The Hollow (Poirot, 26), Agatha Christie. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780062073853) 2011 (first published in 1946).
Summary: When Poirot sees Dr. John Christow lying dead poolside with Christow’s wife holding the gun, the murderer seems obvious.
John Christow is a Harley Street physician. His patients love him. But his real passion in medicine is not the stream of patients to his office, but his efforts to cure Ridgeway’s Disease, focused on one gritty old woman, Mrs. Crabtree. His other passion? Women. He’s had a string of affairs before and after the dutiful and seemingly dull-witted Gerda, who is waiting his lunch upstairs. He’s slow to see his last patient thinking of Henrietta Savernake, his current affair, who he will see at the Hollow this weekend.
The Hollow is the country home of Sir Henry and Lucy Angkatell. All the relations are coming. Henrietta is Sir Henry’s cousin and an accomplished sculptress. Edward Angatell is a distant cousin, and the holder of the family home, Ainswick. He’s a bachelor but has loved Henrietta since they were teens. Meanwhile, Midge Hardcastle is a young cousin of Lucy’s, and has always held an affection for Edward. She renounced any family support, working in a dressmaker’s shop. Finally, David Angkatell is the youngest, a bookish, aloof, introvert who doesn’t seem to like anyone, but stands to inherit Ainswick if Edward has no children.
The one responsible for this gathering is Lucy. Forgetful, blunt, conniving, and surprisingly shrewd, she is the one who stage manages this gathering, as well as the family relationships and future, as best she can. She’d like to get Edward and Henrietta together and even loosen up young David. One thing she fails to control is the sudden appearance of actress Veronica Cray, resident of a nearby cottage, needing to borrow a box of matches. John Christow is starstruck. Before his marriage to Gerda, he and Veronica had a torrid affair, broken off because he wouldn’t follow her to Hollywood. She asks him to escort her home. But he doesn’t return until 3 am the next morning.
The next day is Sunday and Poirot is coming to lunch at Lucy’s invitation. As it turns out he has a modest cottage nearby. Just before he arrives, a gunshot rings out. Henrietta and Edward arrive to find John Christow lying by the pool, bleeding out from a fatal gunshot wound. And Gerda is standing over him as Poirot arrives and takes in the scene. Poirot kneels by the dying doctor, who intently looks at him, speaking one word. “Henrietta.” Then he dies. Henrietta, unwisely perhaps, takes the gun from Gerda only to have it fall into the pool, wiping out any fingerprints.
When Inspector Grange arrives, he’s pretty sure Gerda is guilty, even though she claims to have picked up the gun lying by Dr. Christow. Yet things aren’t as they seem. Ballistics reveal another gun killed him, possibly another from Sir Henry’s gun collection that is missing. Gerda goes free to mourn while the search is on. And there’s a country house of suspects. Was Henrietta jealous? What did Christow’s last word mean? What about Veronica Cray, who was heard fighting with Christow and threatening him earlier that morning? Even Gudgeon, the butler, and Lucy are spotted with guns. But when the murder weapon is found, the prints don’t match any of these people.
Poirot talks to all of them. And he comes away with the sense they all know something. The clues seem staged. But by whom? And for what end? In the end, Poirot will figure it out, preventing one more murder as he does so.
This was Christie at the top of her game. An intricate plot, numerous red herrings, and the diverting subplot around Edward. All the ingredients for a great country house murder!