Giuseppe (The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side)

In the novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, Giuseppe was the butler at Gossington Hall, at the time that Marina Gregg and Jason Rudd lived there. According to Gladys Dixon, he was "awfully handsome", and had flashing eyes. He had a terrible temper, but could also be awfully nice sometimes.

Gladys had helped at Gossington Hall on the day of the fête, and had seen something that struck her as "funny". She had mentioned wanting to go and talk to Giuseppe about it.

After that, Giuseppe took a day off, to go to London. According to Ella Zielinsky, Giuseppe had gone to Marina, saying that one of his relatives in Soho was desperately ill, and Marina had said it was alright for him to take the day off.

Giuseppe returned to Gossington Hall after midnight that night, and went upstairs to his bedroom. He was shot to death at the door of his bedroom.

It is later revealed that none of Giuseppe's relatives in London had seen him on the day of his death. He had visited his bank, and made a deposit of five hundred pounds in cash. Inspector Craddock says that this was probably all the ready money the person Giuseppe was threatening could raise.

Portrayals
In the EMI films 1980 adaptation, the name of the butler is changed to "Bates" and he is portrayed by Charles Gray.

In BBC's 1992 adaptation of the novel, the part of Giuseppe was played by John Cassady. Here he is given the lastname "Murano". He has a smaller role than in the original novel. He did not see anything significant, did not try to blackmail and is not murdered.