| | | AMWF | Australian Mystery Writers' Festival. |
| | | Ghan | Luxury tourist train that travels north-south across the Australian continent. |
| | Henry | McTavish | Scottish author of Detective Morbund series of novels. |
| | Ernest | Cunningham | Author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. |
| | Lisa | Fulton | Author of legal thriller, The Balance of Justice. |
| | SF | Majors | Author (female) of psychological thriller Twists and Turns. |
| | Alan | Royce | Author of forensic-based crime Doctor Jane Black series of novels. |
| | | Wolfgang | Multi-award international winner of literary crime fiction. |
| Pt 1 | | | Memoir |
| 1 | Ronald | Knox | Golden Age murder mystery writer, author of Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction. |
| | Agatha | Christie | Golden Age murder mystery writer. (Real) |
| | Arthur | Conan Doyle | Golden Age murder mystery writer. (Real) |
| | S.S. | Van Dine | Golden Age murder mystery writer. (Real) |
| 2 | Simone | Morrison | Literary Agent for Ernest Cunningham. |
| 3 | Juliette | Henderson | Ernest's girlfriend and author, 41 yr old. Previous owner of ski resort in Ernest's book. |
| | Wyatt | Lloyd | Owner of Gemini Publishing. McTavish's publisher and Royce's publisher. |
| | Jane | Harper | Australian crime fiction author of The Dry. (Real) |
| | Erin | Cunningham | Ernest's ex-wife. |
| | Audrey | | Ernest's mother. |
| | Marcelo | | Ernest's step-father. |
| | Sofia | | Ernest's step-sister. |
| | Katherine | | Ernest's aunt, wife of Andy. Ernest's late father's little sister. |
| | Andy | | Ernest's uncle (mid-fifties), husband of Katherine. |
| | Poppy | | Client of Andy's new Andy Solves It! Detective agency. A.k.a. Margaret. |
| 4 | Jasper | Murdoch | Husband of Harriet. Self-published author. |
| 5 | Aaron | | Ghan's 'Journey Director'. |
| | Cynthia | | Ghan's barista and bartender. |
| Pt 2 | | | Blockbuster |
| 7 | Brooke | | President (early 20 yr old) of McTavish's 'Morbund's Mongrels' fan club |
| | Harriet | Murdoch | Wife of Jasper, nee 'Sykes'. |
| | Archibald | Bench | Character (innkeeper) in Mctavish's book The Dawn Rises. |
| 8 | Douglas | Parsons | Texan. |
| 9 | Erica | Mathison | Fictional author. |
| | Brett | Davis | HarperCollins publisher for Wolfgang. |
| | Veronia | Blythe | Chief book critic for the Herald newspaper. |
| Pt 3 | | | Forensic |
| 15 | Annie | Wilkes | Character in Misery by Stephen King. |
| Pt 4 | | | Psychological |
| 17 | Noah | Witrock | Douglas's deceased partner. |
| 18 | Troy | Firth | Deceased bus driver. |
| | Edgar Allan | Poe | American crime writer (real). |
| 24 | | MongrelWrangler22 | Online administrator of McTavish's fan club. |
| Pt 5 | | | Legal |
| 27 | Detective | Hatch | From opal mining town of 'Cooper Pedy'. |
| Pt 7 | | | The Seven Deductions of Ernest Cunningham. |
| 33 | Anna | | Deceased child killed in bus crash. |
| 34 | Mario | Puzo | Author of The Godfather (real). |
| Pt 8 | | | Ghost |
| | Alan Mathison | Turning | Enigma machine' inventor - father of machine learning. |
