Poirot settles the accounts

Poirot accounts (original title: Poirot investigates ) is a collection of crime stories by Agatha Christie . It first appeared on The Bodley Head in the United Kingdom in March 1924. At the suggestion of her editor Bruce Ingram, who was impressed by Poirot in The Missing Link in the Chain, Christie also wrote short stories from 1922 onwards. They were published as follows. In the eleven crime stories, the famous, eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a series of mysterious cases of jealousy, greed and revenge. The American version of this book was published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1925. It contains three other stories. The German first edition appeared in 1959 under the title Poirot accounts: Kriminalgeschichten. in the translation by Ralph von Stedman used to this day by Desch Verlag Munich, Vienna, Basel. Today the rights are with Scherz Verlag , which was taken over by Fischer Verlag in 2003 .

Hercule Poirot , Captain Arthur Hastings and the chief inspector Japp, already known from previous Poirot novels, investigate . The locations are London as well as changing locations in England , France and Egypt . The story The ingenious file theft takes place partly in the harbor of New York City .

The crime stories

The eyes of the deity

(Original title The Adventure of The Western Star )

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Poirot receives a visit from Miss Mary Marvell, a famous American film star who is currently in London. She has received three letters from a Chinese , in which she is asked to return her famous diamond - the Western Star - to where it came from - as the left eye of a Chinese statue of God, before the next full moon . She got the stone three years ago from her husband Gregory Rolf, who had bought it from a Chinese in San Francisco . The deity's right eye is owned by Lord and Lady Yardly. Mary Marvell and Gregory Rolf are invited to their country estate to discuss a film project to be shot at Yardly Castle. Despite the threats, Mary wants to wear her diamond. For purely professional reasons, both Poirot and Hastings read various gossip newspapers. You remember that Rolf and Lady Yardly were in a relationship until three years ago. After Mary Marvel leaves, Poirot goes out and Hastings receives a visit from Lady Yardly (she comes from The Missing Link on the recommendation of Mary Cavendish ). Hastings "concludes" that she too had received warning letters. Her husband is in debt and plans to sell her diamond. Poirot goes to Yardly Castle. After dinner, Lady Yardly wants to present her diamond. The lights go out, suddenly you hear a scream. Lady Yardly is in the hall. A Chinese attacked her and stole the diamond. The next day, Mary's diamond is also stolen from her London hotel.

Poirot makes his investigation and can finally help the Yardlys to get their diamond. He explains to Hastings that there have never been two diamonds or a Chinese - these are all Rolf's inventions. Three years ago, Rolf had an affair with Lady Yardly in the USA and then blackmailed her, whereupon she gave him the diamond, which he then gave his wife for the wedding. Lady Yardly had a copy made, which she has since presented. When her husband wanted to sell the stone, she turned to Rolf, who staged the exchange and the theft. With some emphasis Poirot can get Rolf to return the real diamond to Lady Yardly and leave her and her husband alone.

First publication in the UK

The Adventure of "The Western Star" : April 11, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine 1576 issue, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Adventure of The Western Star (under the title The Western Star ): February 1924 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 38, No. 4, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 2 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The tragedy of Marsdon Manor

(Original title The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor )

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Poirot is asked to investigate by a friend who is the director of Northern Union Insurance Company . It's about the death of a middle-aged man who died of internal bleeding just weeks after taking out fifty thousand pound life insurance .

It is said that the dead man, Mr. Maltravers, was in a difficult financial situation while he was alive. With the payment of his last money into the life insurance and a subsequent suicide , he wanted to secure the future of his beautiful young wife. Poirot and Hastings go to Marsdon Manor in Essex , where the dead man had been found on the premises, with a gun for hunting birds at his side. The first conversation with the widow turns out nothing special. Just as they are about to leave, a young man arrives, Captain Black. They learn from a gardener that he was in the house the night before death. Poirot also has a conversation with Captain Black that yields nothing new. Through word associations Poirot finds out that the captain knew someone in East Africa who had committed suicide with a bird gun. The captain told the same story at dinner , and Poirot notes that this gave Mrs. Maltravers the idea to kill her husband. She asked her husband to demonstrate suicide and when he had the gun in his mouth she pulled the trigger. The unsuspecting local doctor confirmed natural death. To get the widow to confess, Poirot hires an actor to play the late husband. She confesses, completely shocked.

