Five Little Pigs (1943)
(in America as Murder in Retrospect)
1943 Collins blurb:
How to find out the truth about a crime that was committed sixteen years ago is indeed a problem. No wonder Carla Lemarchant sought the best help available, and it was fortunate for her that she found Hercule Poirot, for as he said himself, “Rest assured—I am the best.” Faced with the question: Did Carla’s mother, Caroline Crale, really commit the murder for which she was sentenced? he began to reconstruct in his mind events long past. She was an enigmatic character, this Caroline Crale, who had pleaded innocent yet had not fought to prove it. Her life with Amyas Crale had been difficult, certainly. He was selfish, quarrelsome, inconsiderate and unfaithful, even though he was a great painter as some said. Approaching deftly and tactfully the other five people involved in the case, Poirot unravels bit by bit the true story of that summer day sixteen years ago. It is a fascinating story which leaves the reader to marvel more than ever at Poirot’s performance and to acclaim Mrs. Christie for yet another brilliant landmark in the history of detective fiction.
My review:
The first of Christie's excursions into the past, combined with the nursery rhyme (here extraneous and inappropriate). Poirot is called in by the daughter of painter Amyas Crale, apparently poisoned by his wife Caroline sixteen years before, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment; Caroline Crale the younger believes her mother was innocent, and asks Poirot to find out which of the five other suspects could have committed the crime. Poirot is at his most cerebral, and comes across as a genuine brain; the book is likely to appeal to those of a contemplative nature, who value ratiocination for its own sake rather than those who prefer their detection to verge on the thriller or the romance. The solution is as startling as any Poirot has discovered, and equally startling is the fact that the murderer will not be arrested, as the punishment is self-inflicted; one is reminded of Tiberius' belief that death is a merciful release, to live is to be punished.