 SynopsisSixteen individuals that live or work in the Sunset Towers apartment building come together to hear the will of wealthy industrialist Samuel W. Westing. The will takes the form of a puzzle, dividing up the sixteen heirs into eight pairs, giving each pair a different set of clues, and challenging the heirs to solve the mystery of which of the sixteen of them killed Samuel W. Westing. Whoever solves the mystery will inherit Westing's $200,000,000 fortune. Different friendships are made and broken among the heirs as they try to solve the clues. The Westing Heirs - Comprehensive site about the book [edit]Characters
James is a frustrated man. Having failed at his career as an inventor, he started a restaurant in Sunset Towers that isn't very successful. He doesn't understand his wife or his "dumb jock" of a son. Despite his surly demeanor, though, he does have a caring side, expressed through his practical and ingenious solutions to others' problems. He blames Westing for stealing his inventions (namely the disposable paper diaper) and gaining wealth and fame while Hoo languishes in obscurity.
Sun Lin comes from China by way of Hong Kong, and speaks practically no English, which isolates her from most of the other residents of Sunset , and resourceful, able to capitalize on opportunities when they present themselves to her. Because she doesn't speak English at first, the other residents of the apartment ignore her, however her "partner" for the Westing Game (Jake Wexler) talks to her, since he realizes that she will never learn English unless someone speaks it to her.
Doug is a high-school jock with aspirations for a career in athletics. He spends much of his spare time training; his father criticizes his son's lack of interest in the family business as laziness. His mother, however, seems very proud of his accomplishments.
George and Catherine run the successful coffee shop in Sunset Towers. Catherine is not a significant character in the story, important mostly as a sign of George Theodorakis having moved on from an ill-fated romance in his past that ties him to the Westing family.
Theo is George and Catherine's high-school-aged son. He's a nice enough kid, but not probing in his analysis. He often fails to see the real truth behind the obvious facade, as when he misjudges his partner Doug Hoo as nothing but a jock, when he develops a crush on the pretty Angela Wexler without learning anything about who she is as a person, and when he falls for a gambit and takes his opponent's queen in a game of chess. He takes care of his brother, Christos, but uses his brother's condition as an excuse to not choose a college to go to.
Christos is a troubled child. A disability he has contracted has limited his movement and left him with a terrible stutter. Although people think he is dumb, he is very observant and helps his partner, Denton Deere. He also birdwatches.
Jake Wexler is a podiatrist and a bookie. He is a caring father and loving husband, and the only tenant in Sunset Towers to make any attempt to communicate with Madame Hoo other than her own family. He and Madame Hoo form by far the least active team in the game. Jake Wexler seems to try to keep his family together, worrying about Angela's insecurities and his wife's anxieties.
Grace is conscious of social class to a fault; she is extremely concerned with presenting herself as culturally sophisticated and high-born, fancying herself an heiress and a decorator rather than a housewife, stressing her regal "Windsor" name, and identifying her podiatrist husband as a "doctor." She is not as shallow as she comes across, having married for love and not for money, but is determined that her daughter Angela will fare better in life than she did. Her maiden name was Gracie Windkloppel and she is really related to Sam Westing. Using her interior decorating skills, she helps her Westing Game partner, James Hoo, fix up his shop with a new look and title (Hoo's on First), which helps it attract more customers. After Hoo goes into the paper insole business, Grace takes over Hoo's on First (now a restaurant chain going all the way to Hoo's on Tenth). According to Turtle, Hoo's on Tenth isn't as successful, but it's closest to where Jake works, which is why Grace keeps it open.
Most of the tenants of Sunset Towers dismiss Angela as just another pretty face. She is engaged to up-and-coming plastic surgeon Dr. Denton Deere with the strong support of her mother, although Angela still harbors reservations. Although her little sister Turtle would scarcely believe it, Angela is jealous of Turtle's ability to defy authority. Later in the story, she stopped the engagement with Dr. Deere, but later married him and had a girl named Alice, after Turtle. Angela tends to be favored over Turtle, given the larger bedroom and more attention. She also doesn't know how to drive a car, as her mother felt that she would always find men to drive for her and her father didn't have the patience to teach her.
If Angela inherited her mother's good looks, Turtle inherited her mother's scheming. Largely neglected and brushed aside by her mother in favor of her older sister Angela, Turtle acts out to get attention, often kicking shins, especially when someone touches her braids. She finds a mother figure in her soft-spoken partner, Flora Baumbach, who she calls "Baba". Turtle is a 13 year old "witch" as she discribes her self in the first reading of the will, however by the end of the game she becomes more saphisticated and a "financier" as puts it at the last meating of the will after she made $1,587.50 in profit from the $10,000 she boughtt in westing paper stock. Turtle approaches the Westing game like a market capitalist, and ultimately sees through Westing's misdirection to understand the real mystery behind Sam Westing's game.
Sydelle is a habitually overlooked person. She decided to fight against the anonymity brought on by her working-class upbringing as the child of immigrants by capitalizing on whatever chance events might bring her attention: her having the only transcript of the will (even though it is in Polish), by dint of her secretarial training; her young, attractive partner; her injury, which she exaggerates by painting her crutches; and her accidental status as a Westing heir itself. Sydelle really becomes injured during the book however she recovers.
Otis, comes across as an uncouth delivery boy, apparently a minor figure in Sunset Towers, but turns out to have hidden depths, such as his working in the local soup kitchen, run by fellow Sunset Towers employee Berthe Erica Crow, and being a licensed private investigator who later becomes an important figure due to being hired by Judge Ford and Sam Westing.
Known to most tenants only as "Crow," this slight, pinched woman serves as cleaning woman for Sunset Towers. A deeply religious woman, Crow provides food to the indigent at the Good Salvation Soup Kitchen. She is haunted by a tragedy in her past, which leads her to become a curious ally of Angela's.
Flora Baumbach is an overly cheery, perky dressmaker who becomes something of a mother figure to her partner, Turtle, who takes to calling her "Baba." Although a naturally optimistic person, she has developed her exaggeratedly cheerful disposition in order to cope with tragedy in her own past, including the loss of her mentally retarded daughter Rosalie.
Denton Deere, is interning to become a plastic surgeon, and is engaged to Angela Wexler. He is at first discomfited by being paired with Chris Theodorakis, but grows to appreciate the boy's intellect and interest in science. He is sometimes depicted as being absent-minded or inattentive.
Judge J.J. Ford, is a highly competent judge, intimidating on the bench, choosing to smile only on rare occasions. As the gangly daughter of the Westing's maid, she remembers playing chess with Sam Westing, and losing every time. She is determined to win this final game with Sam Westing. Westing paid for her education, which she suspects was a politically calculated move on his part. Ford is one of the most brilliant players of the Westing game, trying to calculate Westings moves and motives.
Sunset Towers' sprightly doorman is always ready with a smile, a colorful anecdote, or a cheerful tune whistled through his chipped tooth, a memento from brawling in his younger days. He is 65 years old and is a jolly man. He also keeps an eye and an ear out for any bits of information his fellow tenants might drop.
Mr. Eastman is chairman of the board of Westing Paper Products, and takes a keen interest in all of the heirs to Westing's fortune.
Ed Plum is a somewhat bumbling, disorganized, ineloquent lawyer who has been assigned the daunting task of executing the will of Sam Westing, and carrying out its many eccentric and unconventional instructions.
Dr. Sikes served as Sam Westing's personal physician and close friend. He is instrumental in the plot, but the story reveals little about his character. |
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The Westing Game |