Richard Maxwell

Richard Maxwell is a sly, smooth-talking young ex-con in Odyssey whose easy charm makes him genuinely dangerous. He runs a grade-changing scheme at the local college, pressuring an eleven-year-old orphan named Nicholas into doing the dirty work, and later hires on with Dr. Regis Blackgaard, helping the scheming doctor establish his amusement house, Blackgaard's Castle. On Blackgaard's orders he manipulates Connie Kendall, burns down Tom Riley's barn, and befriends young Lucy with ice cream and friendly questions to pry loose the secrets of Applesauce, the computer program hidden at Whit's End. Yet Richard is no simple villain - his conscience keeps surfacing, and he ultimately turns against his old employer, seeking out those he has wronged to ask forgiveness and working to expose and bring Blackgaard down. His uneasy ties to Whit, Lucy, and Tom trace his ongoing struggle between cunning and decency.