Five Little Pigs Part 23

Sunday Times: 'So simple, so economical, so completely baffling. Each clue scrupulously given, with superb sleight of hand.'

San Francisco Chronicle: 'The plot is perfect and the characters are wonderful.'

The New York Times: 'The best Poirot since...Cards on the Table.'

29. After the Funeral After the Funeral (1953) (1953) Mrs Cora Lansquenet admits to 'always saying the wrong thing'-but this last remark has gotten her a hatchet in the head. 'He was was murdered, wasn't he?' she had said after the funeral of her brother, Richard Abernethie, in the presence of the family solicitor, Mr Entwhistle, and the a.s.sembled Abernethies, who are anxious to know how Richard's sizable fortune will be distributed. Entwhistle, desperate not to lose any more clients to murder, turns to Hercule Poirot for help. A killer complicates an already murdered, wasn't he?' she had said after the funeral of her brother, Richard Abernethie, in the presence of the family solicitor, Mr Entwhistle, and the a.s.sembled Abernethies, who are anxious to know how Richard's sizable fortune will be distributed. Entwhistle, desperate not to lose any more clients to murder, turns to Hercule Poirot for help. A killer complicates an already very very complicated family-cla.s.sic Christie; pure Poirot. complicated family-cla.s.sic Christie; pure Poirot.

Liverpool Post: 'Keeps us guessing-and guessing wrongly-to the very last page.'

30. Hickory d.i.c.kory Dock Hickory d.i.c.kory Dock (1955) (1955) An outbreak of kleptomania at a student hostel is not normally the sort of crime that arouses Hercule Poirot's interest. But when it affects the work of his secretary, Miss Lemon, whose sister works at the hostel, he agrees to look into the matter. The matter becomes a bona fide mystery when Poirot peruses the bizarre list of stolen and vandalized items-including a stethoscope, some old flannel trousers, a box of chocolates, a slashed rucksack, and a diamond ring found in a bowl of a soup. 'A unique and beautiful problem,' the great detective declares. Unfortunately, this 'beautiful problem' is not just one of thievery and mischief-for there is a killer on the loose.

Times Literary Supplement: 'An event...There is plenty of entertainment.'

The New York Times: 'The Christie fan of longest standing, who thinks he knows every one of her tricks, will still be surprised by...the twists here.'

31. Dead Man's Folly Dead Man's Folly (1956) (1956) Sir George and Lady Stubbs desire to host a village fete with a difference-a mock murder mystery. In good faith, Ariadne Oliver, the much-lauded crime novelist, agrees to organise the proceedings. As the event draws near, however, Ariadne senses that something sinister is about to happen-and calls upon her old friend Hercule Poirot to come down to Dartmoor for the festivities. Ariadne's instincts, alas, are right on the money, and soon enough Poirot has a real murder to investigate.

The New York Times: 'The infallibly original Agatha Christie has come up, once again, with a new and highly ingenious puzzle-construction.'

Times Literary Supplement: 'The solution is of the colossal ingenuity we have been conditioned to expect.'

32. Cat Among the Pigeons Cat Among the Pigeons (1959) (1959) A revolution in the Middle East has a direct and deadly impact upon the summer term at Meadowbank, a picture-perfect girls' school in the English countryside. Prince Ali Yusuf, Hereditary Sheikh of Ramat, whose great liberalizing experiment-'hospitals, schools, a Health Service'-is coming to chaos, knows that he must prepare for the day of his exile. He asks his pilot and school friend, Bob Rawlinson, to care for a packet of jewels. Rawlinson does so, hiding them among the possessions of his niece, Jennifer Sutcliffe, who is bound for Meadowbank. Rawlinson is killed before he can reveal the hiding place-or even the fact that he has employed his niece as a smuggler. But someone knows, or suspects, that Jennifer has the jewels. As murder strikes Meadowbank, only Hercule Poirot can restore the peace.

