A Coffin for Dimitrios: Analysis of Major Characters
"A Coffin for Dimitrios" delves into the intricate lives of its major characters, revolving around the enigmatic figure of Dimitrios Makropoulos. Charles Latimer, an English detective story writer, is drawn into a web of intrigue after encountering Colonel Haki in Istanbul, who introduces him to the mysterious circumstances surrounding Makropoulos's presumed death. Dimitrios himself is a multifaceted antagonist, known by various aliases and engaged in a range of criminal activities, from drug dealing to espionage, highlighting themes of deceit and survival.
Supporting characters include Mr. Peters, a former associate
A Coffin for Dimitrios: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Eric Ambler
First published: 1939, in Great Britain as The Mask of Dimitrios (U. S. edition, 1939)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Istanbul, Athens, Sofia, Geneva, and Paris
Plot: Spy
Time: 1922–1938
Charles Latimer, an English writer of detective stories in his early forties. Formerly, Latimer was a professor of political economy at a minor English university; the success of his stories freed him from academe. On a visit to Istanbul in 1938, Latimer meets Colonel Haki, an admirer of detective novels, who in passing gives Latimer the opportunity to view a body that the Turkish police have identified as that of Dimitrios Makropoulos, known to them since 1922. Latimer, on a whim and as an exercise in detection, decides to trace Makropoulos' career. In Paris, he discovers the real Makropoulos and only narrowly avoids being murdered by him.
Dimitrios Makropoulos, also known as Talas, Taladis, Rougemont, and Monsieur C. K., a murderer, thief, spy, pimp, drug dealer, and businessman. Makropoulos, of Greek extraction, was born in 1889. Coming to the attention of the Turkish police in 1922, in subsequent years he engaged in various illegal activities in several European countries. By 1938, he is a director of the Eurasian Credit Trust. It is not Makropoulos' body that is discovered floating in the Bosporus but that of Manus Visser, who had been blackmailing the Greek. Makropoulos killed Visser and disguised the corpse, making it appear to be the body of the long-sought Makropoulos. Makropoulos is blackmailed again, and he and his new blackmailer kill each other in a shootout.
Mr. Peters, also known as Frederik Petersen, a drug dealer and former convict. A fat and unhealthy-looking Dane of fifty-five, Peters first knew Makropoulos in the late 1920's in Paris, where Peters owned a nightclub. Makropoulos persuaded Peters, along with several others, to work for him in what became a widespread and profitable drug operation. Eventually, Makropoulos absconded with the profits, but he first turned Peters and the rest over to the police. Later learning of Makropoulos' new identity, Peters decides to blackmail Makropoulos. He joins forces with Latimer because the latter had seen the “fake” Makropoulos. The two confront Makropoulos, who pays the blackmail, but the next day Makropoulos traces his blackmailers to the house in Paris owned by Peters and formerly used by Makropoulos. There, Makropoulos and Peters kill each other.
Colonel Haki, the head of the Turkish secret police. Haki, a fan of detective fiction, meets Latimer at a party in Istanbul and offers Latimer the plot for a future story. When Haki is summoned to the morgue to examine a recently retrieved body identified as that of Makropoulos, Latimer accompanies him. Haki, ruthless and assured, has no doubt that the body is that of Makropoulos.
Dhris Mohammed, a black Muslim fig-picker in Smyrna. In 1922, Makropoulos and Mohammed robbed and killed a moneylender. Mohammed was later arrested, but before he was hanged he blamed the murder on Makropoulos, who already had escaped. It was on this occasion that Makropoulos first came to the attention of the police.
N. Marukakis, a middle-aged Greek journalist in Sofia, Bulgaria. Latimer, following the career of the supposedly dead Makropoulos, turns to Marukakis for information regarding an attempted political assassination that occurred in 1923 and that involved Makropoulos. Latimer learns that the incident had been financed by the Eurasian Credit Trust, a shadowy bank registered in Monaco. Marukakis also introduces Latimer to Irana Preveza.
Irana Preveza, the madam of a Sofia nightclub and brothel. A former prostitute, Preveza knew Makropoulos in 1923. She had loaned him money that he never repaid, and fifteen years later, Preveza is still bitter and angry. She is the first person interviewed by Latimer who actually knew Makropoulos.
Wladyslaw Grodek, a master spy. Living in Switzerland and now retired at the age of about sixty, Grodek tells Latimer about the time he employed Makropoulos, in Belgrade in 1926. Makropoulos, using a combination of blackmail and force, was successful in obtaining secret naval plans for Grodek but then turned on Grodek, who was working for the Italians, and sold the plans to the French government instead.
Buli, a low-level Yugoslav bureaucrat in the ministry of marine. A dissatisfied man in his forties with a younger wife, Buli allows himself to become compromised by Grodek and Makropoulos in a crooked gambling affair and provides the naval plans. He is later arrested and sentenced to prison.
Manus Visser, a drug dealer. A Dutchman, Visser was part of Makropoulos' drug operation in Paris and served time in prison in 1931 after Makropoulos informed the police of the names of his former associates. Years later, Visser discovered Makropoulos' new identity as Monsieur C. K. and blackmailed him. Visser, however, eventually was murdered by Makropoulos, who disguised Visser's body as his own. It is thus Visser's body that Colonel Haki identifies as that of Makropoulos.