One, two, buckle my shoe : a Hercule Poirot novel (edição 2004)

Radio adaptation: Poirot’s dentist appears to have committed suicide. More than usual convoluted plot. Didn’t feel enough info was given that I could have solved the puzzle. Bah humbug. ( )

Naming her chapters after a funny rhyme, linking the plot to them as well, is a nice and clever trick of [a:Christie|123715|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1321738793p2/123715.jpg] in this murder mystery. I like the book for its story as well as its characters and the - again - original circumstances in which the murder(s) happened.

However, again I felt that we as a reader were not so much invited to try and solve the mystery alongside Poirot as to simply lean backward and enjoy the plot; so complicated I found it. That can be nice of course, but I have come to expect a bit more of the Poirot-series. ( )

One morning, Hercule Poirot visits his dentist as a patient. That afternoon, he returns as a detective: Dr. Henry Morley has died in suspicious circumstances. On the surface it appears to be suicide, but was it in fact murder?

This is one of those slightly bananas Agatha Christies that have political shenanigans in them: spies, anti-Communists, subversive elements, shady businessmen who seem to be *really* controlling the world. It isn’t one of the better Poirots (and for people who are afraid of the dentist, the fact that a different patient dies shortly after visiting Poirot’s dentist is not reassuring). I derived my greatest enjoyment from remembering Christopher Eccleston’s turn as Frank Carter in the adaptation of this book for the David Suchet series. ( )

The death of Poirot’s dentist reunites him with Inspector Japp for one final investigation together.

An unusually bleak foray for Dame Agatha, coinciding with the onset of World War II, and investigating conflicts between conservatism and communism. It’s not always subtle, nor brilliant, but it’s an interesting step for Christie. However, "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is neither particularly eye-catching nor, for that matter, unpredictable… at least in the murder mystery elements. Poirot – who starts the book the victim of some very gleeful humour regarding his fear of dentists – is forced to face his own conscience, and the resulting dilemma is very well articulated. (Perhaps needless to say, at the point, the eponymous nursery rhyme ain’t all that important. It was a useful gambit around which Christie could set a story, but often ended in nought.)

Is there anything terrible about this novel? No, not in the least. It’s readable, and Japp puts in a strong performance. The David Suchet adaptation – while not my personal favourite – was the series’ first real foray into bleakness, and plays it well.

[US readers - lucky you - got not one but two alternative titles for this book: The Patriotic Murders and An Overdose of Death.]

Poirot ranking: 27th out of 38 ( )

Excellent with twists and turns. ( )