Character Analysis
24-year-old Charlie Frost is the banker who handles the sale of Crosbie Wells's estate—and, as such, ends up involved in all the mysteries and shenanigans that follow his death. Unlike a lot of the men in this novel, he's not an ex-pat; he was actually born in New Zealand. He is associated with the astrological sign Taurus, and he is part of council of twelve men who meet at the Crown the night the book opens.
We get kind of a mixed picture of Charlie. On the one hand, he's nice enough to send most of his income home to help his parents, except for the bonus he got from Edgar Clinch for helping to facilitate the sale of Crosbie Wells's property so quickly—that he spent on some frivolous stuff for himself. Unfortunately, when that sale was revoked, it became obvious that the money will need to be returned…oops.
On the other hand, he doesn't necessarily seem super interesting or forceful, so it's hard to get super excited about him (despite the fact that he's so nice to his 'rents). The narrator describes him as "a man of scant reputation" who is "modest," "docile," and "mild" and seemed as though he were "perpetually mindful of some rule of etiquette that other men no longer observed" (I.6.2). Which kind of makes him sound like a stick-in-the-mud downer, no?