Lord Edgware Dies

Author: Agatha Christie

The public's memory is remarkably short. The murder of George Alfred St. Vincent Marsh, the fourth Baron Edgware, has become a thing of the past, fading into oblivion despite the intense interest and great excitement it caused, replaced by new, thrilling events. My friend Hercule Poirot's name was not explicitly mentioned in connection with this case, which I claim suited his preference; he preferred not to appear in it, and someone else received the praise he desired. Moreover, from his own peculiar perspective, that case was one of his failures. He often swore that what put him on the right track for this case was merely an observation made by a passerby. Even if we concede that, there is no doubt that his genius revealed the truth of the matter. I doubt they would have uncovered the identity of the culprit without Hercule Poirot. Therefore, I feel it is time for me to record all I know about this case, as I am privy to all its overt and hidden aspects. I also wish to state that in doing so, I am fulfilling the wish of a wonderful lady. I often recall the day we sat in Poirot's elegant, tidy, small sitting room, where our diminutive friend, pacing back and forth on a particular section of the rug, recounted the details of this case in his brilliant, astonishing manner. I shall begin my narrative where everything started, in a London theatre in July of last year. There was a great buzz around Carlotta Adams in London at the time. The previous year, she had presented a number of highly successful evening theatre performances, and that year she was presenting a three-week theatre season, and this night was the penultimate night of these performances. Carlotta Adams was an American girl with extraordinary skill in solo theatrical performances, without bothering with makeup or elaborate sets. She seemed to have the ability to speak every language fluently. Her theatrical performance—presenting a scene from a night in a foreign hotel—was incredibly remarkable. The scene was crowded with American and German tourists, English middle-class families, a group of suspicious ladies, a group of impoverished Russian aristocrats, and a group of depressed and bored servants.