HERCULE POIROT'S CASEBOOK
Agatha Christie is known throughout the world
as the Queen of Crime. Her seventy-six detective
novels and books of stories have been translated
into every major language, and her sales are
calculated
in tens of millions.
She began writing at the end of the First
World War, when she created Hercule Poirot,
the little Belgian detective with the egg-shaped
head and the passion for order - the most
popular sleuth in fiction since Sherlock Holmes.
Poirot, Miss Marple and her other detectives
have appeared in films, radio programmes,
television films and stage plays based on her
books.
Agatha Christie also wrote six romantic novels
under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, several
plays and a book of poems; as well, she assisted
her archaeologist.husband Sir Max Mallowan on
many expeditions to the Middle East. She was
awarded the DBE in 1971.
Postern of Fate was the last book she wrote
before her death in 1976, but since its
publication two books Agatha Christie wrote in
the 1940s have appeared: Curtain: Poirot's Last
Case and Sleeping Murder, the last Miss Marple
book.
Agatha Christie's Autobiography was
published by Fontana in 1978.
Available in Fontana by the same author
The ABC Murders
At Bertram's Hotel
The Body in the Library
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
The Clocks
Dead Man's Folly
Death Comes as the End
Destination Unknown
Elephants Can Remember
Endless Night
Evil Under the Sun
Hallowe'en Party
Hickory Dickory Dock
The Hollow
The Labours of Hercules
Lord Edgware Dies
The Moving Finger
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Murder in Mesopotamia
Murder is Easy
The Mysterious Mr Quin
The Mystery of the Blue Train
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Parker Pyne Investigates
Partners in Crime
A Pocket Full of Rye
Postern of Fate
Sad Cypress
Sleeping Murder
Taken at the Flood
And Then There Were None
The Thirteen Problems
Three Act Tragedy
and many others
AGATHA CHRISTIE
Hercule Poirot's
Casebook
FONTANA/CoIIins
This collection first published by Fontana Paperbacks 1989
This collection © Agatha Christie 1989
'The Incredible Theft', 'Murder in the Mews' and 'Triangle at Rhodes'
were first published in Murder in the Mews, 1937; 'The Dream' and 'Four
and Twenty Blackbirds' were first published in The Adventures of the
Christmas Pudding, 1960; and 'Problem at Sea', 'The Third-floor Flat',
'The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly', 'The King of Clubs' and 'The
Adventure of the Clapham Cook' were first published in Poirot's Early
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd, Glasgow
('ONDITI()NS ()l': SA[,I(
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall
not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired
out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior
consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent
purchaser.
CONTENTS
The Incredible Theft
Murder in the Mews
Triangle at Rhodes
The Dream
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Problem at Sea
The Third-floor Flat
The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly
The King of Clubs
The Adventure of the Clapham Cook
7
59
116
143
170
187
2O3
222
235
251
THE
INCREDIBLE THEFT
CHAPTERI
As the butler handed round the souffle, Lord Mayfield leaned
confidentially towards his neighbour on the right, Lady Julia
Carrington. Known as a perfect host, Lord Mayfield took
trouble to live up to his reputation. Although unmarried, he
was always charming to women.
Lady Julia Carrington was a woman of forty, tall, dark and
vivacious. She was very thin, but still beautiful. Her hands and
feet in particular were exquisite. Her manner was abrupt and
restless, that of a woman who lived on her nerves.
About opposite to her at the round table sat her husband, Air
Marshal Sir George Carrington. His career had begun in the
Navy, and he still retained the bluff breeziness of the ex-Naval
man. He was laughing and chaffing the beautiful Mrs
Vanderlyn, who was sitting on the other side of her host.
Mrs Vanderlyn was an extremely good-looking blonde. Her
voice held a soupcon of American accent, just enough to be
pleasant without undue exaggeration.
On the other side of Sir George Carrington sat Mrs Macatta,
M.P. Mrs Macatta was a great authority on Housing and
Infant Welfare. She barked out short sentences .rather than
spoke them, and was generally of somewhat alarming aspect. It
was perhaps natural that the Air Marshal would fred his right-hand
neighbour the pleasanter to talk to.
