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.