Edna (Mrs McGinty's Dead)

In the novel Mrs McGinty's Dead, Edna was the assistant at the village shop/post office at Broadhinny. While out at night waiting to meet a man, she had seen a woman with fair hair entering the house of Mrs Upward on the night of her murder.

Edna had been waiting for Charlie Masters, a farm labourer who was already married with two children. Moreover Edna had told her father that she was going out with Reg, a boy whom her father approved of. The circumstances of her assignation therefore made it difficult for her to report what she had seen. Besides the scandal, she believed her father would "skin her alive".

Edna was ultimately persuaded by Mrs Sweetiman, the postmistress, to tell her story to Major Johnnie Summerhayes. He then brought her to see Superintendent Spence.

Portrayals
Edna does not appear in the ITV screen adaptation of the novel. The witness became Mrs Sweetiman herself and her assignation was not with Charlie Masters (who did not appear) but with Joe Burch.