Of note: In this novel we meet Colonel Pikeaway, later to appear in the non-Poirots Pa.s.senger to Frankfurt Pa.s.senger to Frankfurt and and Postern of Fate Postern of Fate, and we meet the financier Mr Robinson, who will also appear in Postern of Fate Postern of Fate and who will show up at Miss Marple's and who will show up at Miss Marple's Bertram's Hotel Bertram's Hotel.

Daily Express, of Cat Among the Pigeons Cat Among the Pigeons: 'Immensely enjoyable.'

The New York Times: 'To read Agatha Christie at her best is to experience the rarefied pleasure of watching a faultless technician at work, and she is in top form in Cat Among the Pigeons Cat Among the Pigeons.'

33. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960) (1960) 'This book of Christmas fare may be described as "The Chef's Selection." I am the Chef!' Agatha Christie writes in her Foreword, in which she also recalls the delightful Christmases of her youth at Abney Hall in the north of England. But while the author's Christmases were uninterrupted by murder, her famous detective's are not (see also Hercule Poirot's Christmas Hercule Poirot's Christmas). In the t.i.tle novella, Poirot-who has been coerced into attending 'an old-fas.h.i.+oned Christmas in the English countryside'-gets all the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, certainly, but he also gets a woman's corpse in the snow, a Kurdish knife spreading a crimson stain across her white fur wrap.

Collected within: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (novella); 'The Mystery of the Spanish Chest'; (novella); 'The Mystery of the Spanish Chest'; The Under Dog The Under Dog (novella); 'Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds'; 'The Dream'; and a Miss Marple mystery, 'Greenshaw's Folly.' (novella); 'Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds'; 'The Dream'; and a Miss Marple mystery, 'Greenshaw's Folly.'

Times Literary Supplement: 'There is the irresistible simplicity and buoyancy of a Christmas treat about it all.'

34. The Clocks The Clocks (1963) (1963) Sheila Webb, typist-for-hire, has arrived at 19 Wilbraham Crescent in the seaside town of Crowdean to accept a new job. What she finds is a well-dressed corpse surrounded by five clocks. Mrs Pebmarsh, the blind owner of No. 19, denies all knowledge of ringing Sheila's secretarial agency and asking for her by name-yet someone did. Nor does she own that many clocks. And neither woman seems to know the victim. Colin Lamb, a young intelligence specialist working a case of his own at the nearby naval yard, happens to be on the scene at the time of Sheila Webb's ghastly discovery. Lamb knows of only one man who can properly investigate a crime as bizarre and baffling as what happened inside No. 19-his friend and mentor, Hercule Poirot.

The New York Times: 'Here is the grand-manner detective story in all its glory.'

The Bookman: 'Superlative Christie...extremely ingenious.'

Sat.u.r.day Review: 'A sure-fire attention-gripper-naturally.'

35. Third Girl Third Girl (1966) (1966) Hercule Poirot is interrupted at breakfast by a young woman who wishes to consult with the great detective about a murder she 'might have' committed-but upon being introduced to Poirot, the girl flees. And disappears. She has shared a flat with two seemingly ordinary young women. As Hercule Poirot-with the aid of the crime novelist Mrs Ariadne Oliver-learns more about this mysterious 'third girl,' he hears rumours of revolvers, flick-knives, and blood-stains. Even if a murder might not have been committed, something is seriously wrong, and it will take all of Poirot's wits and tenacity to establish whether the 'third girl' is guilty, innocent, or insane.

Sunday Telegraph: 'First-cla.s.s Christie.'

Financial Times: 'Mesmerising ingenuity.'

36. Hallowe'en Party Hallowe'en Party (1969) (1969) Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver has been invited to a Hallowe'en party at Woodleigh Common. One of the other guests is an adolescent girl known for telling tall tales of murder and intrigue-and for being generally unpleasant. But when the girl, Joyce, is found drowned in an apple-bob-bing tub, Mrs Oliver wonders after the fictional nature of the girl's claim that she had once witnessed a murder. Which of the party guests wanted to keep her quiet is a question for Ariadne's friend Hercule Poirot. But unmasking a killer this Hallowe'en is not going to be easy-for there isn't a soul in Woodleigh who believes the late little storyteller was actually murdered.