First publication in the UK

The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor : April 18, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine 1577 issue, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor (under the title The Marsdon Manor Tragedy ): March 1924 - Blue Book Magazine, Volume 38, No. 5, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 3 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The mysterious apartment

(Original title The Adventure of the Cheap Flat )

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Hastings is visiting friends. The situation on the London housing market is discussed with some other friends. A young couple, the Robinsons, tell society that they have managed to rent an apartment in London's posh Knightsbridge for an incredibly low price. And that, although there have already been many applicants for this apartment.

The next day he tells about it to Poirot, who is immediately interested and starts his investigations. First they go to the house where the apartment is located. They learn from the doorman that the apartment has been rented to the Robinsons for six months, even though they said they had only just signed a contract. Poirot also rents an apartment in this house and with the help of the coal lift he gains access to the Robinsons' apartment. He also blocks the lock to the lift so that he can regain access at any time. Hastings learned from Poirot that Inspector Japp had informed him that the Italian Luigi Valdarno had come into possession of important American naval plans . Before he was killed in New York , however, he passed it on to the international spy Elsa Hardt and her accomplices. Elsa Hardt's description matches that of Mrs. Robinson.

At night Poirot and Hastings lie in wait in the empty apartment. They catch another Italian who had come to avenge the death of Luigi Valdarno. They manage to disarm him. Together they go to another house in London. Poirot found out that the two spies previously lived in Knightsbridge as Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. There she feared for her life and took the chance to go into hiding by renting the apartment to a real Robinson couple. They hoped the real Robinsons would be killed in their place.

Poirot and Hastings outsmart Elsa Hardt, she reveals the hiding place of the stolen plans and Japp arrests her and her accomplice. The Italian escapes.

First publication in the UK

The Adventure of the Cheap Flat : May 9, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine 1580 issue, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Adventure of the Cheap Flat : May 1924 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 39, No. 1, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 2 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The mystery of Hunter's Lodge

(Original title The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge )

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Poirot is in bed with the flu when he and Hastings receive a visit from a Mr. Roger Havering, the second son of Baron Windsor, who was married to an actress a few years ago. Mr. Havering stayed at his club in London the last evening and the following morning he received a telegram from his wife saying that his uncle, Harrington Pace, had been murdered the night before and that he should bring a detective with him. Since Poirot is indisposed, Hastings goes with Havering to the scene of the crime in Derbyshire .

Mr. Pace, a native American and the brother of Mr. Havering's mother, owns the secluded hunting lodge Hunter's Lodge on the Derbyshire moors . When Hastings and Havering arrive there, they meet Inspector Japp, who has taken over the investigation into this case.

When Havering goes out to answer questions, Hastings speaks to the housekeeper, Mrs. Middleton, who tells him that she opened the door last night to a black-bearded man who wanted to see Mr. Pace. She and Mrs. Havering were outside the hunting room where the two men were talking when the shot was fired. The door was locked, but they found an open window through which they entered the room. They found Mr. Pace dead - shot with one of the two revolvers that were always in a cabinet in the room. The used revolver and the black-bearded man are gone. Mrs. Middleton sends Mrs. Havering to Hastings, who asked to speak to her. She confirms the housekeeper’s story. Japp also confirms Havering's alibi by examining his train journeys and his stay at the London club. But soon a revolver is found in a package between the rails in Ealing , which must be the missing weapon.

