Тупой свидетель: Роман о Пуаро 1937 года

1937 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Dumb Witness is a detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 July 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Poirot Loses a Client. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. In The New York Times Book Review (26 September 1937), Kay Irvin wrote that "Agatha Christie can be depended upon to tell a good tale. Even when she is not doing her most brilliant work she holds her reader's attention, leads them on from clue to clue, and from error to error, until they come up with a smash against surprise in the end. She is not doing her most brilliant work in Poirot Loses A Client, but she has produced a much better than average thriller nevertheless, and her plot has novelty, as it has sound mechanism, intriguing character types, and ingenuity. In The Observer'''s issue of 18 July 1937, "Torquemada" (Edward Powys Mathers) said, "usually after reading a Poirot story the reviewer begins to scheme for space in which to deal with it adequately; but Dumb Witness, the least of all the Poirot books, does not have this effect on me, though my sincere admiration for Agatha Christie is almost notorious. Apart from a certain baldness of plot and crudeness of characterisation on which this author seemed to have outgrown years ago, and apart from the fact that her quite pleasing dog has no testimony to give either way concerning the real as opposed to the attempted murder, her latest book betrays two main defects. In the first place, on receiving a delayed letter from a dead old lady Poirot blindly follows a little grey hunch. In the second place, it is all very well for Hastings not to see the significance of the brooch in the mirror, but for Poirot to miss it for so long is almost an affront to the would be worshipper. Still, better a bad Christie than a good average. "The Scotsman of 5 July 1937 started off with: "In Agatha Christie's novel there is a minor question of construction which might be raised." The reviewer then went on to outline the set up of the plot up to the point where Poirot receives Emily Arundell's letter and then said, "Why should the story not have begun at this point? M. Poirot reconstructs it from here and the reader would probably have got more enjoyment out of it if he had not had a hint of the position already. But the detection is good, and the reader has no ground for complaint, for the real clue is dangled before his eyes several times, and because it seems a normal feature of another phenomenon than poisoning that he tends to ignore it. For this Agatha Christie deserves full marks." E. R. Punshon of The Guardian began his review column of 13 July 1937 by an overview comparison of the books in question that week (in addition to Dumb Witness, I'll be Judge, I'll be Jury by Milward Kennedy, Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes, Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham and Careless Corpse by C. Daly King) when he said, "Only Mrs Christie keeps closer to the old tradition, and this time she adds much doggy lore and a terrier so fascinating that even Poirot himself is nearly driven from the centre of the stage." In the review proper, he went on to say that the dedication of the novel to Peter was, "a fact that in this dog worshipping country is enough of itself to ensure success." He observed that Poirot, "shows all of his usual acumen; Captain Hastings – happily once more at Poirot's side – more than all his usual stupidity, and there is nothing left for the critic but to offer his usual tribute of praise to another of Mrs Christie's successes. She does indeed this sort of thing so superlatively well that one is ungratefully tempted to wish she would do something just a little well different, even if less well." In the Daily Mirror (8 July 1937), Mary Dell wrote: "Once I had started reading, I did not have to rely on Bob or his cleverness to keep me interested. This is Agatha Christie at her best." She concluded, "Here's a book that will keep all thriller fans happy from page one to page three hundred and something." Robert Barnard: "Not quite vintage for the period: none of the relations of the dead woman is particularly interesting, and the major clue is very obvious. The doggy stuff is rather embarrassing, though done with affection and knowledge. At the end the dog is given to Hastings – or possibly vice versa." References to other works
Chapter 11: "Poirot's travellings in the East, as far as I knew, consisted of one journey to Syria extended to Iraq, and which occupied perhaps a few weeks". After solving a case in Syria by the request of his friend, Poirot decided to travel to Iraq before returning to England and, while in Iraq, was requested to solve a case, which he did and which is told in Christie's 1936 novel Murder in Mesopotamia, after which Poirot returned to Syria and boarded Orient Express to return home and en route solved Murder on the Orient Express. Chapter 18: Poirot gives a list of murderers from previous cases of his, more precisely Death in the Clouds (1935), The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), and The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928). Possible errata
The son of Bella and Jacob Tanios is mentioned as Edward and, twice, as John in the novel. The boy is mentioned by name by his mother in Chapters 2, 16, 17 and by his father in Chapters 2 and 17 as well. At any other time, they are mentioned as "the children". At the very end of Chapter 16 in one print version, when Bella, her daughter Mary and Poirot are joined by Jacob Tanios and their son, Poirot asks Bella a question and she replies:"When do you return to Smyrna, madame?" "In a few weeks' time. My husband – ah! here is my husband and John with him. "At the start of Chapter 17, Jacob Tanios then calls his son John:"Here we are," he said, smiling to his wife. "John has been passionately thrilled by his first ride in the tube. He has always been in buses until today. "Other print versions have more switches between John and Edward (in Chapter 2 a few sentences apart, for example). However, in the audiobook edition read by Hugh Fraser, the boy is always called Edward, even in those two instances where the print version has the wrong name. Thus they are termed errata. It is not clear when the errata were corrected for the audiobook. The book is inconsistent in its references to Bella Tanios' maiden name. There is an early reference to her as Bella Winter (see Chapter 1, page 8 "For Bella Winter, Emily Arundell's niece, had married a Greek"). Later she is referred to as Bella Biggs, daughter of Professor Biggs (see Chapter 10, page 74 "Emily was alone in the world then, and they and Bella Biggs were the only kith and kin she had.") Although since Hastings is narrating the book, they can obviously be mistakes on his part. Also in the audio book, the title of Chapter 18 is A Cuckoo in the Nest, changed from A Nigger in the Woodpile, in early texts. "The Incident of the Dog's Ball" was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making. The short story was also published by The Strand Magazine in their tenth anniversary issue of the revived magazine in 2009. Quotes
Poirot on lying as needed to learn the facts, in conversation with Hastings in Chapter 26:
H: "More lies, I suppose?" P: "You are really very offensive sometimes, Hastings. Anybody would think I enjoyed telling lies." H: "I rather think you do. In fact, I'm sure of it." P: "It is true that I sometimes compliment myself upon my ingenuity," Poirot confessed naively. Adaptations

