“Five Little Pigs” by Agatha Christie

Another one of those great Hercule Poirot mysteries. A young, beautiful lady hires the famous detective to do, in her own words, something fantastic.

16 years ago her father – a painter – was murdered by means of poison – coniine – administered to him in his beer. Her mother was tried and convicted receiving a sentence of penal servitude for life – and died a year after the trial. Many years after, upon reaching the age of 21, the daughter received a letter her mother had left for her to be opened on her 21st birthday. In that letter her mother protested her innocence.

The daughter – a brave and decisive young lady – hired Poirot to investigate the murder and prove her mother’s innocence beyond doubt – so she could get married happily, have children and live a normal life unmarred by the grim shadows of the past.

Poirot hesitated – after all, sixteen years had passed since the day of the crime – but young Carla Lemarchant flattered him, and finally he agreed to take upon the impossible task.

In order to obtain the facts necessary for his investigation, he approached five people who were present in the house at the time of the crime (“five little pigs”), talked to them and got each of them to write up a narrative containing their personal perception of events preceding the crime – and the crime itself – as they remembered it.

The more he read, the more desperately impossible his mission looked – and yet he succeeded. He succeeded when things looked so hopeless that even Carla herself was prepared to give it all up. “The accepted version of certain facts is not necessarily the true one”, said he, and proved it with multiple examples as he narrated his own version of events in front of all the people involved in the case gathered, as is traditional with Hercule Poirot mysteries, in one big room to listen to him. The clue to the case was there – in the disproval of accepted versions of facts.

I’ll say no more…