Well, it wasn’t bad, because Poirot was the usual perfect Poirot, but it wasn’t exactly good either. Mostly because as soon as the mystery started, it was over already. There was much more time spent leading to the murder, introducing all the characters, and little to none investigating.
There was a colonel with his unpleasant, overbearing, commanding wife. There was the general who was in love with her because apparently he knew her before she became so insufferable.
There were two young ladies who liked to spend their time with the colonel, and a woman who was in love with him, for whatever reason.
There was a couple that had nothing to do with anything other than being on the same cruise by chance.
The colonel is rumour to have worked on stage for some time before gaining his title without actually doing much during the war. During a game with the girls and Poirot, he is so good that people start thinking he ought to do that on stage, and he appeared kind of upset and unsettled by that, and leaves immediately.
Most of ship empties when they reach land; the colonel goes out with the two girls but his wife doesn’t; Poirot and others see him talking to her closed door, and her voice saying she doesn’t want to go. Poirot himself goes out with Hastings.
When they all go back to the ship, the colonel asks the crew to open the door because his wife doesn’t answer and he doesn’t have a key, and he finds her dead, stabbed.
The colonel has been all day with the two girls, the woman who wanted him was out as well, but the general had stayed behind, he wanted to talk to the woman he loved but since she didn’t answer or open the door, he left for his own cabin.
Poirot suddenly has an idea, and asks for a little girl’s help. He shows everyone her doll, saying she can tell them what happened, and the little girl, hiding from view, speaks the same words they heard the deceased woman say to her husband to let him go out alone while she supposedly stayed behind.
Hearing those words, the colonel paled and tried to run; stopped, he merely said “yes” and was taken away. Poirot then explains that the colonel faked being caught doing stage-tricks with cards to make them believe that was what he did, while he was in fact a ventriloquist: his wife was already dead while he pretending to talk to her through the door, and it was him pretending to be her that said those words (so not just a ventriloquist, but a superb impressionist, because that was his wife’s voice alright).
That’s it, the end.
Little thing noteworthy: Poirot talks to Hastings about suspects, and after Hastings only speaks about the man, Poirot introduces the notion that it might have been a woman. Hastings is not convinced, and when Poirot asks if he doesn’t think that a lady might commit murder, he replies that ladies do not get caught. It was cute.
ITA crociera con il morto
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