Mrs. McGinty's Dead

 Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952) by Agatha Christie

Mrs. McGinty's dead!
How did she die?
Down on one knee, just like I!

The old children's rhyme comes to life (or rather death...) when Mrs. McGinty, a woman who made her living cleaning for others (down on her knees, as it were) is found killed. She was hit over the head by an unknown weapon and apparently for her small savings of about thirty pounds. All signs point to her lodger, James Bentley. Bentley is an ineffectual man who had recently lost his job and was badly in need of money. But would a man hide the money under a rock in the backyard? 

Even though the evidence pointed to Bentley and a jury of his peers found him guilty and the man has already been sentence to hang in a very short time, Superintendent Spence isn't happy about the verdict. He can't say why exactly, but he doesn't think Bentley did it. So, he calls on his old friend Hercule Poirot and puts the case before him. Poirot is interested enough to go stay in the village of Broadhinny to see if he can spot anything that Spence missed. The detective's attention is drawn to two things: the bottle of ink that Mrs. McGinty bought two days before her death and a newspaper article cut out of the paper used to wrap her shoes. When he discovers that the article featured four women who were involved with old murder mysteries, he's sure he has found a trail to follow. And when a second woman, who had said she recognized one of the photographs associated with the article, is killed, Poirot knows he's on the right track. But he won't be able to name the killer until he can figure out which photograph both Mrs. McGinty and Mrs. Upward recognized.

I had a good time reading the book and then also listening to Hugh Fraser narrate it on Hoopla. He does excellent voice work and manages to give everyone their own vocal qualities. Given how large the cast of characters is, this is quite a feat. It's always fun to listen to "Captain Hastings" narrate an Agatha Christie story. The novel was a palate cleanser after the Beeding I just finished. It was so nice to sink into a nice straightforward detective story after Beeding's spy-thriller. Christie does it again--clues strewn about in such a way that you don't necessarily pick up on the right ones...or, if you do, you don't look at them the right way. We've got four women from the past, one of whom just might be hanging out in Broadhinny, and we've got to figure out where she's hiding. Or do we? Somebody killed Mrs. McGinty for her money. Or did they? She recognized a photograph and if we find the right photograph, we'll know who the killer is. Or will we? Christie managed to keep me in the dark (mostly) until the reveal. I had my suspicions, but couldn't quite put the clues together properly. 

While I enjoyed the scenes with Mrs. Oliver and Robin Upward wrangling over his adaptation of her book to the stage, I'm not sure she fits in well to the story. I mean, yes, she does provide one of the means (can't be more specific without a spoiler) by which Poirot begins to see daylight, but otherwise she really doesn't add to the investigation. In other appearances, she provides more information and data that Poirot needs and she seems a little more integral to the plot. But overall another great outing with Poirot. ★★★★

First line: Hercule Poirot came out of the Vielle Grand'mere restaurant in Soho.

Last line: "He's a murderer all right!" He added: "Cocky enough for anything!"
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Deaths = 7 (two hit on head; two natural; one poisoned; one hanged; one strangled)