Agatha Christie. Third Girl. (1966) A girl shows up at Poirot’s flat asking for help. She believes she has committed a murder. But she rejects his help when she sees him, exclaiming that he’s too old. Thus begins an extremely tangled web of deceit, misinformation, misremembrances, disguises, dead ends, and a dysfunctional family’s history. A couple of lucky discoveries enable Poirot to fit the pieces together into a pattern that makes sense, and all’s well that ends well. The girl even gets a very suitable young man. The plot almost slips away from Christie this time, but she manages to pull off a convincing denouement. Her skill at writing dialogue has improved enormously compared to her first books, in which it is often difficult to keep track of the speakers.
This novel was made into a video in 2008 (season 11 of the Poirot TV series). The movie is much simplified, with fewer characters and a less tangled plot. The essential deceptions still operate, and the girl also gets a most suitable young man. But having reread the novel, I think it’s a more satisfying mystery than the video. Not to say that the video is a failure. The video will no doubt please those who know Poirot with David Suchet playing the role as only he can. It pleased me, for taken on its own terms, it’s an average Poirot movie, which means it’s pretty good.
Book ***, video **½
No comments:
Post a Comment