Sun 14 Jan 2018
AGATHA CHRISTIE – An Overdose of Death. Hercule Poirot #22. First published in the UK as One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Collins Crime Club, hardcover, Nov 1940). First US edition published by Dodd Mead under the title The Patriotic Murders (hardcover, Feb 1941). Reprinted by Dell in the US in 1953 as An Overdose of Death. Many other reprint editions exist, in both hardcover and paperback.
The question is, why did a quiet, unassuming and otherwise quite unremarkable dentist commit suicide in the middle of the afternoon on a day no different than other day? When one of his morning’s patients is later found dead from an overdose of a numbing agent the dentist used, the police think they know.
Hercule Poirot is not so sure.
This is a beautifully constructed puzzle mystery, with patients for both the deceased dentist and his partner in and out all morning, with stairs, an elevator and a front door that may or not have been fully attended. Lots of suspects, in other words, with just as many motives and opportunities. This is as totally expected from a Christie novel of this time period. Not quite as expected is the political aspect of the story, with part of the story line involving left wing agitators speaking out against the conservative upper class who never want to change anything.
Does that have anything to do with the mystery and who did it? You’ll have to read this one for yourself. Christie is in very good form here, and while you may figure out the puzzle before Poirot does, I’m willing to wager you won’t. Either way, when I say “beautifully constructed,” I mean it. You will also be surprised how simple the explanation is. If nothing else, Christie was an absolute master of misdirection.
January 15th, 2018 at 5:31 pm
Of the various titles this book has been published under, I think AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH fits it best.
I say this even though the various lines of the nursery rhyme “Buckle My Shoe” are used as chapter titles, and fit the story line as it goes very well.
January 15th, 2018 at 6:31 pm
This is one of my favorite Christie novels, too.
Everything about it is really first rate.
Thank you for a good review.
January 15th, 2018 at 6:47 pm
Yes, one of my favorites as well. The TV adaptation done years ago with David Suchet was also very good.
I like the ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE title. (Just to add my own two cents.)
January 15th, 2018 at 11:09 pm
A perfect example of how good detective stories are “written backwards”. Christie was an expert at playing the game.
January 16th, 2018 at 12:27 pm
[Minor spoilers]
It’s really one of the best Christies, isn’t it? The most ingenious iteration of a trick she used a few times, but so well-disguised that it seems novel. Nick Fuller touched on (accurately, in my opinion) the book’s indebtedness to H.C. Bailey and Reggie Fortune; I always saw this as her Baileyan book and “The Pale Horse†as her Carrian book. Two more touches of brilliance: the impersonation and the play-with-the-reader’s-assumptions re: “the Birlstone gambit.â€
[End spoilers]
One point that intrigues me about this book, though, is how little known it is—in spite of the fact that we all like it and rate it as one of the best Christies. To be sure, the writing and characterization aren’t as good as, say, “Death on the Nileâ€â€”but I’ve rarely seen “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe,†under any of its titles, praised even among mystery fans (except here, of course). Somewhat surprising.
January 16th, 2018 at 7:16 pm
Karl
You’re quite right. This one is Christie at the top of her form, but now that you’ve pointed it out, it is surprising how little it’s mentioned whenever her work is discussed. I don’t know why, either.
January 17th, 2018 at 7:06 pm
Perhaps the problem is everyone sympathized with the killer knocking off a dentist.