by John Curran
Harry?—The Prodigal son—he comes home and the old man likes him
Stephen Fane—A young man from S. Africa—son of Simeon’s partner—(he cheated him!)—S. is really Simeon’s son
Juanita Simeon’s grand-daughter [Pilar]—back from Spain—his daughter ran away with a Spaniard and J. is really not grand-daughter—latter was killed in revolution—J was her friend
The Nurse—says old man was going to leave her all his money—wanted to marry her. She was married already—her husband is in New Zealand
The course of the story is outlined in the extract below, the novel following this synopsis closely:
Possible course of story
1. Stephen in train going up to Midcourt—this drab people—his impatience—the sun he comes from—then his first sight of Pilar—exotic—different—reads label
2. Pilar in train—thinking—keyed up—her nervousness—handsome looking man—conversation—about Spain—the war—finally he reads label
3.Alfred and Lydia—conversation—she is like a greyhound—mention of her gardens—telephone call—Patterson—Horbury—she doesn’t like that man
4. George and Magdalene—or David and Hilda strong motherly woman
If G and M—his pomposity—and earnestness—his wife’s impatience—her vagueness at some point about a letter (she has a lover)—he says better off when my father dies—they must go for Xmas important not to offend old man—he has written saying he would like to have all his children round him at Xmas—sounds quite sentimental
5. David and H
He gets letter—nervous—neurotic passionately fond of his mother—won’t go to the house—she, wise and motherly, persuades him—he goes off and plays piano violently
6. Harry Hugo arrives—cheery word to old Patterson—the prodigal—I could do with a drink—greeting from Lydia—she likes him
7. Old man himself—Horbury—he asks about his family—then goes and gets out diamonds—his face devilish glee
Interview with Alfred
Interview with Harry
Talk about prodigal son to Horbury
There were still significant clues to be inserted, while she also paid attention to the description, given by various characters, of the ‘scream’ establishing the time of death—or so we are led to think—heard in the murder room:
Scenes to work in
(A) Portrait of old Lee P looks at it—found by someone
(B) Passport dropped out of window
(C) Statues in recess
(D) P. buys moustache
(E) Balloon
Screams
Alfred A man in mortal agony
Lydia Like a soul in hell
Harry Like killing a pig
David Like a soul in hell
Although the plotting follows closely the course of the novel with relatively few deviations, Christie did try a few variations, the main ones being the presence of a co-conspiring nurse or a criminal husband-and-wife. At this stage ‘Drew’ is the forerunner of Sugden, the investigating officer, but there is no mention of his being a policeman:
Who is murderer?
Nurse—a fairly good looking young woman of thirty (actually his daughter)—her desire for revenge
Drew is the man—Why? Illegitimate son—then Nurse is his sister—the two of them planned it
or—like Macbeth—a man and his wife do this—son of an earlier marriage?
Possibly his second marriage was illegal—he makes a will so worded that the children of his second marriage inherit even if not legitimate—that will is destroyed—a draft is prduced by Nurse leaving it to her.
A new idea—is Nurse married to one of the sons?—the gay prodigal?—he manages to pull a string at the right moment As suggested by her crossing-out of the idea here, Christie did not utilise the nurse in this novel. But the homicidal nurse was to resurface two years later in Sad Cypress.
Evil under the Sun
9 June 1941
Beautiful vamp Arlena Marshall is murdered while staying at the same glamorous hotel on Smuggler’s Island where Hercule Poirot is holidaying. He investigates her murder, which involves a typewriter, a bottle of suntan lotion, a skein of wool and a packet of candles.
