Agatha Christie's Poirot

James Bentley is tried for the murder of Abigail McGinty, the charwoman of Broadhinney who also took in Bentley as her lodger. The evidence is overwhelming, and soon after he is sentenced to hang. But Superintendent Spence is not convinced of the man's guilt, and so he visits Poirot and asks him to look into the case for him. He gladly accepts the offer, saying that he has too much time for leisure.



After interviewing the jittery and uncertain Bentley, Poirot proceeds to go to Bentley's former employers, a real estate agency called Breather & Scuttle. There he meets the attractive Maude Williams, secretary to the agency and former co-worker of Bentley's who seems to be the only one (apart from Spence) who believes that the man is innocent.



Poirot then heads off to the village of Broadhinney, where he becomes the paying guest of Maureen and Major Johnnie Summerhayes. The state of Long Meadows, however, is far from what Poirot is used to - hens roam the kitchen, the rooms are dirty and cluttered, and Mrs. Summerhayes readies her beans while her dog eats from the bowl (much to Poirot's disgust). After announcing his intentions to investigate Mrs. McGinty's murder, Mrs. Summerhayes cuts her finger and bleeds on the beans - Poirot promptly decides not to take dinner.



As he furthers his investigation, he meets the other residents of the village: the shopkeeper Mrs. Sweetiman, who remembers selling ink to the murdered charwoman; McGinty's niece, Bessie Burch, and her unpleasant husband Joe; Shelagh Rendell, a neurotic woman who seems to be hiding something; Dr. Rendell, Shelagh's kindly husband; Eve Carpenter, a glamorous, vain beauty with little patience for foreigners, and Guy Carpenter, a soon to be MP who is the husband of Eve.



While strolling in the village, Poirot becomes the target of an apple core, thrown at him unintenionally by his old novelist friend, Ariadne Oliver. She has come to Broadhinney to help work on a stage adaptation of one of her novels with dramatist Robin Upward, who lives with his arthritic mother. When Mrs. Oliver mentions ink, Poirot begins to realize that he may be heading in a definite direction - sure enough, among Mrs. McGinty's belongings is an edition of The Sunday Comet newspaper, published three days before her death. Inside he finds that she had clipped out one article, which he later discovers deals with the histories of two women who had been connected with famous murder cases: Eva Kane, a woman who may have poisoned the wife of a doctor she fancied, and Lily Gamboll, who killed her aunt in a fit of rage with a meat chopper. With the story are two photographs of the women.



After interviewing the writer of the article, Pamela Horsefall, Poirot decides that Mrs. McGinty had seen one of the photographs before, and knew to whom it belonged to. But which woman was this case connected with? Are any of the people living in Broadhinney related to these women, as one of their children? Or perhaps one of them is one of the actual women? The puzzle pieces begin to fit in, especially after Poirot is shoved into the path of an oncoming train by an unknown entity. But will the murderer strike again?



This episode is fantastic - there is the usual dark tone that one has come to expect from the later episodes, as well as a soft focus feel, as if everything were a dream. Some may complain that the picture is too hazy at times, but I believe it adds to the artistic element of the story. The book is known for its comedic moments, and of course we are treated to them. The most fantastic ones are the ones with Ariadne Oliver and Robin Upward, constantly bickering about whether Mrs. Oliver's hero should be made younger in order to have a fling with a woman, or whether he should have his vegetarian image dropped altogether. Mrs. Oliver voices her views soundly, sounding like Agatha Christie complaining about creating Hercule Poirot (which is, I believe, what this scene was intended to look like in the book). The acting here is fantastic - not one character feels out of place. A few characters from the book have been dropped, but it's all for the better. Amanda Root, in particular, delivers a fantastic performance as Shelagh Rendell, which makes this a treat to watch. Zoë Wanamaker returns with panache as Ariadne Oliver, a character we were first introduced to in "Cards on the Table." She has a good amount of screen time, making every appearance she makes special. This episode quite possibly trumps the entire lineup of last season, with the exception of "After the Funeral." This one is far more engaging in terms of plot and acting than "The Mystery of the Blue Train," which opened last season (with disappointment, might I add). I hope this episode signals a fresh start to the series, as the number of books left to be adapted are slowly winding down. I am not afraid to say it - this episode, overall, is perhaps one of my favourite's this series has yet to offer. No one should miss it.