The vortex of death

This article is about Agatha Christie's detective novel. For the film version, see Der Todeswirbel (2006) .

The vortex of death (original title Taken at the Flood ) is the 38th detective novel by Agatha Christie . It was first published in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company under the title There Is a Tide in March 1948 and in the United Kingdom in November 1948 under its original title. In 1950 Scherz Verlag (Bern) published the German first edition in the translation by Renate Hertenstein, which is still used today.

It ascertains Hercule Poirot in his 23rd novel.

Literary references

The plot about the returning husband is based on Alfred Tennyson's famous verse epic Enoch Arden .

Both the original title and the American title go back to a verse from Shakespeare's drama Julius Caesar :

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
and we must take the current when it serves,
or lose our ventures.

The stream of human business changes;
If one perceives the flood, it leads to happiness;
If you miss it, the whole journey of
life has to wind its way through hardship and cliffs.
We are now afloat on such high seas
and must use it when the current lifts us;
If not, our floating assets are lost.

Translated by August Wilhelm von Schlegel

action

Lynn Marchmont, freshly demobilized from the Royal Navy, is struggling to reconnect with village life in Warmsley Vale. She is engaged to her cousin Rowley Cloade, one of the many Cloades family members who live in the village. All family members are dependent on regular payments from Gordon Cloade, an old bachelor. They expect his imminent death and extensive legacy. On a trip to America he suddenly marries Rosaleen Underhay, Robert Underhay's young and beautiful widow. Both return to London and are bombed. Gordon Cloade dies, his wife survives slightly injured. Due to the marriage, Cloade's will has become invalid, he has not drawn up a new one. Rosaleen is his sole heir. The lack of payments from Cloades and the economic crisis at the end of the war plunged all family members into a deep financial crisis. Rosaleen and her property are jealously guarded by her brother David. Nevertheless, almost all family members, including Lynn's mother Adela, manage to sneak small amounts of money from Rosaleen. David refuses to help Frances, whose husband Jeremy embezzled large sums of money and is on the verge of complete ruin.

The arrival of a man in the village who calls himself Enoch Arden changes the situation suddenly. Enoch Arden blackmailed David by claiming that Rosaleen's first husband was still alive and that he knew where he was. This would mean that Rosaleen's marriage to Cloade was void and inheritance would fall to the family. Only this conversation is overheard by the landlady of the inn Beatrice Lippincot, who immediately informs Rowley about it. Enoch Arden is later found murdered in his room.

Rowley asks Poirot to find out if Enoch Arden was Rosaleen's first husband. Poirot remembers his visit to a London club and asks Major Porter, who said he knew Underhay, to identify the body. Though Rosaleen claims otherwise, Porter insists that the dead person is Underhay.

Rosaleen obviously has a strong alibi for the time of the murder because she was in her London apartment that evening. David, on the other hand, has only a weak alibi: Coming from London for a day, he meets Lynn trying to catch the last train to London at 9:20 p.m. and calls her from the London apartment shortly after 11 p.m. Because it is known that the murder took place shortly before 9 p.m., he had enough opportunity and motive to be arrested as a murderer.

However, his alibi improves when it is discovered that a heavily made-up woman with an orange headscarf left Enoch Arden's room at 10 p.m. The investigation now extends back to the female members of the Cloade family.

The behavior of the suspects then becomes unpredictable. Lynn, engaged to Rowley, appears to have fallen in love with David. There is evidence that Rowley is drawn to Rosaleen, but she is eaten away by guilt. Major Porter appears to die by suicide, but does not leave a suicide note. After Porter's death, it is revealed that Arden was actually Charles Trenton, a great cousin of Frances Cloade. She had the idea to blackmail Rosaleen after hearing the stories of Major Porter from her husband. This clarifies the identity of Enoch Arden, but it is still not clear who murdered him and who caused Major Porter to misidentify the body.

Rosaleen is found poisoned. The investigating officer, Superintendent Spence, alleges that she may have been the killer; the police were so focused on David that they were never really suspected. Lynn goes to Rowley to tell him that she wants to break the engagement and that David will marry. Rowley reacts violently and tries to strangle Lynn. Poirot can stop him. David arrives and Poirot clears the case.

Rowley had visited Enoch Arden in his room and noticed the great resemblance to Frances. He reacted angrily at the game being played here. Arden, pushed by Rowley, stumbled and fell against the mantelpiece. He immediately saw an opportunity to blame David. He positioned the poker and left David's lighter. He later persuaded Porter to use the false identification. Porter was overcome by his guilt and killed himself, leaving a suicide note, which Rowley destroyed.

David discovered the dead body of Enoch Arden a short time later. He ran to catch the 9:20 pm train but missed it. Lynn saw the smoke of the departing train, but he persuaded her that he still had time. Then, returning to the deer, he disguised himself as a woman and acted out the scene that led to the belief that the murder occurred later. He returned to the station and asked Rosaleen to call Lynn. She called, but immediately hung up. David called from the train station saying he was interrupted and pretending to be in London. He didn't go back to London until the morning train.

So Rowley was involved in two murders: an accidental death and a real suicide. The only real murder was the death of Rosaleen. David had no obvious motive for killing his own sister, especially since her death robs him of the Cloades legacy.

But the woman we met as Rosaleen wasn't his sister at all. His sister and her husband were killed in the bombing. "Rosaleen" was an Irish maid of Gordon Cloade, became David's mistress and then his accomplice in the hunt for inheritance. Now he could kill his accomplice and marry Lynn, who loved him and also had her share of the inheritance.

So in the novel there are no less than three conspiracies: David / housemaid, Frances / Charles and Rowley / Porter. David will be brought to justice. Poirot uses one of his occasional legal refinements to prevent Rowley from being convicted. Instead, this one will marry Lynn, who had always loved him without even knowing it.

The main characters

• Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective
• Superintendent Spence, the investigating detective
• Sergeant Graves, Spence's assistant
• George, Poirot's servant
• Rosaleen Cloade, former Mrs. Robert Underhay, a wealthy young widow
• David Hunter, Rosaleen's brother
• Jeremy Cloade, a lawyer
• Frances Cloade, Jeremy's wife
• Lionel Cloade, a doctor
• Katherine Cloade, Lionel's wife
• Rowley Cloade, a farmer
• Lynn Marchmont, a former Royal Navy member and bride of Rowley
• Adela Marchmont, Lynn's mother
• Beatrice Lippincott, the landlady of the “Zum Hirschen” inn
• Major Porter, a pain in the ass from a London club
• Enoch Arden, a blackmailer
• Mrs. Leadbetter, a resident of the "Zum Hirschen" inn

Film adaptations

In 2006 the novel was filmed in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot . It is the 4th episode of the 10th season.

→ Main article : The vortex of death (2006)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
2. ↑ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club - A checklist of First Editions . Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
3. ^ German first edition in the catalog of the German National Library
4. ↑ Proof of the translator in the catalog of the Swiss National Library
5. ↑ ^{a b} Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in the Gutenberg project Original German translation