Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie was another book from World Book Fair 2024 Book Haul. You can read my review of the other book – “Murder in the Family”- HERE.
The theme of “Dumb Witness” by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie’s 1937 novel, “Dumb Witness,” is a classic whodunit that will keep you guessing until the very last page. The story unfolds with the arrival of a frantic and cryptic letter from Market Basings at the doorstep of our celebrated eccentric detective, Hercule Poirot. While Dr. Hastings, Poirot’s aide dismissed it as the senile and senseless mumblings of an old woman, Poirot suspects that the sender Ms Emily Arundell is in fear for her life.
Intrigued, Poirot sets off to investigate, only to discover upon his arrival that Miss Arundell had died two months before he received her letter and had left all her assets to her lady companion Ms. Wilhelma Lawson to everyone’s surprise and gossip at the town of Market Basings.
The Quaint Market Basings setting
Christie’s storytelling is quite charming in “Dumb Witness”. Her prose is clear and concise, drawing you into the quaint English village setting and the lives of its inhabitants. It is endearing to see the English village life and to read about their interactions right from the village grocer to the spiritually inclined Tripp Sisters. The narrative cleverly shifts perspectives, allowing you to peek into the minds of the various characters, each with their dark secrets and ulterior motives.
But who is the “dumb witness” in this Christie Mystery?
The answer is both surprising and delightful. It’s Bob, Miss Arundell’s loyal wire-haired terrier. Though unable to speak, Bob’s presence and behavior throughout the story hold hidden clues that Poirot, with his keen eye for detail, meticulously unravels. The dumb witness acts as a catalyst in solving the mystery behind the death of his beloved Mistress.
The Plot
A letter arrives for Hercule Poirot on 28th June but the letter was written on 17th April and posted much later. In the letter, Miss Emily Arundell. an elderly spinster (as deducted by Poirot) entreats to investigate the goings on in her mansion – The Little Green House. To his dismay, Poirot discovers that he is too late to help Miss Arundell and she passes away a few days after writing the letter. Though the client is dead, Poirot feels duty-bound to find out the real cause of her death, surrounded as she was by hungry and unscrupulous nieces and nephews.
As the investigation progresses, Poirot, with his trusty companion Captain Hastings by his side, meticulously examines the seemingly mundane details – a misplaced ball, a seance during which the observers saw a luminous aura around Ms Arundell, two wills. Each piece of the puzzle adds a layer to the complex web of deceit woven around Miss Arundell.
The suspects in this case are a colorful bunch: greedy relatives, a mysterious spiritualist couple, and even Miss Arundell’s seemingly devoted companion Miss Lawson. Christie masterfully creates an atmosphere of suspicion, where everyone seems to have something to hide.
Final Verdict
Being a Christie fan and a rather seasoned reader of mysteries, even I could not guess the ending!
The magic of “Dumb Witness” lies in its cleverly constructed plot. Just when you think you’ve figured out the culprit, Christie throws in a new twist, keeping you guessing. From the deceased lady’s companion Ms Lawson to the fashionable and bitchy niece Theresa, the needle keeps pointing in different directions. These twists are cleverly woven in such a way that they only build up the suspense thicker while not making it too convoluted and that is a difficult thing to pull off for a crime writer. The final revelation, delivered in Poirot’s signature dramatic style, is both shocking and satisfying because it fits the facts presented so far.
“Dumb Witness” is a perfect read for anyone who enjoys a good mystery with a touch of the unexpected with a bit of canine charm which had me chuckling. For a change, “The Dumb Witness” has some light and witty moments as compared to most other Agatha Christie mysteries I have read so far, which feels like a relief from the usual sharp and taut narration in most Poirot mysteries.
My rating is a 3.8/5
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Dr. Preeti Chauhan.
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