Tom Emmott

In the short story Death by Drowning, Tom Emmott is the landlord of the Blue Boar in St. Mary Mead and the father of Rose Emmott. He was interviewed by the police after Rose had died of drowning. In talking about the case, Emmott is quick to lay the blame on Sandford. Rose had told her father that she had become pregnant with Tom's child. Tom thought of Rose as a good girl but had been "driven to it" by Sandford. In saying thus it is not clear if he is saying that Sandford drove Rose to suicide (as most villages believed) or that he thought Sandford had murdered her (the police already knew she had been murdered).

After the interview, Sir Henry Clithering noted that Emmott hardly made a favourably impression. Agreeing, Colonel Melchett thought Emmott was a "[b]it of a blackguard". He would have "bled Sandford" given half a chance.

Tom Emmott is described as a big, burly man of middle age with a shifty eye and a truculent jaw.