Agatha Christie: Five Little Pigs

contention that it is possible to solve a mystery purely by reflecting upon the testimony of
the participants, and without access to the scene of the crime. (fandom.com)

1. Explanation of the novel's title

Like One, Two, Buckle My Shoe before it and Hickory Dickory Dock after it, the novel is
named for a nursery rhyme usually referred to as This Little Piggy that is used by Poirot
to organise his thoughts regarding the investigation.

2. Characters:
HERCULE POIROT - the Belgian Detective
CARLA (CAROLINE) LEMARCHANT - the daughter of Amyas and Caroline Crale
JOHN RATTERY -
AMYAS CRALE - Painter by profession and a man who loved beer and his mistresses,
but loved his wife most. He was murdered 16 years before the story opens.
CAROLINE CRALE - wife of Amyas, half sister to much-younger Angela Warren.
She was found guilty of the murder of her husband. She died in prison within a year.
SIR MONTAGUE DEPLEACH - Counsel for the Defence in the original trial
QUENTIN FOGG - K.C., Junior for the Prosecution in the original trial
GEORGE MAYHEW -
CALEB JONATHAN - family solicitor for the Crales
EDMUNDS - Managing clerk in Mayhew's firm
SUPERINTENDENT HALE - investigating officer in the original case
LORD DITTISHAM - Elsa Greer's husband

2.1 The Five little pigs:

PHILLIP BLAKE - a stockbroker
MEREDITH BLAKE - a reclusive former amateur herbalist
ELSA GREER (LADY DITTISHAM) - a spoiled society lady
CECILIA WILLIAMS - the devoted governess
ANGELA WARREN - a disfigured archaeologist

3. Plot introduction
Sixteen years after Caroline Crale has been convicted of the murder of her husband, Amyas
Crale, her daughter, Carla Lemarchant, approaches Poirot to investigate the case. Poirot

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embarks optimistically upon an unprecedented challenge, but soon fears that the case may be
as cut and dried as it had first appeared.

4.Plot summary
Carla is engaged to be married but she is afraid that the fact that her mother killed her father
will poison her husband's love for her, as he may fear that she has inherited a murderous
tendency. Carla also remembers her mother would never lie to her to hide an unpleasant truth
and her mother had told her she was innocent through a letter. That is enough for Carla but she
wants Poirot to convince her fiance.

Carla's father, painter Amyas Crale, was poisoned with coniine, which had been extracted
from poison hemlock by Meredith Blake but subsequently apparently stolen from him by
Carla's mother, Caroline Crale. Caroline confessed to stealing the poison, claiming she had
intended to use it to commit suicide. The poison ended up, however, in a glass from which
Amyas had drunk cold beer, after complaining that 'everything tastes foul today.' Both the glass
and the bottle of cold beer had been brought to him by Caroline. Her motive was clear: Amyas's
young model and latest mistress, Elsa Greer, claimed he was planning to divorce Caroline
and marry her instead. This was a new development; though Amyas had frequently had
mistresses and affairs, he had never before shown any sign of wanting to leave Caroline.

Phillip Blake ("went to the market");

Meredith Blake, Philip's brother ("stayed at home");
Elsa Greer (now Lady Dittisham, "had roast beef");
Cecilia Williams, the governess ("had none");
Angela Warren -sister ("went 'Wee! Wee! Wee!' all the way
home").

As Poirot learns from speaking to them during the first half of the novel, none of the quintet
has an obvious motive, and while their views of the original case differ in some respects there
is no immediate reason to suppose that the verdict in the case was wrong.

The differences are subtle:

hostility to Caroline is overt enough to draw suspicion.
Meredith Blake mistrusts him, and has a very much more sympathetic view of her.
Elsa seems emotionally stunted, as though her original passion for Amyas has left her
prematurely devoid of emotion, except for hatred for Caroline Crale.
Cecilia, the governess, gives some insight into both Caroline and Angela, but claims to
have definite reason for believing Caroline guilty.
Finally, Angela believes her sister to be innocent, but a letter that Caroline wrote to her
after the murder contains no protestation of innocence, and makes Poirot doubt
Caroline's innocence for perhaps the first time.

In the second half of the novel, Poirot considers five accounts of the case that he has asked the
suspects to write for him. These establish the succession of events on the day of the murder,
and establish a small number of facts that are important to the solution of the puzzle. In the first
place, there is a degree of circumstantial evidence incriminating Angela. Secondly, Cecilia
has seen Caroline frantically wiping fingerprints off the bottle of beer as she waited by

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Amyas's dead body. Thirdly, there was a conversation between Caroline and Amyas,
apparently about Amyas 'seeing to her packing' for Angela's return to school. Fourthly, Elsa
overheard a heated argument between Caroline and Amyas in which he swore that he would
divorce her and Caroline said bitterly, "you and your women."

