Five Little Pigs
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Five Little Pigs (published in 1943), also known as Murder in Retrospect, is one of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries.
Plot
Poirot is engaged by a young woman, Carla Lemarchant, to take another look at a case that the police closed 14 years ago. Carla's father, painter Amyas Crale, was murdered with the poison, coniine. Her mother, Caroline, was found guilty of the crime. Before dying in prison, she wrote to Carla, professing her innocence. Carla wants Poirot to reinvestigate and find out the truth.
Having examined the history of the case, Poirot finds five other possible suspects, each of whom recounts their version of the events leading up to the murder:
- Phillip Blake, (the stockbroker) who went to market, was in love with Caroline Crayle. However, his love turned to passionate hatred when she rejected his advances even as her husband openly flaunted his liasion with Elsa.
- Meredith Blake, (the amateur herbalist) who stayed at home, is Philip's brother. Meredith Blake is devoted to Caroline but also in love with Elsa. Meredith blames himself for Amyas's death because the poison used to kill him came from his laboratory.
- Elsa Greer, (the three-time divorcee) who "had roast beef", now Lady Dittisham, is the beautiful, spoiled, "Juliet-like" mistress of Amyas Crayle, who is painting a picture of her at the time of his untimely death. Passionately in love with Amyas, she believes that he will soon leave his wife, and hates Caroline for destroying her happiness.
- Cecilia Williams, (the devoted governess) who "had none". Governess of Angela at the time of the murder, Cecilia Williams is proud of her charge sixteen years later, and hopes that she played some part in molding Angela into a now-successful archaeologist.
- Angela Warren, (the disfigured sister) who cried "'wee wee wee' all the way home". Devoted half-sister of Caroline, disfigured at an early age, when a young Caroline threw a paperweight at her in a jealous rage. Angela believes in her sister's innocence, even sixteen years after the fact, when she is a successful archaeologist.
- Amyas Crayle, the victim, a famous painter, whose work has been exhibited at the Tate Gallery, has the artistic temperament which accounts for his various infidelities. He is willing to do anything it takes to complete the painting he is working on. He brings his current mistress, Elsa Greer, also the subject of his last painting, into his home, without regard for his wife's feelings.
- Caroline Crayle, the beautiful, fiery wife of Amyas, mother of Carla, enjoys loud rows with her husband. Brought to trial on suspicion of having murdered her husband, she dies in prison soon after being convicted, unwilling to defend herself to anyone but her daughter, to whom she writes a letter protesting her innocence.
The title
Like several of Christie's works, the novel is named for a nursery rhyme and the chapter structure corresponds with the rhyme.
Stage version
In 1960, Christie adapted the book into a play, Go Back For Murder, but edited Poirot out of the story.
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