Hastings cables all of this to Poirot, but Poirot is only interested in the clothes the two women wore. He also wants a description of both of them. When he received it, he wrote back: Mrs. Middleton is to be arrested. But it can go away before his instructions are carried out. In the investigation that follows, no trace of her can be found, either with the agency that allegedly brokered her or with her arrival in Derbyshire. When Hastings returned to London, Poirot gave him his theory: Mrs. Middleton never existed and was really Mrs. Zoe Havering in disguise, who was an actress before they were married. Nobody but the Haverings had ever seen the two women at the same time. Havering drove to London with one of the revolvers, where he got rid of it in Ealing after firing a shot. Mrs. Havering then shot the uncle with the other revolver. Japp is convinced of this theory but does not have enough evidence to support an arrest. The couple inherits their uncle's fortune - but justice soon catches up with them: They die in a plane crash.

First publication in the UK

The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge : May 16, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine 1581 issue, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge (titled The Hunter's Lodge Case ): June 1924 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 39, No. 2, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 3 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The nifty stock theft

(Original title The Million Dollar Bond Robbery )

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Poirot receives a visit from Miss Esmée Farquhar. She is the fiancée of Philip Ridgeway. She asks Poirot to prove her fiancé's innocence. Ridgeway is the nephew of Mr. Vavasour, the general manager of the London and Scottish Bank, whose shares worth millions have been stolen. Poirot meets Ridgeway at Cheshire Cheese , where Ridgeway acquaints him with the facts of the case: He was entrusted by his uncle and the bank's other general manager, a Mr. Shaw, with the task of sending a million dollars in Liberty Bonds to New York bring to expand the bank's credit line there. In Ridgeway's presence in London, the bonds were counted, wrapped in a package, sealed and then placed in a suitcase with a special lock. The package disappears a few hours before the Olympia (the ship Ridgeway travels on) docks in New York. The locks on the suitcase have been broken. The customs are alerted. The ship is searched, but nothing is found. The thief brings the bonds up for sale in New York so quickly that a trader swears he bought the bonds before the ship was docked. The two directors confirm Ridgeway's version of the story. Poirot travels to Southampton , where the Olympics have just returned from an Atlantic crossing . The stewards confirm that on the trip the cabin next to Ridgeway was occupied by an elderly gentleman with glasses who almost never left the cabin. Back in London, Poirot meets with Ridgeway and his fiancé to explain the case to them. The real bonds were never in the case. Instead, they were sent to New York on another faster ship, the Gigantic , where they arrived before the Olympics . The accomplice in New York had been instructed not to sell the bonds until after the Olympics had invested. However, he disregarded these instructions and put the bonds on sale half an hour before the ship's arrival. There was a fake package in the suitcase, which the man behind the crime exchanged for a duplicate key and then thrown overboard - and that was Mr. Shaw, who had claimed to have been ill during the two weeks of the incident.

Remarks

The names of the two ocean liners Olympia and Gigantic are an allusion to the famous passenger ships of the British Olympic class , which also included the RMS Titanic , which sank in 1912 . The RMS Olympic was still in operation when Christie wrote this crime story. Originally, the series of the three ships should be called the Gigantic class .

In the title as well as in the text of the German translation, there is often talk of shares, even though bonds were stolen.

First publication in the UK

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery : May 2, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine 1579 issue, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery (titled The Great Bond Robbery ): April 1924 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 38 No. 6, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 3 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The adventure of the Egyptian tomb

(Original title The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb )

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Poirot is consulted by Lady Willard, widow of the Egyptologist Sir John Willard. He was the archaeologist working on the excavation of the tomb of Pharaoh Men-her-Ra near the Pyramids of Giza, which was financially supported by the American Mr. Bleibner. After several death chambers were discovered, both men died within two weeks of one another - Sir John from a heart attack and Mr. Bleibner from blood poisoning . Mr. Bleibner's nephew, Rupert Bleibner, shot himself a few days after returning from the excavations in New York. The press was full of stories of an "Egyptian Curse". Lady Willard's son, Guy, has now traveled to Egypt to continue his father's work. Lady Willard now fears that he might be the next victim. To Hastings' surprise, Poirot announces that he also believes in the powers of superstition and that he will of course take over the investigation.

