Give your little gray cells a rest, friends. We’re removing our detective hats and sitting down for drama this time!
Poirot goes to visit an old friend. Only he’s not here for pleasure. There is murder afoot, as per usual. This time, Papa Poirot isn’t here to solve the case, but rather to prevent the crime from occurring at all.
This is a refreshing change of pace from the usual Poirot fare. Murder looms in the distance rather than being done and over. It puts him in a unique position and makes for an intriguing little short.
With that said, there is very little mystery to be had in this short. There are only three characters, and the true identity of the would-be killer is revealed rather quickly. This is one of the shortest Poirot stories I’ve reviewed to date, and I can’t help but wish it were longer; some extra breathing room really would have made this story thrive!
In place of mystery, we get some character drama. As no one has died yet, Poirot needs to appeal to the man’s better nature to solve the case rather than use brilliant deductive reasoning. Again, this makes me wish the short were longer; if we had a chance to actually get to know these characters, it could have made for some really compelling drama!
Even so, the story we got was pretty good. It was short, simple, and engaging. Give it a read if you’ve got twenty or so minutes to kill.
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