REVIEW: Dead Man's Folly

 Dead Man's Folly
Author: Agatha Christie 

Dead Man's Folly was published in the UK and US in 1956. Earlier in 1956, the story was also published in serial format in magazines in both the US and UK, but the story was abridged.

One of Poirot's sidekicks returns in this book -- Ariadne Oliver, a mystery novelist that pops up now and again in Poirot stories to "help" him investigate. In fact, this time Ariadne actually requests Poirot come to investigate a situation where she believes "something is wrong."  And.....she's proven correct when a dead body pops up in the middle of a local fete. 

Originally, this story was written as a novella, Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly. Agatha Christie wrote it as a fundraiser for her local church, but it was never published. She ended up writing another  story featuring Miss Marple for the fundraiser. Agatha later expanded the plot and published the Poirot story as Dead Man's Folly. The original novella was finally published in 2014. 

I have read this novel before and remembered it fondly for Ariadne Oliver's antics. I also remembered the setting, premise and a few plot points here and there (like I remembered the murder victim that sets off the whole thing). It was so much fun to re-visit this story and get the whole plot back in my mind!  

My copy of this book is an old paperback I bought used years ago [Harper Paperbacks, 1984, 199 pages]. It was in relatively ok condition, although the pages were very yellowed. I read my old copy while listening to the audio book [HarperCollins, 2012, 6 hours 2 minutes, narrated by David Suchet]. It was so nice to listen to David Suchet reading a Poirot novel! I enjoyed every minute! 

The basics: Poirot's friend, Ariadne Oliver, has created a story for a murder mystery party game. It's part of the festivities for a fete at an estate in Devonshire. Guests get snippets of the plot and then have to wander the estate finding clues. Before the festivities even begin, Ariadne feels there is something wrong and requests Poirot join her to figure out what is causing her misgivings. A murder on the day of the fete confirms her feelings.....and Poirot is on the case!  

I always enjoy stories that involve Ariadne Oliver. She is always so delightfully over the top and Agatha Christie describes her in such fun terms. Plus, it's pretty easy to tell that Agatha was using the character to comment on her experiences as a writer, as Ariadne is a best-selling murder mystery writer. 

While reading this book, I found myself smiling and laughing as the character laments people telling her that a killer in one of her novels should have been someone else or that a story would have been better if it had happened this way or that way. I can just imagine that Agatha suffered through many similar conversations! At one point Ariadne exclaims "All right then, why don't you write it yourself if you want it that way!" :) I kept imagining Agatha Christie writing that bit and wishing she could say that herself sometimes! At one point, Ariadne is asked who could have done the horrible deed.....and she just starts spouting off every possible motive from the mundane to fantastical at break neck speed. I can just see conversation in the entire room pausing and everyone staring as she just spews motive-word-soup at 3x speed. :) Ariadne is by far my favorite recurring character in Poirot stories! I get the impression that she may have been one of Agatha's favorites too -- she got to inject her own voice and some humor here and there. Love it!  

Adaptations:

1986 movie: Peter Ustinov plays Hercule Poirot in this movie. Unfortunately, I couldn't watch this film. Amazon had a banner up that said "Unavailable due to expired rights." No luck on Tubi, Kanopy or Hoopla. I do remember from past views that there were many changes made to the plot, including setting the story in present day. The cast starred some pretty famous faces including Jean Stapleton. I wanted to watch just to see Jean shine (and definitely not for Peter Ustinov's Poirot), but had no luck finding the movie. I will keep an eye out for this film to appear on streaming again. I really want to see Jean Stapleton play Ariadne Oliver!!  

Radio Drama: BBC Radio 4 presented an audio drama of this book in 2007. The plot was adjusted for time and some changes were made, but these audio dramas are quite good! Always full case with sound effects. 

Video Game: I-play released a found-object game based on this story in 2009, as part of a series of video games based on Agatha Christie stories.  

Television: In 2013, the long-running show Poirot had an episode based on this book [Season 13, episode 3] This episode was part of the final season of the show. I enjoyed the episode, despite some changes made to the plot and characters. The actress playing Ariadne Oliver is perfect for the role! 

Graphic Novel: A Swiss publisher released a graphic novel based on this novel in 2022 titled Hercule Poirot: Poirot Joue le jeu.  

And, another old paperback into the recycle bin.....moving on to the next book!