Sun 11 Sep 2016
AGATHA CHRISTIE – Funerals Are Fatal. Dodd Mead, hardcover, 1953. First published in the UK as After the Funeral by Collins, hardcover, 1953. First paperback printing in the US: Pocket #1003, 1954. Reprinted many times. Film: MGM, 1963, as Murder at the Gallop.
Hercule Poirot’s self-proclaimed procedure in investigating a case is to study the people involved, listen to them (sometimes surreptitiously), and above all engage them in conversation. Talk to a murderer long enough, he believes, and he (or she) will say something, perhaps very innocuously, that will give himself (or herself) away.
And so it is in Funerals Are Fatal. It takes the full first chapter, a family tree and a Cast of Characters to identify all of the players firmly in the reader’s mind, but because each of the surviving members of the newly deceased Richard Abernathy’s family are such distinct individuals, as delineated so (seemingly) easily by Agatha Christie, it is not difficult to keep the various players straight from that point on.
Not that Poirot doesn’t rely on physical evidence as well, for he does, even going so far as to hire a private detective himself, a task absolutely necessary to check out alibis and so on — not Poirot’s forte at all.
The story. After Richard Abernathy’s funeral, his youngest sister Cora, a bit of an innocent, asks the question that perhaps the entire family (all in need of ready funds, it almost goes without saying) is also wondering: “But he was murdered, wasn’t he?”
When Cora is found murdered the next day, the family solicitor takes it upon himself to employ Poirot to make some discreet inquiries, and so he does, in a case in which everyone has a motive and (quite surprisingly) opportunity.
It is my firm opinion that anyone who claims that they can outwit Agatha Christie when it comes to solving the puzzles she put together when she was at the top of her game, as she is here, is — shall we say — exaggerating? Or very very lucky at guessing. (Maybe that is just sour grapes talking.)
September 11th, 2016 at 9:22 am
This is one of Christie’s very best post-war mysteries: lots of suspects and red-herrings, with a satisfying conclusion. The TV adaptation with David Souchet was very good too–and featured Michael Fassbinder in an early role.
September 11th, 2016 at 10:44 am
Wasn’t this one first filmed as one of those Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple mysteries?
September 11th, 2016 at 11:55 am
Ray
You’re right. I meant to include the film in the credits, but at the last minute, it slipped past me. Th emovie was Murder at the Gallop, and I’ve just added it. Thanks!
September 11th, 2016 at 11:57 am
Steve – Your last paragraph exactly reflects how I feel about Christie’s output. Like all authors she could deliver a turkey now and then, but as with the little girl with the little curl, when she was good she was very very good, FUNERALS ARE FATAL being a fine example of that.
September 11th, 2016 at 2:34 pm
If anyone thinks that Agatha Christie was a “cozy” writer, reading this book would quickly disabuse them of that idea once and for all. Even though much of the story takes place out in the country in an old luxurious mansion, the killer is both cruel and devious.
There is one scene in particular which gave me shivers of warning, something that the current crop of potboiler hobby shop mysteries never do.
September 13th, 2016 at 10:51 am
Bibliographic Note: Fontana issued a MURDER AT THE GALLOP movie tie-in edition in 1963.
September 13th, 2016 at 11:00 am
Thanks, Bill. I hadn’t spotted that!
September 13th, 2016 at 12:07 pm
You are quite welcome, Steve. I have been doing mystery/crime bibliographic research as a hobby for a few years now. Using Hubin as a base, I also look for additional / subsequent editions. There are enough oddities out there to make it interesting. At least to me. If I can ever be of help in this area, please let me know.
September 13th, 2016 at 5:54 pm
There is a recurring theme in Christie that does help spot the guilty party in many books written after she left her first husband.
The killer or killers are often the most attractive and loving couple, or one member of that duo. It occurs often enough to at least give readers a slight chance.
September 13th, 2016 at 7:39 pm
Just in case someone reading this might not have read the book, I won’t say, one way or the other.
October 11th, 2018 at 1:06 pm
[…] the Funeral has been reviewed at BooksPlease, Mysteries in Paradise, Mystery File, among […]