First he wired to New York for details about Rupert Bleibner. The young man was a kind of traveling preacher in the South Seas for a long time . Completely impoverished, he wanted to ask his uncle for money. He managed to borrow enough money from "a good friend" to travel to Egypt to see him . However, his uncle refused to give him any money, so he traveled back to New York and then shot himself, leaving a suicide note that made him feel leper and outcast.

Poirot and Hastings travel to Egypt and join the excavation team. You learn of another dead person from the team, Dr. Schneider, an American who died of tetanus . Poirot looks around the excavation site and seems to feel more and more that the forces of evil are at work. After a figure of Anubis appeared, he placed various protective symbols around the communal tent and referred to the Book of the Dead in his lecture on occult powers . After the Arab servant Hassan brought Poirot his cup of chamomile tea , Hastings, who was watching the desert night, heard Poirot go into shock in his tent after drinking the tea . He runs to meet the expedition doctor, Dr. To get Ames. However, this was a trick by Poirot to lure the doctor into his tent. But before Hastings can guard him, the doctor kills himself with a capsule of hydrogen cyanide .

Poirot explains that Rupert was his uncle's heir and the Doctor was Rupert's heir. But nobody knew about it. Sir John died of natural causes, but it was his death that began speculation about the curse of the tomb and the power of superstition. However, Poirot does not believe in the supernatural. It was clear that Rupert's “good friend” had to be in the camp. Because although Rupert Bleibner had not received any money in Egypt, he was able to return to New York. He and the doctor already knew each other from the South Seas, and that's where Rupert had made his will - a cigarette case and everything else he owned at the time should go to Doctor Ames. The doctor had already indicated in the South Seas that Rupert was sick with leprosy . He had believed him, even though he had only a simple rash . After the doctor murdered Rupert's uncle, Rupert believed that he too was cursed. He didn't mean the suicide note figuratively, as everyone thought, but actually believed he had leprosy.

Remarks

Christie is the first to deal with archeology in the Middle East with obvious expertise and, as so often, refers to current events of her time. In this case the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun , which she explicitly mentions at the beginning of the story, including the financier Lord Carnarvon . The story originated after the death of Lord Carnavon in 1923 following the curse of the Pharaoh .

This shows that she was interested in the subject even before she met her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan . After her marriage, she described the milieu of European archaeologists in the Middle East again, including murder in Mesopotamia . She knew Egypt, which is the place of action for the first time in Christie's work, from an extended stay there as a young girl with her mother. In Death on the Nile , Christie's lifelong treasured land is once again the setting - ancient Egypt at the time of the pharaohs then in Avenging Spirits .

Christie deals with alleged parapsychological phenomena several times in her novels, for example in The Secret of Sittaford . But she never leaves any doubt that she doesn't believe in it. With her, there is always a manipulative person with evil intentions behind such "mystical" incidents. That a place like this, in her opinion, can have a kind of bad aura, however, often shines through in her work, for example in Das Haus an der Düne and Lauter lovely old ladies .

First publication in the UK

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb : September 26, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine, issue 1600, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb (under the title The Egyptian Adventure ): August 1924 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 39, No. 4, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 5 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The jewel robbery in the Grand Hotel

(Original title The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan )

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Poirot and Hastings are staying at the Grand Metropolitan Hotel in Brighton , where they meet Mr. and Mrs. Opalsen. He is a wealthy stockbroker who made his fortune in the oil boom and his wife collects jewels from these proceeds. She offers Poirot to show him her famous pearls . She goes to get them from her room, but they have been stolen beforehand. Poirot is asked for help. There had only been two people in the hotel room since the pearls were last seen - Mrs. Opalsen's maid Celestine and the hotel maid. Celestine had orders not to leave the room while the maid was in it. Both girls are questioned and accuse each other. The hotel room has an adjoining room where Celestine sleeps and another locked door that leads to a second adjoining room. The girls were together the whole time, except for two brief moments of twelve and fifteen seconds when Celestine was pulling things out of her room - not enough time to open the closet and the box, to take the pearls out of their box, the Close box and put it back. Both are searched, but nothing is found. Then the rooms are examined and the missing pearls are found in Celestine's mattress. The matter seems settled. However, Poirot states that the pearls found are a fake. He asks again Mr. Opalsen's chambermaid and valet whether they have seen a small white card he found before. Both deny. Poirot rushes to London and the next day brings news to Hastings and the delighted Opalsens that the case has been resolved and the real pearls are back. The maid and valet were international jewel thieves - the card he'd given them had their fingerprints on it and he gave it to Japp to check. The servant was waiting on the other side of the locked door. The first time Celestine left the room she handed out the box, the second time he returned the empty box. Poirot found the two of them when he found traces of talcum (to dampen the noise of the drawer) on the drawer and in the next room. The pearls are found in the servant's room and returned to the now fortunate owners.

