4 LITTLE PIGS , 1 BIG PIG: PART- I
This in my opinion is one of the best Agatha Christie novels for its plot and structure. Using the idea of a nursery rhyme Christie has Hercule Poirot embark on revealing the truth about a murder that was committed 16 years earlier.Carla Lemarchant comes to Poirot because she knows her mother; Caroline Crale is innocent of killing her father Amyas Crale. But Carla wants to be sure, as she is worried that perhaps there is a hereditary tendency of the women to lash out in extreme anger. Poirot then embarks on reconstructing the events leading up to Amyas Crale’s death. There are potentially five suspects, Phillip Blake Amyas’ best friend, Meredith Blake, Phillip’s brother and neighbour of Amyas. Elsa Greer, whose portrait Amyas is painting and has got under everyone’s skin. Miss Williams, governess and tutor to Caroline Crale’s sister. And Angela Warren, Caroline’s younger sister of thirteen who Caroline dotes on.The five suspects, the five little pigs as you will. This particular book shows the method not just of Christie as a writer but one you can imagine Poirot going through himself. With the facts that he has learned from Carla, he revisits everyone connected with the case. The first part of the books is where Poirot visits all those concerned, not just the five but also the defence, the prosecution, the police and the solicitors.From this as readers we begin to form a picture of Caroline Crale and what may or may not have happened on that fateful day. Part two of the book deals with the narrative of each of the five suspects and shows that how one day can be viewed so differently from each person. However the ultimate conclusion was said by them all apart from one, Caroline killed Amyas.In the final and third part of the novel, we reach the point which is probably the favourite of many Christie readers – Poirot’s conclusions, his little grey cells working and the dénouement. Five more questions have to be asked after reading the narratives, a reconstruction and then the truth. At this point we find out the truth. Is it a truth that Carla Lemarchant can accept? Read on ......
(cont. in 4 LITTLE PIGS , 1 BIG PIG: PART- II)