Thursday it rained all day, an unusual thing here in semi-arid Spokane, and it has turned colder here finally, with highs in the 50s. So the other day was perfect for the combination of hot tea, cats, a warm radiator, my gold chair, and an Agatha Christie mystery.
The mystery was Thirteen at Dinner and it is one of the best Christie's I've read. As with many of the Hercule Poirot books, it is a slice of London life in the 1930s. If you were a gentleman or a lady, others of your kind would take you up and you would find yourself in a whirl of social activity. Even if you were originally a Belgian refugee and a wee bit peculiar. I find Poirot exceedingly charming so I shouldn't be surprised that many of the characters in the mysteries featuring his little grey cells feel the same.
This is a seemingly complex mystery with lots of possible perpetrators. The original murder (it is not letting any cats out of any bags to let you know there will be more than the one murder) - the original murder is of Lord Edgeware, a particularly disagreeable man who is unhappily married to an American film star who takes the prize for self-centeredness. She wants to marry the deeply religious Anglo-Catholic Duke of Something or Other but Lord Edgeware won't give her a divorce. She engages Poirot to appeal to her husband to let her go.
When he is found dead the butler reports that Lady Edgeware (the American actress) arrived at the house at 10 PM, the approximate time of the murder, and went into the library to talk to the victim. She soon came out of the library and left the house.
Inspector Japp sees this as an open and shut case but for some reason he is dissatisfied and goes to talk to Poirot about it. Poirot finds a piece in the newspaper reporting that Lady Edgeware was at a dinner party from 9 to 11 that night and couldn't possibly have done the murder as she has 12 people who vouch for her alibi. Perplexing situation.
Of course, Poirot figures it out, and I'm proud to say so did I, even with half a dozen red-herrings that complicate what turns out to have been, if not exactly open and shut, at least not that complex after all.
This is a good Agatha Christie to start with if you haven't read one before. You could keep lists of characters and motives and set up a time line and plot alibis, but none of that is necessary if you just want to read along and enjoy. The photo above is of a book with the alternative title, Lord Edgeware Dies, as I couldn't find an image of the cover of the book I read.
2011 No 127
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