Dumb Witness (a.k.a. Poirot Loses a Client) »

Agatha Christie is nearly synonymous with upper-class British mysteries, for good reason. She set the standard for the genre in over 60 novels and dozens of short stories, also creating two classic detectives: the fastidious Belgian, Hercule Poirot, and English spinster Jane Marple. No one could match Christie's knack for weaving clues into her stories, then turning the whole thing inside out -- shocking her readers every time.

In this intricate mystery, Poirot receives a letter — two months after it was written — from rich spinster Emily Arundell about a possible attempt on her life. Poirot heads to her hometown of Market Basing and finds her already dead. Poirot must contend with a cold trail and the strange villagers to solve a murder that confounds even his superior skills.

New York Herald Tribune

A slick job in the admirable Christie manner.