Lord Edgeware Dies, by Agatha Christie
The Book
Captain Hastings has returned to England from Argentina for a short stay with his good friend Hercule Poirot. They attend a one woman play put on by the American actress, Carlotta Adams. In it, she impersonates an even more famous actress, Jane Wilkinson. After the performance, Hastings and Poirot go to dinner and meet Ms. Wilkinson. While there, she complains about how she can't get a divorce from her husband, Lord Edgeware. This is Edgeware's second divorce, and apparently he's very difficult to get along with. Jane carelessly complains about being married to Edgeware and confesses she would like to marry the elusive Duke of Merton. She wants to marry Merton so badly, she is ready to "bump off" her husband. She begs Poirot to intercede on her behalf. Reluctantly, Poirot agrees, but does not promise any results. Jane accepts his terms.
The next day, Poirot meets with Lord Edgeware, who confesses he has had a change of heart about granting the divorce. He now agrees. Poirot is happy and tells Jane right away. But it is all too late, Lord Edgeware is murdered that night, and Carlotta Adams as well. Meanwhile, Jane Wilkinson has an alibi having dined with friends that night. Poirot knows he is on the hunt for a very devious killer, who he fears has framed poor Jane Wilkinson and murdered Carlotta Adams to cover their tracks.
My Thoughts
Spoiler Alert
The moment I cracked open this book, I remembered the plot twist from the ITV Poirot series. On page one, we are told that Carlotta Adams can impersonate Jane Wilkinson quite well. Therefore, we should be suspicious of every place Jane is purported to be during the murder. While Christie goes a long way to trying to make us believe that some mysterious killer framed Jane, it is also credible to believe that Carlotta impersonated Jane during the dinner party. That work of an actor would be harder, but more a challenge. And it's to establish an alibi, a long lengthy alibi that Carlotta was hired to do, undoubtedly as a joke. And why not? Why not have one of the most famous actors in the world indebted to you? It would have helped her career. But once Edgeware was dead, it was important that Carlotta no be able to blow up the alibi. It's been too many years since I saw the show to remember whether or not I was surprised by the twist, but it was kind of a downer to read the book. Moreover, I am uncertain if it made me too knit picky about the set up of the plot, since I know where Carlotta was and wasn't. But there is something about analyzing these plots, and perhaps why I am less than enchanted with Rian Johnson's Bendict Benoit series. The murder is the person with the best motive, the best opportunity and the most tools to pull it off. Once you cut through the junk, the murderer is easy to figure out, and less fun. The tricks seem more like tricks and less like fair play. It is a let down.
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