Daily Mirror: 'A thundering success...a triumph for Hercule Poirot.'

37. Elephants Can Remember Elephants Can Remember (1972) (1972) 'The Ravenscrofts didn't seem that kind of person. They seemed well balanced and placid.'

And yet, twelve years earlier, the husband had shot the wife, and then himself-or perhaps it was the other way around, since sets of both of their fingerprints were on the gun, and the gun had fallen between them. The case haunts Ariadne Oliver, who had been a friend of the couple. The famous mystery novelist desires this real-life mystery solved, and calls upon Hercule Poirot to help her do so. Old sins have long shadows Old sins have long shadows, the proverb goes. Poirot is now a very old man, but his mind is as nimble and as sharp as ever and can still penetrate deep into the shadows. But as Poirot and Mrs Oliver and Superintendent Spence reopen the long-closed case, a startling discovery awaits them. And if memory serves Poirot (and it does!), crime-like history-has a tendency to repeat itself.

The Times: 'Splendid.'

38. Poirot's Early Cases Poirot's Early Cases (1974) (1974) With his career still in its formative years, we learn many things about how Poirot came to exercise those famous 'grey cells' so well. Fourteen of the eighteen stories collected herein are narrated by Captain Arthur Hastings-including what would appear to be the earliest Poirot short story, 'The Affair at the Victory Ball,' which follows soon on the events of The Mysterious Affair at Styles The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Two of the stories are narrated by Poirot himself, to Hastings. One, 'The Chocolate Box,' concerns Poirot's early days on the Belgian police force, and the case that was his greatest failure: 'My grey cells, they functioned not at all,' Poirot admits. But otherwise, in this most fascinating collection, they function brilliantly, Poirot's grey cells, challenging the reader to keep pace at every twist and turn.

Collected within: 'The Affair at the Victory Ball'; 'The Adventure of the Clapham Cook'; 'The Cornish Mystery'; 'The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly'; 'The Double Clue'; 'The King of Clubs'; 'The Lemesurier Inheritance'; 'The Lost Mine'; 'The Plymouth Express'; 'The Chocolate Box'; 'The Submarine Plans'; 'The Third-Floor Flat'; 'Double Sin'; 'The Market Basing Mystery'; 'Wasps' Nest'; 'The Veiled Lady'; 'Problem at Sea'; 'How Does Your Garden Grow?'

Sunday Express: 'Superb, vintage Christie.'

39. Curtain: Poirot's Last Case Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (1975) (1975) Captain Arthur Hastings narrates. Poirot investigates. 'This, Hastings, will be my last case,' declares the detective who had entered entered the scene as a retiree in the scene as a retiree in The Mysterious Affair at Styles The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the captain's, and our, first encounter with the now-legendary Belgian detective. Poirot promises that, 'It will be, too, my most interesting case-and my most interesting criminal. For in X we have a technique superb, magnificent...X has operated with so much ability that he has defeated me, Hercule Poirot!' The setting is, appropriately, Styles Court, which has since been converted into a private hotel. And under this same roof is X, a murderer five-times over; a murderer by no means finished murdering. In Curtain Curtain, Poirot will, at last, retire-death comes as the end. And he will bequeath to his dear friend Hastings an astounding revelation. 'The ending of Curtain Curtain is one of the most surprising that Agatha Christie ever devised,' writes her biographer, Charles...o...b..rne. is one of the most surprising that Agatha Christie ever devised,' writes her biographer, Charles...o...b..rne.

