Newsletter – October 2, 2026
Yesterday we entered October Country where things are not always what they seem and the unknown is mysterious indeed. The mystery above, though, is in the capable hands of the famous detective Hercule Poirot, one of Agatha Christie’s most well-known crime solvers.
I read my first Agatha Christie mystery in high school when the Scholastic Books were featured on a four page flyer and you could order a pocket paperback for 75 cents. I chose The ABC Murders and was introduced to M. Poirot and his “little grey cells” long before I delved into my First Sherlock Holmes story.
“It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely. One must seek the truth within—not without.” ~ Poirot
At that same high school, where I substituted just last week, a free-for-the-taking withdrawal cart outside the library held three Agatha Christie novels. Two of them featured Hercule Poirot. I intend to read them all and then donate them to a “little library” I’ve seen around town.
In this story, M. Poirot visits his dentist and observes a young man in the waiting room who he thinks looks like a murderer. Of course, a death does take place and Chief Inspector Japp requests the help of Poirot to solve the unexplained circumstances.
The dentist is found dead in his office, shot apparently by his own hand. Then the patient he worked on last dies at home of a heart attack. Perhaps the dentist realized he had injected too much painkiller and committed suicide rather than face the consequences? Poirot isn’t convinced and starts to investigate a possible murder.
This rather cozy mystery has all the elements of the standard motive-means-opportunity puzzle that seems a little mundane for this detective. Then Poirot learns that there is something far more important going on that has the flavor of an international incident. The scope of the puzzle widens considerably.
I leave the rest for you discover on your own.
(It’s interesting to note that this story was first published in 1941 during the German Blitzkrieg of WWII before the US entered the war with the attack on Pearl Harbor.)
TTFN
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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles
