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After the funeral by Agatha Christie


                         Image Courtesy : Amazon



Richard Abernethie, a wealthy man, dies at home. All the relatives of Richard gather together to discuss the will during which, Richard’s sister, Cora says Richard is actually murdered. Cora is found dead the next day. Mr Entwhistle, the family solicitor, calls up Poirot and requests him to investigate both the murders. Poirot, as usual, using his little grey cells resolves the murderer.

A typical Christie - Poirot murder mystery would be like, a murder is committed and there are 4 to 5 primary suspects. Each suspect has a motive to commit the murder and each of them has something to hide from the investigators. At the end, Poirot dramatically  reveals the murderer (who generally is the least suspect) by gathering all the participants in a room. After the funeral follows the exact typical, tried and tested formula of Agatha. Christie’s love for dysfunctional family as a perfect scene for crime continues in this book as well (others include Appointment with Death, Pocket full of Rye, Ordeal by innocence etc). The characters of Susan Banks and Rosamund Shane are very well sketched.  When Poirot reveals the murderer at the end, one might think that how is that even possible? One is left wondering on whether a murder of this nature can happen in real life. I have consoled myself by saying that it is always a possibility in a fictional work.

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