Lord Edgware Dies

Jane Wilkinson has a cast-iron alibi, and that is exactly the problem. The beautiful actress is the obvious suspect in the murder of her husband, the wealthy and tyrannical Lord Edgware, and she was somewhere else entirely when he died. His estranged wife wanted him gone, which is motive enough for any jury. But the alibi stands. A suspect you cannot touch is far more interesting to Poirot than a suspect you can.

Poirot goes looking for the crack in it and finds instead a crowd of people with secrets of their own: Carlotta Adams, who has the misfortune to resemble Jane Wilkinson closely enough for trouble; Bryan Martin; Penny Driver; Geraldine Marsh. Nobody at the party is quite who they claim to be, and Poirot collects the small lies the way other men collect stamps. Hastings tags along asking the useful questions, Miss Lemon keeps the paperwork in order, and Chief Inspector Japp works the official side of the inquiry.

Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz wrote the episode, and Brian Farnham directed it. David Suchet leads as Poirot, with Hugh Fraser as Hastings, Philip Jackson as Japp and Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon. John Castle plays Lord Edgware, Helen Grace is Jane Wilkinson, Fiona Allen is Carlotta Adams, Dominic Guard is Bryan Martin, Deborah Cornelius is Penny Driver and Hannah Yelland is Geraldine Marsh.

A cast-iron alibi is a dare, and Christie loved a dare. Poirot takes this one apart slowly and politely, the way he takes apart everything, and the solution sits in the open waiting for anyone patient enough to see it. It is a story about performance, which is fitting, because the best performance in it belongs to the killer. The suspects circle each other with perfect manners, which in this world is usually a bad sign. The deduction here is careful rather than flashy, and that is the point of the piece.