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Dumb Witness (published in 1937) is an Agatha Christie mystery novel featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It is the last Poirot novel (other than Curtain: Poirot's Last Case) to be published that features Hastings as narrator. Image File history File links Dumb_Witness. ...
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), better known as Dame Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
now. ...
Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centres upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ...
Collins was a Scottish printing company founded by a schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819. ...
A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ...
Paperback may refer to a kind of book binding by which papers are simply folded without cloth or leather and bound - usually with glue rather than stitches or staples - into a thick paper cover; or to a book with this type of binding. ...
Death on the Nile is the title of two works by Agatha Christie. ...
Appointment with Death (published in 1938) is a crime novel written by Agatha Christie. ...
1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), better known as Dame Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ...
Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centres upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ...
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. ...
now. ...
Curtain is a novel by Agatha Christie, written in the 1930s but published posthumously in 1975. ...
Captain Arthur Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character, the partner and best friend of Agatha Christies Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. ...
It has been suggested that Third person limited omniscient be merged into this article or section. ...
Plot introduction
Emily Arundell - owner of a considerable personal fortune and surrounded by grasping young relatives - falls down a flight of stairs, an accident which everyone puts down to a ball left on the landing by her frisky pet terrier, Bob. When, soon afterwards, she dies of what seem to be natural causes, her estate is unexpectedly inherited by her companion, Miss Lawson. But the lives of everyone is about to become complicated when a letter written from the dead woman to Poirot arrives too late to save her, but in good time to put him on the trail of the attempted murder. A Scottish Terrier and a West Highland White Terrier The terrier is a group of dog breeds initially bred for hunting and killing vermin. ...
Plot summary Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about the murderer's identity follow.
Poirot begin by reconstructing the incident with the dog's ball, and is soon telling lies all around the village (much to Hastings's chagrin) in an effort to establish the likely suspects. He apparently agrees to help the Teresa and Charles Arundell to break the will, but in fact continues to regard everyone as suspects.
Miss Lawson drops a clue that eventually explains Emily Arundell's death. At a seance attended by the victim, she was seen to have a luminous halo issuing from her mouth. This, we discover at the end of the novel, is a symptom of phosphorous poisoning. Miss Arundell has been cleverly been poisoned in liver pills with the very toxin that will be disguised by her natural ill-health. It was a murder indeed. Phosphite is a polyatomic ion with the formula: PO33-. The archaic name for phosphite was phosphorous, not to be confused with phosphorus. ...
The nature of the murder suggests a doctor, but there are two such suspects: Dr. Donaldson and Dr. Tanios. When Bella Tanios - apparently terrified of him - flees her husband, strong suspicion is attached to him, while Hastings is still focusing on Donaldson.
A major clue to the mystery is the declaration by Miss Lawson that she has seen, as she thinks, Theresa Arundell, setting a trip wire at the top of the stairs: she recognises her by a brooch with her initials, "TA". Poirot, however, works out that she has seen this woman in a mirror, and the initials are none other than "AT": "Ara(Bella) Tanios". Bella had quite enough scientific knowledge to discover the phosphorous trick herself.
Poirot confronts Bella with the truth and enables her to take a discreet way out by means of the poison with which she had been planning to murder her husband in order to transfer any suspicion that might fall upon her.
Miss Lawson reveals that she has prevented Miss Arundell from destroying the version of the will that bequeathed her estate to her. This will had always been intended by the victim as a way of preventing the person she most suspected (Charles Arundell) from continuing with a plan to murder her. Ironically, both Teresa and Charles admit to having considered killing their aunt, but neither found the courage to do so.
Respecting the original will, Miss Lawson voluntarily shares the estate amongst all potential heirs. Hastings has to make do with a new pet: Bob.
Characters in "Dumb Witness" - Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective
Suspects - Theresa Arundell, the victim's niece
- Dr. Rex Donaldson, Theresa's fiancé
- Charles Arundell, the victim's nephew
- Bella Tanios, the victim's niece
- Dr. Jacob Tanios, Bella's husband
- Wilhelmina Lawson, the victim's companion and heiress
Spoilers end here.
Trivia In chapter 18 of the novel, Poirot gives a list of murderers that includes those from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Death in the Clouds. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (published in 1926) is a detective novel by Agatha Christie. ...
Death in the Clouds (1935) is a novel by Agatha Christie. ...
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations An adaptation appeared in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot featuring David Suchet in 1997. Agatha Christies Poirot (U.S. title Poirot) is a popular British television series starring David Suchet as Agatha Christies detective character Hercule Poirot. ...
1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
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