''Dead Man's Folly'' is a work of
detective fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...
by
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
, first published in the US by
Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956
and in the UK by the
Collins Crime Club on 5 November of the same year.
The US edition retailed at $2.95
and the UK edition at twelve
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...
and
sixpence (12/6).
It features
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by the English writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is Christie's most famous and longest-running character, appearing in 33 novels, two plays (''Black Coffee (play), Black Coffee'' and '' ...
and
Ariadne Oliver.
Plot summary
Poirot is invited to Nasse House in Devon by crime-mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, who is staging a Murder Hunt as part of a summer
fête
In the United Kingdom and some of its former colonies, a fête or fete is a public festival organised to raise money for a charity, typically held outdoors. It generally includes entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments. Fetes are ty ...
the next day. At Nasse House, Mrs Oliver explains that small aspects of her plans for the Murder Hunt have been changed by requests from people in the house rather deviously, until a real murder would not surprise her.
The wealthy Sir George Stubbs owns Nasse House. His much younger wife is the beautiful Hattie, Lady Stubbs. She shows interest in fine clothes and jewellery only, appearing simple to all but her husband's secretary, Miss Brewis, who sees through Hattie's outward appearance but is herself conflicted because of her own feelings for her employer, Sir George. Hattie and George were introduced by Amy Folliat, the last of the family who had owned the estate for centuries. Widowed, Mrs Folliat lost her two sons during the War. With the death duties very high in the post-war period, she had to sell the ancestral home and grounds to keep it intact. She took in the orphaned Hattie, introducing her to society and later to Sir George. Mrs Folliat rents the lodge on the estate. Michael Weyman, an architect, is on site to design a tennis court; he criticises the inappropriate location of a recently built
folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
. Sir George shouts at three young tourists who cross his private property; they are a Dutch woman, an Italian woman, and a man wearing a shirt decorated with turtles.
On the day of the fête, Hattie receives a letter from her cousin, Etienne de Sousa, who will visit that day; she appears very upset by his abrupt visit. A local
Girl Guide
Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of The Girl Guides ...
, Marlene Tucker, waits in the boathouse to pose as the dead victim when a player finds the key to enter. Her first visitor is Miss Brewis with a tray of refreshments at tea time, at Hattie's request. With Mrs Oliver, Poirot discovers Marlene dead in the boathouse. Hattie cannot be found. Mrs Oliver produces an abundance of theories to explain the murder and the disappearance, while the police and Poirot narrow the field from all attending the fête, to those familiar with the Murder Hunt. The investigation focuses first on Etienne de Sousa and briefly on Amanda Brewis. Further confusion is added by the behaviour of the Legges, staying in a cottage on the estate and whose marriage is in trouble. After weeks of no progress, Poirot visits Devon again, learning that Hattie is still missing. Merdell, an old boatman who recently drowned, was Marlene's grandfather. Poirot puts together several stray clues: Marlene's grandfather had seen a woman's body in the woods; Marlene received small sums of money used to make small purchases, now in her younger sister's possession. Merdell had told Poirot mischievously that there would "always be Folliats at Nasse House".
In the
dénouement, Poirot explains that Sir George Stubbs is really Amy Folliat's younger son, James, a war deserter. Mrs Folliat paired him with the wealthy but naive Hattie, hoping that the marriage would be beneficial to both. But James fleeced Hattie of her money to establish his new identity and to purchase the old family home. Unknown to Mrs Folliat, James had married a young Italian woman after deserting the war. He killed the original Hattie shortly after entering into the bigamous marriage, and his Italian wife played the role of Hattie thereafter. Marlene Tucker had learned the true identity of George Stubbs from her grandfather. Both were murdered separately, although the old man's death had been presumed accidental. The day before the fête, the fake Hattie posed as an Italian tourist staying in the nearby hostel. She switched between the two roles frequently over a 24-hour period. The fake Hattie also sent Miss Brewis to bring refreshments to Marlene shortly before the girl was murdered. Hattie then killed Marlene, changed to the tourist guise, and tossed the large hat she wore as Hattie in the river. She then left the area as the Italian tourist, carrying a rucksack. The date of Marlene's murder had been selected to cast suspicion upon Etienne, who had written weeks earlier of his visit, as he told Inspector Bland. Having grown up with the real Hattie, Etienne would not have been fooled.
