In the novel Sparkling Cyanide, Victor Drake is the son of Caleb and Lucilla Drake. He is the black sheep of the Marle family, who wants money, but doesn't want to work to get any. Victor is also the cousin of Iris Marle and Rosemary Barton.
He had been to Oxford, where he started his criminal career by forging a cheque. After that, he was shipped to various countries around the world, but had never made good anywhere.
About a year before the events of the novel, Victor turned up in London, and began writing to Rosemary, asking for money. George Barton did not want Rosemary to meet Victor, and did not want to meet him himself, so he asked Ruth Lessing to meet him. Miss Lessing was to give him a ticket to sail to Buenos Aires, and give him a hundred pounds in cash when he was on the boat.
Victor is described as having dark eyes, and a lean, brown face. There is a suggestion of a toreador about him. He has as "cold-hearted and calculating a personality as could exist, well masked behind an agreeable devilry". He is attractive and charming, and is able to read other people's souls, play on their emotions, and make evil seem amusing.
Victor describes himself as "a very accomplished sponger". He is able to manipulate his mother into sending him money regularly, by sending telegrams saying that he is in a life or death situation, or hinting that he will commit suicide.
Victor tells Miss Lessing that he is wicked, but not weak. However, there is one thing to be said for him, which is that he enjoys himself. He has done everything, including being an actor, a waiter, and a property man in a circus. He has been in prison before. He also claims that he was a candidate for presidency in a South American republic. According to him, the only things he has never done are an honest day's work, and paying his own way.
It is revealed that Victor poisoned Rosemary, and had planned to poison Iris in the same way, so that his mother would inherit their money, and he could then get hold of it.
On the evening of Rosemary's death, Victor posed as a waiter, and put the cyanide in her glass as he moved around the table, refilling the glasses.
It is further revealed that Miss Lessing was Victor's accomplice, and had put the cyanide packet in Rosemary's bag, where it would later be discovered. She had also lied about when Victor had gone to Buenos Aires, saying that he had left England before Rosemary's death. In reality, he had left the day after Rosemary's death.
Victor and Miss Lessing had planned to kill Iris in the same way as Rosemary. On the evening of the dinner at the Luxembourg, Victor was at the table next to the Barton party, having assumed the persona of Pedro Morales. During the cabaret, he went out, and later returned to the restaurant in the guise of a waiter. He poisoned Iris' glass during the cabaret. However, George drank from Iris' glass by accident, and so was poisoned instead of Iris.
It is also revealed that Anthony Browne had known Victor in prison, but at that time Victor was using the name Monkey Coleman.
Portrayals[]
In Meurtre au champagne, the French adaptation of Sparkling Cyanide, the parallel character is Victor Lebrun.