''Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks:'' ''Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making'' is a book written by John Curran and published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

on 6 September 2009, which later went on to win the

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the m ...

for Best Critical Nonfiction in 2011. A sequel, titled ''Agatha Christie's Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets'' ''from Her Notebooks'', was published by HarperCollins in 2012. This book included an unpublished version of '' The Case of the Caretaker'', called ''The Case of the Caretaker's Wife.'' The book includes two unpublished Hercule Poirot stories - a previous version of ''The Capture of Cerberus'', and ''The Incident of the Dog's Ball''. ''The Capture of Cerberus'' was originally intended to be included in ''

The Labours of Hercules ''The Labours of Hercules'' is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947 and in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September of the same year.Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier an ...

'' as the final story, but was rejected due to the political content - set just before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it involves Poirot solving the shooting of the German dictator, ' August Hertzlein'. ''The Incident of the Dog's Ball'' was expanded into ''

Dumb Witness ''Dumb Witness'' is a detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 July 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of ''Poirot Loses ...

''. The stories was found in her notebooks by Curran, a Christie enthusiast.

Unpublished stories

''The Capture of Cerberus''

Hercule Poirot, by the

Lake of Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

, meets Countess Vera Rossakoff. She introduces him to Herr Keiserbach, and mentions that he can ' bring the dead back to life'. Keiserbach later visits Poirot and asks him to clear his son's name. He reveals that he changed his name from Lutzmann. His son, Hans Lutzmann, shot August Hertzlein during a speech, and was immediately torn apart by the crowd. Keiserbach tells Poirot that his son was an avid supporter of Hertzlein, "a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

through and through". Returning to Britain, Poirot hires Mr Higgs, a dog thief, and, with a

cat burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

, they travel to a place in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. Mr Higgs uses his skills to get the massive guard dog out of the way, while the cat burglar breaks into a certain room in the house, files the bars away, and with the aid of a silk ladder, lowers Hertzlein - a "short man with a bullet head and a little dark moustache" - to the ground. In a Paris-bound train, Poirot reveals how he guessed that the man that was shot was not Hertzlein - it was someone impersonating him. Hertzlein had been converted by a priest, and was about to start preaching peace. "Executive authorities in the Central Empires" kidnapped him and substituted a look-alike, who was then assassinated by two storm troopers who then accused Hans Lutzmann, forcing the gun into his hands. The real Hertzlein was put into an

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...

, where no-one would believe him if he said who he was. Poirot sent out several young medical men to various asylums, one of who found Hertzlein. Hertzlein, freed, preaches peace to the nation. In Geneva, Poirot reads the news of Hertzlein. Rossakoff tells Poirot that this time, those who kidnapped him will really kill him. Poirot tells her that his legacy will live on, and presents her with the dog that Mr Higgs stole, calling it '

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; grc-gre, Κέρβερος ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the mo ...

''The Incident of the Dog's Ball''

A Miss Matilda Wheeler writes to Poirot, expressing herself worried over little incidents. The letter is dated three months ago. Poirot, accompanied by

Arthur Hastings Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie as the companion-chronicler and best friend of the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in Christie's 1920 novel ''The Mysterious Affa ...

, goes to investigate. At an inn, Poirot discovers that the writer of the letter died a month or two ago. The house was left to the lady’s companion, a Miss Lawson. Poirot visits Dr Lawrence, who attended her, and finds out that she died of yellow atrophy of the liver. Miss Lawson inherited everything, possibly due to influence through

Spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

. Poirot and Hastings tour the house, meeting Bob, a

fox terrier Fox Terriers are two different breeds of the terrier dog type: the Smooth Fox Terrier and the Wire Fox Terrier. Both of these breeds originated in the 19th century from a handful of dogs who are descended from earlier varieties of British terr ...

. Poirot learns that she made her will leaving everything to Miss Lawson after falling down the stairs, having supposedly slipped on Bob's ball. Poirot interviews Miss Wheeler's two surviving relatives, James Graham and Mollie Davidson. Graham reveals that Miss Wheeler had told him of the new will, but had not told Mollie. Poirot requests that they should get an order of exhumation, which they refuse. After they leave, Poirot makes a visit to Miss Lawson. She tells him that on the day of Miss Wheeler being taken ill, they held a seance. Miss Lawson saw a luminous halo around Miss Wheeler's head. Poirot sees a piece of needlework depicting a bulldog on the steps of a house, with the caption 'Out all night and no key!'. He deduces that Bob was out that night. He further deduces, after questioning Miss Lawson more, that Miss Wheeler was poisoned with

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

. As Miss Wheeler suffered from

jaundice Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving abnormal heme meta ...

, the symptoms would not be noticed. The luminous haze that Miss Lawson saw was Miss Wheeler's luminous breath, caused by the phosphorus. The phosphorus was administered in the form of a pill, hidden among her digestive pills. Poirot further deduces that Mollie Davidson was the murderer, seeking to get her share of the inheritance, not knowing that the will had been changed. Poirot writes to Mollie, telling what he has deduced. Mollie commits suicide two days later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks 2009 non-fiction books Agatha Christie Anthony Award-winning works Crime short stories HarperCollins books