Dead man's folly by Agatha Christie

I liked a lot 3/4 of this book, but I'm not too fond of the ending.
I liked that Poirot was present from the beginning, all the time part of the story :-)
Ariadne Oliver called him "telling" him to go to her immediately, so Poirot rushes out the door and after more than three hours he arrives to the Devonshire. Mrs Oliver is there to plan the story and the clues for a Murder-Hunt, a who-dunnit? around the big Nasse House, and is afraid something bad will really happen, she just senses something wrong and calls Poirot, but when a girl is found strangled, and after four-five weeks the mystery is not yet been solved, he feels very humiliated: he did not prevent it, and he did not solve it... when he can't stand the humiliation a minute longer, he leaves for Devon again, investigates some more and finally gets to the truth.
In a way, I liked to see him in such difficulty :lol: it doesn't often happen :-D
Characters: Nasse House has always been of the Folliat family, but when both her husband and two sons died in the war Mrs Folliat was left without money so she sold the house to sir George Stubbs and his pretty wife Hattie.
He's not a real sir, but seems pretty comfortable around the place. She's pretty but naive, not bright, very beautiful and very showy, with make-up, elegant dresses and big chinese hats. Miss Brewis  lives there as his assistant, but contrary to the others she thinks Hattie is a devious woman.
Spoilers now, be warned.
Marlene, the young girl that played the part of the victim in the game,  is really found dead, and Lady Stubbs seems to have misteriously disappeared. Poirot is a bit lost, he feels a bit beaten but doesn't give up, of course.
Mrs Folliat, talking about Hattie, says things like You must not believe what she says, and She was a good girl, simple but she would have never hurt anyone. More or less.
There are other characters of course, a married couple, an old man, a young architect and a young, rich, foreign cousin of Hattie that she seemed so afraid of, saying that he's an evil man; only when old Marlene's grandfather is found dead, apparently victim of an accident, Poirot sees finally the truth. Marlene used to spy on people, and get "gifts" from them in exchange for her silence. Her old granddad must have told her something that she tried to use... Poirot understands it all remembering when the old man had said "there will always be the Folliat at Nasse House"... he knew what he was saying because he had recognized in sir George the son of Mrs Folliat that was believed dead while truth is, he deserted and ran away, he married a young italian girl and came back under another name. He married Hattie too, but soon killed her and buried her in the garden, and his real wife played her part but was afraid that Hattie's cousin would see the truth and they staged her disappearance. Marlene knew sir George was actually James Folliat, and talked to him about it, so both she and her grandfather were killed.
As always Agatha's books are honest, it is possible to see the truth, if you want to find it.
I sensed that that place in the garden screamed of corpse-buried-underneath, but had not thought of George and Hattie's double identity. I don't like to stop and think about it, because if I get it too early it ruins the rest of the book. Nevertheless it must be ackknowledged that the clues were there: Hattie's character was a contradiction, she was pure and simple or smart and acting simple? She did not want to see the only man that knew the real Hattie, and liked to wear big hats that covered her expression. If she was not who she said she was, then sir George had to know for sure. What the old man said combined to Mrs Folliat's reticence to speak, make Poirot think of one of the Folliat brothers: one had sunk with his ship, the other was lost in Italy.. but he didn't die. Real Hattie had the money, so Mrs Folliat married her to her son and gave them Nasse House. She loved Hattie, but James was her son, so she could not speak against him; she suffered greatly, but there was nothing she could do, until Poirot revealed the truth, the painful truth.


Ita: La sagra del delitto