Every time I read a work of reasoning, I will definitely read an Agatha Christie's, and I have just finished reading "The Silent Witness" in the past two days. This is one of the books in the Hercule Poirot series, where Detective Poirot is still wise, rational and compassionate, and the final truth is enough to surprise me.
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In this story, Detective Hercule Poirot received a special letter of entrustment, because the client had died of illness about 2 months ago, but this letter was only recently sent. This particular situation and the excessive traces of modification in the letter aroused Poirot's great interest, and he decided to come to the address where the letter was sent to investigate.
After observing the residence of the client, Ms. Emily Arundel, and learning from the servants about her illness before and after her death, Poirot became suspicious of the cause of Ms. Arundel's death. Therefore, he began to visit everyone related to the case one by one, and gradually discovered that Ms. Arundel had not simply died of illness, but had experienced murder, and as the puzzle in his head was gradually perfected, the murderer was also ready to come out. Just as Poirot was about to uncover the truth, another death occurred.
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I have to say that the plot and reasoning in this novel have parts that make the reader call "inexplicable", and some puzzles are not explained until the end. However, the revelation of the real murderer really surprised me, so I will talk about my feelings through 2 points below.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" >1. The process of guessing the identity of the real murderer is the greatest pleasure of reading this novel</h1>
I don't know how many readers are like me: they suspect all suspicious people, they just don't guess the real culprit. Therefore, I think that the revelation of the real murderer must be the highlight of the arrangement arranged for us by Grandma, and after reading the whole novel, the biggest shock to me is also the ending.
I had suspected Theresa as Detective Poirot visited everyone involved in the case, because she needed money and was ruthless; Mina, the nanny who had been given the property, because she might have gotten into trouble after overhearing her master's change of will; and Dr. Tanios, because the family was under great pressure in life. However, the author overturned my speculations through the ending, and the real culprit in the end was actually the person I had been ignoring!
After learning the truth, I looked back and found that the facts were in the author's meticulous preparation, but we were all eager to know the truth and ignored these details, and I think this is the cleverness of the Queen of Reasoning. And this feeling of déjà vu is also the feeling that other excellent works of reasoning have brought to me. Perhaps, the slow and rationale of English literature should be carefully read, because only careful tasting can make us feel the unique gentlemanly atmosphere of this country.
Of course, as I just mentioned: this novel also has some places that make readers unhappy, so let's talk about the 2 points I personally want to complain about.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" >2. The 2 points that the ending does not explain may be the author's talking points left to the reader</h1>
First of all, we always feel that after learning the real murderer, there seems to be something missing, in fact, our feelings are not wrong, because "who took away the two children" is not explained in the end. This even makes us wonder if Grandma forgot to write? I think that if the author can make a satisfactory ending to the children's whereabouts, it will be more in line with the reader's wishes, but perhaps, this is the introduction left by Grandma to the follow-up story, of course, it may only be left for our brains to make up, right?
Second, there are divergent views on what exactly "silent witnesses" refer to. In my personal thoughts, the "silent witness" has 2 guesses: it may be a dog, it may be a letter, and I think both of these ideas make sense.
First of all, the dog and the owner of the novel have a very good relationship, Poirot in the identification of the lady murdered also from "the dog left the ball at the stairwell caused the owner's accident", and the owner said the last words about the dog. This is tantamount to saying that the dog's behavior in the case drives the development of the plot and provides key clues and evidence, so it makes perfect sense that the dog can be a witness.
Speaking of letters, Poirot learns the story of Miss Arundel through a modified letter and judges that she was murdered, so my other conjecture is that the letter is the key to everything, and it really confesses all the thoughts of the deceased's heart, so it is also a "witness".
However, compared with the two, most readers and friends still tend to think that the "silent witness" is talking about dogs. If you also happen to have read this book, you are also welcome to leave your opinion in the comments section.
The above is what I felt after reading this book "The Silent Witness", because of the long time it was created, there are many other versions, such as "Dumb Witness", "Speechless Witness", etc., I believe that readers who are interested in reasoning have heard of it. Overall, the book may not be as popular as "No One Survives", "Murder on the Orient Express", etc., but the final ending of the novel is enough to amaze the reader, especially for friends who like to solve puzzles while reading and reasoning. I will continue to share Grandma's book in the future, and we welcome everyone to discuss it together!
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About the Author: A workplace mom who loves to learn, likes to read, write and illustrate. I have been sharing all kinds of books for a long time, and I am willing to read every good book with you.