Lorna's Reviews > Dumb Witness

Dumb Witness was another suspenseful mystery to be solved by Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie. And this delightful book was again narrated by his friend Hastings as he joins Poirot in a very complicated investigation into the suspicious death of an elderly spinster, Emily Arundell, the last of five sisters living in the family home, Littlegreen House, in Market Basing, England. Complicating this investigation from the outset is that Hercule Poirot receives a letter from Emily Arundell, two months after her death, asking him to undertake investigations on her behalf with the utmost discretion because she suspects that a member of her family may be trying to kill her. The letter goes on to relate an an accident resulting in a fall down the stairs attributed to her fox terrier’s ball on the landing. However, she knows that is not how her fall occurred and is requesting that Poirot investigate further. Complicating this are her relatives that stand to benefit from her legacy, including several nieces and one nephew. And there is her companion, the flighty Wilhelmina “Minnie” Lawson and two long-time servants. At the center of the story is the delightful and frisky fox terrier, Bob, and his imagined inner monologues adding some humor to the tale. There is a lot of intrigue as the investigation ensues with each of the characters coming under suspicion. Again, Agatha Christie, the Queen of Mystery was way ahead of me.

“Jamais de la vie! Me, I reason. I employ little grey cells.”

“Naturally there are side issues. To separate the main issue from the side issues is the first task of the orderly mind.”