Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie: A Re-read from Audiobook

🐷 I have read almost all – if not all - Agatha Christie's crime novels, yet, still could never accurately predict the murderer before the dénouement. Oh, I guessed them quite often, I did. Yet, I have never been completely sure. You know how it is, if not a couple of red-herrings that make you doubt yourself, then the idea is too absurd - like in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, for instance. When I got to several last chapters of Five Little Pigs, I saw a loophole, and knew instantly the murderer. It was a 'eureka' moment for me. I got to the dénouement excitingly; have I predicted the whodunnit correctly this time? Alas, no! Agatha Christie did it again.

🐷 A young girl called Clara Lemarchant hired Poirot to investigate a murder of her father, sixteen years ago. Her mother, Caroline Crale, was found guilty of poisoning him. Carla never doubts that her mother was innocent, but now that she's engaged to be married, Carla and her fiancé needs to know the truth.

🐷 Investigating a murder that happened in the past has its difficulty - the detective can't see the crime scene, or looking for clues. But these things never hamper Hercule Poirot - his investigation method is more on the psychological side, besides on the facts. For this case, he interviews people who was involved in the case: the police, the solicitor, the doctor. But most importantly, he visits five people who were present at the crime scene: Philip Blake (close friend of the victim - a painter called Amyas Crale), Meredith Blake (amateur chemist, Philip's brother, in love with Caroline Crale), Elsa Greer (young girl, Amyas's model, wanting to marry him), Angela Warren (Caroline's half-sister), and Cecilia Williams (Angela's governess). These five are Poirot's suspects, whom he dubs as 'five little pigs', following a nursery rhyme.

🐷 These interviews and, later on, five written "views" from each suspect's perspective on the event, help Poirot to see the truth, which had eluded the police sixteen years ago. His success was due to his ability to analyze psychological condition of all the suspects, but particularly of Caroline.

🐷 At first, it seemed like a simple case. Amyas must have angered someone, and the person saw an opportunity, and put something into his drink. But Poirot shows us that it wasn't that simple. The solution was smart, and Christie had actually put a hint in the previous chapter, if only I've read more thoroughly. Just one word that I have thought incorrect before, proved to be the key. I would have to be careful to mince every word and sentence on my next Christie read – she’s such a skillful words-weaver!

🐷 This mystery isn't like any regular Golden Age detective stories, which depend on clues and alibis. It's all about psychology. Another masterpiece from Christie, and I don't understand why it wasn't as famous as, say... Murder on the Orient Express, which I found 'meh'. I have completed this book by listening to the audiobook version, narrated, as with most of Christie’s audiobooks, by Hugh Fraser.

Rating: 5 / 5

This book counts for: British Crime Classics Challenge 2023

For Bingo Card: Death by Poison

For Monthly Theme: Books by Agatha Christie