I remember when I was a young girl, how I loved this book! I thought it was mysterious and romantic... but years go by, and now I do like it, yes, but not quite as much, I admit.
Lady Camilla Tressilian is a nice old lady living alone with cousin Mary Aldin. The rich woman and Mary go along very well, and every summer Lady Tressilian invites her heir Nevile Strange to stay with her. Nevile always goes, and this time he will bring his second wife along, Kay. At the same time, his first wife Audrey will be present as well. Complicated situation, but he insists that it'll be okay, that they will all be friends.
Family friend Thomas Royde comes to visit. He was once very much in love with Audrey, and now that she's free he plans to propose to her.
Things are pretty awkward, though, because Kay is jealous of Audrey, thinking she might want to get back with Nevile, and is furious when she thinks that Nevile is putting Audrey before her, like when he said if anyone wanted to read the magazine he had, and Audrey and Kay said yes at the same time, and it was very awkward, and Audrey even told him to give it to his wife, that it was okay, but Nevile gave it to Audrey all the same, and Kay was furious.
Lady Tressilian was very fond of Audrey, and could never accept that second wife of his, so different from her. Kay was a modern, lively girl, but Audrey had class. I liked Audrey as well, but I did not dislike Kay, after all she had good reasons to be jealous, everybody felt that situation was weird and uncomfortable.
With them there is also Ted Latimer, old friend of Kay, forever in love with her.
One day Lady Tressilian is found dead, murdered, and detective Battle comes to investigate. I loved that looking at the crime scene he was like "why do I keep thinking at Hercule Poirot?" and later realized it was because there was something out of order, the kind of thing that immediately hurt Poirot's sense of symmetry and order. Battle also described him, when a policeman referred to him as a "funny man", that Poirot was not funny at all, he was a dangerous man, like a cobra :lol:
Since all the clues lead so ridiculously towards Nevile, Battle is brought to think that someone might be trying to make him look guilty, and starts thinking that maybe Audrey had old anger since he left her for Kay... but then friend Thomas comes to her aid, revealing to the superintendent that it wasn't Nevile. It was Audrey's decision. She left Nevile to go away with Thomas' brother, now dead. Thomas makes Battle understand that Audrey had no reason of feeling resentment towards Nevile, on the contrary, apparently he took on himself the blame of their separation to do the noble thing...
At that point Battle starts reversing his solution of the case, because now it wouldn't be Audrey resenting Nevile, but Nevile resenting Audrey for their separation. Battle is much happier with this solution, because there was something in Audrey that reminded him of his own daughter, who had accepted the blame for a theft she had not committed, because somehow the pressure had led her to confess a crime she had not committed.
Yet it would have been very difficult to prove it, if a man, a complete stranger to the family, had not come with solid proof against him, saying he saw him.
This man was Angus McWhirter, whose story was told at the beginning of the movie. He had lost everything, his job because he refused to lie for his boss. Angus valued truth so much that he didn't compromise it to please his superior, and was fired. One day, months ago, Angus had tried to kill himself, but had been saved. At the hospital, he had resented his rescuers, feeling that he had not wanted to be saved, but now he must admit that he has no will of trying it again.
He goes to the same place, just to have a look around, and one day he sees Audrey running, desperate, maybe intending to kill herself.. Angus stopped her, talked to her. She told him she was afraid, and he swore he would have helped her.
Audrey could no more resist the pressure and was even glad to confess and get it over with, but Angus came to Battle saying that night he saw Nevile outside with a rope.. it had been a complicated plan, but through a series of bizarre circumstances, Angus had come to know a few facts that allowed him to deduce what must have happened. Truth is, he never saw Nevile, it was a dark night with rain, he couldn't have seen him from where he was, but he said it anyway. He lied. The man who had lost so much because he would not tell a lie for his boss, now had told one.
After Battle obtained a confession from Nevile, and Audrey was definitely free of any charges, she went to him. She asked him why he lied for her. He told her "I have great respect for the truth but I found out there are things worth more" - "for example?" - "you"
The title is explained by another guest of Lady Tressilian, an old judge her friend, who spoke of how crimes grow slowly, a lot of facts converging towards the same point, until, at zero hour, they all resulted in a crime.
Ita: Verso l'ora zero
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento