The Foundations of Fiction: Character Development Profile – DI Humphrey Goodman, “Death in Paradise”

As writers, part of our mandate is to develop strong, multidimensional characters. Studying traits of other characters can provide inspiration and ideas in the development of our own creations.

Name: Humphrey Goodman

Occupation: Detective Inspector on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie. Formerly Detective Inspector with the Metropolitan Police Service, London.

Marital Status: Divorced. Briefly falls in love with Camille Bordey before she relocates to Paris. Later in a relationship with Martha Lloyd, who he moves back to London for.

Allies: Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey, Detective Sergeant Florence Cassell, Office Dwayne Meyers, Sergeant Fidel Best, Officer JP Hooper, Aunt Mary, Catherine Bordey.

Enemies/Antagonists: His ex-wife, Sally; his father, Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (though he is occasionally an ally.)

Appearance: Tall, lanky, and awkward. Strawberry blonde mop top during his first season, close-cropped in later seasons. Pale skin with freckles. Wears linen suits and the occasional Panama hat. Sometimes dons garish print shirts. Sometimes wears tank tops and rolled-up khakis while relaxing at home.

Quotable Quotes:

Commissioner Patterson (After the team witnesses the newly-arrived Goodman stumble and bumble his way out the cab and upstairs):

“London speaks very highly of him.”

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Goodman (to his ex-wife who’s come to St. Marie to win him back): “I’m rum punch and you’re still gin and slim.”

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Dwayne: “Am I seeing things, or did he fall out of a window?”

Fidel: “Yes. Yes, he did.”

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Accent: British

Drink of Choice: Beer. Island cocktails.

Overview: Assigned to St. Marie to solve the murder of DI Richard Poole, Goodman is the polar opposite of his predecessor. He’s awkward, talkative, and bumbling – a total mess who appears he’d be unable to find his way out of a paper bag, much less solve a murder. However, under all that absentmindedness, Goodman proves himself to be an exceptional investigator, gaining the eventual respect of his team.

Strengths: While nowhere near as stuffy or finicky as DI Poole, Goodman is no less accomplished when it comes to solving crimes. Charming in a blundering sort of way, Goodman endears himself to his eventual team when he solves Poole’s seemingly unsolvable murder. He frequently makes order out of his chaos, able to hone in on some obscure detail buried under his morass of pictures and papers that cracks the case. Goodman is friendly, easygoing, smart, caring, and fearless. He’s not afraid to make a fool of himself (which he does often), usually by tripping, stumbling or rambling.

He shares a special bond with his Aunt Mary, who he spent a lot of time with as a child while his brothers went off to play cricket and rugby (an intimation that Goodman was not athletic). The two spent time on puzzles (crosswords), battleships, and jigsaws (jigsaw puzzles). She seems to be his only family member who appreciates his offbeat demeanor. Goodman frequently allows the team to knock off early and enjoys meeting them at Catherine’s Bar for a drink after a long day of solving crime.

He cottons to the island quite quickly, frequently displaying curiosity about St. Marie’s history and traditions. He constantly seeks out ways to more deeply ingrain himself into the culture such as trying local delicacies (almost burning off his lips with one dish), installing a hammock outside the beach shack where he lives, shunning a cuppa (tea) in favor of downing exotic rum-based cocktails, buying a rust bucket of a boat he plans to rehab for sailing excursions, and wearing loud, oversized shirts in an attempt to “fit in.”    

He’s fairly vocal in his dislike of Commissioner Patterson.  

Vulnerabilities/Tics/Quirks/Flaws: To say Goodman is disorganized doesn’t quite capture it. He’s a disaster.   Goodman never has a pen or paper, jotting down his notes on rubber gloves, his hand, available scraps of paper. He’s exceedingly accident prone, forever tripping and falling over chairs, hammocks, tables, etc. He’s disposed to muttering nonsensical rhymes and riddles, leaving those around him utterly confused and exasperated. He’s often forgetful, stammers frequently, and is totally oblivious to what’s going on around him most of the time. 

Takeaways:

• Goodman is just like his name – a good man. He’s sweet and kind without a malicious bone in his body.

• Sweet, kind characters still need depth and edge. Goodman’s disdain for Commissioner Patterson and issues with his father, who looks down upon his law enforcement career, give the character some interesting dimension to explore.

• His knack for crime-solving coupled with the stammering, stumbling and bumbling makes Goodman that much more compelling, as you ask yourself, “How on Earth could this guy ever possibly capture a murderer?” We tune it to see how he does it.

Hints for Character Development:

Is your protagonist a fundamentally nice, sweet character? That’s great – we like nice characters! However, you need to add some chinks in the armor or your readers will quickly grow bored with your Mary Sue or Gary Stu. Flaws such as a facial scar(s), clumsiness, a messy house, a fractious relationship with a family member, tardiness, a mild taste for gossip, are all great little nits you can give to your super nice, super perfect character to take them down a few notches to make them relatable.

In other words, seek out ways big and small to balance out the sweetness with a little bit of sour.

Surrounding your character with strong foils also helps, as it gives them something to react to which can present an opportunity for conflict (always a good thing). Commissioner Patterson, Goodman’s superior, is quite pompous. Goodman is not above making a sly dig or humorous quip at the Commissioner’s expense (it’s never nasty, though). When Goodman’s father comes to visit, he’s appalled by his son’s decision to stay on the island and go through with his divorce. Goodman has to stand up to his father and express his happiness with his new life. Camille and later Florence manage to keep Humphrey in line – most of the time, and we enjoy his interactions with them.

Tags: character development, character development profile, Death in Paradise, DI Humphrey Goodman, foundations of fiction