Poirot privately reveals to Mrs. Foliat that he knows the truth. As the sounds of the police smashing up the folly to locate and exhume Hattie's body are heard, Mrs. Foliat asks Poirot to go away so she may face things alone, leaving the fate of herself and her son ambiguous.
List of characters
*
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by the English writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is Christie's most famous and longest-running character, appearing in 33 novels, two plays (''Black Coffee (play), Black Coffee'' and '' ...
, the Belgian private detective
*
Ariadne Oliver, the celebrated author
* Inspector Bland, the investigating officer
* Sergeant Frank Cottrell, a policeman in the case
* Sir George Stubbs, owner of Nasse House
* Hattie, Lady Stubbs, George's wife
* Etienne de Sousa, Lady Stubbs's cousin
* Amanda Brewis, George's secretary
* Amy Folliat, whose family previously owned Nasse House
* Mr Wilfred Masterton, member of Parliament
* Mrs Connie Masterton, his wife
* Captain Jim Warburton, political agent for Mr Masterton
* Michael Weyman, an architect
* Alec Legge, an atomic physicist
* Sally Legge, his wife
* Marlene Tucker, a Girl Guide
* Marilyn Tucker, Marlene's younger sister
* Mr and Mrs Tucker, Marlene and Marilyn's parents
* Merdell, the 92-year-old boatman, father of Mrs Tucker
* Henden, the butler
* A young Italian woman on holiday, a hiker with rucksack
* A young Dutch woman on holiday, a hiker with rucksack
* A young man in a shirt with turtles on it
Literary significance and reception
Anthony Quinton began his review column in the ''
Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' of 21 December 1956, writing, "Miss Agatha Christie's new Poirot story comes first in this review because of this author's reputation and not on its own merits, which are disappointingly slight. They consist almost wholly in the appearance yet once more of certain profoundly familiar persons, scenes and devices. Poirot is on hand with his superb English, based, one supposes, on the middle line in the French lessons in the ''Children's Encyclopaedia'', but the little grey cells are rather subdued." He set up the basics of the plot and then continued, "The solution is of the colossal ingenuity we have been conditioned to expect but a number of the necessary red herrings are either unexplained or a little too grossly ''ad hoc''. People are never candid about their vices so there is no need to take seriously the protestations of detective addicts about their concern with the sheer logic of their favourite reading. What should be the real appeal of ''Dead Man's Folly'', however, is not much better than its logic. The scene is really excessively commonplace, there are too many characters and they are very, very flat."
The anonymous review in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' of 15 November 1956, was also somewhat damning; "''Dead Man's Folly'' is not Miss Agatha Christie at her best. The murder and the solution of it are ingenious, but then, with Miss Christie, they always are, and it is pleasant to watch M. Hercule Poirot at work again. The character drawing is flat and facile, however, and the dialogue, always Miss Christie's weak point, disastrous."
Maurice Richardson of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' (18 November 1956) pointed out the similarity between the house portrayed in the book and Christie's own and summed up, "Stunning but not unguessable solution. Nowhere near a vintage Christie but quite a pleasing table-read."
Robert Barnard: "Highly traditional recipe, but not done with the same conviction as in the thirties. Nobody much is what they seem, and old sins cast long shadows. Mrs Oliver looms large here, as she was frequently to do from now on, both in Poirot books and in others."
Adaptations
1986 film
The novel was made into a film with
Peter Ustinov
Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, director and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received #Awa ...
and
Jean Stapleton
Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton is best known for her portrayal of Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wif ...
starring as Poirot and Oliver in a 1986 adaptation set in the present day. It was shot largely on location at
West Wycombe Park
West Wycombe Park is a country house built between 1740 and 1800 near the village of West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It was conceived as a pleasure palace for the 18th-century libertine and dilettante Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Baro ...
in Buckinghamshire.
Radio
John Moffatt starred as Poirot in the
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
dramatisation broadcast in 2007, with
Julia McKenzie as Ariadne Oliver. It was the final time he played the role.
Television
The novel was adapted with
David Suchet
Sir David Courtney Suchet ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor. He is known for his work on stage and in television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenheimer'' (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his pe ...
as Poirot, as part of the series of ''
Agatha Christie's Poirot
''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', or simply ''Poirot'' (), is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2020. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, wh ...
''. It guest-starred
Sean Pertwee (Sir George Stubbs),
Stephanie Leonidas (Hattie Stubbs),
Sinéad Cusack
Sinéad Moira Cusack ( ; born 18 February 1948) is an Irish actress. Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before moving to London in 1969 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has won the Critics' Circle and ''Eve ...