Mrs Macatta, who always talked shop wherever she was,
barked out short spates of information on her special subjects
to her left-hand neighbour, yomag Reggie Carrington.
Reggie Carrington was twenty-one, and completely uninter-ested
in Housing, Infant Welfare, and indeed any political
7
subject. He said at intervals, 'How frightful!' and 'I absolutely
agree with you,' and his mind was clearly elsewhere. Mr
Carlile, Lord Mayfield's private secretary, sat between young
Reggie and his mother. A pale young man with pince-nez and
an air of intelligent reserve, he talked little, but was always
ready to fling himself into any conversational breach. Noticing
that Reggie Carrington was struggling with a yawn, he leaned
forward and adroitly asked Mrs Macatta a question about her
'Fitness for Children' scheme.
Round the table, moving silently in the subdued amber light,
a butler and two footmen offered dishes and ffiled up wine-glasses.
Lord Mayfield paid a very high salary to his chef, and
was noted as a connoisseur of wines.
The table was a round one, but there was no mistaking who
was the host. Where Lord Mayfield sat was so
very decidedly
the head of the table. A big man, square-shouldered, with thick
silvery hair, a big straight nose and a slightly prominent chin.
It was a face that lent itself easily to caricature. As Sir Charles
McLaughlin, Lord Mayfield had combined a political career
with being the head of a big engineering firm. He was himself
a first-class engineer. His peerage had come a year ago, and at
the same time he had been created first Minister of Arma-ments,
a new ministry which had only just come into being.
The dessert had been placed on the table. The port had
circulated once. Catching Mrs Vanderlyn's eye, Lady Julia
rose. The three women left the room.
The port passed once more, and Lord Mayfield referred
lightly to pheasants. The conversation for five minutes or so
was sporting. Then Sir George said:
'Expect you'd like to join the others in the drawing-room,
Reggie, my boy. Lord Mayfield won't mind.'
The boy took the hint easily enough.
'Thanks, Lord Mayfield, I think I will.'
Mr Carlile mumured:
'If you'll excuse me, Lord Mayfield - certain memoranda
and other work to get through...'
Lord Mayfield nodded. The two young men left the. room.
8
The servants had retired some time before. The Minister for
Armaments and the head of the Air Force were alone.
After a minute or two, Carrington said:
'Well - O.K.?'
'Absolutely! There's nothing to touch this new bomber in
any country in Europe.'
'Make rings round 'em, eh? That's what I thought.'
'Supremacy of the air,' said Lord Mayfield decisively.
Sir George Carrington gave a deep sigh.
'Ab°ut time! You know, Charles, we've been through a
ticklish spell. Lots of gunpowder everywhere all over Europe.
And we weren't ready, damn it! We've had a narrow squeak.
And we're not out of the wood yet, however much we hurry on
construction.'
Lord Mayfield murmured:
'Nevetheless, George, there are some advantages in starting
late. A lot of the European stuff is out of date already - and
they're perilously near bankruptcy.'
'I don't believe that means anything,' said Sir George
gloomily. 'One's always hearing this nation and that is
bankrupt! But they carry on just the same. You know, fmance
is an absolute mystery to me.'
Lord Mayfield's eyes twinkled a little. Sir George Caning-ton
was always so very much the old fashioned 'bluff, honest
old sea dog'. There were people who said that it was a pose he
deliberately adopted.
Changing the subject, Carrington said in a slightly over-casual
manner:
'Attractive woman, Mrs Vandefiyn - eh?'
Lord Mayfield said:
'Are you wondering what she's doing here?'
His eyes were amused.
Carrington looked a little confused.
'Not at all - not at all.'
'Oh, yes, you were! Don't be an old humbug, George. You
were wondering, in a slightly dismayed fashion, whether I was
the latest victim!'
Carrington said slowly:
'I'll admit that it did seem a trifle odd to me that she should
be here - well, this particular weekend.'
Lord Mayfield nodded.
'Whre the carcass is, there are the vultures gathered
together. We've got a very del'mite carcass, and Mrs Vanderlyn
might be described as Vulture No. 1.'
The Air Marshal said abruptly:
'Know anything about this Vanderlyn woman?'
Lord Mayfield clipped off the end of a cigar, lit it with
precision and, throwing his head back, dropped out his words
with careful deliberation.
'What do I know about Mrs Vanderlyn? I know that she's an
American subject. I know that she's had three husbands, one
Italian, one German and one Russian, and that in consequence
she has made useful what I think are called "contacts" in three
countries. I know that she manages to buy very expensive
clothes and live in a very luxurious manner, and that there is
some slight uncertainty as to where the income comes from
which permits her to do so.'
With a grin, Sir George Cardngton murmured:
'Your spies have not been inactive, Charles, I see.'
'I know,' Lord Mayfield continuecl, 'that in addition to
having a seductive type of beauty, Mrs ¥anderlyn is also a very
good listener, and that she can display a fascinating interest in
what we call "shop". That is to say, a man can tell her all about
his job and feel that he is being intensely interesting to the lady!
Sundry young officers have gone a little too far in their zeal to
be interesting, and their careers have suffered in consequence.
They have told Mrs Vanderlyn a little rnore than they should
have done. Nearly all the lady's friends are in the Services - but
last winter she was hunting in a certain county near one of our
largest armament firms, and she formed various friendships
not at all sporting in character. Tm put it briefly, Mrs
Vanderlyn is a very useful person to...' 2I-Ie described a circle in
the air with his cigar. 'Perhaps we had ietter not say to whom!
10
We will just say to a European power - and perhaps to more
than one European power.'
Carrington drew a deep breath.
'You take a great load off my mind, Charles.'
'You thought I had fallen for the siren? My dear George!
Mrs Vanderlyn is just a little too obvious in her methods for a
wary old bird like me. Besides, she is, as they say, not quite so
young as she once was. Your young squadron leaders wouldn't
notice that. But I am fifty-six, my boy. In another four years I
shall probably be a nasty old man continually haunting the
society of unwilling debutantes.'
'I was a fool,' said Carrington apologetically, 'but it seemed
a bit odd '
'It seemed to you odd that she should be here, in a somewhat
intimate family party just at the moment when you and I were
to hold an unofficial conference over a discovery that will
probably revolutionize the whole problem of air defence?'
Sir George Carrington nodded.
Lord Mayfield said, smiling:
'That's exactly it. That's the bait.'
'The bait?'
'You see, George, to use the language of the movies, we've
nothing actually "on" the woman. And we want something!
She's got away with rather more than she should in the past.
But she's been careful - damnably careful. We know what she's
been up to, but we've got no definite proof of it. We've got to
tempt her with something big.'
'Something big being the specification of the new bomber?'
'Exactly. It's got to be something big enough to induce her
to take a risk - to come out into the open. And then - we've got her!'
Sir George grunted.
'Oh, well,' he said. 'I dare say it's all right. But suppose she
won't take the risk?'
'That would be a pity,' said Lord Mayfield. Then he added:
'But I think she will...'
H
e rose.
11
'Shall we join the ladies in the drawing-room? We mustn't
deprive your wife of her bridge.'
Sir George grunted:
'Julia's a damned sight too fond of her bridge. Drops a
packet over it. She can't afford to play as high as she does, and
I've told her so. The trouble is, Julia's a born gambler.'
Coming round the table to join his host, he said:
'Well, I hope your plan comes off, Charles.'
CHAPTER 2
In the drawing-room conversation had flagged more than
once. Mrs Vanderlyn was usually at a disadvantage when left
alone with members of her own sex. That channing sympa-thetic
manner of hers, so much appreciated by members of the
male sex, did not for some reason or other commend itself to
women. Lady Julia was a woman whose manners were either
very good or very bad. On this occasion she disliked Mrs
Vanderlyn, and was bored by Mrs Macatta, and made no secret