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Lord Edgware Dies

Lord Edgware Dies

ClassicsCrime
Pages
255
Published
1933
Language
English

Synopsis

Hercule Poirot attends a London supper party where the beautiful American actress Jane Wilkinson, now Lady Edgware, openly speaks of wanting to be rid of her cold, estranged husband so she can marry the Duke of Merton. She enlists Poirot to persuade Lord Edgware to grant a divorce, and to the detective's surprise the disagreeable peer agrees at once, claiming he has already written to consent. Soon afterward Lord Edgware is found stabbed to death in his study, and every clue points to his wife. Yet Jane has an unbreakable alibi: a dozen reputable witnesses swear she dined across town at the very hour of the killing. The case deepens when a gifted young impressionist, fresh from a celebrated stage turn, is also found dead. Working alongside Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp, Poirot confronts an apparent impossibility, a household full of resentments, and a tangle of false faces and borrowed identities. With his usual insistence on order, method, and the small revealing detail, Poirot must sort genuine alibi from clever performance and untangle who profited from the death of a much-hated man. The puzzle hinges on appearances, on who was truly where, and on a remark dropped at a dinner table that no one but Poirot thinks to weigh.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

IntellectualTenseAtmospheric
Secret IdentityBetrayalRivals

Genres

Classics Crime Mystery

About the author

A
Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the best-selling novelist of all time and the writer the world calls the "Queen of Crime." Born Agatha Miller in Torquay, Devon, she came to fiction on a dare: her sister Madge bet she could not write a convincing detective story, and the result, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Her dispensing work in a hospital pharmacy during the First World War, repeated again during the Second, gave her the expert knowledge...

Characters

Hercule PoirotProtagonist

The Belgian detective whose faith in order, method, and the telling small detail unravels a case built on appearances.

Captain Arthur HastingsSupporting

Poirot's loyal friend and the novel's narrator, whose plain-spoken impressions frame the investigation.

Inspector JappSupporting

The Scotland Yard inspector who works the official side of the case and trades wits with Poirot.

Jane WilkinsonSupporting

A celebrated American stage actress, now Lady Edgware, who wants a divorce so she can marry the Duke of Merton.

Lord EdgwareSupporting

A cold, widely disliked peer whose murder opens the investigation.

All characters in Lord Edgware Dies

Frequently asked questions

  • What is the alternate US title of Lord Edgware Dies?

    In the United States the novel was published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1933 under the title Thirteen at Dinner. The UK edition, from the Collins Crime Club, kept the title Lord Edgware Dies.

  • Where does the title Thirteen at Dinner come from?

    It refers to the old superstition that when thirteen people sit down to dinner together, the first to rise from the table will meet bad luck or death. The motif of thirteen guests at a meal recurs in the story and inspired the American title.

  • Where does Lord Edgware Dies fall in the Hercule Poirot series?

    It is the ninth full-length novel in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot series, first published in 1933. It is narrated by Captain Hastings and also features Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard.

  • When was Lord Edgware Dies first published?

    It was serialized in The American Magazine in 1933 before book publication. The UK first edition appeared from the Collins Crime Club in September 1933, with the US edition following later that year.

  • Who is the dedication for?

    Christie dedicated the book to Dr. and Mrs. Campbell Thompson. Reginald Campbell Thompson was a British archaeologist whose dig at Nineveh was joined by Christie's husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan.

  • Has Lord Edgware Dies been adapted for television?

    Yes. It was adapted as a feature-length episode of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot, broadcast on 19 February 2000, with David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Hastings and Philip Jackson as Japp. The screenplay was written by Anthony Horowitz and the episode was directed by Brian Farnham.

  • Was there an earlier film version of the novel?

    Yes. A 1934 British film titled Lord Edgware Dies was produced, and a 1985 American television film adapted the story under the US title Thirteen at Dinner, starring Peter Ustinov as Poirot. Both draw directly on Christie's novel.

  • What kind of puzzle drives the mystery?

    The case turns on alibis and the question of who was truly where at the moment of the murder, since the prime suspect appears to have been seen elsewhere by many witnesses. Themes of performance, mimicry and assumed identity run throughout, fitting a story set among actors and impressionists.

  • Do I need to read earlier Poirot books first?

    No. Like most of Christie's Poirot novels it stands on its own as a self-contained mystery. Reading earlier entries adds familiarity with Poirot, Hastings and Japp but is not required to follow this case.