Of note: On 6 August 1975, upon the publication of Curtain Curtain, The New York Times The New York Times ran a front-page obituary of Hercule Poirot, complete with photograph. The pa.s.sing of no other fictional character had been so acknowledged in America's 'paper of record.' Agatha Christie had always intended ran a front-page obituary of Hercule Poirot, complete with photograph. The pa.s.sing of no other fictional character had been so acknowledged in America's 'paper of record.' Agatha Christie had always intended Curtain Curtain to be 'Poirot's Last Case': Having written the novel during the Blitz, she stored it (heavily insured) in a bank vault till the time that she, herself, would retire. Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976. to be 'Poirot's Last Case': Having written the novel during the Blitz, she stored it (heavily insured) in a bank vault till the time that she, herself, would retire. Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976.

Time: 'First-rate Christie: fast, complicated, wryly funny.'

Charles...o...b..rne on Five Little Pigs Alternative t.i.tle: Murder in Retrospect Murder in Retrospect Poirot (1943) Stephen Glanville, a Professor of Egyptology working at the Air Ministry, was another friend of the Mallowans whom Agatha kept in touch with during the war years in London. It was Glanville who, in 1943, suggested to her that she should write a crime novel set in ancient Egypt, which, after a certain amount of persuasion, Agatha agreed to attempt She had also completed an adaptation for the stage play of her novel, And Then There Were None And Then There Were None, and this ran successfully in London throughout most of 1943, first at the St James's Theatre and later at the Cambridge Greenway House, the Mallowans' Devons.h.i.+re home, ceased to be a home for evacuated children when it was taken over at short notice by the Admiralty, and used as accommodation for United States Navy personnel. The Americans took good care of the house, and apparently appreciated its beauty. Many of the officers who were billeted in the house came from Louisiana, and the big magnolia trees in the grounds made them feel at home.

During the war, after she had completed her ancient Egyptian murder mystery Death Comes as the End Death Comes as the End, Agatha Christie produced another of her Mary Westmacott novels, the first for ten years. This was Absent in the Spring Absent in the Spring, which she wrote one weekend, 'in three days flat'. On the third day, a Monday, she sent an excuse to University College Hospital, 'because I did not dare leave my book at that point-I had to go on until I had finished it': I was so frightened of interruptions, of anything breaking the flow of continuity, that after I had written the first chapter in a white heat, I proceeded to write the last chapter, because I knew so clearly where I was going that I felt I must get it down on paper. Otherwise I did not have to interrupt anything-I went straight through.I don't think I have ever been so tired. When I finished, when I had seen that the chapter I had written earlier needed not a word changed, I fell on my bed, and as far as I remember slept more or less for twenty-four hours straight through. Then I got up and had an enormous dinner, and the following day I was able to go to the Hospital again.14 At a nursing home in Ches.h.i.+re on 21 September 1943, Mrs Christie's daughter Rosalind gave birth to a son, Mathew.

The Agatha Christie t.i.tle to be published during the year was Five Little Pigs Five Little Pigs or, as it was more sensibly ret.i.tled for American publication, or, as it was more sensibly ret.i.tled for American publication, Murder in Retrospect Murder in Retrospect. This is the earliest and by far the best of those novels in which Poirot or another investigator is called upon to solve a crime committed some years in the past. References to the nursery rhyme recalled by the English t.i.tle, 'This little pig went to market, this little pig stayed at home...', are injected awkwardly and unnecessarily into the text; the five characters whom Mrs. Christie chooses to identify with the little pigs, to the extent of heading each of five consecutive chapters of the novel (chapters 6 to 10) with the appropriate line of the nursery rhyme, do not have any light thrown upon them by being so identified. The author's obsession with nursery rhyme has run away with her, though she pretends it is not hers but her detective's: A jingle ran through Poirot's head. He repressed it. He must not not always be thinking of nursery rhymes. It seemed an obsession with him lately and yet the jingle persisted. always be thinking of nursery rhymes. It seemed an obsession with him lately and yet the jingle persisted.

