Mrs. McGinty er blevet slået ihjel. Hendes logerende James Bentley er blevet dømt for mordet, men politiinspektør Spence synes alligevel ikke at det er sandsynligt at Bentley kunne slå den gamle dame ihjel og henvender sig til Hercule Poirot. Poirot har egentlig trukket sig tilbage, men han keder sig og har stor respekt for Spence, så han tager sagen. I starten famler han rundt uden at finde andet end små bitte antydninger af at det måske ikke var Bentley. Fx blev McGinty's penge fundet, men ikke mordvåbenet og det kunne skyldes at pengene kunne pege på Bentley, mens mordvåbenet - noget i stil med en kødøkse - måske ville pege på en helt anden. Han tager til landsbyen Broadhinny, hvor McGinty gjorde rent for flere af familierne og han falder over en avis, hvor hun har klippet et billede ud. Et billede, hvor man ser fotos af fire kvinder som har været involveret i mordsager og teksten "hvor er de nu?".
MaGinty har set et af de fire ansigter og nu er hun død.
Poirot finder ud af at hun har købt en flaske blæk kort inden og finder ud af at hun har skrevet brev til avisen. Han begynder nu højlydt og med uventet hjælp fra Ariadne Oliver at fortælle om at han er tæt på den rigtige morder og at Bradley er uskyldig. Han finder også en sukkerhammer, som han er overbevist om er mordvåbenet. Og nogen forsøger at slå ham ihjel, hvilket gør ham glad fordi det viser at han er på rette spor. Der er en herlig forvirring af spor, fordi Poirot ikke ved hvilket af de fire fotos, der har givet anledning til mordet. Mrs Upward lugter lunten, men bliver kvalt inden hun får givet mistanken luft. Poirot tænker til gengæld over at en række falske spor alle peger på kvinder som den skyldige og ergo er det en mand, der er skurken. Robin Upward afsløres med stort drama af Poirot som Evelyn Hope, Eva Kanes søn og motivet til begge drab var at sikre sig Mrs Upwards penge.
Efter afsløringen fortæller Poirot til Spence at han vil lege giftekniv mellem Deirdre Henderson og James Bentley.
I fællesskab opdager de to også at det var Dr. Rendell der prøvede at skubbe Poirot ud foran et tog og at Rendell formentlig har et fortid som aldrig-dømt hustrumorder.
Glimrende krimi ( )

This is the first Poirot book I have read, although it is the twenty-eighth of the series (out of thirty-nine). I have always been a fan of the TV series, so when Christmas came around my parents naturally bought me two of the books.

This one has Poirot going to see his friend Superintendent Spence, who has just had a man convicted for murder based on his evidence, and he will be hanged. However, he feels unhappy with the verdict, because although all the evidence points directly to him, he doesn’t feel he is the right ‘type’ to kill, so asks Poirot to take a look at the case and see if he can either find the real culprit or put his mind at ease.

It’s a lot shorter than I was expecting, but it was definitely a good read. The twists in the story kept me interested the whole way through; it was a pleasure to read and hard to put down. And Poirot himself is absolutely charming, I found him very likeable. All the characters were very believable. It also has some great humorous comments (not laugh out loud funny, but enough to make me chuckle or smile to myself) so it’s not all doom and gloom. Definitely enjoyable, but more of a light, short read (in my opinion).

The only downside I had about this book was that I didn’t know men could be called ‘Evelyn’ and women ‘Craig’ – both seem pretty gender-specific names to me. Maybe I’m just being petty but it did bother me a bit (though it may be just a matter of time-difference, since Poirot is obviously not set in the modern day). ( )

Prompted once again by a TV dramatisation I sought out the source material and found it another delightful read. ( )

When an elderly and poor cleaning lady is murdered her lodger is tried and sentenced to death quickly. But something just doesn't seem right to Superintendent Spence, so he asks for M. Poirot's help. Poirot sees no reason to question the guilty verdict at first-until his interest is piqued by a bottle of ink.
This is a good one. I managed to figure out the murderer but got the motives wrong. Great characters. ( )

Superintendent Spence is retiring, and he is justly proud of his record. He has never hung an innocent man - until now. Although the evidence seems solid enough and there are no other suspects, Spence just can't convince himself that meek James Bentley murdered his landlady. But he is called off on another case, so he turns to an old friend - Hercule Poirot.

Poirot is more than willing to look into the murder. He is not finding retirement as congenial as he thought he would and he is convinced by the case Spence makes. But time is against him and he must rush to get to the bottom of this murder.

Fortunately, Ariadne Oliver is also on the scene, and she unearths several helpful clues for Poirot. The case is soon wrapped up in the fate of four women, each involved in a murder committed many years ago. Mrs. McGinty knew something about one of those cases. But which one?

I enjoyed this story. Mrs. Oliver is always a fun character. But it's Poirot I want to read about, and this book was a solid example of the great detective at work. ( )