A Series of Unfortunate Events: Taken at the Flood | 1948

(image from here)

"The unexpected has happened, eh?"

"On the contrary," Poirot corrected him. "It is the expected that has happened — which in itself is sufficiently remarkable." -Taken at the Flood, p. 170

The Sum of It:
This week's first read, Taken at the Flood (also called There is a Tide) begins with Hercule Poirot spending an air raid in The Coronation Club listening to a story. A Major Porter, described as the club bore, is droning on about some rich-family drama and Poirot, trying to distract himself from the understandably frightening air raid, can't help but listen in. Major Porter is telling the story of the Family Cloade, and how the wealthiest Cloade, Gordon, had been suddenly killed when his London home was bombed. Just before his death, Gordon had married a young, beautiful widow named Rosaleen and, without having made a new will after his marriage, the entirety of Gordon's vast fortune had gone to her upon his death…much to the chagrin of the rest of his family. But Major Porter's story doesn't end there. He goes on to speculate on the actual dead-ness of Rosaleen's first husband, one Robert Underhay, with whom Major Porter was acquainted. Perhaps Underhay didn't actual die in Africa as originally reported, Major Porter hypothesizes.

It is not until two years later that Poirot has need of the details of this story. The war has ended and the Family Cloade are collectively rather strapped for cash. Back when Gordon was alive, the family wanted for nothing. The genuinely generous Gordon encouraged his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews to live life as they wished, send him their bills, and made no secret that he planned to leave all of them very well-off after his death. But now the Widow Rosaleen controls his millions, and Rosaleen's brother, David Hunter, controls Rosaleen. The Cloades, understandably, would really benefit from Major Porter's air raid tale to hold some truth. And lo and behold, one day a mysterious stranger comes into town, attempts to blackmail David Hunter about the whereabouts of Rosaleen's first husband, and then is found murdered in his hotel room. Poirot is called to the scene and his memory of The Coronation Club story is finally useful. But something doesn't sit well with Poirot. Everything seems to have fallen into place a little too easily. To Poirot, the solution makes more sense if just about everything is not what it seems…

The YOA Treatment:
While this story is not my absolute favorite Poirot novel, there are some elements that I do appreciate about Taken at the Flood. Most interestingly, we get a look into British life post-World War II. The fact that relationships are strained, family members have been killed, taxes are high, and money isn't as plentiful as it once was all play a part in not only acknowledging the real world of many of Agatha's readers at the time of this novel's publication, but also the mystery itself. Even Poirot himself has been changed a bit by the war. He is, of course, still his ever-confident self, but is willing to show some moments of vulnerability. For example, he talks about how he was frightened during aid raids. He says "I am sitting very sick in my stomach (for I did not like air raids, and I am not very brave though I endeavor to put up the good appearance)."

We know from her autobiography that Agatha herself lived through some pretty scary times during the bombings on London, even losing part of her home at one point. Though in typical Christie style she kept calm and carried on, she chose to write two books at once (The Body in the Library and N or M?) to keep herself distracted from the constant bombs and sirens. Her real home, Greenway, was even requisitioned in the war effort due to its coastal location. This story shows that Agatha, though she wasn't a sentimental type of person, appreciated what her countrymen had been through. I admire Agatha for staying true to her readers by keeping her characters in a world to which they could relate.

-A.