Hercule Poirot novels by Agatha Christie - part 2

HICKORY DICKORY DOCK

US title: HICKORY DICKORY DEATH UK publication: 1955 (Collins) US publication: 1955 (Dodd, Mead)

The story has no real connection with the nursery rhyme. Poirot is introduced to the affair through Miss Lemon, making her first appearance in a Poirot novel. Her sister, who runs a boarding house for students, has had an outbreak of petty theft. Poirot investigates, and the trail leads to murder.

The students include Sally Finch, an American girl; Mr. Akibombo, a West African; Chandra Lal and Gopal Ram, Indians; and some British students, one of whom simulates a neurosis in order to attract a young psychologist.

THE HOLLOW

Other titles: MURDER AFTER HOURS (in US reprint, Dell, 1956) UK publication: 1946 (Collins) US publication: 1946 (Dodd, Mead)

Poirot is staying at his weekend cottage near The Hollow, the country home of Sir Henry and Lady Angkatell and arrives there for lunch to discover a dying man lying by the swimming pool with a woman waving a revolver at him. The murder victim is Dr John Christow, whose slow-thinking widow Gerda is an important character in the plot. The novel is more concerned with characterization than many Christie books and the plot is relatively uncomplicated.

LORD EDGWARE DIES

US title: THIRTEEN AT DINNER UK publication: 1933 (Collins) US publication: 1933 (Dodd, Mead)

Captain Hastings is again at Poirot's side to investigate a crime in the West End of London, with action at locations including the Savoy Hotel. The dinner party for 13 takes place at Sir Montagu Corner's mansion at Chiswick. When Lord Edgware, a most unsympathetic character, is murdered, suspicion falls on his wife, the actress Jane Wilkinson, but it is possible that Jane has been impersonated by the brilliant American actress Carlotta Adams. Inspector Japp is Poirot's rival, as usual. Oddly, Poirot interrupts his investigation to solve the case of the Ambassador's Boots, which had in fact been solved by Tommy and Tuppence in the book Partners in Crime. Filmed in 1934.

MRS McGINTY'S DEAD

Other titles: BLOOD WILL TELL (in US, Detective Book Club edition, 1952) UK publication: 1952 (Collins) US publication: 1952 (Dodd, Mead)

An old woman Mrs. McGinty, has been killed, evidently for the sake of a little money, in the village of Broadhinny. Poirot, now living alone in London, thinks the crime uninteresting, but he is visited by Superintendent Spence and asked to consider the case. The woman's lodger, James Bentley, has been convicted of the crime, but Spence is unsatisfied and manages to persuade Poirot to investigate. The milieu is solidly working class with characters such as Major and Mrs Summerhayes, who run the awful boarding house where Poirot stays, Mrs McGinty's niece, Bessie Burch, who is not sorry and Bentley himself, a very unsympathetic character. The novelist Ariadne Oliver is present once more, now more than ever a parody of Christie herself. Poirot works against time to find the real murderer before Bentley is hanged. A British film, Murder Most Foul, was based very loosely on this story, with Miss Marple substituted for Poirot. It was released in 1964.

MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA

UK publication: 1936 (Collins) US publication: 1936 (Dodd, Mead)

Set on an archaeological dig in Iraq, the murder victim is Louise Leidner,the wife of an archaeologist, the American Eric Leidner. Poirot is passing through the site of the dig on his way to Baghdad from Syria. The narrator is nurse Amy Leatheran, who looks after Louise Leidner. The assistant archaeologist, David Emmott, is modelled on Christie's husband Max Mallowan. The plot provides an amusing and reasonably accurate picture of life on an expedition.

THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD

UK publication: 1926 (Collins) US publication: 1926 (Dodd, Mead)

One of the most ingenious of Christie's novels. The book is narrated by Dr Sheppard, in place of Captain Hastings who has gone to live in Argentina with his wife. Mrs Ferrars, a wealthy widow in the village of King's Abbott is found dead. Dr Sheppard suspects suicide until Roger Ackroyd, a widower who was expected to marry her, is also killed. Poirot is Sheppard's new neighbour and is relieved to escape the boredom of the vegetable marrows he has been growing by investigating the case. Most of the suspects were Ackroyd's house guests. They include Ackroyd's niece Flora, Major Blunt, a big-game hunter romantically interested in Flora, Ackroyd's secretary Geoffrey Raymond, a parlourmaid called Ursula Bourne and Ralph Paton, an adopted son with gambling debts. Poirot is also assisted by Sheppard's sister Caroline, a middle-aged village spinster who anticipates Miss Marple's character. A play (1928) and a film (1931) were made of the story, both called Alibi.

THE MURDER ON THE LINKS

UK publication: 1923 (John Lane, The Bodley Head) US publication: 1923 (Dodd, Mead)

Poirot and Hastings are now rooming together in London. Hastings is a private secretary to a member of parliament. The two holiday together at a resort town in the north of France, when an eminent local businessman is kidnapped and presumed murdered, masked men having broken into his house and tied up his wife. There are discrepancies in his wife's story, and the French police investigate, with young detective Giraud of the Surete scorning Poirot's advice. Hastings becomes infatuated with a young auburn-haired girl and it seems likely that they will marry at the end of the novel. One of Poirot's friends, the agent Joseph Aarons, will reappear in The Big Four.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

UK publication: 1934 (Collins) US publication: 1934 (Dodd, Mead)

Murder is committed in one of the sleeping compartments on the Orient Express train. Almost the entire action takes place in one coach of the train and in the restaurant car. Poirot is returning on the train from Syria where he has just solved a crime for the French government. Just after the murder the train is forced to halt in Yugoslavia by a snowstorm and Poirot is asked to investigate by the railway director, Monsieur Bouc. The murder victim is an American businessman called Ratchett. The suspects are an international collection of travellers: Mrs. Hubbard, a loquacious American; the Princess Dragomiroff, an exotic Russian travelling with her maid; the Count and Countess Andrenyi, Hungarian diplomat and wife; Mary Debenham, an English governess; the British Colonel Arbuthnot, returning from India; Greta Ohlsson, a Swedish missionary, and a few others - many of whom are not what they seem. Poirot's final solution is among the most audacious of Christie's plots. A well-known film was made of the story in 1974 starring Albert Finney as Poirot. The cast included Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael York.At the time it was the most profitable British film ever made. In 2001, a TV version was made starring Alfred Molina as Poirot. In the modern-day setting Poirot used a laptop computer and a Palm Pilot.

THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES

UK publication: 1920 (John Lane, The Bodley Head) US publication: 1920 (John Lane)

This is Christie's first novel. The action takes place during World War I at Styles Court, a country house in Essex, whose owner, John Cavendish, has invited his friend, the young Captain Hastings to stay and recuperate from his war injuries. Cavendish's wealthy stepmother, Mrs. Inglethorp, is found murdered by strychnine poisoning and suspicion falls on all the other inhabitants of the house including Mrs Inglethorp's fortune-hunting new husband Alfred, Cavendish's wife Mary and brother Lawrence, Mrs Inglethorp's companion Evelyn Howard, and a local girl, Cynthia who has access to poisons at the hospital as well as Dr Bauerstein, an expert on poisons staying in the village. Hastings is delighted to discover Poirot staying in the same village. They had met before the war, when Hastings worked for Lloyds of London in Belgium. Poirot is now a war refugee despite his fame in Belgium and Poirot investigates the case. Inspector Japp also appears near the end. The story is a traditional puzzle-solver with plans of the house in the book and illustrations of clues. Christie drew on her knowledge of poisons which she gained in her hospital work to present a plausible crime which was copied by a real-life criminal years later.

THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN

UK publication: 1928 (Collins) US publication: 1928 (Dodd, Mead)

The first Poirot novel to be told in the third person with no narrator. An American millionaire's daughter, Miss Van Aldin, is found strangled in her compartment on the Blue Train which runs from Paris to Nice and a valuable ruby is stolen. Poirot is traveling to the French Riviera on the same train with George, his valet and is drawn into the case. He is assisted by one of Christie's adventurous young ladies, Katherine Grey. The plot is an expansion of a short story, The Plymouth Express, which appeared in the collection The Under Dog in 1951 in the USA and in 1974 in the UK in Poirot's Early Cases.

ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE

US title: THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS Other titles: AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH (in US reprint edition, Dell, 1953) UK publication: 1940 (Collins) US publication: 1941 (Dodd, Mead)

Christie's most successful example of the murder mystery inspired by a nursery rhyme. Each chapter of the novel corresponds roughly to a line of the verse. The first victim is a Harley Street dentist. Poirot suspects this is not a suicide since he was a patient himself only an hour before and the dentist had seemed in good spirits. Chief Inspector Japp does his share of investigating the mystery which proves to have ramifications involving international conspiracy. The atmosphere of Europe on the brink of war is well described. The novel contains the only occasion on which Poirot is known to have attended a church service and also reminds us that he still dreams of Countess Vera Rossakoff, the aristocratic thief he had met in The Big Four.

PERIL AT END HOUSE

UK publication: 1932 (Collins) US publication: 1932 (Dodd, Mead)

Set in the resort town of St Loo on the south coast of England (modeled after Torquay). Poirot and Hastings, who is again visiting England from his home in Argentina, are staying at a hotel. They meet a young woman, Nick Buckley, who lives above the town at End House and has recently had several narrow escapes. Poirot thinks someone is trying to kill her and she too is convinced after her cousin is killed at End House, perhaps mistaken for her. Most of the characters are friends of Nick's, including the Jewish art dealer Jim Lazarus and a mysterious Australian couple.

SAD CYPRESS

UK publication: 1940 (Collins)US publication: 1940 (Dodd, Mead)

The prologue introduces young Elinor Carlisle who is accused of murdering her wealthy Aunt Laura and is standing trial. The aunt had been helpless after a stroke and was known to wish herself dead. Hher doctor, Peter Lord, brings in Poirot to prove Elinor innocent. The beginning is melodramatic and clumsy but the characterisations are some of Christie's most realistic and evoke old age, illness and suffering and its effects on Aunt Laura's family.

TAKEN AT THE FLOOD

US title: THERE IS A TIDE ...

UK publication: 1948 (Collins)US publication: 1948 (Dodd, Mead)

Set in post-war England, where the Cloade family is beset by troubles including accidental death, murder and suicide, and where the overall mood is one of dissatisfaction and ill will. The family wealth seems about to pass into the hands of a stranger, and questions of identity arise in the post-war confusion. Poirot solves the mystery with the aid of a new detective, Superintendent Spence, who will appear in three later novels.

THIRD GIRL

UK publication: 1966 (Collins) US publication: 1967 (Dodd, Mead)

Poirot confronts modern youth as a very old man in this novel. To stave off boredom he agrees to see a young woman who 'might have' committed a murder. The girl turns out to be Norma Restarick, the third of three who share a flat, and is evidently something of a hippie. With the aid of the novelist Mrs Ariadne Oliver and the information gatherer Mr Goby, Poirot arrives at a solution, although the plotting is not the strongest point of this novel and it is unclear how he makes several conclusions.

THREE-ACT TRAGEDY

US title: MURDER IN THREE ACTS UK publication: 1935 (Collins)US publication: 1934 (Dodd, Mead)

A Poirot crime novel, divided into three sections called First Act: Suspicion, Second Act: Certainty and Third Act: Discovery.
Sir Charles Cartwright, a famous actor living in retirement on the Cornwall coast, gives a dinner party at which one of the guests dies. He plays a leading role in the following events, as do the callow but engaging Miss Hermione Lytton Gore, the owner of a clothing company Cynthia Dacres and Mr Satterthwaite, making one of two appearances outside a Harley Quin story. Other guests are a well-known doctor called Sir Bartholomew Strange, the actress Angela Sutcliffe, Cynthia's husband Freddy, a handsome young man Oliver Manders, a playwright Miss Wills and Poirot.