Evil under the Sun was written during 1938 and received, and read, by Edmund Cork by 17 February 1939. It had first appeared, in the USA, as a serial towards the end of 1940. At first glance Evil under the Sun and ‘Triangle at Rhodes’ (see Chapter 8) appear to be the same story. Both feature Hercule Poirot, a beach setting and two couples as the main protagonists. In each case, one couple consists of a vamp and a quiet husband, the other a charmer and a ‘mouse’ (in Christie’s own word). And both stories exemplify perfectly Christie’s fertility of plot invention because, despite these not insignificant similarities, the solutions and killers are completely different. In each case the triangle the reader is encouraged to envisage is completely wrong—and also completely different. In both cases clever stagemanagement forces the reader to look in the wrong direction despite, in the case of the novel, abundant clues to the truth.
There are 60 pages of Notebook showing its origins, and thanks to these we can see the detailed working-out that went into one of Christie’s most ingenious novels. The setting exists in reality as Burgh Island, off the coast of Devon, a venue well known to Christie as she stayed at the hotel there on a few occasions. The island is cut off from the mainland twice a day at high tide and is reached by a sea-tractor. She utilises its geography to suit her purposes in creating a perfect alibi.
That storehouse of plot devices, The Thirteen Problems, yet again provided the rough basis for this novel. ‘A Christmas Tragedy’ features two people, the murderer and a witness (in this case Miss Marple herself), ‘finding’ a dead body before it has been murdered, thereby providing the killer with an impeccable alibi. In the case of the short story the body is that of a natural death victim, conveniently dead two hours earlier, but in the novel it is the live body of the killer’s accomplice. Both plots feature a large and camouflaging hat (also a feature of Dead Man’s Folly). Many refinements were obviously possible in the course of a novel—a larger cast of suspects, the added complication of a triangle situation, a warm beach to confuse the time of death instead of a hotel room and a more elaborate alibi for the killer. But it is essentially the same plot.
Right from the first page of Notebook 39 Christie seems to have the plot, the main characters and the setting already well advanced. This may be because she was developing an earlier short story. Names were to change but this description was to form the basis of the book:
Seaside Mystery
H.P. is at seaside—comments on bodies everywhere—makes old-fashioned remarks. Main idea of crime—G an ordinary rather ‘simple’ man is apparently bowled over by a wellworn siren. His wife is very unhappy about it—shows distinct jealousy. He has alibi all morning (with H.P.) goes with a woman for a walk and discovers body of siren—distinctive bathing dress—Chinese ‘hat’—and red auburn curl. Suggest to woman to stay with body—she flinches—he finally says he will and she goes for police. Part of ‘dead woman’ is acted by (wife?) or (woman he really cares about?). Immediately after woman has gone for help—siren appears from other direction—he kills her (strangled?) and places her in same position
Therefore characters are:
George Redfern—quiet bank manager etc.
Mary Redfern—white skin / not (tanned) dark
Gloria Tracy—Siren very rich—mad on men
Edward Tracy—Husband
Rosemary Weston—in love with Edward
Scene Hotel on island—Bigbury [Burgh Island]
If the names were not exactly the same as those in the published novel—the first names of the Redferns became Patrick and Christine, while Gloria and Edward Tracy became Arlena and Kenneth Marshall, and Rosemary Weston is Rosamund Darnley—the differences are not significant enough to prevent recognition.
A few pages later, several
details have been established:
Beginning
House—built by a sea captain sold first when bathing came in
Hercule Poirot—with whom?
The American in Appointment with Death [Jefferson Cope]
Major Blount [Barry] or Miss Tough [Brewster] looking at everyone
Arlena King—red haired lovely—husband—an author and playwright—Arlena left a fortune a year or two previously
Jean [Linda]—her daughter—athletic girl—hates stepmother
Middle aged spinster—sister of Arlena’s husband—says she’s a bad lot
People?
Kenneth Leslie Marshall
Arlena Leslie Marshall
Linda Leslie Marshall
Patrick Desmond Redfern—
Cristina “ or McGrane
Mr and Mrs Gardiner (Americans)
Or (Bev) (gone with Desmond) [Possibly Irene, the Gardiners’ far-off daughter]
Rosemary Darley
H.P.
