Poirot Bk : Double Sin and other stories (6/8)

Hercule Poirot: Double Sin


Mystery:
Mr Hardman's jewellery was stolen from his safe.
It was the emerald necklance which belonged to Catherineide Medici.

Suspects:
1) Mr Johnston, south African millionaire
-was the last to leave the room.

->The three people who returned to this room during afternoon
2) Countess Vera Rossakoff, charming Russian lady
-her intense gazing at Mr Hardman's cabinet, surprised Mr Hardman
3) Mr Bernard Parker, middleman
-fetched some miniatures to Mr Hardman to show to lady Runcorn
-tried to deny his gloves & cigarette case
4) Lady Runcorn
-devoted most of her time to charity committee
-had returned to fetch a handbag
-was believed to have kleptomaniac; cannot control the desire to steal

Double Clue:
-Parker's glove
-cigarette case with initials: 'P' & 'B'.
-both clues are pointing at BernardParker

Curious:
-countess would sell her own jewel & give Mr Hardman money to clear Mr Parker's name.

Leads:
Russian Alphabet: B is V & P is R.

Tom & Tupp Bk4: By Pricking of my thumb

Tommy and Tuppence: By the Pricking of my thumb

Murdered:
Andes, Tommy's Aunt--> Death was possibly by poison.
-died on the same night when Mrs Lanchester went missing from the Summerville home.
-left a note that she could be murdered, there was something sinister about the Summerville home & the Portrait and Mrs Lanchester was in danger.

Lily Water--> twin of Lucy; died as a young child. She was killed by the fire in the chimney. Her story was unspoken of after the incident.

Nancy--> wife of a pastor and secretary of Sir Philip
-suspected of carrying a torch for Sir Philip
-seemed to be trying to prevent Tommy and Tuppence from learning something
-killed by poison

Danger:
Mrs Lanchester was abducted, most probably being put into a car.
-suspected of having other name: Mrs Yoke
-suspected to be the wife of Sir Philip

Suspects:
1) Pastor--> eccentric man, could have murdered his wife, Nancy out of jealousy.
But the death of Nancy might not be as simple as this, it could be due to the story of Lily Water.
2) Chris--> a policeman who was in love with Lucy. He was seen loitering outside the house, where Nancy was found to be poisoned. He was missing on the day Mrs Lanchester went missing from the Summerville home. He could possibly have abducted her.
3) Sir Philip--> the manor.
-his car was found to have mud on the tires. Tuppence found a polo sweet in the car, which she recognised it to belong to Mrs Lanchester.

Leads:
The portrait which Andes left behind had a cottage named "waterlily". Tuppence went on the look for the cottage fitting to the detail painted on the portrait. Later, she learnt that someone had tamped the portrait by adding colours and details on the painting.

Marple Bk11: At Bertram Hotel

At Bertram Hotel

Victim:
Canon Pennyfather--> went missing from his room for 3 days. He missed the plane on 18th and the Lucerne Conference about the Dead Sea Scroll on 19th. He was believed to be knocked out along the way back to the hotel. Due to the injury, he resided at Mrs McGrave's house. The nurse who attended him found no injury. Canon became absent minded, having lost 3 days of memory. He was found at a foreign place.

Elvira, daughter of Bess Sedgwick--> claimed to have a few narrow escape from death.
-Always felt that there were pursuers.
-eccentrically curious about her inheritance and her possible beneficiary
-was with a guy.

Michael Gorman Irish Commissionaire, doorman-->
-(On Elvira's account) He was shot while saving Elvira, and someone shot from the fog twice.
- Ladislaus Malinowski's pistol was found

Mystery:
The disappearance of Canon->
-Canon was seen boarding at Bedhampton Irish Nail at 5.30am.
-seen leaving his room and went down the stairs at 3am.
-The ride from Bertram to Bedhampton was 2 hr 30min. It was only possible with a racing car.
The unknown ownership of Bertram Hotel->
Mr Haffman tried to deny owning Bertram Hotel

Miss Bridget, friend of Elvira--> (On her account) Elvira seems to know Ladislaus Malinowsk as Elvira had kept a photograph of him secretly.

Suspects:
1) Malinowsk--> close with Bess
-had love affair with Elvira, and was going to marry her
-His car, Fan2266 was seen near crime scene
-may had been blackmailed by Michael
2) Bess--> had unusual relationship with Malinowsk
-was married to Michael
-her marriage with Michael may not be legal
3) Elvira--> the apparent person who knows the what is going on.
-her mother helped to deny her relationship with Malinowsk
-having waited just a shade too long to deny her relationship with Malinowsk

Curious:
Customs allow rich people to go through easily

Leads:
A judge, archdeacon, admiral, general all have been seen crime scene.

8) Why didn't they ask Evans?

