares about, and reliable in a pinch.

Dr. Margo Green

An anthropologist with the New York Museum of Natural History. She stars in the first two novels in the series (The Relic and Reliquary) before the focus switches to Pendergast.

Appears In: The Relic, Reliquary, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Blue Labyrinth

• The Bus Came Back: After a making a few brief appearances in some of the Pendergast books that have come out she finally returns in a prominent role in Blue Labyrinth, a whopping 17 years after the events of Reliquary.
• Demoted to Extra: Margo Green was the original main character of The Relic and Reliquary, but after that the focus of the series switch from her to Agent Pendergast, and she pretty quickly faded into the background, being promptly replaced by Thunderhead's heroine Nora Kelly as the series's main female supporting character.
  • The Bus Came Back: With Nora Put on a Bus after the events of Cemetery Dance, Margo returned with a major role in Blue Labyrinth.

Captain Laura Hayward

First introduced in Reliquary, Hayward is a tough as nails NYPD officer who works her way up through the ranks by sheer skill and tenacity.

Appears In: Reliquary, Brimstone, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Cemetery Dance, Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, Two Graves, Blue Labyrinth

• Minored in Ass-Kicking: Laura is a skilled martial artist.

Constance Greene

You are unique[...] I know you've been blessed and cursed with a strange and terrible burden. How many would wish for such a gift as you were given[...]—and yet how few could understand just what it would be like. Not liberation, not at all. So many, many years of childhood...and yet, to be deprived of being a child...

A Mysterious Waif who shows up as Pendergast's ward in Brimstone. She has a very long and convoluted past.

Appears In: The Cabinet of Curiosities (cameo), Still Life With Crows, Brimstone, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, The Wheel of Darkness, Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, Two Graves, Blue Labyrinth, Crimson Shore

• Action Girl: Do not fuck with Constance Greene. As an example she once went up against a trained squad of soldiers with nothing but some vials of acid. The soldiers all died horribly.

• Beware the Nice Ones: Diogenes thinks it will be an easy task to completely destroy her fragile state of mind and drive her to suicide. The entire plan backfires when his actions give her a new reason to live - to hunt him to the ends of the earth and kill him for what he's done.

• Chekhov's Gunman: Her first appearance is in Cabinet of Curiosities during Pendergast's Pensieve Flashback. She later appears as an unnamed shadowy figure in the novel, and again in Still Life With Crows. Her first full appearance is in Brimstone.

• Driven to Suicide: Constance has scars from when she once tried to end her unnaturally prolonged life.

• Devoted to You: As the novels go on, she becomes this to Pendergast.

• Morality Pet: To Pendergast, though it seems to have expanded to full-blown Morality Chain by the time of The Wheel of Darkness. She was also this to Leng in the past.

• Offing the Offspring: She apparently drowns her child in Fever Dream, which seemingly contradicts the ending to The Wheel of Darkness where the child is said to be the Reincarnation of a Tibetian monastery's spiritual leader. It's revealed in Two Graves that the child is still alive, and Constance only faked his death so he can be smuggled out of Tibet and away from Chinese authorities.

Agent Armstrong Coldmoon

A Special Senior Agent and fellow FBI Agent who is teamed up with Pendergast in later novels.

Appears In: Verses for the Dead, Crooked River, Bloodless, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng

The Pendergast Family

Diogenes Pendergast

Penderast's brother and nemesis. He blames his brother for his insanity and lives his life to enact revenge upon him.

Appears In: Brimstone, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, The Wheel of Darkness (as a vision), Blue Labyrinth (ditto) Crimson Shore (not as a vision), The Obsidian Chamber

• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: As a young child Diogenes was put into a horrific machine that made him what he is today.
• Big Bad: In both Dance of Death and Book of the Dead (2006).
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Often presents himself as a perfectly nice guy or even a tragic figure when he introduces himself to someone, but it's generally dropped when he reveals his true cruel characteristics.
• Bored with Insanity: During Dance of Death he muses that he used to be completely out of his mind, before eventually realizing he could find a purpose in the world.

