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Finally into the sixties. Agatha Christie also entered her later years, however her work did not slow down (the long strip in black bold for Poirot's appearance).
Poirot and the Elephant
1961 The Pale Horse
1962 The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
1963 The Clock
1964 A Caribbean Mystery
1965 At Bertam's Hotel
...
1966 The third gril
1969 Hallowe' en Party
1972 Elephants Can Remember
1974 Curtain-Poirot's Last Case
recall
Poirot, who appeared in Styles in 1920 and was already a retired Belgian detective, should not have been active in the British detective class of the 1970s. So much so that in The Elfants Can Remember, Poirot can't help but laugh at himself: many people who have heard of or known him have slept quietly under the tombstones of the church cemetery.
For any fan of detective fiction, Agatha Christie's longevity and always healthy and active brain are a blessing. Because we are fortunate to see more unforgettable works. What is even more amazing is that the barriers between classical fiction and reality seem to be broken in these late works.
Mrs. Oliver was at a loss in the cosmetics store, and on the counter were Elizabeth Arden, Helena, and Max Buddha.
When Miss Marple went out for a walk in St. Mary's, she saw more than just the lovely Queen Anne and Georgian old houses and gardens, but a patch of residential areas, neat buildings, TELEVISION antennas, and colorful doors and windows.
Mrs. Oliver likens Poirot's brain to a programmable computer.
Poirot confronts the suspects with questions about genes and chromosomes.
......
Mr. Poirot mentioned in "Detective Poirot's Evolutionary History (Middle)". In McGinty's Dead case, poirot's detective has been replaced by Spence, and by the hallowe'en party, even Spence has retired to a small village.
In the story, there is an acquaintance of Spence who recalls the past:
Spence, who was in charge of the case at the time, was a silent and stubborn man who kept insisting that they had caught the wrong person. They did catch the wrong person, and the person who found the evidence of their wrong person was a lay foreigner. A retired Belgian detective. I was an old man at the time. It should be very old now.
Poirot has become a very old man in the memory of an old man.
By the time Poirot's long story, Elephants Can Remember (Ccurtain was published at the latest, but was actually written in the 1940s), Poirot and the sheriff recalled an old case they had worked on (which is rare in similar detective novels because it would cause unnecessary spoilers):
A Canadian girl comes to Poirot to investigate her mother's alleged murder of her father.
Another time was a case caused by a girl claiming at a party that she had seen murder.
He also worked with Spence to investigate the murder of a cleaning lady.
In Poirot's last novels, Poirot is no longer just a person who explores other people's stories. In between detectives, he and his partners always involuntarily bring up the past, the past cases, the past years.
33 long stories have made Poirot himself the most storyteller.
Poirot and his good partner, Mrs. Oliver
Old sins and long shadows
Of the few works since 1960, my favorite is Hallowe' en Party. Like many later works, this case was brought by Mrs. Oliver. Mrs. Oliver went to a children's Halloween Eve party. Meets a little girl who, knowing that Mrs. Oliver is a famous detective novelist, can't help but show off that she has seen a murder. However, after being accepted at the party that night, the little girl was found drowning in a bucket.
This isn't the first time Mrs. Oliver has been murdered. In the later works, Mrs. Oliver, with a larger range of activities and more social activities, almost replaced Poirot as the new "Death Coming". Unlike Poirot, the work unfolds more and more scenes through Mrs. Oliver, probably because of the character and image of Mrs. Oliver—a well-known female writer of detective fiction/a master of parties and various shows—closer to Agatha Christie herself.
In Hallowe' en Party, there is little particularly surprising about reasoning and case tricks. The murderer's motives and the mysterious, poignant atmosphere created throughout the book are the most unique. Detective novels are the most difficult to shine in the depiction of scenes, or detective novels do not need too much scene description, unless they must serve the case. And this book, after reading it for a long time (about ten years), I have forgotten who the murderer was, but I can remember the garden very clearly: a garden converted from an abandoned stone mine.
