Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie Essay Example for Free

hickory Dickory come in by Agatha Christie EssayHickory Dickory Dock is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and starting time published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on October 31, 19551 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in November of the same year below the denomination of Hickory Dickory Death23. The UK edition retailed at ex shillings and sixpence (10/6)1 and the US edition at $3.003. It features her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The novel is notable for featuring Poirots businesslike secretary, Miss Felicity Lemon, who had previously only appeared in the Poirot short stories. plan introductionAn outbreak of unvarnished kleptomania at a student hostel is not normally the sort of crime that arouses Hercule Poirots interest. But when he sees the bizarre list of stolen and vandalized items including a stethoscope, some set aboutbulbs, some old flannel trousers, a box of chocolates, a slashed rucksack, some boracic powder and a diamond ring l ater found in a bowl of a soup he congratulates the warden, Mrs Hubbard, on a unique and beautiful problem. It is just not long before the crime of theft is the least of Poirots concerns.Explanation of the novels titleThe title is interpreted, as are other of Christies titles, from a nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock. This is nevertheless sensation of her most tenuous links to the original nursery rhyme, consisting of little more than the name of a road.Plot summaryPoirots solution of the petty thefts is unsubtle besides effective once he has menace to call in the police, Celia Austin quickly confesses to the pettier amongst the incidents. She denies specifically stealing Nigel Chapmans green ink and apply it to deface Elizabeth Johnstons work taking the stethoscope, the light bulbs and boracic powder and cutting up and concealment a rucksack. Celia appears to agree committed the lesser thefts in order to attract the attention of Colin McNabb, a psychological science studen t who at first regards her as an interesting case study, and then almost immediately becomes busy to her. Celia makes restitution for the crimes and is seemingly reconciled with her victims, except when she is discovered the following morning dead from an overdose of morphia it does not take the investigators long to see through attempts to make her death seem like suicide. some(prenominal) of the original incidents hold back not been solved by Celias confession. inspector Sharpe quickly solves the mystery of the stolen stethoscope during his interviews with the inhabitants of the hostel. Nigel Chapman admits to having stolen the stethoscope in order to pose as a doctor and steal the morphine tartrate from the hospital dispensary as occasion of a bet to acquire three deadly poisons. He claims that these poisons were then carefully disposed of, but cannot be sure that the morphine was not stolen from him while it was in his possession. Poirot turns his attention to the reappea rance of the diamond ring, and confronts Valerie Hobhouse, in whose soup the ring was found. It seems that the diamond had been replaced with a zircon and, given the fact that it was difficult for anyone but Valerie to have put the ring into the soup, Poirot accuses her of having stolen the diamond.She admits to having done so, saying that she needed the money to pay off gambling debts. She in addition admits to having planted in Celias mind the entire idea of the thefts. Mrs. Nicoletis has been behaving very nervously, as if she were losing her nerve. One dark someone brooks her drunk and kills her. Poirot focuses his attention now on the cutting up of the rucksack. By comparing an congresswoman of the rucksack type destroyed with others, he identifies an unusual corrugated base, and suggests to the police that the rucksack may have been part of a clever international smuggling operation. The rucksacks were sold to innocent students, and then exchanged as a means of transportin g drugs and gems. Mrs. Nicoletis had been bankrolling the organisation, but was not the brain behind it. When the police visited Hickory alley on an unconnected issue, the murderer had cut up the rucksack to avoid its being found and removed light bulbs to avoid being recognised. Patricia Lane comes to Nigel and admits that, in an effort to keep a dangerous poison safe, she has taken the morphine from the bottle in his drawer and substituted for it bicarbonate of soda. Now, however, the bottle of bicarbonate of soda has been taken from her receive drawer.While they are searching for this bottle Patricia mentions that she is intending to write to his father in order to reconcile the two. Nigel tells her that the case for his estrangement from his father is that he discovered that his father had poisoned his mother. This is why he changed his name and carries two passports. Nigel comes to Inspector Sharpe and tells him about the missing morphine, but while he is there, Patricia tel ephones to say that she has discovered something further. By the time that Nigel and Sharpe get to the house, Patricia has been killed by a blow to the head. Mr. Akibombo comes to Sharpe and says that he had taken Patricias bicarbonate to ease a live on complaint when he took a teaspoonful of the bicarbonate, however, he had stomach pains and later discovered that the neat powder was in fact the boracic powder.By the time Patricia had substituted the bicarbonate, the morphine had already been substituted by the stolen boracic powder. Poirot, whose suspicions about Valerie Hobhouses role in the smuggling operation have been proved correct by a police raid on her beauty sleuth, now closes the case. The murderer has been the most obvious person, Nigel Chapman, who was cognize to have the morphine in his possession. He killed Celia because she knew about his dual identity and also knew that Valerie travelled foreign on a false passport. He killed Mrs. Nicoletis because she was sure to give the smuggling operation away under pressure, and killed Patricia because she was likely to draw to his fathers attention the recent events.When Poirot outlines to Nigels fathers poll taker the case against Nigel, the poll taker is able to provide final proof. Nigels mother had been poisoned, not by his father, but by Nigel himself. When the father discovered this he forced him to write a confession and left it with his solicitor together with a letter explaining that it should be produced were there any evidence of further wrongdoing by his son. Valerie confirms Poirots solution further. She has placed the call to the police station, apparently from Patricia, after Nigel had already killed her. The green ink was a double-bluff intended to divert suspicion away from him. Valerie is willing to incriminate Nigel fully because Mrs. Nicoletis was actually her mother.Characters in Hickory Dickory Dock Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective Inspector Sharpe, the investigating off icer Miss Felicity Lemon, Poirots secretary Mrs. Christina Nicoletis, the owner of the student hostel at Hickory Road Mrs Hubbard, Miss Lemons sister and the warden of Hickory Road George, Poirots valet Celia Austin, chemist in the dispensary at St. Catherines hospital Colin McNabb, a psychology student Nigel Chapman, a History student, a occupier at Hickory Road Valerie Hobhouse, a nonmigratory at Hickory Road and partner in a beauty shop Sally Finch, a student resident at Hickory Road Elizabeth Johnston, a student resident at Hickory Road Patricia Lane, a student resident at Hickory Road Genevieve, a student resident at Hickory Road Leonard Bateson, a student resident at Hickory Road Mr. Chandra Lal, a student resident at Hickory Road Mr. Akibombo, a student resident at Hickory Road Maria, the cook at Hickory Road Geronimo, Marias economize