• The Dreaded: A mere mention of Diogenes is enough to visibly unnerve his brother.

• Greater-Scope Villain: In Brimstone. Fosco was the main antagonist of that book, but Diogenes was treated as a far bigger threat looming over everyone.
• Hijacked by Ganon: He almost literally hijacks the plot of Crimson Shore by releasing a Diabolus ex Machina.

• Love Redeems: Played with. He falls in love with Constance for real while recovering from almost falling into Stromboli, to the point where he tries to go legit. While he does kill three more people over the events of The Obsidian Chamber he tries to limit himself to an Asshole Victim and someone already on death's door, and only with the intent of saving Constance's life. However, Constance rejects him after fooling him into thinking she returned his feelings, which ends up breaking his spirit entirely.
• Never Found the Body: In Book of the Dead, allowing him to return in Crimson Shore and The Obsidian Chamber
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day: A villainous example in The Wheel of Darkness. Although subverted in later books where it is revealed Diogenes isn't dead.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Maybe. After his death, Diogenes sometimes pops into Pendergast's mind to say hi. Is it the ghost of Diogenes, or just a ghost of Pendergast's subconscious? Who can say? Then The Obsidian Chamber confirms that Diogenes is alive...

Helen Esterhazy Pendergast

Pendergast's late wife.

Appears In: Fever Dream (flashback), Cold Vengeance, Two Graves

• Action Girl: Went on a lion hunt with her husband.

• Twin Switch: How he survived her death: the one to really die in the lion incident was her twin sister.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: We only see her early on in the flashback in Fever Dream. In the next two books she's officially removed from Posthumous Character status late in Cold Vengeance only for her to be killed for real early on in Two Graves

Cornelia Pendergast

One of the few remaining members of the Pendergast family, Cornelia is as mad as she is old. Fiercely intelligent and cunning. Pendergast still refers to her when he needs advice.

Appears In: The Cabinet of Curiosities, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Cemetery Dance

• Axe-Crazy: She spends most of her time strapped to a wheelchair and it's still mentioned that she regularly puts orderlies in the hospital.
• Bus Crash: Dies behind the scenes from health complications early on in Fever Dream.
• Evil Old Folks: Cornelia was locked away at Mount Mercy after poisoning her entire family.

Comstock Pendergast

Great-grand uncle to Diogenes and Aloysius. He made his living as a magician, but the family madness caused him to put sinister and deadly twists into his tricks. His legacy figures prominently in Book of the Dead (2006).

• Fright Death Trap: Comstock's magic lantern show was designed to scare the victim to death, cause them to go insane or commit suicide.

Antoine Leng Pendergast Enoch Leng

Great-grand uncle of Diogenes and Aloysius. He was expelled from the family and disappeared with his personal fortune. He changes his name to Enoch Leng, and his actions and whereabouts become relevant in The Cabinet of Curiosities. Aloysius later inherits Leng's mansion.

• The Bus Came Back: He finally appears in person as the Big Bad of The Cabinet of Dr. Leng.
• Dead All Along: The Cabinet of Curiosities plays Leng up as the killer for the entire novel, only for him to turn out to have been murdered shortly before the book's events started.
• The Ghost: Due to being a Posthumous Character, almost nothing is known of Enoch Leng besides his history and motivations. We get a glimpse of his personality in Blue Labyrinth and appears as the Big Bad for The Cabinet of Dr. Leng.
• Kill All Humans/Misanthrope Supreme: His aforementioned life's goals. He ended it not because of a Heel–Face Turn but because the first successful test of the Hydrogen Bomb convinced him mankind would do a fine job killing itself.
• Like Father, Like Son: As explained in Blue Labyrinth, his father was also a sort of chemist - and may have been the reason he turned to chemistry in the first place.
• So You Want to Live Forever: Antione spent his time in New York devising an immortality serum. He realized his life's work would take more than a lifetime, and so prolonged his life to accomplish his goals.

