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A review by thaurisil
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
4.0
While I read through Agatha Christie's novels with the Appointments with Agatha group, I'm putting a templated synopsis of each novel in my review. It has spoilers!
Book: 21 of Christie's novels, 16 of Hercule Poirot novels
Setting: Market Basing, a country town
Detective and Companions: Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings
Crime: Emily Arundell falls down a flight of stairs in her house, seemingly tripping over a dog's ball. A letter she sent to Hercule Poirot on April 17th only reaches him on June 28th, by which time she is long dead, but not before she changed her will from giving her inheritance to her nieces and nephew to giving it to her companion.
Suspects:
- Theresa Arundell, her fashionable spendthrift niece
- Charles Arundell, her charming and amoral nephew
- Bella Tanios, her domestic dutiful niece
- Dr Tanios, Bella's charming but domineering husband
- Miss Lawson, her foolish companion who inherits most of her wealth in a newly made will
Twists and Turns:
- Initially, it seems like the only mystery is why Poirot only receives Emily Arundell's letter two months late. This is quickly solved when the servants say that Miss Arundell misplaced the letter and they found it later and decided to send it off.
- However, Poirot insists on investigating Miss Arundell's death even though it appears that she died naturally of a chronic recurring liver problem. Of course, Poirot turns out to be right, that Miss Arundell was poisoned in a way that mimicked her liver symptoms.
- The three biggest suspects are Theresa, Charles and Dr Tanios, who would all benefit financially in Miss Arundell's initial will. All three contest Miss Arundell's second will, in which Miss Lawson gets most of the inheritance. In addition, all three have personalities that make them possible murderers. However, it is the one person who is quiet, domestic, and doesn't contest the will, Bella, who actually killed Miss Arundell and who is playing on Miss Lawson's sense of guilt to try to gain the inheritance.
- We are led to believe that Dr Tanios is domineering and that Bella meekly follows his orders against her will. Actually, she dislikes him and tries to paint the above picture to seek compassion from others for herself.
The book is dedicated to Christie's dog, Peter. Christie was apparently a lifelong owner of dogs and Peter was her favourite. And fittingly, the main side character in the book is Bob, Miss Arundell's playful dog who loves playing a game of bouncing the ball down the stairs and having people throw it back up to him. He is wrongly blamed for Miss Arundell's fall down the stairs, but it was actually not his fault as Bella had tried to kill her by tying a string across the top of the stairs that Miss Arundell tripped over. Despite this, everyone persists in loving Bob. His interactions with Hastings and Poirot are amusing, and, like Hastings says, Poirot doesn't understand dog psychology, but Hastings and Agatha Christie clearly do.
Book: 21 of Christie's novels, 16 of Hercule Poirot novels
Setting: Market Basing, a country town
Detective and Companions: Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings
Crime: Emily Arundell falls down a flight of stairs in her house, seemingly tripping over a dog's ball. A letter she sent to Hercule Poirot on April 17th only reaches him on June 28th, by which time she is long dead, but not before she changed her will from giving her inheritance to her nieces and nephew to giving it to her companion.
Suspects:
- Theresa Arundell, her fashionable spendthrift niece
- Charles Arundell, her charming and amoral nephew
- Bella Tanios, her domestic dutiful niece
- Dr Tanios, Bella's charming but domineering husband
- Miss Lawson, her foolish companion who inherits most of her wealth in a newly made will
Twists and Turns:
- Initially, it seems like the only mystery is why Poirot only receives Emily Arundell's letter two months late. This is quickly solved when the servants say that Miss Arundell misplaced the letter and they found it later and decided to send it off.
- However, Poirot insists on investigating Miss Arundell's death even though it appears that she died naturally of a chronic recurring liver problem. Of course, Poirot turns out to be right, that Miss Arundell was poisoned in a way that mimicked her liver symptoms.
- The three biggest suspects are Theresa, Charles and Dr Tanios, who would all benefit financially in Miss Arundell's initial will. All three contest Miss Arundell's second will, in which Miss Lawson gets most of the inheritance. In addition, all three have personalities that make them possible murderers. However, it is the one person who is quiet, domestic, and doesn't contest the will, Bella, who actually killed Miss Arundell and who is playing on Miss Lawson's sense of guilt to try to gain the inheritance.
- We are led to believe that Dr Tanios is domineering and that Bella meekly follows his orders against her will. Actually, she dislikes him and tries to paint the above picture to seek compassion from others for herself.
The book is dedicated to Christie's dog, Peter. Christie was apparently a lifelong owner of dogs and Peter was her favourite. And fittingly, the main side character in the book is Bob, Miss Arundell's playful dog who loves playing a game of bouncing the ball down the stairs and having people throw it back up to him. He is wrongly blamed for Miss Arundell's fall down the stairs, but it was actually not his fault as Bella had tried to kill her by tying a string across the top of the stairs that Miss Arundell tripped over. Despite this, everyone persists in loving Bob. His interactions with Hastings and Poirot are amusing, and, like Hastings says, Poirot doesn't understand dog psychology, but Hastings and Agatha Christie clearly do.