Television

In 1996 the novel was adapted by Douglas Watkinson as part of the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet as Poirot. The adaptation made a number of changes to it, which included the following:

The setting was changed from Berkshire to England's Lake District. Poirot visits the Arundell home before Emily dies, and not after; he does not use the pretence of buying it to examine the house. In addition, after learning of her fall, he influences her to change her will to favour Miss Lawson, and later advises her companion to share out her inheritance to the Arundell family after the court case. Charles Arundell is a motor boat racer and a friend of Captain Hastings, who attempts to beat the water speed record, and uses his aunt to finance the attempts. His sister Theresa is changed from the vain, young, engaged woman in the novel to a single woman in her late thirties. Bella Tanios does not leave on her own with the children, but is helped by Poirot and Hastings to the home of Emily's friends the Tripp sisters. No arsenic is stolen in the adaptation. The role of the dog, Bob, the dumb witness who is suspected of causing Emily's fall, is slightly altered in the television adaptation – in the novel the dog often left the ball on the landing, and the people of the house put it away, but on the night of Emily's fall the dog had been outside all night with the ball in a drawer. In the adaptation, the dog always takes the ball with him to his basket, never leaving it anywhere else, proving that when it was found on the stairs, it could not have been the dog's doing but must involve someone else; Bob was not outside the house when Emily fell in this adaptation. An additional murder was added into the adaptation – that of Dr Grainger. Whilst talking to Miss Lawson about Emily's death, he had suddenly realised the significance of the mist coming out of Emily as a sign, realising how she was poisoned with elemental phosphorus, but foolishly alerted Bella to his suspicions. Thus, Bella went to his room while he slept, and opened up an unlit gas heater, flooding the room with coal gas, killing him as a result. When Poirot reveals his findings to all, Bella does not commit suicide; she is present with the others, and exposed as the murderer, rather than being given a summary of it by Poirot on her own. Bob the dog does not return to London with Poirot and Hastings but is taken in by the Tripp sisters. The cast includes:

Hugh Fraser as Hastings
Ann Morrish as Emily Arundel
Patrick Ryecart as Charles Arundel
Kate Buffery as Theresa Arundel
Paul Herzberg as Jacob Tanios
Julia St. John as Bella Tanios
Norma West as Wilhelmina Lawson
Jonathan Newth as Dr. Grainger

2013: It was adapted as a 2013 episode of the French television series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie''.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast a full cast adaptation of the novel in 2006, featuring John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot and Simon Williams as Captain Arthur Hastings. Music was composed by Tom Smail. The production was recorded for sale as an audio book on cassette or CD. Three editions of this BBC Radio Full Cast Drama were released in the UK and US markets, the latest being the January 2010 US edition on CD,
The book is in continuous publication, and in several forms. Two Kindle editions have been issued: one in January 2005 by William Morrow Paperbacks (ISBN B000FC2RRM) and again in October 2010 by HarperCollins (ISBN B0046RE5CW). Four audio editions for the UK and US markets are listed, from August 2002, all read by Hugh Fraser by HarperCollins Audiobooks in the UK, and by BBC Audiobooks America and Audio Partners, The Mystery Masters February 2006 in the US.