Hezekiah Pendergast

The father of Antoine and Comstock Pendergast, and Alyosius's great-great grandfather. A seller of patent medicine who restored the Pendergast family fortune. His legacy plays a role in Blue Labyrinth

• Driven to Suicide: It's implied he killed himself after failing to save his wife.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He refuses to accept that his Elixir has side-effects until his wife is affected. He then dedicates the rest of his life to finding a cure...because he fails and kills himself.
• Retcon: In The Cabinet of Curiosities his wife was named Carlotta. In Blue Labyrinth his wife is now named Constance.
• Snake Oil Salesman: Played with. Patent Medicine is where the trope name comes from, but Hezekiah genuinely believed in the efficacy of special Elixir. Unfortunately, his Elixir is an addictive poison that causes a long and painful death.

Judson Esterhazy

Aloysius' brother-in-law and the brother of Helen.

Appears In: Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, Two Graves

• The Heavy: Although not the main villain of the Fever Dream or Cold Vengeance, his actions are one of the biggest driving forces of it.

• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: This is his attitude when hunting Pendergast.

• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Begins his own quest to hunt down those involved in his sister's murder after he's informed by Pendergast. But he's actually trying to keep them from talking.

Alban

One of Aloysius and Helen's twin sons, he spent his entire life being raised by the Nazi organization Der Bund, or "The Covenant".

Appears In: Two Graves, Blue Labyrinth

• Antagonistic Offspring: He's the main character's son and one of his deadliest enemies.
• Bus Crash: At the end of Two Graves he manages to successfully escape and appears to be a Karma Houdini - then at the very beginning of Blue Labyrinth his corpse turns up on Pendergast's front doorstep.
• Cain and Abel: The Cain to Tristram's Abel.
• Facial Horror: At the end of Two Graves when Pendergast destroys the main compound of the Covenant he doesn't escape and gets over half his face mutilated and burned in the explosion. Curiously, this isn't mentioned when he appears in Blue Labyrinth.
• The Heavy: Wulf Fischer is the mastermind of Der Bund, but he gets a lot more appearances throughout the book, and is even the one to finish Fischer off.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Blue Labyrinth shows that he actually seemed to have made a genuine change of heart in Brazil, and died trying to stop the plan he enacted against Pendergast.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: When he escapes in Two Graves he suffers little repercussions for his actions. Karma catches up with him big time by Blue Labyrinth: not only was his wife killed in an unrelated attack, but his attempt to stop Barbeaux from seeking revenge against his father backfires horribly and results in his death.
• Love Redeems: While recuperating in Brazil and waiting for his plan of using Barbeaux to kill his father, he winds up falling love with a woman for real and marries her, and her influence winds up turning him into a better person. This winds up ending horribly for him.
• Must Make Amends: He actually apologizes to Tristram in Blue Labyrinth, and tries to call off his plan to kill Pendergast.
• Psychic Powers: Thanks to LEGO Genetics Quantum Mechanics Can Do Anything, he possess the ability to anticipate future events before they happen. It's not perfect precognition though.
• Shoo Out the New Guy: Although unconfirmed, it feels like this happened to him. The ending of Two Graves builds up Alban to be the new villain in Pendergast's life, replacing Diogenes. He next appears in the beginning of Blue Labyrinth...dead on Pendergast's doorstep. As Pendergast investigates his death, he learns (to his own disbelief) that Alban gave up his evil ways and was strangled to death by a shoelace of all things. The point is driven home by the next two books Crimson Shore and The Obsidian Chamber which feature the return of the aforementioned Diogenes.
• Tyke-Bomb: Raised by Der Bund to be a ruthless killer.
• The Worf Effect: The fact that someone was successfully able to kill him is the driving mystery behind Blue Labyrinth, since Pendergast notes that someone able to easily capture and kill someone as savvy as Alban is a force to be reckoned with.

