First Published: 1936
RATING: GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
Hercule Poirot is on a cruise in Egypt. The passengers all talk about Colonel Clapperton and his wife, Lady Clapperton. They got married after Colonel Clapperton got wounded in the war. One of the guests, Miss Ellie Henderson expresses her admiration for the man, but General Forbes says that the man is just a fraud as he was an artist in variety shows at the theatre, and he simply joined the army when the war broke out, and he was active just for a few months when he was wounded and sent to hospital.
Many of the passengers agree that Mrs Clapperton treats her husband horribly, and there are a couple of young women who seek Mr Clapperton’s company all the time. Poirot thinks that it is strange that Mr Clapperton accepts his wife’s treatment meekly. When the ship drops anchor in Alexandria, the young girls, Pam and Kitty, ask Mr Clapperton to go to the city with them. Clapperton first knocks at his wife’s cabin, but it is closed. He and the two young woman hear her say that she wants to rest and the cabin is locked because she doesn’t want the stewards to disturb her.
Four hours later Clapperton returns to the ship, and the cabin is still locked, so he calls the crew when his wife won’t answer. They find Mrs Clappterton with a knife stuck in her chest, and a string of beads is found next to the body. As a consequence, a steward is arrested.
Poirot is not convinced. The only person who would benefit from the lady’s death is her husband but he had an alibi as he was walking the town with the two young ladies. Poirot gathers everybody to reveal the solution to the mystery. He stands before everybody and unwraps an object. It is a big wooden doll, and the voice of Mrs Clapperton is heard saying the same words that Mr Clapperton and the young ladies heard before leaving the ship. On hearing that Mr Clapperton collapses and dies. Poirot explains that he had a heart condition, which he guessed when he saw a prescription for digitalis in Lady Clapperton’s bag. Poirot also explains that in his theatrical career Clapperton was a ventriloquist, so when he knocked on the cabin’s door, the voice they heard was his because he had killed his wife already. His motive was that he wanted his freedom to romance younger women like the ones on board the ship.
My Reading Journal 