Dumb Witness, Agatha Christie

The Book

Miss Emily Arundell is a cantankerous, miserly old lady with a heart of gold. When she has an accident which everyone blames on the dog, Bob, she gets busy by changing her will and writing to Hercule Poirot. Meanwhile, her money grubbing relations keep asking her to give them some of her money, and she refuses them all. Her niece and nephew who are her brother's children are spoiled, bratty, entitled young people. Her niece who is her sister's only child is married to a doctor. The doctor, a foreigner, has spent through the niece's inheritance already and begs "Aunt Emily" for a loan. She refuses and recovers from her bad fall. 

A few weeks later, Hercule Poirot receives her letter. He goes into the small town of Market Basings, only to discover that Miss Arundell is dead, of apparently natural causes. And of immense interest to the gossips, she left all of her money to her paid companion, Miss Lawson, a woman who had been in her employ for less than a year. Poirot is not convinced that the old lady died of natural causes, so he sets out to see what is up. 

Captain Hastings, having returned to England, accompanies his old friend. Hastings is shocked by the number of lies Poirot tells in order to try to get at the truth. The real murder puts up a good show, but in the end, is no match for Poirot. 

My Thoughts

  The title is mean to refer to Bob the dog, which is a ridiculous name for a dog. I know, I've named several of my dogs and other pets perfectly ridiculous names, including Frisky (a midnight black cat), Honey (a bunny addicted to eating electrical wires) , Buffy (a cocker spaniel), Snow (an ice white toy poodle) , and Storm ( a midnight black standard poodle). But Bob is just too plain for such an adorable little dog. And I don't buy that he's a friendly little thing, he is a terrier after all. But my biggest complaint about Bob is he doesn't actually witness anything and has nothing whatsoever to do with the murder. Well, he was framed for trying to kill Miss Arundell, but other than that, nope, nothing to do with the murder. 

    An astute reader will know immediately that Bob was framed, because we see Miss Arundell put the ball away in the opening pages. And honestly, it's an Agatha Christie, if you don't suspect the fall down the stairs is a murder attempt, why are you reading the book? 

    It's not an easy read and although there is a racist depiction of a character, it is perfectly plausible that the xenophobic reaction to Dr. Tanios, the Greek, is illustrated to be wrong. The characters who are dead set against him, turn out to be completely wrong in his character. But she couldn't just leave it there. Nope, she had to put in a racist colloquialism to boot. 

    As a matter of policy, I do not believe in editing the racism out of most books, well books that are for adult audiences. Books that are for children, that's a separate matter. Whatever Dr, Seuss's estate wants to do is a matter for them to decide, not me. Adults are old enough and should know themselves well enough and have enough of a moral core that what a writer writes shouldn't affect their world view. And I believe it is wise for modern readers to go back and read these depictions. It shows how the world has changed. And I for one, although I feel pain and I reject these ideas of having validity, am glad that I challenge myself to look at the world as it actually was. And if I do not want to return to this time, then I know I must fight for the future I want. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This book came to me from Fremont Public Library, which is about 5 miles away from my house. I drive by this cute little library frequently. They do not have any markings inside of the book as to which year it was acquired by their library, so I can offer no definitive proof as to when they got it. Having said that, the book is in relatively good condition. The edition's copyright is 2011, but I think given how frequently Christie books are read, we are looking at a book picked up at the end of 2019 or possibly in the early part of the pandemic. This is based on the amount of wear in the book and how we have tracked it over time. The back cover says it costs $12.99, that's the number we will use. 

This Book                                         $12.99

Items Reviewed This Year            $ 993.83

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