Tristram

One of Aloysius and Helen's twin sons, he spent his entire life being raised by the Nazi organization Der Bund, or "The Covenant". While Alban was considered the "perfect" twin and bred to be one of their soldiers, Tristram was viewed as inferior and genetic waste, and spent his entire life in their care being mistreated.

Appears In: Two Graves, Blue Labyrinth

• The Unfavorite: Considered the "inferior" twin by Der Bund, he spent most of his life as a slave up until he was finally reunited with his father.

Other characters

Corrie Swanson

A protege of Pendergast's. Corrie first appeared in Still Life with Crows and Pendergast took an interest in her future and sent her to the best boarding school in the country.

Appears In: Still Life with Crows, Dance of Death, Cold Vengeance, Two Graves, White Fire

• The Bus Came Back: Returns in Cold Vengeance.

• Fingore: Gets one of her fingers shot off when she's attacked by a hitman. Unlike D'Agosta, it doesn't get reattached.

• Same Character, But Different: As of White Fire she's dropped her gothic appearance as well as the more rebellious nature she had as a teen. This is due to the line of work she's trying to get into, as she notes that it's hard to take someone getting into law enforcement seriously when they have dyed purple hair and piercings.
• Supporting Protagonist: In White Fire, which primarily takes place from her perspective.

Proctor

The man was no mere chauffeur—D'Agosta had figured that out as soon as he saw him break down and stow away a CAR-15/XM-117 Commando in less than sixty seconds—but he could never seem to penetrate Proctor's Jeeves-like opacity.

Proctor is Pendergast's chauffeur and confidant. He is likely the only person to know all the intimate details of the agent's secretive life.

• The Chew Toy: Ever since Smithback was murdered he seems to have taken up this position in recent novels, amassing some sort of injury per book. So far he was shot near the end of Cold Vengeance, knocked out by Alban in Two Graves, injured in a car crash at the beginning of Blue Labyrinth, attacked and sent unconscious at the end of Crimson Shore, and was then stranded in a desert with minimal supplies in Central Africa and left to fight three young male lions prior to making his way back home in The Obsidian Chamber.
• No Name Given: D'Agosta tries to get Proctor to be less formal with him, but he won't even give him his first name.
• No Sense of Humor: No matter how hard D'Agosta tries to joke or talk with Proctor during their stakeout of the prison, he flatly replies with a word or two at a time.

Lady Viola Maskelene

First introduced in Brimstone, Viola is a European noblewoman who is as intelligent as she is beautiful. She falls in love with Pendergast the first time they meet.

Appears In: Brimstone, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Two Graves

• Damsel in Distress: Once Diogenes learns about his brother's feelings for her, he delights in putting her in danger.

• Punny Name: In a novel that focuses greatly around the intrigue of a priceless missing violin, the female lead, with connections to said violin, is named Viola.
• Reckless Sidekick: Describes herself as "impulsive", which the Big Bad uses against her (and Pendergast).
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Despite enough wealth to let her sit on a beach for the rest of her life, Viola is an accomplished Egyptologist and works her own vinyard.

Wren

With his luminous eyes and almost translucent skin, the man looked like a cave creature, paler even than Pendergast...if that were possible.

A friend of Pendergast's who is a superb researcher and a complete bibliophile. First introduced in The Cabinet of Curiosities, he works the night shift at the library, restoring antique books that would otherwise fade to dust.

Appears In: The Cabinet of Curiosities, Still Life with Crows

• The Nicknamer: He calls Pendergast hypocrite lecteur, a reference to a poem by Charles Baudelaire

Eli Glinn

Owner of Effective Engineering Solutions, Glinn is a "problem solving" genius who guarantees his work on any level (boasting he's never had to give a refund). His first encounter with Pendergast is in Dance of Death when Pendergast consults him for a predictive psychological workup of his brother. He made his debut as one of the main characters in The Ice Limit, and has since become a regular character in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Gideon Crew novels.

