In the novel Hallowe'en Party, Leopold Reynolds was the younger brother of Joyce Reynolds, a boy of about eleven. Like his older sister Ann, he also believed that Joyce frequently boasted and lied to show off. However he was not very communicative when speaking to Poirot, prefering to play with his toys.
Leopold was described as being a "solid, pudgy faced boy". He was assembling a model aeroplane when Poirot came to interview him, and was completely absorbed in "mechanical construction".
According to Mrs Goodbody, Leopold wanted to study things like physics, and was good at mathematics, which surprised his teachers in school.
Mrs Goodbody also told Poirot to beware of Leopold, because he played tricks on people and eavesdropped, to find out people's secrets. She told Poirot that Leopold always had lots of money, which he kept in a drawer underneath his socks. He used the money to buy "expensive gadgets".
Miranda Butler also told Poirot something similar, that Leopold listened at doors, and liked knowing people's secrets. She thought that although she had only told Joyce that she had seen a murder, Leopold might have guessed.
Leopold was later found drowned. It appeared that he had been "flushed with money". Poirot surmised that he had found out about some aspect of Joyce's death or the murder she claimed to have seen and was blackmailing someone about it.
Portrayals[]
In the film adaptation of Hallowe'en Party in Series 12 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot, Leopold is considerably older than in the novel and is the older brother of Joyce. Like in the original novel, he is also attempting to blackmail Joyce's killer. Here a flashback scene shows him peeping round a corner and possibly seeing something about how Joyce was killed. Poirot becomes alerted to Leopold's new wealth when he sees him wearing a wristwatch in church. The part of Leopold is played by Richard Breislin.
In Meurtre à la kermesse, the France Télévisions adaptation of the novel, the parallel character is Pablo Ortega.