I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: I hate this one.
Despite his hatred of sailing, Hercule Poirot finds himself on a cruise ship for a nice vacation. But when the ship makes port, one of the passengers is murdered in her cabin! With the door locked and a strange clue leading everyone off the trail, can Poirot get to the bottom of this?
On paper, the puzzle is pretty cool! A murder in a locked room, no way in or out. How could that be? A clue placing suspect outside of the passengers? How’d that get there? It’s an interesting brain-scratcher.
Unfortunately, the final reveal is nothing short of stupid. You cannot solve it yourself with the clues given, since the clues given are all revealed to be lies. Not in a clever subversive way, either. The culprit is caught because he’s a ventriloquist, but he threw everyone off by… pretending to be able to cheat at cards?
Ignoring how absolutely fucking stupid that is, Poirot’s actions are even dumber. Man intentionally gives the killer a heart attack, knowing full well that it would kill him. Why? Because Poirot… doesn’t condone murder.
I guess he also doesn’t condone due process. Oh, and ignore all those other times that Poirot let the killer get away because he sympathized with them. This is definitely in character, trust me.
Pacing is also an issue. Over half the story is dedicated to character building, with the mystery only coming into play towards the end! Normally, I’d like this more character-focused story, but the characters are all flat, one-note, and boring!
Of all the Poirot shorts I’ve discussed thus far, this one might just be my least favorite. I genuinely can’t think of anything I actually liked. I wouldn’t recommend reading this one; basically any other Poirot short is a better use of your time than this one.
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