Once the nursery rhyme is forgotten, Five Little Pigs Five Little Pigs or or Murder in Retrospect Murder in Retrospect can be seen for what it is: an excellent novel which happens also to be a first-rate murder mystery, more complex in structure than the majority of Poirot's cases, and containing much vivid yet subtle characterization. The murder victim, a famous painter named Amyas Crale, is no romanticized artist-figure, but a real and convincing personality, some of whose less attractive traits suggest that they might have been borrowed from Augustus John. (Had Joyce Cary's novel, can be seen for what it is: an excellent novel which happens also to be a first-rate murder mystery, more complex in structure than the majority of Poirot's cases, and containing much vivid yet subtle characterization. The murder victim, a famous painter named Amyas Crale, is no romanticized artist-figure, but a real and convincing personality, some of whose less attractive traits suggest that they might have been borrowed from Augustus John. (Had Joyce Cary's novel, The Horse's Mouth The Horse's Mouth, been published not in 1944 but a year or two earlier, you would have suspected that a trace of Cary's artist-hero, Gulley Jimson, had crept into Mrs Christie's Amyas Crale.) The unusual psychological depth and complexity of Five Little Pigs Five Little Pigs, and the fact that, written in 1942, it investigates a crime committed sixteen years earlier in 1926 (the year of Mrs Christie's celebrated 'disappearance'), taken together suggest that, whether consciously or not, she was somehow commenting upon herself and her marriage to Archie Christie, whose initials, incidentally, are the same as those of Amyas Crale. In the novel, Caroline Crale contemplates suicide by poison: 'I had received a bad shock. My husband was proposing to leave me for another woman. If that was so, I didn't want to live.' Crale had said to her, 'Do try and be reasonable about this, Caroline, I'm fond of you and will always wish you well-you and the children. But I'm going to marry Elsa.'

But it is Crale who is poisoned. Caroline is found guilty of his murder and dies in prison. Sixteen years later her daughter, now a young woman in her early twenties, asks Hercule Poirot to clear her mother's name. The other five princ.i.p.al suspects are still alive, and Poirot not only interviews them but also persuades each of them to write his or her own memoir of those events of sixteen years ago. The five different interpretations of those events, and the tensions between the characters as they are in the present and as they were in the past, are set forth in masterly fas.h.i.+on. Agatha Christie is not generally praised for her ability to create character through dialogue, but she should be. A comparison of her minor characters and their speech with, for instance, that of Conan Doyle's in the Sherlock Holmes stories reveals Mrs. Christie to have by far the keener ear, the more fluent style.

The solution of the mystery in Five Little Pigs Five Little Pigs is not only immediately convincing but satisfying as well, and even moving in its inevitability and its bleakness. The murderer is identified, but it is doubtful if prosecution will follow. There are some crimes which can be atoned for only by being lived with. is not only immediately convincing but satisfying as well, and even moving in its inevitability and its bleakness. The murderer is identified, but it is doubtful if prosecution will follow. There are some crimes which can be atoned for only by being lived with.

Some minor points of interest: the Mallowans' Greenway House would appear to have been used as model for Amyas Crale's house; the novel is dedicated to Stephen Glanville, who had amiably bullied the author into writing Death Comes as the End, Five Little Pigs Death Comes as the End, Five Little Pigs was the first Christie novel to reach a sale of 20,000 copies in its first edition; Lady Mary Lytton Gore, mentioned briefly at the beginning of Chapter 7, is someone whom Poirot had encountered in was the first Christie novel to reach a sale of 20,000 copies in its first edition; Lady Mary Lytton Gore, mentioned briefly at the beginning of Chapter 7, is someone whom Poirot had encountered in Three-Act Tragedy Three-Act Tragedy (1935). (1935).