Or Mrs Barrett [not used]
The Reverend Stephen Mannerton [Lane]
Horace Blatt (red faced magnate)
Miss Porter [Miss Brewster]
Mrs Springfelt [not used]
Major Barry
The reference to Appointment with Death above is slightly mystifying; there is no reference to this book in Evil under the Sun and no character in common, apart from Poirot. Christie may have toyed with the idea of introducing Jefferson Cope from the earlier novel and perhaps abandoned it in case it spoiled the reader’s enjoyment of Appointment with Death. The Gardeners, the compromise American characters she instead created, provide light relief throughout the novel.
She also utilises her alphabetical sequencing, here in working out short scenes of encounters rather than plot development. Although she does not follow the sequence exactly, the only scene not to appear in any form is E. Scene B is the allimportant one that Poirot remembers in Chapter 11 ii when he muses on five significant remarks uttered there:
Beginning
A. House built by etc. [Chapter 1 i]
B. H.P. watches bodies—Mrs Gardiner—reciting Beverly etc.—her husband says Yes, darling—Mr Barrett, Miss Porter and Miss Springer. Arlena—pushes off on her float. Major Barry—these red-headed gals—I remember in Poonah [Chapter 1 ii and iv]
C. The Marshalls arrive—Kenneth and Rosemary—an encounter
D. Linda thinks—her face—breakfast [Chapter 2 ii]
E. Miss Porter and Miss Springer—latter tells her friend what she overheard. You were with Desmond and Cristina and H.P. and Mrs Kane
F. Rosemary and H.P.—taste in wives [Chapter 2 i]
G. Christine Redfern and Desmond
H. Rosamund and Kenneth [Chapter 3 i]
One particularly intriguing element of the notes to this novel relates to the complicated alibis Christie attempted to provide for most of the characters. This caused much crossingout and rearranging and she changed the details quite considerably before she arrived at a version that pleased her. Two of her favourite unused ideas, the dishonest, collusive chambermaid and the two ‘arty’ friends, surfaced briefly before being discarded and returned to the ‘unused’ category, while she also experimented with other solutions before returning to the thoughts she had initially set out:
Alternative Plan
Arlena dies Christine disappears
Desmond and Christine go out on a float—early—or in their boat—Japanese sunshade. You do believe me, darling, when I tell you there’s nothing in it at all. No one sees them come back
Alternatives
A. Desmond kills Christine
First arranges body—then drowns her—gets rid of other woman—puts C’s body on rocks as though fallen from above—right spot indicated by stone (peculiar colour marking etc.) the night before.
B. Desmond and Gladys Springett do murder—(Christine is, perhaps, only fiancée?). Gladys and ‘friend’ are at Gull Cove—latter sketching—forever looking for flowers (or shells?). Goes through cave—acts the part of ‘the body’ and returns
C. Christine and Desmond are a pair of crooks. Money—banked in her name—her story of blackmail coming out when questioned by the Police
D. Is the chambermaid Desmond’s wife? ALL her stories false—about blackmail—about seeing Christine etc.—alters Linda’s watch
Where is everyone?
Blatt—out in boat—later sails found in a cave
Major Barry—drive his car into Lostwitch—business—market day—early closing—lots of people on beach
This sketch from Notebook 39 shows the mainland and the island (complete with compass points) and the route between the two. Also shown are the Hotel and Tennis Court, the Bathing Beach as well as Pixy Cove and Gull Cove. Note the change of mind about the last two locations.
The Gardiners—on beach (she goes up to get wool or he gets it for her)
Babcock—to church—signs book—but it could be previous day
Kenneth? Typing in room
Rosamund? Bathing? On float
Tennis—Christine, Rosamund, Kenneth, Gardiner
And many of the clues that feature in the novel (the bath that no one will admit taking, the candles, the sun-tan lotion bottle) appear in the Notebooks:
About Linda—Packet of candles—calendar—other things she remembers—green?
