#dumb witness by agatha christie

[dancingcapybaras]

currently reading Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie! here are my current thoughts in a nutshell:

it’s kind of giving conservative grandma??

like, yeah, this was written in the 30s; pretty self explanatory.

i really like christie’s storytelling, i do. it’s just this book feels like her shading on the younger generation for,, idk, not being traditional or something?? which really does feel like something every younger generation faces (times really don’t change)

for the last 12 chapters i read, im just being constantly reminded about how emily arundell’s niece married a Greek doctor and how dreadful it is. like my bad, sorry this dude isn’t ENGLISH ENOUGH FOR YOU?? yall are just jealous they got good food okay

and let’s not forget there’s a slur in the book💀

literal jumpscare when i opened the table of contents.

but then again, just looking at my older copy of And Then There Were None makes me wonder why i’m surprised

UPDATE: Just finished the book! i’m surprised i got through it that quickly. anyways, here are my thoughts!

i thought the plot was interesting. i thought it was pretty cool how upfront everyone was abt how they wanted emily’s money since it shows that none of them can be completely trusted.

like everyone was after the same thing, for different reasons, but only ONE of them actually committed to it.

and let’s not forget the constant reminder of good old “english-breeding.” it’s not said a lot, but it’s something i notice popping up in the book from time to time.

like goodness gracious woman, please stop. describing others as “well bred” makes them sound like a horse freshly groomed

anyways, i think this is the first time i got introduced to hastings? i didn’t even know he was a reoccurring character and a friend of poirot since i’ve only read Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None.

so you can imagine my confusion when i skimmed through random pages and noticed it was from someone else’s perspective.

but their dynamic is pretty cool! i kind of see it as like poirot doing his usual detective stuff and it going like:

poirot, lying to get some answers:

hastings: you are crazy, y’know that?

poirot: not crazy enough to kill, though!

well that’s how i see it anyways. i do think it’s cool that seeing through the lens of hastings does make things more fun. like this silly guy is as clueless as me

and he kind of vocalizes the audience? kind of? that’s how i saw it during the times he tried convincing poirot that the ball incident was genuine

but yeah it was okay. i might read the first book of the series because i just found out poirot is a refugee or smth?? like i need to know what’s up with that

so yeah, that’s my thoughts!

[thekenobee]

Cabin Pressure + Poirot (Part 7)

[arisdrawsstuff]

A scene from Dumb Witness

[rain-shoshana]

How Arthur Hastings describes women:

“Theresa Arundell looked about twenty-eight or nine. She was tall and very slender, and she looked rather like an exaggerated drawing in black and white. Her hair was jet black—her face heavily made-up, dead pale. Her eyebrows, freakishly plucked, gave her an air of mocking irony. Her lips were the only spot of colour, a brilliant gash of scarlet in a white face. She also conveyed the impression—how I do not quite know, for her manner was almost wearily indifferent—of being at least twice as much alive as most people. There hung about her the restrained energy of a whiplash.”

How Arthur Hastings describes men:

“A bronze-faced young man with an agreeable grin strolled into the room…I must confess that from the moment I set eyes on him I entertained a sneaking liking for Charles Arundell. There was something so debonair and carefree about him. His eyes had an agreeable and humorous twinkle and his grin was one of the most disarming I have ever encountered.”

[straydog733]

Reading Resolution: "Dumb Witness" by Agatha Christie

21. A novel by a famous author, other than the one(s) they are best known for: Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

List Progress: 1/30

There’s an old saying that goes “Sex is like pizza; even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good”. While that is not in fact true for either sex or pizza, it is true for Agatha Christie novels. Christie’s 1937 novel Dumb Witness, starring her famous detective Hercule Poirot, is competently written, has enough engaging character moments, and moves along at a decent pace. But there is a reason that this one has not stood the test of time like Poirot adventures Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd or Death on the Nile (released the same year as Dumb Witness). It is a perfectly readable book, but for someone introducing a person to Christie’s work, it would be fairly far down the recommendation list.

Hercule Poirot receives a letter from elderly spinster Emily Arundell, suggesting that a recent “accident” was actually an attempt on her life. Her nieces and nephew have been chomping at the bit to get her inheritance, and she believes one of them set her up to trip over her dog’s ball and fall down the stairs. Poirot is intrigued, but by the time he and his compatriot Hastings arrive to investigate, Miss Arundell has already died by natural causes. Hastings thinks this means that their work is done, but Poirot points out that attempted murder is still a crime, and that just because the attempt failed does not mean that they should reject the case. Arundell’s relatives and members of her staff all had reasons to want her out of the picture, and it’s up to Poirot to sort out who actually tried their hand at the killing. Unfortunately, the novel feels like it is still setting the stage well into the second act, and it takes far too long for Poirot and Hastings to even agree that there is a case to solve.

The suspects are fairly stock characters, and a subplot about a pair of spiritualists feels tacked on to the central mystery. And the smoking gun piece of evidence ends up being a bit of a contrivance, someone wearing and doing things in a very strange manner in order to leave a set of intriguing clues. But nothing about Dumb Witness is outright frustrating or incorrect; it’s just more lackluster than anything. Agatha Christie wrote a total of 66 novels and 15 short-story collections; unless someone is doing a complete read through of her bibliography, or of just the Hercule Poirot novels, there are bound to be better choices than Dumb Witness.

Would I Recommend It: Not really. My personal Christie recommendation is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

[evilhorse]

From Agatha Christie’s Dumb Witness

[thelastofthebookworms]

Previous polls in this series :

- Poll 1 : popular edition

- Poll 2

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

[owilder]

Just as I cannot figure the justification behind the insect on the cover of Destination Unknown (So Many Steps to Death), I cannot for the life of me justify the title Dumb Witness. The David Suchet adaptation of this novel goes out of its way to justify this title, having Poirot remark that Bob the terrier must have witnessed the first crime and lamenting that Bob lacked a voice to tell our mustachioed detective what he had seen. In the book, this is not so much as even hinted. In fact, after a certain point, Bob figures very little in the story. Don't mistake me. It's a decent enough book with a decent enough mystery; but it should have kept its original title: Poirot Loses a Client. This would have made considerable more sense.

[son-of-drogo]

The star of the fucking show

[sintaspeaks]

I read 5 Hercule Poirot books! In this video, I cover Dumb Witness, Cards on the Table, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Death In the Clouds, and Appointment With Death. I dissect the characters, the plot, and analyse the text

[readingoals]

I really loved Dumb Witness! I think it's maybe my fave Christie I've read this year so far. I loved the lil dog Bob, he was a great addition, especially with the way Hastings was always describing him speaking like a little gentleman. Also the Hastings/Poirot banter in this one was top tier, I had an absolute blast every time Poirot only barely refrained from calling Hastings a dumbass.

[frimleyblogger]

Dumb Witness

A review of Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie – 240618 As neither a pet owner nor much of animal lover, I find it hard to relate to the tendency of some to anthropomorphise their pets. In Dumb Witness, the sixteenth in Christie’s Hercule Poirot series, originally published in 1937 and known as Poirot Loses A Client in the States, Bob, Emily Arundell’s dog and modelled on Christie’s own, is far…

[hastingsfondgaze]

Here’s the season where they dyed Hugh Fraser’s hair this deeply unnatural shade of brown in a futile attempt to make him look younger.

[hitchell-mope]

What a psycho little bitch.

[skyriderwednesday]

Miss Arundel underlines things like I (resist the urge to) put them in italics...