Elva Gordon

Elva Gordon
Actor	Lauren Lee Smith
Seen	Journey to the Centre of Toronto
Gender	Female
Status	Possibly Living
Relationships	Herbert Humphreys, possible lover
Job	Explorer

Elva Gordon is a female explorer and a believer in the Hollow Earth theory, introduced in Season 7 of Murdoch Mysteries, portrayed by Lauren Lee Smith. 

Appearances and Mentions

Journey to the Centre of Toronto

• Elva Gordon works at the Ontario Provincial Museum. Julia Ogden and Emily Grace attend a talk by the famous explorer, who is introduced as the museum's archaeologist. Miss Gordon makes quite an impression with her boyish haircut and practical clothes, and the women are impressed by both her appearance and strong personality. Elva talks about her adventures in Yucatan, where she explored some of the deepest caves known to mankind. She explains that she came to the conclusion that life exists under the earth, despite the fact the museum had warned her against speaking about it and cut funding to her explorations, confining her to Toronto until further notice, a decision Elva resents.
• Afterwards, both doctors talk about Miss Gordon's theories and the woman herself, and admire her adventurous spirit. They also sympathize with her plight, and Julia quips that she's "had her wings clipped, shorter than her hair!"
• Back at the museum, Dr. Grace meets with Elva Gordon to speak with her about her lecture. The women hit it off, and Dr. Grace admires the personal and professional risks she took, especially her hair. Elva explains with amusement that if Emily spent three weeks in jungles and underground caves without a place to wash, she'd be ready to cut off her hair too. The two compliment each other on their similar worlds of scientific exploration. Elva and Emily briefly savour the fact they're living in a new world, a world where women can be equal to men. Miss Gordon quickly picks up on Emily's skepticism about her beliefs, and though the doctor apologizes, she takes it all into stride. Miss Gordon then laughingly states that she welcomes the practical doubt, as she had recently met a constable who wanted to believe so badly that he paid attention to a fantastical world with incredible machines instead of the evidence.
• Unfortunately, William Murdoch tracks the thief to the museum one night, and he and the constables go quickly and find Elva there, working late, along with Mr. Humphreys, who helps them search the premises. Murdoch notices her brooch as a stolen piece from one of the robberies and questions her about it, sending George to search her office. Miss Gordon coolly admits it was from an anonymous suitor and there was no note. She admits to receiving it the day before. Elva also continues the suitor has been given her roses and bonbons for the past few months. When Murdoch picks up on her frustration and hints she may have taken drastic measures to keep exploring, she bluntly exclaims she'd have robbed a bank...but she didn't.
• As the only suspect so far, Murdoch takes her into custody and she's locked in the cells. However, the constabulary quickly detects more seismic activity, and the policemen suddenly realize that the station house is the target, and Murdoch orders evacuation.
• However, Miss Gordon vanishes afterwards, apparently jailbroken by the operator of the machine. Murdoch tracks it once more and discovers the location of the machine, a barn. There, Elva comes face to face with Herbert Humphreys, her suitor and the thief. Herbert had fallen in love with Elva Gordon and wanted to help her achieve her dream, so he built the machine and stole the diamonds, not for money, but to help with the cutting. He offers her the chance to prove the Hollow Earth once and for all...and she takes that chance. Before Murdoch can stop them, the two disappear into the earth with the machine. Still, Elva leaves behind the brooch, which Murdoch returns to the owner.
• The last mention of Elva is when Murdoch tells Julia that he went to look at a seismograph, and it had detected movement in the earth's crust under Lake Ontario. This hints that the pair might have survived and were searching for the 'Hollow Earth'.