Mystery:

Bobby discovered a dying man at the bottom of the cliff. The last words of him were: "Why didn't they ask Evans?" How insignificant it was when Bobby thought initially. However, his knowledge of this put himself in danger. In addition, he realised that the photograph of a lady in the dead man pocket had being swapped. Thankfully, he met Lady Frances Derwent; Frankie who accompanied him in the adventure of the investigation of the dying man. They were led into intriguing story of the will of Jack Savage.

Victim:
Mr Alex Pritchard-->The man at the bottom of cliff was initially being identified as Mr Alex Pritchard. The lady in the photograph in the deceased's pocket and a man called Richard Trent Pritchard , identified the body.

Alan Castair--> The true identity of the man at the cliff was Alan Castair. He was friend of Jack Savage, whom was suspicious of Jack's will, leaving all the fortune to an orphanage in china. Jack was ruthless and heartless, he couldn't have done that. He came over to Castle Savage to investigate on the will and death of Jack, had
Jack's children, Tommy to hid the will. He was found missing.

Jack Savage--> A millionaire bussinessman, who was ruthless and heartless, died on weak heart. His daughter won't believe that, because he had no heart. He had affair with a pretty lady called Mrs Templetons. Under her influence, he began to believe that he had cancer, and would prefer a short and painless death to a long and painful death. He had solictors to do the will to leave fortune to Mrs Templetons and charity. He then consumed large dose of choral to end his life.

Henry Bassington ffrench--> shot on the temple and the revolver was in his hand. A suicide note was left behind. The suicide note consisted of his remorse of living on drugs. Window was closed, the door was locked and the key was in his pocket. A very convincing suicide case...

Suspects:
1) Roger Bassington ffrench--> He was with Bobby when they discovered the Alan Castair on the cliff. He could have seen Bobby seeing a photograph from Alan's pocket, and took the opportunity to swap the photo. He had the charm that attracted Frankie.

2) Dr Nicholson--> A psychiatrist who have tranquil drugs for his patients. When he prescribed medicine for Frankie, he gave her an uneasy and threatened feeling. He was missing on the day Bobby was poisoned.
3) Mrs Moria Nicholson--> rather attractive young lady. Had been seen meeting Roger and hence was suspected of having adultery with him. She was more suspected of being the next victim than being the murderer, afterall her innocent beauty simply won her many concern about living under the same roof as the dangerous looking husband, Mr Nicholson.

4) Sylvia Bassington ffrench--> wife of late Jack Savage. She has been on drugs to calm herself down from some haunting memories from the past.

Leads:
-> The solictor, Mr Elford and the witness, Mrs Pratt were present when Jack Savage was giving his new will. Jack Savage was very ill compared to the previous day.
-> The Jack Savage stayed at Mrs Templetons' house instead.
-> The cook, Mrs Pratt was called by the Mistress, Mrs Templeton, to witness the will, but not the house-parlourmaid, Gladys.
-> Gladys later changed name into Evans

Poirot Bk3: Poirot Investigates (11/11)

The case of the missing will

Mystery:
-> Miss violet Marsh's uncle, Andrew's extraordinary will went missing.

Terms of the WIll:
1)Miss violet will inherit all of Andrew's fortune. - "During which Miss Violet Marsh may prove her wits"
2) All Andrew's fortune will be pass to various charitable institution. -"Andrew's wits will be proved better than Miss Violet Marsh.

=> Bottomline of the will is a spite. Miss violet needs to prove that she can outwit Andrew, so that she can get the inheritance, if not, the fortune will go to charity.

The story between the niece and uncle:
- Miss violet's parents died early during her childhood years.
- Andrew,her uncle, who was successful in agriculture business, took care of Violet
- Andrew was skeptic about girls studying in school, he thought girls should stay at home to do household chores
- However, Violet wanted to pursue studies and took up a scholarship.
- Andrew vowed that he can pit his wits against his niece anytime.

How did the will go missing?
- The old will would have left everything to the charity and was kept by the lawyers.
- The new will was testified by his housekeepers, Mr and Mrs Bakers, that his fortune would be given to Violet.
- Andrew had asked Mr Bakers to buy 2 printed will-form.
- Andrew wrote on one and made a mistake, so he tore it up and wrote again in the second printed will-form.
- Mr bakers brought the new will to the solicitor.
- However, when the solicitor searched for the will of Andrew, he could only find the old will.

Suspects, who might have stolen the will:
1) Mr Andrew Marsh-> If the story told by Miss Violet Marsh is true, it is possible for Mr Andrew Marsh to plot some methods to make his new will which is to leave everything to Violet disappears. And the old will that leaves everything to charity take into action. Hopefully, Poirot can find the new will assuming that the new will is searchable and that Mr Andrew never played a cheat to destroy the new will. Thus proving that himself will be smarter than his niece eventually.

