Unnamed Killer (SPOILER ALERT!)

HerculeAndAchille

Hi all!
I've recently re-read Dead Man's Folly, which, though one of Dame Christie's simplest fare, was certainly quite enjoyable. For those who've read it, the killer (or rather, the accomplice) SPOILER ALERT was not named by Dame Christie at all, was she? She was only referred to as a student or a hitchhiker... I was wondering, as a matter of curiosity, if there were any other killers whose names were never mentioned in the stories they appeared in.

I can think of at least one more...

taliavishay-arbel

TRIPLE SPOILER: Actually the "Student" in "Dead man's Folly" was identified in the end, by relationship if not by name. I don't remember other unnamed killers, but there were at least two criminal woment who took the place of kidnapped innocent young girls, who are not named: the woman who took the place of princess Shiasta in "Cat among the Pigeons", and the woman who took the place of the schoolgirl Winnie in the story "The girdle of Hyppolita" from "The Labours of Hercules". 

HerculeAndAchille

She was identified by relationship, but I meant a killer who was unnamed in the sense that his or her name was not mentioned. While the pseudo-Shaista and the woman who pretended to be Winnie are unnamed, they aren't killers - however, there is one more killer I remember who is unnamed. In Partners in Crime, the SPOLER 'policeman' who is supposed to have killed the actress is unnamed. However, I can't seem to remember any more killers whose names are not mentioned at all throughout the novels they appear in....

taliavishay-arbel

If you include people who hire other people to kill their victims, I think there are several unnamed ones in "The pale horse".

HerculeAndAchille

That's very interesting, Tali! I never thought about it from that angle. The repair-man (presumably men) from The Pale Horse would certainly be an unnamed killer.

taliavishay-arbel

I think that the actual killer in "The Pale Horse", who masquerades as a repairman, a meter checker etc., is one and the same, and he is named, but the people who order the killings - people wanting to inherit from their victims, be free to marry, etc. - are not always named. Easterbrook finds some of their names - mostly last names fitting the victims' list - in the pub's register, but others are known to have died and we don't know who ordered their death. (by the way, in "Dead man's folly" we also know the killer's last name, because we know to whom she was married).