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Death in the Clouds is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1935 under the title of Death in the Air and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the July of the same year under Christie's original title. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence. The book features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and Chief Inspector Japp. Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), mainly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ...
For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ...
A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ...
Frank Howard Dodd, (1844-1916), was the leading publisher at Dodd, Mead and Company of New York City from 1870 until his death, January 16, 1916. ...
See also: 1934 in literature, other events of 1935, 1936 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
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Three Act Tragedy (published in 1934), is a murder mystery novel by Agatha Christie. ...
The A.B.C. Murders is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in January 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. ...
Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centers upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ...
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), mainly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ...
Frank Howard Dodd, (1844-1916), was the leading publisher at Dodd, Mead and Company of New York City from 1870 until his death, January 16, 1916. ...
See also: 1934 in literature, other events of 1935, 1936 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
The Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 1930 to April 1994. ...
The shilling was a British coin first issued in 1548 for Henry VIII, although arguably the testoon issued about 1487 for Henry VII was the first shilling. ...
Obverses of the 1787 and 1818 sixpence depicting George III. The sixpence, known colloquially as the tanner, was a British pre-decimal coin, worth, as the name indicates, six pence. ...
Gumshoe redirects here. ...
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot in The Dream Hercule Poirot (pronounced in english ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. ...
The fictional character Chief Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard appears in many of Agatha Christies novels and stories about Hercule Poirot. ...
Plot introduction
In the book, Poirot is a passenger on board a flight from Paris to Croydon. Some time before landing, one of the passengers, Madame Giselle — a moneylender — is found dead. Initially, a reaction to a wasp sting is postulated, but Poirot spies the true cause of death: a poison-tipped dart, apparently fired from a blowpipe. It becomes apparent that the victim has been murdered. This article is about the capital of France. ...
The control tower of Croydon Airport in 1939, with the BOAC de Havilland DH 91 Albatross Fortuna alongside Croydon Airport was an airport in South London which straddled the boundary of what are now the London Borough of Croydon and the London Borough of Sutton. ...
Moneylending is a trade in which money is lent to individuals and corporations. ...
For other uses, see Wasp (disambiguation). ...
A blowgun or blowpipe is a simple weapon consisting of a small tube for firing light projectiles, or darts. ...
Plot summary Frustrated with the evident artificiality of the blowpipe: an item that could hardly have been used without being seen by another passenger, Poirot suggests that the means of delivering the dart may have been something else. Is it the flute of one passenger, or perhaps one of the ancient tubes carried by one of the two French archaeologists on board?
Poirot's focus is upon a wasp that has been seen in the compartment and which provided evidence for the original theory of the cause of death. Without explaining himself, he asks for a detailed list of the items in the possession of the passengers, and finds an incriminating clue: Norman Gale, a dentist who has seemingly never been in the area of the plane where the victim was killed, and has no apparent motive for committing the murder, had an empty matchbox and a lighter. He appears to be the killer, but how can he have committed the murder, when he was apparently in conversation with Jane Grey (the novel's effective heroine) throughout the flight? And why would he have committed the crime? And why were there two coffee-spoons in the victim's saucer?
Madame Giselle is suspected of using blackmail to ensure that her clients pay up, so any one of the passengers could either have owed her money or feared exposure. Equally, Madame Giselle had an estranged daughter who inherits her considerable estate: could one of the female passengers be this heiress? Much of the novel focuses on the pursuit of this line of enquiry, with the passengers coming under suspicion in turn. Special attention is given to Mr. Clancy, a detective novelist who enables Christie to include the same sort of parodies of her craft achieved in other novels through the character of Ariadne Oliver. Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. ...
The only other suspect who proves of material significance is, however, the Countess of Horbury, whose maid has been called into the compartment during the flight where she would have had the perfect opportunity to commit the crime. When this maid is revealed to be none other than the victim's heir, Anne Morisot, it seems that she must be the murderess. But the maid was only on the flight by accident, having been asked to be there at the last moment. Moreover, the death of Anne Morisot from poison on the boat-train to Bologne leaves no clear suspect.
Poirot reveals in the denouement that Norman Gale is none other than Anne's new husband, and that his plans - almost certainly including the eventual murder of Anne herself - have been laid well in advance. He brought his dentist's jacket on board and - in the apparently innocuous moments that he has gone to the toilet - changed into this jacket in order to pose as a steward. Under the pretence of delivering a coffee-spoon to Miss Giselle he has walked up the aisle and stabbed her with the poisoned thorn. As Poirot puts it: "No one notices a steward particularly." Gale's intention had been to frame the Countess, and the blowpipe that is found behind Poirot's seat would have been found behind hers had they not switched seats at the last moment.
Not content with solving the mystery, Poirot makes a romantic match by pairing off Jane Grey with the younger of the archaeologists.
Literary significance and reception The Times Literary Supplement of July 4, 1935 summarised thus: "Any of the other nine passengers and two stewards could be suspected. And all of them were, including Clancy, the writer of detective stories, whom the author evidently enjoys making absurd. It will be a very acute reader who does not receive a complete surprise at the end." The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation. ...
Allusions in other works In Chapter 12 of a later Poirot novel, Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952), Christie's alter ego, Ariadne Oliver, refers to a novel of hers in which she made a blowpipe one foot long only to be told later that they were six feet long. This was an admission of a fundamental error in the plot of Death in the Clouds. Mrs. ...
Alter Ego has multiple meanings: Alter Ego is a game for the Commodore 64 computer. ...
Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. ...
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations An adaptation for television starring David Suchet was broadcast in 1992 as part of the series Agatha Christie's Poirot. The screenplay followed the book closely except that in the adaptation there was only one archeologist and in the end Poirot does not match Jane with him as mentioned in the novel. David Suchet OBE (born May 2, 1946) is an English actor best known for his television portrayal of Agatha Christies Hercule Poirot in the television series Agatha Christies Poirot. ...
Agatha Christies Poirot (U.S. title Poirot) is a popular British television series starring David Suchet as Agatha Christies detective character Hercule Poirot. ...
Publication history
 Dustjacket illustration of the UK First Edition (Book was first published in the US) - 1935, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1935, Hardback, 304 pp
- 1935, Collins Crime Club (London), July 1935, Hardback, 256 pp
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
External link - wiki collection of quotations from Death in the Clouds
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