One, Two, Buckle My Shoe is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in November 1940 and in US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1941 under the title of The Patriotic Murders. A paperback editon in the US by Dell books in 1953 changed the title again to An Overdose of Death. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence. It is one of several of Christie's crime fiction novels to feature both the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and Chief Inspector Japp. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... 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. ... The Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 1930 to April 1994. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... See also: 1939 in literature, other events of 1940, 1941 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... See also: 1940 in literature, other events of 1941, 1942 in literature, list of years in literature. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... Sad Cypress (published in 1940) is a crime novel, written by Agatha Christie, featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. ... Maggie Smith Evil Under the Sun (published in 1941) is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie, and a 1982 film based upon the novel. ... 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. ... The Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 1930 to April 1994. ... Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... See also: 1939 in literature, other events of 1940, 1941 in literature, list of years in literature. ... 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. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 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. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with mystery_fiction. ... 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. ...

The book's title is derived from a well-known children's nursery rhyme, and the chapters each correspond to a line from the nursery rhyme. Other Agatha Christie books also share this naming convention, such as Hickory Dickory Dock, which is derived from the same poem. A nursery rhyme is a traditional song or poem taught to young children, originally in the nursery. ... Hickety Dickety Dock, illustrated by William Wallace Denslow, from a 1901 Mother Goose collection Hickety Dickety Dock, illustrated by Denslow Hickory Dickory Dock is a childrens nursery rhyme, also sometimes called Hickety Dickety Dock Hickory Dickory Dock The mouse ran up the clock The clock struck one The mouse...

Plot introduction

When Hercule Poirot’s own dentist, Henry Morley, is found dead from a gun shot wound, the official verdict is that he has killed himself; a verdict apparently supported when it appears that he has given one of his patients a fatal overdose of anaesthetic. Poirot suspects, however, that there is more to the case than there first appears, and soon events confirm his worst suspicions. Anesthesia (AE), also anaesthesia (BE), is the process of blocking the perception of pain and other sensations. ...

Plot summary

Leaving the dentist’s practice after an appointment, Poirot happens to notice the arrival of Mabelle Sainsbury Seale and returns to her the shiny buckle that has fallen from her shoe. Later, he hears from Japp that Morley has died of a gun shot. Between Poirot’s appointment and Morley’s death there were only three patients: Banker Alistair Blunt, Mabelle, and a Greek blackmailer named Amberiotis. The presence of a man thought essential to the country’s economic survival (Blunt) ensures Japp’s involvement in the case; when Amberiotis turns up dead from an overdose of anaesthetic, it is thought that the dentist has killed himself after realising the accident for which he had been responsible. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Blackmail (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Name (disambiguation). ...

Movements at the dental surgery are inconclusive. Morley’s partner, Reilly, is a rogue but seems to have no motive. Morley’s secretary had been called away by a fake telegram. Her boyfriend, Frank Carter, had a weak motive given that Morley had attempted to dissuade her from seeing him. Also present at the surgery was Howard Raikes, a prickly left-wing activist violently opposed to Blunt but enamoured of his niece. There is too little evidence for Poirot to construct an alternative hypothesis, but he senses that the story is not complete.

When Mabelle goes missing, his fears are realised. A search for her is conducted, and some time later her body is apparently found in a sealed chest in the apartment of Mrs. Albert Chapman, who has herself disappeared. The corpse’s face has been smashed in, and Poirot notices its dull buckled shoes. He is skeptical of the theory that Mrs. Chapman has killed Mabelle and fled. Sure enough, once the dental records are produced by Morley’s successor at the surgery, it is discovered that the corpse is Mrs. Chapman’s. The hunt for Mabelle continues. Fear is an emotional response to impending danger, that is tied to anxiety. ... With regard to living things, a body is the integral physical material of an individual. ... For other uses, see Face (disambiguation). ...

Poirot is now drawn into the life of the Blunt family. An attempt is made on Alistair’s life at which Raikes is a bystander. Poirot is invited down to Alistair’s house, where he is persuaded to undertake a search for Mabelle. While he is there, a second attempt is made on Alistair’s life, but it is seemingly thwarted by Raikes. The pistol used in the attack is found in the hand of none other than Frank Carter, who has taken a job as gardener at the house under a false identity. When a maid at the surgery admits to having seen Carter on the stairs going up to Morley’s office, it seems that Carter is likely to be tried and convicted of both the murder and the attempted murder. The fact that the gun with which he was captured was the twin of the murder weapon only makes things worse for him. For other uses, see Life (disambiguation). ... A Browning 9 millimeter Hi-Power Ordnance pistol of the French Navy, 19th century, using a Percussion cap mechanism Derringers were small and easily hidden. ...

