This year’s Read Christie challenge has a ‘Through the Decades’ theme and this quarter we’re reading books from the 1930s. My choice for May is Christie’s 1933 Poirot mystery Lord Edgware Dies (published in the US as Thirteen at Dinner).
The novel is narrated by Poirot’s friend, Captain Hastings – a nice surprise as I tend to love the Hastings books and hadn’t realised he was in this one. At the beginning of the book, Poirot and Hastings are visiting the theatre to watch a performance by the American impressionist Carlotta Adams, known for her impersonations of famous people such as the actress Jane Wilkinson. After the show, they are approached by Jane Wilkinson herself, who asks for Poirot’s help in obtaining a divorce from her husband, Lord Edgware. The actress desperately wants to marry the wealthy Duke of Merton and tells Poirot that if Edgware won’t agree to a divorce, she’s just going to have to kill him!
When Lord Edgware is indeed found dead in his own home, having been stabbed in the neck, Jane Wilkinson appears to be the obvious suspect – after all, she was seen entering the house that evening and everyone knew that she wanted her husband dead. However, Edgware had already agreed to a divorce earlier that day, taking away Jane’s motive. And Jane had spent the whole of that evening at a dinner party with twelve other guests, all of whom can provide her with an alibi. Was Jane really in two places at once – or was it Carlotta Adams who entered Lord Edgware’s house in disguise?
This is a very enjoyable Poirot novel with a clever solution, although I don’t think it’s an absolute favourite as I found it a little bit lacking in atmosphere. The whole story takes place in London and we don’t see much of Poirot actually going out in search of clues – instead he sits and waits for the clues to come to him, much to the frustration of Hastings who wishes Poirot would take a more active role in solving the mystery, like their old friend Inspector Japp:
Poirot replied that he preferred to solve it sitting at home.
“But you can’t do that, Poirot.”
“Not entirely, it is true.”
“What I mean is, we are doing nothing! Japp is doing everything.”
“Which suits me admirably.”
“It doesn’t suit me at all. I want you to be doing things.”
“So I am.”
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting.”
Of course, Poirot is the one who correctly identifies the murderer while Japp, as usual, jumps to the wrong conclusions. I also failed to solve the mystery; although I did guess part of the solution very early on, I allowed myself to get distracted by the red herrings, of which there are many!
What I particularly loved about this book was the relationship between Poirot and Hastings and the way they work so well together, with some chance remarks of Hastings’ inadvertently pointing Poirot in the direction of important clues. Having the novel narrated by Hastings means the reader gets to hear Poirot discussing possible theories with him and sharing his thought processes, which I find more enjoyable than the books where we have no idea what Poirot has been thinking until the end. It also means that we only see the various suspects and witnesses from Hastings’ perspective; Jane Wilkinson, for example, presents herself in public as so silly and vacant that we know there must be more to her than meets the eye. Jane is a great character and Jenny Driver, Carlotta Adams’ friend who owns a fashionable London hat shop, was another favourite.
I’m hoping to read another 1930s Christie novel in June, then for July-September we move on to the 40s and 50s!
She Reads Novels 
Not sure if I’ve read this one. I did read a handful of non-Miss Marple books decades ago, but I’ve forgotten which ones (except for ‘Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?’ – which is a pretty unforgettable title!). Thanks for the reminder that I need to order my next Miss Marple (and my next Maigret) book(s)…. [grin]
Oh, and my review of ‘Play the Red Queen’ is now up…..
I loved Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? – such a fun title and story! I hope you enjoy your next Miss Marple.
I don’t know why I don’t participate in this one since I always read a lot of Christie and in fact are reading the biography of her by Lucy Worsley right now. But the choices they’re offering aren’t any that I’m reading. I just finished Endless Night a few days ago. I’m pretty sure I haven’t read this one. There is always more Christie to read!
Well, for June you can read anything from the 1930s. They give a suggested title but you don’t have to read that one. I’m probably going to read Three Act Tragedy next month.
Yeah, that’s okay. I’ll think about it.
So, so many Christie novels, many middling to good. I’ll keep an eye open for this as I quite like theatre-linked stories, but at my rate of consumption it may be a while yet!
It seems there are quite a few Christie novels with actors as characters; coincidentally the one I’ve got lined up for next month is another!
I haven’t read this one yet. At least, I don’t think I have. I did just finish reading Murder on the Links which was pretty fun, and also has Hastings and Poirot in it. 😀
I read Murder on the Links a few years ago – I’m glad you liked it! I love the Hastings and Poirot partnership.
It’s ages since I read this one, and though I remember parts of the plot I can’t actually remember the solution! Coincidentally I picked it up in an Audible sale last week, so I must listen to it soon – as usual you’ve tempted me!
I hope you enjoy your listen! I think even if you remembered the solution, this would be an interesting one to re-read to see how well Christie hides the truth from us and how Poirot puts all the clues together.
Oh I haven’t read this one, I’ll try and make it for June since I love Hastings too!
The books with Hastings are always fun – I wish there were more of them. I hope you can read this one in June!