After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
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Synopsis
After the funeral of the wealthy Richard Abernethie, his relatives assemble for the reading of the will at Enderby Hall. The death was not unexpected and of natural causes. Nevertheless, Mrs Cora Lansquenet, says, "It's been hushed up very nicely ... but he was murdered, wasn't he?" The family lawyer, Mr Entwhistle, begins to investigate. Mr Entwhistle relates the outline of the will to the relatives. As Richard's wife and child died before he did, his possessions are divided among his two living siblings and the widow or children of those who died before him. His brother Timothy and sister Cora Lansquenet were alive when he wrote the will. Brothers Leo and Gordon were killed in the war. Richard has a nephew and two nieces, the sum total of the next generation. He spent time with his nephew George, and his nieces Susan and Rosamund and their husbands, Leo's widow Helen, Timothy, and Cora. He split his wealth in six portions. Enderby Hall is to be sold.
The next day, Cora Lansquenet is murdered in her sleep at her home by repeated blows with a hatchet. The motive is not obvious. Her life income reverts to Richard's estate. Miss Gilchrist, Cora's companion, thinks it is because Richard was poisoned, as Cora told her. Miss Gilchrist gains nothing from Cora's death except Cora's own paintings. Entwhistle calls on his friend, Hercule Poirot, to resolve doubts about the death of Richard. Poirot employs an old friend, Mr Goby, to investigate the family. Goby rapidly turns up a number of reasons for family members desperate for the money in Richard's estate. Goby employs all sorts of clever methods to uncover the most private information, using agents who pose as actors, lawyers or Catholic nuns. None of the family members can be cleared of suspicion.
Cora Lansquenet was an artist and collector of paintings from local sales. Niece Susan Banks, heir of Cora's property, goes to her cottage to clear up the possessions and prepare them for auction, on the day of the inquest into Cora's murder. Miss Gilchrist's claims that Cora always painted from life, yet Susan finds one quite recent painting featuring a pier that was destroyed in the war. The next day, after Cora's funeral, art critic Alexander Guthrie, arrives to look through Mrs Lansquenet's recent purchases as previously scheduled. He finds nothing of any value there. That evening, Miss Gilchrist is poisoned by arsenic in a slice of wedding cake apparently sent to her through the post. She ate just a small portion of it, which saved her. Inspector Morton investigates the Lansquenet murder along with Poirot.
Poirot joins the family as they gather to look over and select items of interest before the estate auction. Timothy Abernethie, his wife Maude, and Miss Gilchrist, who is now assisting them, come to Enderby. Poirot briefly poses as Monsieur Pontalier but Rosamund uncovers his guise the first evening. Helen Abernethie telephones Entwhistle early the next morning with the news that she has realised what struck her odd the day of the funeral. Before she can say more, she is savagely struck on the head.
Helen is safely away to recover from her concussion. Inspector Morton asks each family member to account for themselves on the day of Cora Lansquenet's murder. Cora had not come to the funeral at all. It was Miss Gilchrist in disguise, as part of a plot for her own gain, leaving Cora home asleep from a sedative in her tea. Miss Gilchrist planted the idea that Richard Abernethie's death had been a murder - when Cora is murdered, it would seem that Richard's alleged murderer had killed Cora to silence her. None of the family had seen Cora for more than two decades, due to the ill feeling at the time of her marriage. Miss Gilchrist copied her mannerisms and the only flaw in her portrayal was spotted by Helen Abernethie - Miss Gilchrist had rehearsed a characteristic turn of the head in a mirror, where the reflection is a reverse of reality; when she came to the house after the funeral, she turned her head to the left, not the right. After a timely conversation among the young cousins, Helen realises this difference. Miss Gilchrist gave herself away to Poirot by referring to the wax flowers on the green malachite table the first day the relatives gathered to select objects before the auction: these were on display on the day of the reading of Richard Abernethie's will but removed by the time Miss Gilchrist, as herself, visited Enderby Hall. She had deliberately poisoned herself with the arsenic-laced wedding cake to evade suspicion and appear yet another potential victim, which aroused suspicions.
Miss Gilchrist recognised a painting by Vermeer in Cora's purchases, but Cora did not recognize it. Mr Guthrie would have seen the painting's value, so Miss Gilchrist made her plan of murder. Miss Gilchrist covered the Vermeer with her own painting of the destroyed pier. The scent of the oils lingered when Mr Entwhistle visited the cottage the day after the murder. Miss Gilchrist's dream was to rebuild her beloved tea shop with funds raised on the Vermeer. Poirot deduced the key role of the painting. It was sent to Guthrie, who replied tersely, "definitely a Vermeer, Guthrie." Inspector Morton added that two nuns had called at Cora's cottage the day of Richard Abernethie's funeral. No one answered, yet they heard noises from a person, witnessing the real Cora Lansquenet's presence in her own home as Miss Gilchrist was impersonating her at Enderby Hall.
Once accused, Miss Gilchrist breaks down in a flood of complaints of the hardships of her life and fantasies about a new teashop. She goes quietly with Inspector Morton. Thus Poirot answered the question Mr Entwhistle hired him to resolve, and untangled the mystery of Cora's death. Miss Gilchrist is found guilty at trial. In her time in prison during legal proceedings, she is quickly becoming insane, planning one tea shop after another. Mr Entwhistle and Hercule Poirot suspect her punishment might be served in Broadmoor, but have no doubt she had plotted and carried out the cold blooded murder in full possession of her faculties – this ladylike murderer.
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