Jim Hurst

In the Parker Pyne short story The Pearl of Price, Jim Hurst is the secretary of the American millionaire Caleb Blundell and, together with his employer and Blundell's daughter, are membera of Parker Pyne's party who are on a visit to Petra in Jordan. Some time ago he had been caught in the Blundell house stealing something. Carol Blundell, Caleb's daughter felt sorry for him and pleaded with her father to give him a chance, which he did. According to Carol, Hurst made good and subsequently her father had come to rely on him and trust him with all his business secrets.

Hurst's background is the reason for a moment of awkwardness at the dinner table when Sir Donald Marvel makes a casual remark that "once a thief always a thief", and is the motive for a special request that Carol Blundell would later make to Parker Pyne.