Agatha Christie's Poirot Episode Guide - inaf iasf bologna

Agatha Christie’s Poirot Episode Guide
of the victim in the Murder Hunt; she waits in the boathouse to pose as the dead victim when
a player finds the key to enter. Her first visitor is Miss Brevis with a tray of refreshments at tea
time at Hattie’s request. In the company of Mrs. Oliver, Poirot discovers the corpse of Marlene in
the boathouse. Hattie cannot be found. Mrs. Oliver produces an abundance of theories to explain
the murder and the disappearance, while the police and Poirot narrow the field from all attending
the fête, to those familiar with the Murder Hunt.
The investigation focuses first on Etienne de Sousa and briefly on Amanda Brewis. Further
confusion is added by the behaviour of the Legges, staying in a cottage on the estate and whose
marriage is in trouble due to his behavior. He has a shady connection with a young man in a
turtle shirt who has been seen in the grounds. (It later becomes clear that this red herring is
connected with Legge’s early political leanings in his career as an ”atom scientist”.)
With weeks of no progress, Poirot visits Devon again, learning that Hattie is still missing and
the old boatman dead by accident was Marlene’s grandfather. He puts together several stray
clues: Marlene’s grandfather had seen a woman’s body in the woods; she received small sums
of money used to make small purchases, now in her younger sister’s possession; Merdell had
commented significantly to Poirot that there would ”always be Folliats at Nasse House”. Now it is
three murders, Poirot tells the police, who find the evidence to support his solution.
In the dénouement, Poirot explains all in a conversation with Mrs. Folliat. Sir George Stubbs
is Amy Folliat’s younger son, James, a deserter. Amy had paired him with the orphan young
woman Hattie, who gained her wealth on her marriage, not penniless as Mrs. Folliat first said.
James fleeces his wife of her money as he establishes his new identity, then purchases the old
family home: the extent of his mother’s plan. Unknown to his mother, James was married since
his desertion to a young Italian woman. The evening he and Hattie came to Nasse House was her
only time there. He killed Hattie, and his legal first wife played the role of Hattie from the next
morning. The real Hattie is buried on the grounds.
George/James and his first wife eliminated all who might reveal their true identities. Marlene
Tucker learned the true identity of George Stubbs from her grandfather, so both were murdered,
separately. The day before the fête, first wife begins another identity as an Italian tourist staying
in the nearby hostel. She switches between the two roles frequently over 24 hours. The fake Hattie
sends Amanda Brewis to bring refreshments to Marlene shortly before the girl was murdered to
assure no witness to the murder. She kills Marlene then changes to the tourist guise, tossing
the large hat she wore as Hattie in the river. Then James’s wife leaves the area as the Italian
tourist with a rucksack. The day of Marlene’s murder had been selected to cast suspicion upon
Etienne, who had written weeks earlier of his visit, as he told Inspector Bland. He had grown up
with the real Hattie and would not be fooled by the first wife in disguise. Two weeks later, Merdell
drowned at the river with help from James.
As they converse, they hear the sounds of the police breaking up the Folly, to exhume poor
Hattie’s body.
188