In the denouement, Poirot reveals the main emotional undercurrents of the story. Philip Blake
has loved Caroline but his rejection by her has turned this to hatred. Meredith Blake,
wearied by his long affection for Caroline, has formed an attachment to Elsa, also
unreciprocated. These are mere red herrings, though. Putting together the case that would
incriminate Angela (she had the opportunity to steal the poison on the morning of the
crime, she had previously put salt in Amyas's glass as a prank and she was seen fiddling
with the bottle of beer before Caroline took it down to him; she was very angry with
Amyas), he demonstrates that Caroline herself would have thought that Angela was guilty. Her
letter to Angela did not speak of innocence, because Caroline believed Angela knew for a fact
that she (Caroline) was innocent. This explains why, if Caroline was innocent, she made no
move to defend herself in court. Moreover, many years ago Caroline had hit Angela with a
crowbar in a jealous rage, which had left a permanent disfiguring scar on Angela's face.
Caroline had always felt deeply guilty about this and therefore felt that, by taking the blame for
what she thought was Angela's crime, she could earn redemption.

Caroline's actions, however, actually prove her innocence. By wiping the fingerprints off the
bottle, she showed that she believed that the poison had been placed in it, rather than in the
glass. Moreover, as she was seen handling the bottle there was no reason to remove her own
fingerprints; she can only have been removing those of a third party.

Angela, however, was not guilty. All the evidence incriminating Angela can be explained by
the fact that she had stolen valerian from Meredith's laboratory that morning in preparation for
playing another prank on Amyas. (As she had described the theft of the valerian in the future
tense Poirot realised Angela had never carried out the act; she had completely forgotten she had
stolen the valerian on the morning of that fateful day).

The true murderer was Elsa. Far from being about to finish with Caroline, Amyas was
entirely focused on completing his portrait of Elsa. Because Elsa was young she did not realize
she was just another mistress, to be left as soon as she was painted. She took Amyas's promise
'to leave my wife' seriously.

Amyas went along with this notion, to the short-term distress of his wife, so Elsa wouldn't
leave before the painting was finished. Thus the half overheard 'see to her packing' did not refer
to Angela's packing (why should Amyas do her packing with a wife and governess to see to
such 'woman's work'?), but to sending Elsa packing. Caroline, reassured that Amyas had no
intention of leaving her, was distressed at such cruelty to Elsa. She remonstrated with Amyas
on a second occasion. Though Elsa falsely reported the gist of this conversation, she did
mention that Caroline had said to Amyas 'you and your women', showing Poirot that in fact
Elsa was in the same category as all of Amyas's other, discarded mistresses. After a
disillusioned and betrayed Elsa overheard this conversation, she recalled seeing Caroline help
herself to the coniine the day before and, under the pretence of fetching a cardigan, stole some
of that poison by drawing it off with a fountain pen filler. She poisoned Amyas in the first,
warm beer, and was then pleased to find that Caroline implicated herself still more seriously
by bringing him another.

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When Caroline brought Amyas a beer and he exclaimed that 'everything tastes foul today,' this
not only showed that he had already had a drink before the one Caroline brought him, but he
had had one which had tasted foul as well.

Amyas's last moments are spent working on his painting of Elsa, while she sits posing for it. In
the beginning he does not realize he has been poisoned, but as he gradually weakens he
apparently realizes it, because Meredith sees him give the painting a "malevolent glare". Poirot
notes the unusual vitality in the face of the portrait and says, "It is a very remarkable picture. It
is the picture of a murderess painted by her victim it is the picture of a girl watching her lover
die."

Poirot's explanation solves the case to the satisfaction of Carla and, most importantly, her
But, as Elsa forces him to admit, it cannot be proven. Poirot states that, although his
chances of getting a conviction are slim, he does not intend to simply leave her to her rich,
privileged life. Privately, however, she confides the full measure of her defeat. Caroline, having
earned redemption, went uncomplainingly to prison, where she died soon after. Elsa has always
felt that the husband and wife somehow escaped her, and her life has been empty since. The
last paragraph of the novel underlines this defeat. The chauffeur held open the door of the
car. Lady Dittisham got in and the chauffeur wrapped the fur rug around her knees.