Description

Death in the clouds - Agatha Christie

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 (father and son) on board? Or maybe Lady Horbury's long cigarette holder? Why were there two coffee spoons in the victim's saucer?

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, but does not specify to which passenger the clue pertains, although he expresses considerable surprise. Madame Giselle is suspected of using blackmail to ensure her clients paid up, so any of the passengers could either have owed her money or feared exposure. Equally, Madame Giselle had an estranged daughter who will inherit her considerable estate: could one of the female passengers be this heiress? Much of the novel focuses on the pursuit of this line of inquiry, with the passengers all 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.

The only other suspect who proves of material significance is, however, the Countess of Horbury, a woman from the lower classes who married well. She was one of Madame Giselle's debtors and her wealthy husband has cut her off. The countess' 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 daughter and heir, Anne Morisot, it seems 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 Boulogne leaves no clear suspect.

Poirot reveals in the dénouement that dentist Norman Gale, heretofore seen as a sympathetic protagonist with a crush on the novel's ingenue heroine, Jane Grey, is none other than Anne's new husband. Gale's plans – almost certainly including the eventual murder of Anne herself – had been laid well in advance. Gale brought his dentist's jacket on board—the item which had made Poirot suspicious earlier when reviewing the passengers' list of onboard possessions. In the apparently innocuous moments when he apparently went to the water closet, he actually changed into this jacket to pose as a steward. Under the pretense of delivering a coffee spoon to Miss Giselle he had 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 found behind Poirot's seat would have been found behind hers had they not switched seats at the last moment. Poirot invites Mr Clancy to the dénouement where he gleefully allows the novelist to see how a real-life detective solves a case, to both men's great enjoyment. Finally, in a single stroke Poirot makes a romantic match by pairing off Jane Grey with the younger archaeologist, who has fallen in love with her.