2) Miss Violet Marsh-> could have managed to ask the Bakers family to fake their testimony on Andrew's new will. Probably, there wasn't any new will. Being the only person with blood ties, with Andrew, was upset about the Andrew not leaving anything to her. However, Violet claimed to be disinterested in the inheritance, since she had not done according to Andrew's wishes and Andrew had the rights to give his fortune to anyone he wished.

3) Mr and Mrs Bakers-> could have stolen the new will or in cahoot with Miss Violet. However, there wasn't any difference in their inheritance in old and new will. Mrs Bakers seemed to have better mind than her husband and was able to tell the details of new will by relating to other activities.

4) Employed workman from Plymouth-> had the opportunity to go to Mr Andrew's study room. However they provided valid and important information about Mr Andrew's study, that there was a secret compartment in the study which could be accessed by the switches.

Leads:
- The wills were written very clearly with date and the time of writting. If a will was written half an hour later, would render the older will useless.
- Poirot found an envelope but it was too small to contain the large will-form.

Poirot Bk3: Poirot Investigates (10/11)

The Adventure of the Italian Noblemen

Murdered:
Court Foscatini-> made a phone call to Dr Hawker and said that he had been killed. Dr Hawker, Poirot and Hasting rushed to Court Foscatini's apartment and found him dead.
-> was dealt with a terrible blow on the head by a marble statue
-> hand was grasping the telephone.
-> (On Mr Graves' account) was expected to have dinner with 2 other Italian men.
-> The murder time was speculated at 8:47pm. The autopsy of the body, the stopped clock and the phonecall timing were consistent.

Court Foscatini's dinning table:
-> a dish of fruit, but the 3 dessert playes were untouched.
-> 3 Coffee cups with remains of very black coffee in them
-> a box containing cigars and cigarettes stood on the table

Suspects:
1) Signor Ascanio and a young man-> Signor Ascanio is a Man of forty. Both were dinning with Court Foscatini.
- (On Mr Graves' account, Court Foscatini was going to settle the dispute among them, on the evening dinner of the day of murder.)
- No one saw them entering or leaving the hotel other than Mr Graves
- denied of having met Court Foscatini on the day he died
- had given Court Foscatini a large sum of money in exchange of the documents incriminating papers of a great man in Italy.
2) Mr Graves-> Court Foscatini's assistant
- had left Court Foscatini's room at about 8.30pm to meet a friend for a music concert in Edgware Road.

Curious:
- (On Signor's account, Foscatini was not a court, his name did not appear in the Almanach de Gotha.

Curious:
- Can a guy being stone on the head, on the verge of dying, could make a phone call?

Leads:
- Court Foscatini did not have coffee stained teeth.

Poirot Bk3: Poirot Investigates (9/11)

The disappearance of Mr Davenheim

Mystery:
Mr Davenheim-> a great financier and an owner of his bank- Davenheim Bank
-> Disappeared after returning home to take an envelope containing some document to meet his client Mr Lowen
-> was a man with balding head and thick beard
-> No one has seen Mr Davenheim and his body wasn't found.
-> His jacket was found in a lake quite a distance from his house
-> His automobile was still left in the garage, if he had taken another mode of transport, surely he would be seen by some people.
-> Mr Lowen had come to Mr Davenheim's house looking for Mr Davenheim after the first day of Mr Davenheim's disappearance.
-> The safe containing the precious jewel was broken in, and it was discovered after Mr Lowen came to the house.

Abnormal behaviour of Mr Davenheim before disappearance:
-> Mr Davenheim had not shared the same room as his wife since 3 months ago.
-> Mr Davenheim was physically less affectionate towards his wife
-> However, Mr Davenheim always brought precious jewels for his wife from business trip

Suspects:
1) Mr Davenheim ran away unnoticed-> Hardly the case because Mr Davenheim was a well known finanical figure.
2) Billy Kellert-> a thug
- had in possession of Mr Davenheim's seal gold ring and tried to pawn it.
- had assaulted a police officer and went to jail for 3 months.- saw a man with big moustache and dark complexion coming along the road to the village, throwing a small object over the hedge
- the description of the man fits Mr Lowen.
- went over and found Mr Davenheim's ring
-> seems to be more a thief than an apparent murderer
-> was out of the prison recently and could not possibly make up a fake story which has a perfecting fitting description of Mr Lowen
-> nevertheless Billy Kellert was a baddie.

3) Mr Lowen, Mr Davenheim's business client who was supposed to meet Mr Davenheim.
- However Mr Lowen claimed that he did not managed to meet Mr Davenheim at all.
- Was testified by Billy Kellert to have seen him on the day of disappearance of Mr Davenheim near his house.
- Was in the room whereby he could have broken the safe to steal the Jewels
- However, the sound of the breaking of the safe would definitly be heard and alerted.

4) Madame Davenheim-> wife of Mr Davenheim
- The story, of Mr Lowen breaking open the Safe to steal the jewellery unnoticed while she was also in the house, was not convincing.

Leads:
- Davenhiem Bank met with financial difficult and had to wind down.