Memory Lane: Elephants Can Remember | 1972

(image from here)

"So I thought that what we've really got to do is to get at the people who are like elephants. Because elephants, so they say, don't forget." -Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, Elephants Can Remember, p. 31

The Sum of It:
Elephants Can Remember reunites two of our favorite sleuth besties: Poirot and Mrs. Ariadne Oliver. Mrs. Oliver is paying her famous author dues and attending a literary luncheon with the masses. She has some initial fun chatting with other writers and eating salad and whatnot, but then it gets to the point in the event where everyone gets coffee and is expected to mingle and she is pounced upon by a rather detestable fan. A Mrs. Burton-Cox gushes about her adoration of Mrs. Oliver's books, and then moves on to something unexpected. Mrs. Burton-Cox nonchalantly asks, Oh hey, you have a goddaughter named Celia, right? Mrs. Oliver is taken aback by the question and then has kind of a legit hard time remembering if she actually DOES have a goddaughter named Celia. In the end she decides, yes she does, although she hasn't seen Celia in a long time. Mrs. Burton-Cox goes on to say Hey Celia is supposed to marry my son, but there's a bit of #MYSTERY surrounding the death of her parents, specifically WHICH ONE KILLED THE OTHER. It would appear that Mrs. Oliver has somehow completely forgotten (or maybe suppressed the memory of) the rather gruesome murder/suicide of her old friend (and Celia's mother), Molly Ravenscroft and her husband, General Alistair Ravenscroft. The pair was found near their home many years prior, shot dead, with only their fingerprints on the gun at the scene. It was assumed that either some terrible accident had occurred (#unlikely), or that one had killed the other and then themselves...but which had done the deed?

Mrs. Oliver is kind of frustrated Mrs. Burton-Cox is bringing up these painful memories and can't really understand why it matters to the marriage of Celia and Mrs. B-C's son, Desmond (neither can I, to be honest.) Mrs. Burton-Cox is insisting that she needs to know what happened to give her blessing to Celia and Desmond's union. Mrs. Oliver finally escapes the horrid lady, determined to not think on the matter any further because it's none of her business. But Mrs. Burton-Cox has laid some nagging seeds of curiosity, and before she knows it, Mrs. Oliver is heading over to see Poirot to get his advice on the matter. Elephants, they decide, are the way to go about solving the matter. Elephants, meaning people who were close to the Ravenscrofts back in the weeks leading up to their deaths. These "elephants" will transport them back in time and tell them everything they need to know to solve Ravenscroft tragedy.

The YOA Treatment: 
When Agatha Christie wrote Elephants Can Remember, she was in her early 80s and nearing the end of her career. This is actually the last novel she wrote featuring Poirot and Mrs. Oliver (Curtain was actually written much earlier, though published in 1975.) She received some criticism for this novel (not unlike many from these later years), and I will say some of the reviews are justified. While the premise is intriguing, the solving of a murder committed much earlier is not unlike many of her other novels, many of which are referenced in the book (Five Little Pigs, Mrs. McGinty's Dead, Sad Cypress, or Hallowe'en Party) and are better reads. The language is not as snappy, and at times a bit muddled. Elephants Can Remember was included in a 2009 study comparing Agatha's early and later works, and it is thought that, due to the at times confusing and repeated language in this book, she may have been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

I get a little pang of sadness when I think of aging Agatha, remembering along with Poirot in this book of their former glory days. However, despite its flaws, Elephants Can Remember is still a mystery, and a rather good one at that. I was surprised at the ending, and I think you will be too. You can tell Agatha was still doing what she loved, and was determined to keep writing for as long as she could #resilience #queen.

- A.

The Nun Motif: After the Funeral | 1953

(image from here)

"It shows you, Madame, the dangers of conversations. It is a profound belief of mine that if you can induce a person to talk to you for long enough, on any subject whatever! sooner or later they will give themselves away." -Hercule Poirot, After the Funeral, p. 283

The Sum of It:
We are back to good old fashioned big family murder this week with After the Funeral (also called Funerals are Fatal). The story begins with the rather sudden, yet not entirely unexpected, death of older gentleman, Richard Abernethie. His remaining family members (sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and one younger sister) attend his funeral without much pomp and circumstance. However, the drama turns up a notch when eccentric Cora Abernethie Lansquenet blurts out her observations of her brother's death: "But he was murdered, wasn't he?"

The family is rather taken aback, assuming Richard's death in his sleep was perfectly natural, and rush to chalk up her remarks to Cora Be Cray. However, Cora's words linger with each Abernethie as they leave the family gathering...especially when Cora turns up #MURDERED the next day! (and #murdered with a hatchet no less...it's pretty gruesome for Agatha...#yikes.) The Abernethie's lawyer, Mr. Entwhistle, is very disturbed by the turn of events, and after some light investigation of his own, he enlists the heavy-duty assistance of retired detective Hercule Poirot to get to the bottom of who is killing the Abernethies.

There is kind of a lot of comings and goings in this book. Poirot doesn't get involved until two murders in, and the book divides most of its time between Enderby, the Abernethie family home, and Cora's small cottage, which is short-term inhabited after her death by her companion, a Miss Gilchrist who spends a lot of time defending the poor artistic abilities of her late mistress and telling sad tales of her own out-of-business tea shop. Richard Abernethie's surviving family members are often visiting one another and repeatedly having vague discussions about their alibis for each murder and how lucky it is that Richard left them money. #suspicious? There's also quite a bit about nuns showing up to the point of giving one of the characters the creeps (don't worry - it ends up helping Poirot solve the crime in the end.) However, overall, I enjoyed this book immensely. It's the kind of Christie you know and love, and you can tell it's the kind of story Agatha liked to write. I've always liked the solution of this story because of its simplistic cleverness (those of you who have read it will know what I mean!)

The YOA Treatment:
After the Funeral features Poirot investigating in his usual style, yet with a few, unexpected additions. Sure, he does his usual spiel of talking to all the characters involved to size them up and see if some basic conversation will lend him any clues. Per usual, this works like a charm, and a few slips of the tongue during a Poirot chat are enough to give the murderer away. However, this story also briefly features a lesser-known Poirot comrade: one Mr. Goby. Mr. Goby shows up in chapter 12 and is described as an elderly man (as is Poirot in this story), "small and spare and shrunken," with an aversion to eye contact and in possession of a double-jointed thumb #odddetail. Like Poirot, Mr. Goby is retired, but is willing to take a few days to do some P.I. work for Poirot by giving him the skeletons in the closet of all the potentially guilty Abernethies (along with some grumpy speeches about the Government.) Mr. Goby can be found giving Poirot a hand in several other books, including The Mystery of the Blue Train, Third Girl, and Elephants Can Remember. It's always fun to see Agatha spice up Poirot's world with new associates, particularly in these later stories devoid of the usual Hastings/Miss Lemon/Japp crew.

-A.