(Amy Folliat),
Rebecca Front
Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...
(Amanda Brewis),
Tom Ellis (D.I. Bland),
Martin Jarvis (Captain Warburton),
Rosalind Ayres
Rosalind Ayres (born 7 December 1946) is an English actress, director and producer. Active since 1970, Ayres is well known for her role in the 1997 film ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', in which she played Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her husband, ...
(Mrs Warburton),
Daniel Weyman (Alec Legge) and
Zoë Wanamaker
Zoë Wanamaker (born 13 May 1949) is an American-born British actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Wanamaker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 by Qu ...
in her sixth and final appearance as
Ariadne Oliver. This was the last episode of the series to be filmed (although not the last to air), with production completed in June 2013. The telefilm was shot mainly at Agatha Christie's home,
Greenway Estate
Greenway, also known as Greenway House, is an estate on the River Dart near Galmpton, Torbay, Galmpton in Devon, England. Once the home of the author Agatha Christie, it is now owned by the National Trust.
The estate was served by the Dartmout ...
, the setting she used, along with its old boathouse on the River Dart, for the novel.
The adaptation is broadly faithful to the novel, but with some differences. The setting is moved from the early 1950s to the late 1930s; accordingly, James Folliat – a war deserter in the novel – is here a wayward womaniser whom Mrs Folliat sends to South Africa, where he fakes his death in an aviation accident and returns to Nasse in the identity of Sir George Stubbs. Mrs Masterton becomes Mrs Warburton, Captain Warburton's wife; Marlene's sister, Marilyn, becomes an older sister named Gertie, but serves the same function as Marilyn in the novel; the characters of George the valet, Miss Lemon, the man in the turtle-printed shirt, and Marlene's parents are deleted. The adaptation slightly changes the end of the story to reveal the fate of the Folliats, which was untold in the novel. As the police are digging up the folly foundations, Poirot lays out the truth to Mrs Folliat; Miss Folliat then goes into the manor house and admonishes her son. Two offscreen gunshots are heard, and Poirot both acknowledges and approves of this murder-suicide with the final word of the episode: "Bon".
Computer game
On 15 October 2009,
I-play released a downloadable
hidden object game
A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a subgenre of puzzle video game, puzzle video games in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games a ...
based on ''Dead Man's Folly'' (see the external links). This is the third game in a series of Oberon Games' hidden object games based on Agatha Christie's novels, the first two are based on ''
Death on the Nile
''Death on the Nile'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at ...
'' and ''
Peril at End House''. The 4th game in the series is based on ''
4:50 from Paddington''.
Publication history
* 1956, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), October 1956, Hardback, 216 pp
* 1956, Collins Crime Club (London), 5 November 1956, Hardback, 256 pp
* 1957,
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.
History
Pocket Books produced the first Paperback#Mass market paperback, mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and ...
(New York), Paperback, 178 pp
* 1960, Fontana Books (Imprint of
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
), Paperback, 192 pp
* 1966,
Pan Books
Pan Books is a British publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany.
History
Pan Books began as an indepe ...
, Paperback, 189 pp
* 1967, Ulverscroft
Large-print
Large-print (also large-type or large-font) refers to the formatting of a book or other text document in which the font size is considerably larger than usual to accommodate people who have low vision. Frequently the Recording medium, medium is al ...
Edition, Hardcover, 205 pp
The novel was first serialised in the US in ''
Collier's Weekly
}
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...
'' in three abridged instalments from 20 July (Volume 138, Number 2) to 17 August 1956 (Volume 138, Number 4) with illustrations by Robert Fawcett.
In the UK the novel was first serialised in the weekly magazine ''
John Bull
John Bull is a national personification of England, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter-of-fact man. He originated in satirical works of ...
'' in six abridged instalments from 11 August (Volume 100, Number 2615) to 15 September 1956 (Volume 100, Number 2620) with illustrations by "Fancett".
[Holdings at the ]British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
(Newspapers – Colindale). Shelfmark: NPL LON LD116.
References
External links
''Dead Man's Folly''at the official Agatha Christie web site
*
*
''Agatha Christie: Dead Man's Folly''game at I-Play web site
{{Agatha Christie
1956 British novels
Hercule Poirot novels
Works originally published in Collier's
Novels first published in serial form
Novels set in Devon
Novels set in London
Dodd, Mead & Co. books
British novels adapted into films
British novels adapted into television shows
Fiction about child murder
Fiction about uxoricide