First publication in the UK

The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan (under the title The Curious Disappearance of the Opalsen Pearls ): March 14, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine issue 1572, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan (under the title Mrs. Opalsen's Pearls ): October 1923 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 37, No. 6, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 5 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The kidnapped prime minister

(Original title The Kidnapped Prime Minister )

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Towards the end of the First World War , Poirot and Hastings sit together and discuss the sensational news of the day - the assassination of the Prime Minister, David MacAdam. You will be interrupted by two key visitors: Lord Estair, Leader of the House of Commons and Bernard Dodge, a member of the War Cabinet. You want to get Poirot to help in a national crisis - the prime minister has been kidnapped. He was on his way to a secret peace conference to be held in Versailles the next day . He arrived in Boulogne-sur-Mer , where he wanted to change into his car. But that wasn't his official car, it was a replacement - his car was later found on a side street. The driver, an ADC , was gagged and handcuffed. While the two men were telling Poirot the details, they received a message through a special courier that this car had now been found - abandoned and in it the captain Daniels, the secretary of the prime minister, who was anesthetized and gagged with chloroform . His boss is still missing. Poirot wants to know all the details about the attack that took place earlier. He is told that the Prime Minister was driving back from Windsor Castle when Murphy drove down a side street, accompanied by Daniels and the chauffeur. Suddenly they were surrounded by masked men. Murphy stopped and one of the men shot the Prime Minister but only brushed his cheek. Murphy jumped out of the car and fled with the shooter. The Prime Minister stopped at a small country hospital, got a bandage and quickly made his way to London Charing Cross Station to catch the train to Dover . Murphy remains missing.

The Prime Minister's car is found outside a Soho restaurant frequented by German agents. Poirot is packing to go to France. He suspects both Daniels and Murphy, but wonders why such a melodramatic production with the masked men shooting was staged before the kidnapping. With various investigators investigating the case, including Chief Inspector Japp, Poirot crosses the canal. Now that he has arrived in Boulogne, he refuses to take part in the search. He just sits in his hotel room and thinks with his "little gray cells". He returns to the UK immediately after daybreak, where he begins a tour of the rural hospitals in West London in an official car. He calls the police to a house in Hampstead - there they can free both Murphy and the Prime Minister. The real criminal is Daniels, who kidnapped them both during the shooting. Substitutes had already set out on the trip to London, with the bandages on their faces ensuring that nobody noticed the exchange. Poirot's search in the hospitals had revealed that nowhere had the Prime Minister been cared for. Therefore, he realizes that the real Prime Minister has not left the country, which is why he is now investigating Daniels and Murphy more closely. Daniels is known to have a "sister" near Hampstead. In the house of this sister, who is actually called Bertha Ebenthal and is a German spy, Poirot finds Murphy and the Prime Minister. Now the real Prime Minister is traveling to the Versailles conference.

Remarks

The (fictional) British Prime Minister David MacAdam also appears in the 1923 crime story The Submarine Plans , which only appeared in book form in 1974. It is possible that the Prime Minister's name is a Celtic play on words from the real Prime Minister of the last days of World War I, David Lloyd George .

