Author: Agatha Christie
When a valuable rubies and an emerald necklace are stolen during a tea party, Poirot is brought in to help investigate the case. The owner is perplexed. Everyone at his little party were friends and he has no clue which one of them might have helped themselves to his valuables. Poirot must discreetly use his little grey cells to ferret out the culprit.
Another great short Poirot mystery! I am enjoying all these early Poirot short stories. The plots are varied and the characters interesting, even if the short length of the stories prevents detailed character development. When the main drive is the mystery....less developed caricatures work perfectly. Christie was quite skilled at creating an interesting little mystery in just a few pages. Poirot was in fine form in The Double Clue, as usual. Interesting mystery with a couple red herrings thrown in for good measure. Enjoyable read!
The Double Clue was adapted for television by the long-running show Agatha Christie's Poirot (Season 3, Episode 6). David Suchet is fabulous as Poirot as usual! Some significant changes were made to the story though. The bare bones of the story are there....but major changes in plot were made to incorporate a bit of romance for Poirot. The barest thread is present in the original story....but it's admiration and respect, not romance. His feelings for a woman are encapsulated in 2 sentences in the original story. But in adapting it for television, they made it a major plot point and wove the story arc around it. Yuck. I feel like this little plot nuance goes against the character Christie created. Poirot would not seemingly abandon a case that potentially endangers the job of Inspector Japp to spend time with a woman. Plus, he would never leave Hastings to investigate alone. Nope....wouldn't happen. Suchet is fabulous...as is the rest of the cast. My problem is with the script and the plot changes the show's writers made....not with the performance. Good episode.....it just wasn't really the tale that Christie wrote any longer. And Poirot would not do some of the things depicted in the episode, in my opinion.
But back to the original story.....
Interesting mystery! Nice twists. And on to the next -- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding!
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