Murder in the Mews
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Series 1
"Murder in the Mews"
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| David Suchet as Hercule Poirot |
Suicide or murder? That is the mystery Detective Hercule Poirot must solve in “Murder in the Mews.”
Barbara Allen is found dead, but not all is as it seems
On the surface, Barbara Allen died by her own hand. There is just one problem. Barbara was shot on the left side of her head, and everyone Poirot asks claims she was right-handed. Even her desk is arranged for a right-handed person. So, if Barbara Allen was right-handed, why and how would she have used her left hand to commit suicide?
Barbara’s flatmate, Jane Plenderleith, is the one who found Barbara. However, she does not tell Barbara’s fiancé, Charles Laverton West, about the death. I find this odd. One would think Jane would call Charles soon after finding the body, but I guess not. Instead, she leaves this task for Chief Inspector Japp and Poirot to do.
Charles Laverton West is not a man in love
Not that I exactly blame Jane for not wanting to talk to Charles. He is a rather pompous man. There is little feeling or care when he is told Barbara has died. He is far more concerned about the press than the woman he was supposed to be in love with.
Although, I suspect Charles had very little love for Barbara. He believed everyone in her life was not good enough to be in his presence. Once they were married, he fully expected Barbara to drop all the people from her life he thought were not of consequence, which was everyone. How Barbara felt about that, or even knew about this expectation, I don’t know.
But then what does one expect from a man who is so full of himself he doesn’t even know if his fiancée is right- or left-handed? He also believes that because he is a member of parliament that he is exempt from police questioning. He sure got a rude awakening on that one.
Overall, Charles is a man I am perfectly happy not getting to know.
Poirot finds his way on a golf course
With the suicide looking like it may have been murder, Poirot decides to spend more time at Barbara’s flat and with Jane. He observes Jane exhibit some very strange behavior, such as going to a golf course and throwing away golf clubs. This happens after Poirot himself does some golfing. It is a very odd scene in my mind, as Poirot strikes me as a person whose only physical activity is a nice walk. Definitely not golf. But the trip to the golf course does help him solve the case.
A starched collar leads to a questioning of the times
What behavior is more like Poirot is his obsession with the starch in his collar. He is very unhappy with it and keeps writing letters to the laundry, but nothing changes. He then complains to his secretary, Miss Lemon, about his collars and the letters, and she has to explain that no one at the laundry speaks or reads English. They only speak and read Chinese.
In order to explain to the laundry about the collars, Miss Lemon uses this offensive, mostly English, made-up Chinese phrasing to get her point across. She learned it from her and Poirot’s friend Captain Hastings.
The phrasing was jarring to hear as I have not heard it for quite some time, and it did not seem to fit the characters as I have come to know them. Society has long learned how offensive and inappropriate such phrasing is, but that may not have been understood or acknowledged in the 1980s, when this episode was made, or in the 1930s, when this episode was set. Now we do know, and that is why it was startling to hear such phrasing in this episode.
Poirot doesn’t quite know everything
The relationship between Hastings and Poirot I found particularly interesting. Usually, Poirot dismisses the thought of Hastings having any intelligence at all. Yet, when it comes to saying English phrases correctly, Poirot has complete faith that Hastings knows what he is talking about. Which is good, because Hastings corrects Poirot a lot. Poirot often will get a phrase almost correct, but not fully, and that is where Hastings will kindly step in with the correct word.
This behavior reminds me of Tony and Ziva on NCIS. Ziva would get a phrase almost correct, and Tony would tell her the actual phrase. Although, Tony may not always do the correction quite as nicely as Hastings does.
Back to Hastings, I personally believe he is far more intelligent than Poirot will ever allow himself to believe. It suits Poirot to believe Hastings will never measure up to him with intelligence. But there is a lot of knowledge in Hastings’s head. It’s just different from Poirot’s. It would benefit Poirot to recognize that at some point. Who knows when Hastings’s knowledge could be useful.
Main Cast
Hercule Poirot – David Suchet Captain Hastings – Hugh Fraser
Chief Inspector Japp – Philip Jackson Miss Lemon – Pauline Moran
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