The beautiful garden described in the book
Streams clang, beech trees with green leaves, and lush bluebells clustered under the trees. There are white roses and thorns. In autumn, the leaves of the maple trees are dyed golden yellow, and the trails wind and turn. Birds are hidden in the trees, like shadows. Densely packed trees and shrubs hide abandoned fountains and deep wells.
Poirot's first visit didn't go well, and patent shoes made him miserable to walk in such a place. However, Poirot, who saw the garden, was instantly captivated by the magic here.
His eyes were staring straight ahead, staring intently at the indented end of the ground at his feet... The branches of the shrubs were slanted, and the branches were covered with golden leaves, reflecting the outline of something in the middle, and Poirot didn't know for a moment what it was, or whether it was just a visual effect of the interlacing of tree shadows, sunlight, and leaves.
Is this really a fantasy? Poirot wondered to himself. Is it who is casting magic? Quite possibly. In such a place it is highly likely. Am I seeing a living person or — what will it be? His mind went back to the adventures of many years ago, which he called "the labor of Hercule". Somehow he felt that he was not in an English garden. There is a certain atmosphere. He tried to figure out what kind of atmosphere it was. Like magic, yes, there is no doubt that there is a beauty, a beauty of shyness, but also a wildness. If you think of it as a scene in the theater. You will definitely think of the tree spirits, the shepherd gods, and you can enjoy the beauty of Greece, and at the same time feel fear in your heart.
In the garden, Poirot meets Miranda, a little elf-like girl. Fortunately, Poirot avoided Miranda from becoming a sacrifice to sin, and thanked the author who had more "kindness" in his later years. Let us believe that in addition to sin, there are still good fairy tales.
Elf-like little girl and Poirot
Poirot's detective method is also much milder, even at a very critical juncture, Poirot, who is anxious in his heart, can always control his emotions. After thinking through the whole thing, all he did was hurry up and replace his patent leather shoes that were getting in the way, so that he could move more quickly.
1972 Elephants Can Remember, also brought up by Mrs. Oliver. Mrs. Oliver attends a literary party, and a strange lady asks her to help investigate a "promised suicide" case more than a decade ago. The general and the general's wife were found dead at the bottom of the cliffs they often walked. There were only two fingerprints on the pistol.
The shadow of old sin
"Elephants never forget" is a Western proverb. In The Eternals Can Remember, Oliver and Poirot can only solve the puzzle by searching for elephants (those who have excellent memories of certain past events). Everyone's memory is limited, and everyone's memory is unique. This time the story is like piecing together a tangram, finding the elephant, retrieving the elephant's memories, and spelling out the real past.
Although one of the translations of the book is called "The Shadow of Old Sins", although the phrase "the sins of the old times have a long shadow" are mentioned repeatedly, the main theme of the story is that the sins of the old times have been buried with the memories of the "elephants", loyalty and love are eternal, after all, human beings are not elephants, and ultimately they must forget the shadows of those sins and return to ordinary daily life.
This is probably the best ending Agatha, who has written 76 crime novels, has brought us.
Conclusion
Originally, I only wanted to talk about Poirot as a person, but later I found 33 Poirot long stories, and I wanted to sort out that it was too big a project. Thank you Queen of Mystery Fiction. Thank you great Belgian detective.
As for why it was a Belgian detective, in Hallowe' en Party, the author may have borrowed Mrs. Oliver to say what he thought.
"You have a detective who is Finn."
Mrs. Oliver admitted. A stunned little boy who was probably not old enough to take the entrance exam asked, "Why Finns?" ”
"I often feel strange too." Mrs. Oliver said unabashedly.
As for Poirot's curtain call curtain, I dare not write easily with love and awe.
(End of full text)
<b>The author of this article, "Cyanobacteria ~", now lives in Hangzhou, has published 27 original texts, and is still active in the Douban community. Download Douban App to search for users "cyanobacteria ~" to follow Ta. </b>