First publication in the UK

The Kidnapped Prime Minister : April 25, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine issue 1578, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Kidnapped Prime Minister (titled The Kidnapped Premier ): July 1924 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 39, No. 3, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 2 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The disappearance of Mr. Davenheim

(Original title The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim )

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Inspector Japp is having tea with Poirot and Hastings when the conversation turns to the current disappearance of the banker Mr. Davenheim from his large country estate 'The Cedars'. In his typical manner, Poirot brags that he could solve the case in a week without getting out of his chair. Japp holds it against it in a five-pound bet. The facts in this case are as follows: Davenheim came home from town on Saturday lunchtime. He was acting completely normal. In the late afternoon he went out to post a few letters. He said he was expecting a business visitor, Mr. Lowen, to wait in the study for his return. Mr. Davenheim never returned and no trace of him could be found on the property. The police were called on Sunday morning and on Monday it was discovered that the safe hidden in the study had been broken into and emptied - there was a lack of cash, a large number of bearer bonds and an extensive collection of jewelry. Although he was in the study, Lowen is not arrested, but observed. He was at the country estate to discuss some business in South America with Mr. Davenheim , for Mr. Davenheim had been in Buenos Aires last fall . Poirot is interested, on the one hand, in the fact that the house has a boat pond, which, Japp tells him, will be examined the next day, and, on the other, in the appearance of Mr. Davenheim: he has his hair long and one too bushy beard.
The next day, Japp returns with the news that Mr. Davenheim's clothes have been found in the boat pond and that Lowen has been arrested. An ordinary thief - called Billy Kellett, known to the police because he for a pickpocket spent three months behind bars - Lowen had seen on Saturday when he threw the ring Dave's home in the ditch. He picked it up, transferred it to London, and got drunk on the money. He has been arrested and is on remand . Poirot has only one question for Japp: do Mrs. and Mr. Davenheim sleep in the same bedroom? When the matter is investigated and the answer to Poirot is that it is no longer the case, Poirot solves the case and tells Hastings and Japp to withdraw their money from Davenheim's bank because it will collapse. The next day the foretold happens and Poirot reveals the truth. Davenheim knew about his bank's difficulties and was planning a new life for himself in the long term. Last fall, he did not go to South America, but instead committed the theft under the identity of Billy Kellett and went to jail for three months. As Kellett he appeared without a beard, as himself with a fake one. In a shared bedroom, his wife would have noticed. On Saturday he cleared out his own safe before Lowen (whom he had ordered) arrived at the house. When Mr. Davenheim "disappeared" he was already in police custody as Kellett and no one suspected him. Mrs. Davenheim identifies her husband and Japp pays Poirot the five pounds.

First publication in the UK

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim : March 28, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine 1574 issue, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim (under the title Mr Davenby Disappears - the name has been changed throughout history): December 1923 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 38, No. 2, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Hercule Poirot The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim was presented on April 1, 1962 at the General Electric Theater , an American television series sponsored by General Electrics and produced by Ronald Reagan . The episode, entitled Hercule Poirot, is a thirty minute television play directed by John Brahm. In this adaptation, Martin Gabel plays Poirot, his television debut for the role.

For the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson adapted as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon and filmed in Season 2. comment on this film: Unlike the book receives Poirot at the end of a parrot (parrot). This leads to one of the most famous dialogues in the series: "I've a Parrot here for Mr Poi-rot". - “It is Pronounced Poirot.” - “Oh sorry. I've a Poirot here for a Mr. Poi-rot. "

The adventure of the Italian nobleman

(Original title The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman )

action

Poirot and Hastings enjoy the company of a neighbor in their quarters, Dr. Hawker, when the doctor's housekeeper arrives with the news that she has received a call for help from patient Count Foscatini. Poirot and Hastings accompany the doctor as he storms to Foscatini's apartment in the elegant Regents Court apartment building. The lift boy noticed that Graves, Foscatini's servant, had left the house without saying anything was wrong. The apartment is locked, but the caretaker can open the door for you. In the dining room you will find a table set for three with the remains of a finished meal. The count is alone and dead - his head was smashed with a small marble statue.

