Lisa Barger

If only dogs could talk, Hercule Poirot’s work unraveling the truth of Emily Arundell’s death would be so much easier.

The Story In Dumb Witness

One morning, Hercule Poirot receives a letter dated weeks earlier from a woman named Emily Arundell. Miss Arundell, who lives in her ancestral family mansion in the rural village of Market Basing, is very old and very wealthy–and absolutely convinced someone in her family is trying too murder her. She cites a recent fall down a staircase that was blamed on an ill-placed dog toy but which she insists was an attempt to kill her.

Despite the fact that the letter was dated weeks ago, Poirot does not bother to telephone Miss Arundell, but travels to Market Basing, with Arthur Hastings in tow. There, he learns that Miss Arundell died days after writing the letter.

During a conversation with the maid, Poirot comes to believe Arundell, afraid for her own safety, hid the letter from the prying eyes of her visiting family and forgot to actually send it once they left. The maid explains that she found the letter while cleaning out Arundell’s things and mailed it, believing that was what her former mistress would have wanted.

Poirot begins his investigation, making up various lies about his true identity as he discusses the Arundell family with the people of Market Basing. Eventually, though, his true identity is discovered and Poirot begins his investigation in earnest.

His suspect list includes Arundell’s nephew Charles, his sister Theresa, Theresa’s fiancé (Doctor Donaldson), niece Bella and Bella’s husband (Doctor Tanios). Each, Poirot ultimately learns, needed money and each was suspected by Arundell of staging her recent fall down the stairs.

Also suspect are two long-term servants and Arundell’s oft-abused paid companion, Minnie Lawson. Lawson inherited nearly the entire estate after Arundell made an unexpected change to her will.

My Thoughts On Dumb Witness

As with most Poirot novels, no one in Emily Arundell’s circle of suspects comes off as particularly moral. All of Arundell’s relatives are short-sighted, selfish and, to one degree or another, immoral. I found myself feeling sad that Emily Arundell died so early in the novel, because she was the only character really worth rooting for.

Well, that isn’t exactly true. Bob the dog did get his happy ending. I won’t spoil it for you, but what you want to happen to Bob is exactly what happens. That was a nice touch, even if it did feel tacked onto the end.

Far less satisfying, though, was the reveal of the actual murderer. (You’ll probably figure out who did it well before the end of the novel.) I’ve often felt that Agatha Christie had more in common with the crime noir writers of her time then she did with cozy mystery writers of her era. And here, once again, we see Poirot encouraging some morally iffy justice done in the name of avoiding public scandal.

Witnessing Poirot get caught in the web of lies he initially tells to hide his true identity provides a couple of delicious moments. Christie’s restraint in writing those scenes is another example of her genius.

My audiobook of Dumb Witness was performed by Hugh Fraser, who was as perfect at ever, even when performing the myriad female roles. My text copy was an original first edition with the racial slur Poirot utters intact.

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