In the climax of the novel – one of the darkest in the Poirot series – Poirot realises that by allowing Carter to persist in his lies he can ensure that the real killer goes free, and wrestles with his conscience. Eventually he presses Carter to admit the truth: that when he entered Morley’s office the dentist was already dead. It is the final element in the puzzle. Look up Climax in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... François Chifflart (1825-1901), La Conscience (daprès Victor Hugo) Conscience is an ability or faculty or sense that leads to feelings of remorse when we do things that go against our moral values, or which informs our moral judgment before performing such an action. ...

Poirot visits Alistair Blunt and explains the murders. The real Mabelle Sainsbury Seale had known him and his first wife, Gerda, whom he had never divorced, in India. Running into him in the street, she had recognised and spoken to him in front of his niece, but had not realised whom he had become. By chance she had mentioned this chance encounter to the blackmailer, Amberiotis, who made the connection between the name Blunt and the wealthy banker. He began to blackmail Blunt.

Gerda, posing under several aliases including that of Mrs. Albert Chapman, invited Mabelle to visit her, killed her, and took her identity, but had to buy new shoes because Mabelle’s did not fit her. This is why the corpse’s buckles were dull, while the buckle of the woman whom Poirot met going into Morley's surgery were shiny: the fake Mabelle had newer shoes than the real one, who was by that time decomposing in the chest. The woman in the trunk could hardly have worn through a new pair of shoes in a single day. Ironically, the face of the corpse had been disfigured not because it wasn’t Mabelle, but because it was.

Alistair went to his appointment, shot Morley and stashed his body in the side office with his wife’s help. Having appeared to leave the surgery, he returned and changed the dental records of Mrs. Albert Chapman and Mabelle in order to ensure that the corpse would be identified as Mrs. Chapman: a woman who did not in reality exist. At the end of Mabelle’s appointment, Gerda left, while Alistair dressed as a dentist in order to administer the overdose to his next patient, Amberiotis. Poirot’s involvement had forced Alistair to compound the lies with talk of assassins and spies as the detective had relentlessly tracked the truth. Jack Ruby murdered the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ...

At the novel’s bleak conclusion, Poirot is forced to admit that Alistair does indeed stand in public life “for all the things that to my mind are important. For sanity and balance and stability and honest dealing”. Nevertheless, he adds: “I am not concerned with the fate of nations, Monsieur. I am concerned with the lives of private individuals who have the right not to have their lives taken from them.” He turns Alistair over to the police. Later, he confronts Alistair's niece and her fianceé Howard Raikes, telling them that they now have the "new heavens and... new Earth" desired by them. Sanity considered as a legal term denotes that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal responsibility for his or her actions. ... For meanings of the word balance, see: Look up balance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up fate, Fates in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Nation (disambiguation). ... Heavens is an independent rock band featuring Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio and Josiah Steinbrick. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ...

Characters in “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”

• Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective
• George, his valet
• Chief Inspector Japp, the investigating officer
• Henry Morley, a dentist
• Georgina Morley, his sister
• Reilly, a dentist
• Gladys Nevill, Morley’s secretary
• Alfred, the receptionist
• Martin Alistair Blunt, a dental patient and banker
• Julia Olivera, Alistair’s niece
• Jane Olivera, Alistair’s sister
• Amberiotis, a dental patient who died of an overdose
• Mr. Barnes, a dental patient and former member of the Home Office
• Mabelle Sainsbury Seale, a dental patient
• Howard Raikes, a dental patient
• Frank Carter, Gladys’s boyfriend

Major themes

This is the first of the Poirot novels to reflect the pervasive gloom of the Second World War, and is also one of Christie’s most overtly political novels. Frank Carter is a British fascist and a representative of one set of political forces threatening Britain. Howard Raikes (although his direct politics are never stated) represents the competing force of communism. Alistair Blunt’s credentials as a champion of conservative reaction are made obvious throughout the text. Nevertheless, given the choice between setting free a murderer and expediently allowing an unpleasant but innocent man go to the gallows, Poirot (with marked reluctance) saves Carter. The fact that throughout the novel Poirot has striven for the truth on behalf, principally, of an insignificant victim, a dentist, shows Christie’s sensitivity to the lives of ordinary people in time of war. Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ...

Continuity to other Christie works

In Part 7, iii, of the novel, Poirot recollects the jewel thief, Countess Vera Rossakoff. Rossakoff, the nearest that Poirot comes to a love interest, appeared as character in Chapter six of The Big Four (1927). Alternate meaning: The Big Four (novel) The Big Four were the chief entrepreneurs in the building of the Central Pacific Railroad, the western portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States. ...

In Part 8, ii, of the novel, mention is made by name of the Case of the Augean Stables. This had been first published in The Strand in March 1940 but would not be collected until 1947, in The Labours of Hercules. The Strand Magazine was a monthly fiction magazine founded by George Newnes. ... The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie. ...

Film, TV and theatrical adaptations

Adapted in 1992 with David Suchet as Poirot in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot. The adaption is very similar to the book but lacks certain characters such as Raikes. Blunt's niece therefore has not as great a role as in the novel. Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... 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. ...

External Links

• http://www.all-about-agatha-christie.com/one-two-buckle-my-shoe.html