Hastings is staying with the Inglethornes and finds Emily Inglethorne murdered. With the whole household under suspicion, Hastings sends for his old friend Hercule Poirot.
Evie Howard: May I ask what this is about? Japp: You may ask, ma'am. If you get any reply, you might let me know.
Poirot: (walking in English countryside) Have you ever been to New York, Hastings? It is a beautiful city. There each street is at right angles to each avenue and each avenue is numbered nicely, first, second, third, fourth. Man is in command there, but here, how does one live with the fact that nature is untidy, uncontrolled, anarchic, inefficent?
Poirot: We must be even more intelligent. We must be so intelliegent that he does not suspect us of being intelligent at all. Hastings: Absolutely! Poirot: And there you will be invaluable, mon ami. Come.
This episode is based on Agatha Christie's first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. This was written in 1916, during the first world war, though not published until 1920. During the war, the young Agatha was working in a hospital dispensary at Torquay, and the theft of some arsenic started her mind turning. However, the book was not published until four years later, after no fewer than six London publishing houses had turned it down flat. In the meantime, the Great War had ended and Agatha's only child, Rosalind, had been born.
S 12 : Ep 3
Aired 12/25/10 (1:29:00)
S 11 : Ep 4
Aired 12/25/09 (1:34:00)
S 11 : Ep 3
Aired 9/28/08 (1:34:00)
S 11 : Ep 2
Aired 9/21/08
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