It has been sixteen years since Caroline Crale was accused
of poisoning her husband the painter, Amyas Crale in a fit of jealousy. Amyas
had become besotted with a much younger woman, Elsa, one of the models for his
paintings and was about to leave Caroline.
Caroline leaves behind a little daughter Carla. Now Carla is
nubile. She has just received a letter from her long dead mother proclaiming
her innocence. Carla wants to find out whether Amyas’ death was suicide or
murder and for that she hires the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Poirot
zeroes in on five persons who were there at the time of the crime and starts
exercising his famous grey cells.
Poirot’s task is cut out here as it has been a very long
time since Amyas’ death. He begins by interviewing the five suspects. Then he
asks them for a written account of the event so that they are able to describe
the days leading up to it. Then the scene is reconstructed and Poirot finally
arrives at the solution.
I feel this is one of the more engaging Christie books. Poirot
actually gets to do a lot less detecting and much of the book is about him
speaking with the five people.
The crime and the motive seem clear enough in the beginning.
I had zeroed on one of the five and was actually gloating only to get the rug
pulled from under my feet.
This is one of those which deliver surprises nearly to the
very last sentences. It is a very clever book and the denouement is startling
and the explanation completely convincing.
I think I can include this in my top ten Christie books and I feel it is a must read for Agatha aficionados and mystery buffs.
P.S. Flipkart is
offering 33% discount on all Christie titles till the end of July. They have
become dirt cheap and are available for around eighty bucks each. Splurge a few hundred,
people and get true bang for your buck. I ended up buying 20 of her books. One
of the sections of my book shelf resembles that of a book store with the
signature of Christie beautifully embossed on the spines.
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