Sir Claude, a famous scientist, requests Hercule Poirot's help to protect the formula of a new explosive he discovered and deliver the same to a office in :London. Claude suspects that one of the inmate of his own house is involved in the mischief. Poirot agrees to help Claude and reaches his house only to find him dead. Now, Poirot is determined to find the truth behind the mysterious death.
The setting of the novel is similar to Christie's other novels like Murder on the links, certain pieces of ABC's of murders, Dumb Witness (though the letter never reached Poirot in the latter case ) etc where Poirot was invited to solve a case and the invitee is dead before he could arrive.
If you are a fan of Poirot and Hastings conversations, you will be disappointed as they have very little conversations in the course of the book. I was left wondering why Hastings was even needed for this plot. This book is one of those rare occurrences where Poirot admits that he misses Hastings in the investigations. One of the regulars in Poirot's novel , Inspector Japp makes a cameo appearance at the end. I loved the characterisations of Lucy and her husband Richard, both of whom love each other unconditionally and confesses to inspector Japp they killed Dr Clause to save the other.
In short, a typical Agatha Christie mystery where there are multiple suspects to a crime and Poirot successfully finds the murderer. All credit to Charles Osborne for successfully adapting the stage play to a novel. It's under 200 pages and you should be able to complete in less than 2 hrs.
Go for it with a black coffee.
Go for it with a black coffee.
My rating : 3/5.
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