Putting my little grey cells to work, fuelled by tea and chocolates!

Fresh and confident (read: cocky) from my recent victory over the Queen of Crime, I decided I was in the mood to tackle yet another Agatha Christie mystery. This time, I went for the Hercule Poirot classic Five Little Pigs. I remember having read this years ago, and absolutely loving it, but fortunately, it’s been so long since I last read it (this copy was purchased in 2007, and my Goodreads rating is dated 2012) that I no longer remembered whodunnit.

Five Little Pigs is a Rashomon-style mystery. A young woman, Carla, asks Poirot for help: 16 years ago, her father, artist Amyas Crale, was killed by poison, and her mother Caroline was convicted for the crime. Caroline was the one who served Amyas the beer that killed him; traces of coniine were found in his glass, and a bottle of coniine was later found in Caroline’s drawer.

Caroline’s defence was that Amyas must have taken the coniine himself, but everyone who knew Amyas felt he was too in love with life to die by suicide. Worse, despite her lawyer’s best efforts, Caroline herself barely put up a fight in the courtroom, and she was quickly found guity. She died in prison a year later, leaving behind a note to her daughter that she’s innocent. Now engaged to be married, Carla wants Poirot to find out what really happened, so she can go to the next stage of her life with a clear mind.

This is such a perfect case for the Belgian detective! Unlike similar detective superstar Sherlock Holmes, Poirot doesn’t rely so much on forensics or physical clues, but rather on the psychology of the people involved. And for a crime that occurred 16 years ago, all physical evidence is gone, and there is only the psychology to rely on. (Side note: I realized I bought my copy of this book in 2007, which is coincidentally also 16 years ago, so I felt a nice little frisson of rightness in my quest to solve this alongside Poirot.)

The clues lie with five people on the estate the day Amyas was killed:

• Philip Blake – Amyas’ long-time friend, now a successful stockbroker
• Meredith Blake – Philip’s older brother, a country squire and a chemist who held a torch for Caroline. The coniine that killed Amyas came from his laboratory.
• Elsa Greer – a beautiful 20-year-old woman whose portrait Amyas was painting. It’s widely known that she’s having an affair with Amyas, and that Amyas planned to leave Caroline for her. Caroline was overheard telling Amyas she’d rather kill him than let him marry Elsa.
• Angela Warren – Caroline’s 15-year-old half-sister. She has a scar on her face from a childhood accident caused by Caroline, and has been spoiled by her older sister since. She and Amyas fought over Amyas’ plan to send her to boarding school.
• Cecilia Williams – Angela’s governess, a serious middle-aged woman with strong feminist beliefs and a deep disdain for Amyas’ relationship with Elsa.

Poirot goes to each of the five in turn, and gets five slightly differing accounts of what happened on the day Amyas died. Who’s telling the truth? Who’s lying? And who gave Amyas the poison that killed him? I have my theory, and we’ll see how I do!

Did I Solve the Case? (No Spoilers)

Boo-freaking-YES!!! I guessed it! AND I picked up on a couple of key clues that pointed to the answer. And so, this makes 2 wins, and (ahem) I forget how many losses… 🙂

***SPOILERS BELOW***

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It feels like forever since I’ve attempted to match my little grey cells with those of the brilliant Queen of Mystery! I was in the mood for a bit of a treat this Friday — I’d taken the day off work to make it an extra long Canada Day long weekend — and what better treat than a brand new Christie adventure?! I bought the Hercule Poirot classic Peril at End House a few months ago and haven’t had a chance to read it yet, so, armed with my trusty purple pen and dubious art skills, I made myself a cup of coffee and set to work.

In this mystery, Hercule Poirot and his trusty sidekick Captain Hastings are on holiday when they meet a vivacious young woman, Nick Buckley, who owns the nearby End House. Nick has had a streak of bad luck, with three near-fatal ‘accidents’ over the past few days, and while chatting with Poirot and Hastings, what she thought was a pesky wasp turns out to be a bullet shot through her hat. Poirot decides to help her out, and catch the would-be murderer before Nick gets killed.

I just paused my reading at the end of Chapter 18. Poirot has figured it all out, and is about to put on a play a la Hamlet, and for once I’m feeling really confident that I’ve actually figured this one out. More exciting: if I’m right, I will have figured it out even before the world’s greatest detective himself, as I’d had this major gut feel theory fairly early on, and while Poirot was pursuing several leads, all the little twists seemed to fit into the theory I’d formed.

Of course, that likely means my theory is completely off-base, and I’d missed some valuable clue somewhere amongst the pages. Still, this is turning out to be such a fun mystery! There’s a full cast of colourful characters, an atmospheric location in End House, and lots of fun twists along the way. So, as per usual, I’ll post my guess below the spoiler tag, and will only note up here whether or not I’ve succeeded.

Did I Succeed? (No Spoilers)

YES I DID!!!! I figured out the murderer even before the great Hercule Poirot did! I got their motive, their method, and even one of the (several) valuable clues!

WOOHOO!!! I finally solve an Agatha Christie mystery!

Now, which Christie should I read next?

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

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