Appears In: The Ice Limit, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, the Gideon Crew series

• The Chessmaster: Glinn makes it his career to provide absolute success in any problem presented to him. He calls his precautions "double overage" and has contingency plans for his contingency plans. He is rarely, if ever, caught off guard.
• Determinator: This is presented as a character flaw. The man refuses to accept failure, even when it's obvious he should just give up. Also when things don't go according to plan he often persists in his belief that the plan has to be correct (until he realizes he missed something).
• Eye Scream: Has lost an eye in between the events of The Ice Limit and Dance of Death.
• Genius Cripple: Not originally, but the events of The Ice Limit left him in a wheelchair. This is fixed in the Gideon Crew novel The Lost Island.
• Sole Survivor: Almost. His backstory, explained in The Ice Limit, is that he was part of a US Special Forces team. When his team was almost completely wiped out in a bad op, Glinn and the only other survivor left the military and started Effective Engineering Solutions
• Transplant: First appeared in a stand-alone novel, reappeared in two books of the Diogenes trilogy, and then became a regular character in the Gideon Crew series when it began. It then went full circle with the fourth Gideon Crew book, which was also a sequel to the aforementioned stand-alone novel.

Agent Coffey

Rival agent to Pendergast, and an inferior one at that. Coffey first appeared in The Relic as the agent in charge of the security and rescue operations at the museum during the Superstition exhibit opening. His botching of the assignment and Pendergast's heroism during that night nearly ruins his career. He blames Pendergast for his misfortune.

Appears In: The Relic, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead

• Hate Sink: He's intentionally written as one of the biggest Jerkasses in the entire series.
• It's Personal: Agent Coffey's hatred of Pendergast goes far beyond professional rivalry. He's gleeful when he finds out Pendergast has become a fugitive in Dance of Death and tries to have him raped and murdered in prison in Book of the Dead (2006).
• Never My Fault: Coffey blames all his professional misfortunes on Pendergast, dismissing his own incompetence as cause.

Bryce Harriman

Bill Smithback's main rival in the reporter field. Harriman eventually gets a job at the New York Times just to spite Bill. He's first mentioned in Reliquary and later makes his first appearance in a brief cameo in The Cabinet of Curiosities. He finally properly appears in Brimstone.

Appears In: The Cabinet of Curiosities, Brimstone, Dance of Death, Cemetery Dance

• Evil Counterpart: While "evil" is a stretch, he has Smithback's ego and drive but possesses neither his strength of character or his loyalty to his friends.
• It's All About Me: He only cares about one person: himself.

• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: After Smithback's death, at one point he can be seen starting a riot, demanding justice be done in his memory. Then after his comments start a frenzy, he can be shown smirking, revealing that all he was doing was starting things up to create some news.

Mime

Mime is an associate of Pendergast who is also a brilliant hacker and researcher. His first appearance was the otherwise unrelated novel Mount Dragon, and his first mention in the Agent Pendergast series was Still Life With Crows

Appears In: Mount Dragon, Dance of Death, Cold Vengeance, White Fire, Blue Labyrinth

• Ascended Extra: He goes from a brief Continuity Nod in Still Life With Crows to a similarly brief cameo in Dance of Death to a full appearance in Cold Vengeance.
• Genius Cripple: It's explained in Mount Dragon that he's a Thalidomide baby.
• The Nicknamer: He calls Pendergast "Secret Agent Man", after the song.

• Voice with an Internet Connection: He prefers to be this. It's a big deal when Pendergast personally visits him in Cold Vengeance.

Dr. Frock

The department head at the American Museum of Natural History in The Relic and Reliquary and Margo Green's friend and mentor.

Appears In: The Relic, Reliquary

• Death by Adaptation: Dies in the film version of The Relic.

• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: He was one of the protagonists in Relic, only to become the main antagonist of its direct sequel.

• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The drug that restores the use of his legs is the same thing that drove him cuckoo.

---