Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952)

"There are many Agatha Christie novels that I could have picked. She is the most popular mystery writer/crime novelist of all time. There is a reason for that. Not only was she great at plotting, but she had a wonderfully readable style that remains accessible today. Even if the period in which they were written is long gone, the stories have that timelessness to them. The reason I picked Mrs. McGinty’s Dead is because it’s a personal favourite of mine. Poirot is my favourite of her fictional detectives, and the setup to this one is so good. What we have is Poirot called in by his friend Superintendent Spence to look into the case of a young man called James Bentley, who is accused of murdering his housekeeper, the titular Mrs. McGinty. Bentley is condemned to be executed, but Spence is not convinced of the man’s guilt, and so Poirot is summoned to this small village to try and pick apart the mystery and the circumstances that led to Mrs. McGinty’s death. The really irresistible gimmick that I absolutely love is the early revelation that Poirot makes when he discovers that Mrs. McGinty, in the days before her death, had clipped a newspaper article in which three mysterious women are discussed. These three women were involved in three separate murder cases and their fates are a mystery. Nobody knows what has become of these women. Mrs. McGinty has written a letter to a newspaper indicating that she knew one of the women. That is the only clue that Poirot has to go on. It becomes a question of looking at these three murder cases that took place in the past and trying to determine which of the three women Mrs. McGinty knew, what the significance of that is, and how it led to her murder. Was one of these women the murderer? Or is it simply a red herring? Also, which of the three murder cases is it that Mrs. McGinty was involved with? It’s a fascinating puzzle with a perfect setup. It also features Ariadne Oliver, who was Agatha Christie’s author surrogate in her novels. Christie put a lot of herself into the characterisation of Ariadne Oliver, and it’s very nice to see Mrs. Oliver and Poirot together on the page. They both have an excellent part to play in the mystery. To me, it’s just the quintessential Agatha Christie. Yes. It’s a village mystery which Agatha Christie typically reserved for Miss Marple rather than Poirot. But what we have is an incredibly complex puzzle, which Poirot deciphers brilliantly. There’s also a certain lightness and a humour to the early parts of the book, as Poirot is roped into this rural setting that he’s not familiar or comfortable with. It reinforces why the character is so charming – his foibles and eccentricities. That’s one of the many reasons I love this book."