Chapter 26

“Do you mean to tell me, Superintendent, that this is one of those damned cases you get in detective stories where a man is killed in a locked room by some apparently supernatural agency?”

Having read Hercule Poirot’s Christmas 5 years ago, I was lucky enough to have forgotten the plot, which enabled me to get surprised once more by one of Christie’s cleverest coup.

Agatha Christie wrote that book after one of her most supporting friend complained she should write a good old bloody murder, a story in which there is no doubt it is an assassination. Offended, she wrote that murder gruesome, made the victim despicable, and every character suspect, all in a quite gloomy atmosphere.

The story is one of my favourite sort, a huis-clos, and there is nothing very Christmassy about it. Four brothers, three wives, two strangers, and two servants are reunited for Christmas after many years in the family’s mansion. Out of the four brothers, one is weak, one is greedy, one is a fool, one is sensitive, and they all hate and resent each other. The guests grow even more suspicious as the wives are portraited as strong women, and two strangers (a new found niece and an old friend), join the celebration.

The victim is absolutely despicable: the father, an old maleficent mischievious man who made fortune in the diamond industry in Africa, under sketchy circumstances. His motive to gather his familly for Christmas is solely to create chaos and trigger old traumas for his own entertainment.

The murder is terribly bloody, as we find the old man with a cut throat, blood splashed everywhere, on Christmas Eve, while one of the brother was playing la Marche Funebre on a piano.

This book gave me goosebumps. The characters are all terribly suspects, some allegedly seeing ghosts and having hallucinations.

The story ends on a clever plot twist, for which I must tell you, go read that book, you will be surprised who killed the victim. And if while reading you have a hunch you’ve figured it out: you don’t.

Chapter 26