Book Review: Dumb Witness

Dumb Witness

It is the Friday before Easter, and Ms. Emily Arundell of Market Basing welcomes her young nephews and nieces, people with whom she has no choice but to share her wealthy estate. Could this be a setup for murder, you ask? Yes, you bet it is. Thus when Ms. Arundell is injured by falling down a staircase, contrary to everyone's belief that she got tripped over a ball left by her pet terrier Bob, she is shocked to realize that she has been a victim of an attempted murder.

But soon enough, three things happen - death does catch up with her, her clumsy subservient companion Ms. Minnie Lawson is declared the unexpected sole beneficiary of her property, and Hercule Poirot turns up on the spot to exercise his grey cells and unmask the killer. While the mystery is decidedly satisfactory, it doesn't help that the suspecting characters are uninteresting. Not only does it rob the story of its best moments, the plot, which opens intriguingly well, slackens after a point and it's frustrating Poirot overlooks a simple fact and misses out its importance for a fairly long time by indulging in pointless conversations. May be Agatha Christie wanted to portray him as one who too can err (imbecile as she puts) occasionally?