Poirot is sent to Marsdon Manor by an insurance company to investigate the death of Mr Maltravers, who had recently taken out a life insurance policy with them.
Another enjoyable short mystery ( )

This Hercule Poirot short story first published in The Sketch magazine in the UK on April 18, 1923 and followed in the US in March 1924. It is the 7th short story featuring Poirot and his famed little grey cells.

Poirot is hired by an insurance company to investigate a death. Mr. Maltravers recently insured his life for £50,000 and only a few weeks later was discovered dead on his estate. Despite a local doctor declaring it a natural death by hemorrhage, Poirot is there to check the circumstances and either support or contest the cause of death.

I was curious just how much £50,000 would be in today's money adjusted for inflation.....and was surprised by the amount! More than £726,000! No wonder the insurance company required an investigation! Another lovely investigation by Poirot. He uses several interesting psychological tricks to get to the truth in this case! Very entertaining read!

Agatha Christie's Poirot adapted this story for television in 1991 (Series 3, episode 5). As usual the adaptation adds quite a bit to the story to flesh it out to make it episode-length, but the basics of the story are left intact. Very enjoyable to watch!

On to the next story: The Kidnapped Prime Minister.... ( )

Review: 59 of fifty

Title: [THE TRAGEDY AT MARSDON MANOR]

Author: [[AGATHA CHRISTIE]]

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: An aging, heavily-insured country squire whose estate is in financial ruin is thought to have committed suicide. Hercule Poirot investigates, in the guise of a representative of the victim's insurance company, to uncover the identity of the real murderer.

My Review: Another 99¢ Kindle Single and Agatha Christie's Poirot third season episode combination.

The story is a bit silly. It features a bit of theatrics that, frankly, the audience of 1991 should have snorted and roll their eyes over. The motive for the murder was not at all mysterious in either the story or the episode.

The episode's framing device was very amusing. Quite charming indeed, Poirot being summoned to the murder scene before it occurs by a writer who has backed himself into a plot-corner! Ha, wonderful stuff added out of whole cloth.

But really now! The source of the murder idea was as lame as anything I've ever seen on TV, but the story...! Ye gawds. Just an excuse to write the fun little puzzle. I can't say it's out of the top drawer, but it's far from the worst I've seen or read from Christie.


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The ending wasn't as good as Christie usually produces but she makes everything seem so effortless and she makes it just so easy to get lost in her work. I enjoyed the book quite a bit but am only giving three stars because the plotting could have been better and she didn't give enough clues re: the ending to make it solveable.
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