Many years later, Agatha Christie adapted Five Little Pigs Five Little Pigs for the stage, under the t.i.tle, for the stage, under the t.i.tle, Go Back for Murder Go Back for Murder. The play opened in Edinburgh, and came to the d.u.c.h.ess Theatre, London, on 23 March 1960. Poirot was banished from the story, and it is a personable young solicitor, Justin Fogg, who helps Miss Crale establish her mother's innocence. The thoroughness with which the author has completely refas.h.i.+oned her material for stage presentation is impressive, but the play limps badly, and the flashback scenes of the second act are unsatisfactory. Robert Urquhart played Justin Fogg, Ann Firbank was both Caroline Crale and Caroline's daughter, and other leading roles were played by Anthony Marlowe, Laurence Hardy and, as the painter Amyas Crale, Nigel Green. Hubert Gregg directed. The play closed after 31 performances, and has rarely been revived. 'It has the usual Christie ingredients,' said the critic of the London Daily Mail Daily Mail, 'and is well acted, well produced and thoroughly enjoyable. But for the first time I left a Christie play actually annoyed that I had not guessed whodunit. Normally one is perfectly happy to have theories and suspicions proved wrong by Mrs Christie's logic. But I felt cheated by this one.'

About Charles...o...b..rne This essay was adapted from Charles...o...b..rne's The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion to the Works of Agatha Christie The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion to the Works of Agatha Christie (1982, rev. 1999). Mr. Osborne was born in Brisbane in 1927. He is known internationally as an authority on opera, and has written a number of books on musical and literary subjects, among them (1982, rev. 1999). Mr. Osborne was born in Brisbane in 1927. He is known internationally as an authority on opera, and has written a number of books on musical and literary subjects, among them The Complete Operas of Verdi The Complete Operas of Verdi (1969); (1969); Wagner and His World Wagner and His World (1977); and (1977); and W.H. Auden: The Life of a Poet W.H. Auden: The Life of a Poet (1980). An addict of crime fiction and the world's leading authority on Agatha Christie, Charles...o...b..rne adapted the Christie plays (1980). An addict of crime fiction and the world's leading authority on Agatha Christie, Charles...o...b..rne adapted the Christie plays Black Coffee Black Coffee (Poirot); (Poirot); Spider's Web Spider's Web; and The Unexpected Guest The Unexpected Guest into novels. He lives in London. into novels. He lives in London.

About Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in 100 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Mrs Christie is the author of eighty crime novels and short story collections, nineteen plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written towards the end of World War I (during which she served in the Voluntary Aid Detachments). In it she created Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian investigator who was destined to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. After having been rejected by a number of houses, The Mysterious Affair at Styles The Mysterious Affair at Styles was eventually published by The Bodley Head in 1920. was eventually published by The Bodley Head in 1920.

In 1926, now averaging a book a year, Agatha Christie wrote her masterpiece. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first of her books to be published by William Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relations.h.i.+p that lasted for fifty years and produced over seventy books. was the first of her books to be published by William Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relations.h.i.+p that lasted for fifty years and produced over seventy books. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was also the first of Agatha Christie's works to be dramatised-as was also the first of Agatha Christie's works to be dramatised-as Alibi Alibi-and to have a successful run in London's West End. The Mousetrap The Mousetrap, her most famous play, opened in 1952 and runs to this day at St Martin's Theatre in the West End; it is the longest-running play in history.

Agatha Christie was made a Dame in 1971. She died in 1976, since when a number of her books have been published: the bestselling novel Sleeping Murder Sleeping Murder appeared in 1976, followed by appeared in 1976, followed by An Autobiography An Autobiography and the short story collections and the short story collections Miss Marple's Final Cases Miss Marple's Final Cases; Problem at Pollensa Bay Problem at Pollensa Bay; and While the Light Lasts While the Light Lasts. In 1998, Black Coffee Black Coffee was the first of her plays to be novelised by Charles...o...b..rne, Mrs Christie's biographer. was the first of her plays to be novelised by Charles...o...b..rne, Mrs Christie's biographer.

The Agatha Christie Collection

Christie Crime Cla.s.sics

The Man in the Brown Suit

The Secret of Chimneys

The Seven Dials Mystery

The Mysterious Mr Quin

The Sittaford Mystery

The Hound of Death

The Listerdale Mystery

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Parker Pyne Investigates

Murder Is Easy

And Then There Were None

Towards Zero

Death Comes as the End

Sparkling Cyanide

Crooked House

They Came to Baghdad

Destination Unknown

Spider's Web *

The Unexpected Guest *

Ordeal by Innocence