First Poirot asks the cook. On the top floor of the building there is a kitchen where meals are prepared and where the dirty dishes go too. Poirot shows particular interest on the one hand in the fact that very little of the dessert was eaten and on the other hand in the fact that the count hung up the phone after his cry for help. The police arrive at the apartment with the servant Graves. He tells that Foscatini was first visited by two guests yesterday. Both were Italians; a man in his forties named Ascanio and a man about twenty-four. Graves had overheard the conversation and heard threats. The Count invited the two of them to dinner the next day and unexpectedly released Graves for the evening after he had served dinner and port .

Ascanio is quickly arrested. However, Poirot speaks of three interesting points: the coffee was very black, the dessert was relatively untouched, and the curtains were not drawn. The Italian ambassador gives Ascanio an alibi, which suggests the matter should be covered up. Ascanio denies knowing Foscatini. Poirot invites Ascanio to a conversation and forces him to admit that he knew Foscatini, that he was his blackmailer and that the morning appointment was used to give him the money he wanted from someone in Italy. The transaction was arranged by the Italian embassy and the young man was an embassy secretary. After Ascanio leaves, Poirot presents the solution to Hastings: Graves is the murderer. He overheard the transaction of the money and understood that Ascanio would not be able to admit his relationship with Foscatini. The dead man had no dinner guests. Graves killed him when he was alone, and ordered and ate meals until he lost his appetite over dessert. The coffee was served for three and was allegedly drunk, but Foscatini's brilliant white teeth showed that he could not have come into contact with such a substance. Ultimately, the open curtains showed that Graves must have left the apartment in the light and not at the time he stated. He had made the call from a phone booth. Poirot tells Japp about his theory, who has investigations carried out and Poirot is right.

First publication in the UK

The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman : October 24, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine issue 1604, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman (under the title The Italian Nobleman ): December 1924 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 40, No. 2, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 5 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The missing will

(Original title The Case of the Missing Will )

action

Poirot receives an unusual request for help from a Miss Violet Marsh. Orphaned at fourteen and since then lived in Devon in the large country house of her uncle Andrew, who had recently returned from Australia , where he had made his fortune. He has an old-fashioned take on women's education and was against it when his niece educated herself from books. Violet protested against him, and nine years ago she attended Girton College . Although their relationship was a bit strained, she maintained a friendly relationship with her uncle. Andrew Marsh died a month ago, leaving a will with an idiosyncratic clause. The will is dated March 25th, 11 am, and stipulates that his “clever” niece may live in his house for a year and should strain her mind during this time. After that, all of his fortune will go to charities and they will go with nothing. Poirot, like Miss Marsh, is convinced that either money or a second will is hidden in the house and promises to help with the search.

Poirot and Hastings travel to Devon, where they are received by Marsh's kind servants - Mr. and Mrs. Baker. They say that they testified and signed two wills because Marsh told them that a mistake had been made in the first; They say they don't know anything about the content of the documents. Immediately after signing, Marsh left the house to pay outstanding invoices from his suppliers. Poirot and Hastings look around and Poirot is delighted with the dead man's order and method - except for one aspect: the key to a roller-shutter desk is not as neatly labeled as all the other keys and is also in a dirty envelope. Poirot questions some workers and learns that they have built a secret compartment into a wall. But apart from a piece of paper taken from a will form, he finds nothing there. After a long search he declares himself defeated and wants to return to London when he suddenly remembers that Marsh was visiting the suppliers after signing the will. They run back to the house. Poirot rushes to the desk, takes the dirty envelope, unfolds it and holds it over the fire. A text appears that makes Violet the sole heiress - on March 25th at 12:30 p.m. - this time testified by Albert Pike, the confectioner and his wife, Jessie Pike. He also had the key inscribed by a dealer in town in order to create a trace. So Miss Marsh showed her outstanding spirit - she entrusted Poirot with the search.

First publication in the UK

The Case of the Missing Will : October 31, 1923 - The Sketch Magazine issue 1605, unillustrated.

