St. Julien Perlmutter

St. Julien Perlmutter is a fictional character in the Dirk Pitt series of adventure novels by Clive Cussler.

Fictional character biography

Perlmutter is often consulted for his knowledge of sea history and lore, as well as to search his extensive library of rare books concerning the ships, shipwrecks, oceans, and events of the sea.

Perlmutter lives in Georgetown in the District of Columbia. Perlmutter's library is said to be the world's largest archive of marine history. He is described as an intellectual with sharp mental acuity.

Perlmutter's library is often contrasted with "Max", an ultramodern computer personality created by another character, Hiram Yeager. Perlmutter and Max share research duties in the series of novels, showing that both the old and new can coexist.

Perlmutter's house also has a refrigerated food locker and a 4000-bottle wine cellar. Perlmutter is a gourmet cook, but also enjoys eating and drinking to excess and thus would qualify as a gourmand. Perhaps as a result, the six-foot-four inches tall Perlmutter weighs over 400 pounds. He is often described as wearing a paisley robe, and has a full beard and long, twisted mustache. "Fritz", his pet dachshund puppy, also enjoys gourmet food.

Like Dirk Pitt, Perlmutter is said to have furniture originally used on ships, his dining table is a rudder from the ghost ship Mary Celeste.

Other appearances

Perlmutter also makes appearances in the Kurt Austin series of NUMA novels, also by Cussler (with the exception of Polar Shift). Perlmutter also appears in the 2009 Oregon Files novel Corsair, in White Death, in "Piranha", and is also mentioned in Mirage. He also appears in Silent Sea, although his first name is misspelled "Julian".