Bath?
Kenneth—typing at middle table
Bottle thrown from window
Towards Zero
3 July 1944
Before murder interrupts a holiday weekend in Lady Tressilian’s house in Gull’s Point, we meet a disparate group of people. All of their destinies are inextricably linked as zero hour approaches. Superintendent Battle investigates a case where the solution seems obvious. But is it too obvious?
This page from Notebook 32 shows both Neville’s actions on the night of the murder in Towards Zero, and a rough diagram of the local geography, including the scene of his alibi-breaking swim.
Towards Zero is superb Christie. The plot resembles a series of Russian dolls with one concealed inside the other. The reader is presented with one solution and within that is another, and behind that yet another. The motivation and clue laying are masterly because the whole plot is predicated on the ‘wrong’ solution being uncovered and then disproved and the subsequent one being discovered. And there is yet another solution behind that.
Nine months before Zero Hour we meet, in a series of vignettes, a group of people; at first they seem totally disconnected. Then we realise that, for various reasons, they are all converging on Lady Tressilian’s house in September.
Sharing a plot device used years earlier in The Murder at the Vicarage and more recently in ‘Murder in the Mews’, this is a dark and emotional crime novel as well as a very clever detective story with subtle clueing and better-than-usual characterisations. Twelve years after its publication the novel was presented on stage with a slightly altered ending (although the same killer), but it was not one of Christie’s major stage successes.
The plotting for this novel is contained in two Notebooks, the majority of it in Notebook 32 and with a further ten pages in Notebook 63. Its genesis seems to have been painless and clear from the start, as the notes follow the finished book very closely and very little of the plotting from the Notebooks is not included. As can be seen from below, the notes are quite detailed and accurate. Even here, however, Christie came up with a few ideas that did not appear.
On the first page of the notes the all-important story that Mr Treves tells is clearly stated. Apart from the importance of the homicidal tendency of its main protagonist, it also includes the important clue of the (unspecified) ‘physical trait’, a distinction shared by all the suspects:
Story about 2 children—bows and arrows—one kills the other—or shotgun?
One child practiced—narrator—old man—says he would know that child again by a physical trait
Yes, so many people all converging fro
m different points—all Towards Zero
There is an alphabetical list of scenes, although it does not tally exactly with the novel. It would seem that there was to be a Sir Marcus and a Mr Trevelyan; in the novel they are amalgamated into Mr Treves. None of the members of the house party are included. The listing of ‘The Cleaners’ is at first puzzling until we remember that a dry-cleaning firm with mixed-up suits provides one of the main clues to the mystery. Their omission from the opening scenes is a shame as it would have been a fascinating puzzle for the reader trying to fit a dry-cleaners’ into the jigsaw.
A. MacWhirter—suicide—his rescue—fall off cliff—arrested by tree
B. Sir Marcus—holding forth in his chambers after acquittal of client
D. The murderer—his mind—the date
E. Superintendent Battle
F. Mr. Trevelyan—looking at hotel folders
G. The Cleaners
The list of characters is also very close to the novel. As usual, however, the names were to change, although not as totally as other novels (Nevil, Judy and Clare/Audrey Crane become Nevile, Kay and Audrey Strange):
People
Lady Tressillian
Mary Aldin or Kate Aldin
Barrett (lady’s maid)
Thomas Royde
Adrian Royde
Nevil Crane—well known tennis player and athlete
Judy Crane—formerly Judy Rodgers
Ted Latimer—wastrel—lives on his wits
Clare Crane or Audrey Crane—formerly Audrey Standish
MacWhirter
Towards Zero
Nevill (or Noel) Crane—tennis player—athlete sportsman
Audrey his first wife ‘Snow White’—frozen—fractured—hysterical childhood etc.
Judy his second wife—a glamorous girl—suffused with vitality—pagan—Rose Red