First release in the United States

The Case of the Missing Will (under the title The Missing Will ): January 1925 - Blue Book Magazine Volume 40, No. 3, a small unsigned illustration.

Important later publications in collections

• March 1924, Poirot investigates , The Bodley Head (John Lane, United Kingdom)
• 1925, Poirot investigates , Dodd, Mead and Company (New York)
• 1959, Poirot accounts: crime stories , German first edition, translation by Ralph von Stedman, Desch Verlag, Munich, Vienna, Basel

Film adaptations

Adapted and filmed in season 5 for the English television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

The American version of the book

The American version of the book, published a year later, contains three other crime stories that were not published in the UK until 1974. The German translation is from 1986.

The box of chocolates

→ Main article : Poirot's first cases

Poirot goes stealing

→ Main article : Poirot's first cases

The lost mine

→ Main article : Poirot's first cases

Reviews

The reviewer in the Times Literary Supplement of April 3, 1924 begins very cautiously, but then writes more positively: “In the first of Poirot's adventures we find a famous diamond that was the eye of a god and a cryptic message that it was with its owner next full moon is taken because we feel very much of our good old friend the good old Moonstone remembers ( the Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is an English episodic novel , which generally considered the first detective novel is viewed in English). But we do not have the right to do so, because the story is quite original ”. The critic continues to describe Poirot as "a thoroughly pleasant and entertaining person".

The New York Times Book Review discussed the British edition in its April 20, 1924 edition and did not wait for the 1925 American edition to appear. The unknown critic likes the book but finds the stories clichéd and unoriginal and makes some comparisons with Sherlock Holmes . He begins: "Agatha Christie's hero ... is traditional, almost like a caricature , but his adventures are amusing and the problems he cleverly unravels are nicely knitted." He admits that some of Poirot's evidence could not be used criminally and concludes, “Miss Christie's new book, in one word, is easy to read. But it's disarmingly humble, and it will please a wide audience who enjoy reading crime stories because it makes crime socially acceptable. "

Collection of audio books

• 2008 Hercule Poirot accounts (6 CDs): only unabridged reading. Speaker: Martin Maria Schwarz. Director: Hans Eckardt: Publishing house and studio for audio book productions in Marburg

Publication of the collection

The preparation of the book marks the ultimate low point in the relationship between Christie and publisher John Lane. Christie has come to realize that the six book deal she signed with John Lane is unfair. Having signed the contract early in her career, Lane could not only determine what went into the collection, but also when each book should appear. Also the title: She didn't like Monsieur Poirot's gray cells . She prevailed both in terms of the title and in that the book was included in her six-book contract, even though the stories had previously appeared in Sketch Magazine. That argument even went to court - Christie won.

dedication

This is Agatha Christie's first book without a dedication. Since she usually dedicated her books to people close to her (including her dog), the lack of dedication can only be explained by the above-mentioned rift with her publisher - and by the fact that the published book meant nothing to her personally.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The English Catalog of Books . Vol XI (A-L: January 1921 - December 1925). Kraus Reprint Corporation, Millwood, New York, 1979 (page 310)
2. ↑ Agatha Christie: An Autobiography. Collins, 1977, ISBN 0-00-216012-9 , pp. 281-282.
3. ^ Holdings at the British Library (Newspapers - Colindale). Shelfmark: NPL LON LD52
4. ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
5. ^ Cooper, Pyke: Detective Fiction - the collector's guide: Second Edition. Scholar Press, 1994, ISBN 0-85967-991-8 , p. 87.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} http://d-nb.info/450783669
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Holdings at the British Library (St. Pancras). Shelfmark: PP6264.iba
8. ↑ The Times Literary Supplement April 3, 1924, pp. 209-210.
9. ^ The New York Times Book Review April 20, 1924, p. 25.
10. ↑ DNB 987103709
11. ↑ Janet Morgan: Agatha Christie, A Biography. Collins, 1984, ISBN 0-00-216330-6 , pp. 108, 111.