Lessons Learned from Agatha Christie: Even a B Novel Should Have an A Title.

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Some weeks ago I shared my conundrum over Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Links and how the title fixated on the least important element of the mystery. While I don’t want to drag you over that ground yet again, I did want to point out that even so-so stories can have cunning titles.

514b777c3e455ce895e946b3f0573ba7--dead-man-productsI’ve read Christe’s F game (see Poirot’s Christmas). I’ve read Christie’s A game (see ABC Murders). My latest acquisition, Dead Man’s Folly, would be, I’d say, her B game. There are a few obvious clues, as well as one dumb bit of New Information At The End that of course explains the motive. Yet there are also some surprises that, looking back, you realize were there all along, beginning before the killer gets a’killin’.

Poirot’s foil in the post-Captain Hastings years is a mystery writer named Ariadne Oliver. This time she’s invited Poirot to a manor where she’s created a “Murder Hunt”–a hunt for clues to solve a fake murder for prizes.

Now it sounds like this is where the title comes from, doesn’t it? A fake murder + a game= Dead Man’s Folly. Simple enough approach, but functional.

Oliver senses something sinister is brewing around her, but can’t figure out what it could be and wants Poirot to help. They meet on the grounds and she describes the manor’s residents, which leads us to our first mention of the architect and his job on the estate:

“Then there’s Michael Weyman–he’s an architect, quite young, and good-looking in a craggy kind of artistic way. He’s designing a tennis pavilion for Sir George and repairing the Folly.”

“Folly? What is that–a masquerade?”

“No, it’s architectural. One of those little sort of temple things, white, with columns.” (23)

Like Poirot, I had to pause here. I’d never heard of a Folly before, but then I live in Wisconsin, where any used gazebo’s got thick-as-you-can-get bug screens, or else.

Further on it sounds like this Folly’s called a Folly for another reason:

“It’s bedded down in concrete,” said Weyman. “And there’s loose soil underneath–so it’s subsided. Cracked all up here–it will be dangerous soon–Better pull the whole thing down and re-erect it on the top of the bank near the house. That’s my advice, but the obstinate old fool won’t hear of it…If the foundations are rotten–everything’s rotten.” (27-8)

So we have a rich man, apparently a fool, who’s insisted on erecting this lovely bit of architecture in the worst possible place for no apparent reason. The stereotype works beautifully in Christie’s favor, as the lord of the manor seems frivolous in wife, jewelry for aforementioned wife, and more. This Folly is just one more way he spends without thinking.

Or is it?

Foolish talk from a child about a body found and hidden in the woods. Snide remarks from an old man about the manor’s bloodline. A mysterious yachtman from a foreign country arrives to see the lady of the manor. Suddenly the lady is missing, the child strangled to death in the very spot where a fake corpse was to be found for the Murder Hunt. Days later the old man has drowned in an “accident.” All of it swirls and overlaps until Poirot connects the talk to the actions, to the behaviors, to the past…which, sadly, is where the New Information at the End kicks in. Despite this, Poirot’s last reveal to a suspect connects all with such deftness that even I’m willing to forgive that Late Clue Drop:

“Listen, Madame. What do you hear?”

“I am a little deaf…What should I hear?”

“The blows of a pickaxe….They are breaking up the concrete foundation of the Folly…What a good place to bury a body–where a tree has been uprooted and the earth already disturbed. A little later, to make all safe, concrete over the ground where the body lies, and, on the concrete, erect a Folly…” (223)

What was originally presented as a bit of foolishness by the New Rich Guy turns out to be the clever cover by the Old Family Bloodline. The old man’s snide remark is true about the family, the tale the child told is true about the body, and the strange foreigner who insists on seeing the lady of the manor would have exposed an evil the lord and lady were hiding. All was rotten from the start, even pointed out to us as such in that opening chapter, but only now upon the last page do we understand just how rotten the manor–and its family–had become.

Was Dead Man’s Folly a thrilling read? No. In fact, I’d put it on par with Murder on the Links (har har). But whereas I kept reading Links expecting a deeper connection to golf, I was pleasantly surprised by the many-fold meaning of the Folly. In the end, the title helped the book become a more satisfying read because it foretold and still surprised, just as a strong title should for a story of any grade.

31 thoughts on “Lessons Learned from Agatha Christie: Even a B Novel Should Have an A Title.”

  4. I THINK I remember this one, but they blend together a bit after a while 🙂 Thanks for inspiring me to check it out again sometime.
    I’d heard of a ‘folly’ before, but more in terms of building a big crazy castle house in a rural community or something like that. (There’s one of those on a back road near here that I’d love to try to stop by and take some pictures of, if that wouldn’t make me look to stalker-y. ‘No, no officer! I’m a blogger, it’s all ok! Really!!!’)
    Sigh. School has me unable to think of good sentences, let alone good titles :p
    Hugs to you and yours.

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  7. I’m embarrassed to say that I can’t remember ever reading Agatha Christie as a kid, but I blame my Catholic schooling for a hiccup in my early literature. That said, I’ve seen enough movie reprisals of her work to know it’s good stuff. As for titles, I am toying with the idea of titling the chapters on the novel I’m working on now and sometimes I even give my day a title!

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  8. I can’t say if I do or don’t agree with your assessment of the books, but you did get me thinking about titles. Ugh, I so wanted to leave the title on one of my books, but it’s nagged me (and others have nagged me) that it really is a meaningless title

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  9. Wow! I didn’t know there were so many contemporary fans of Dame Agatha. Personally, I could never get into her mysteries, particularly the Poirot ones. I’m seeing now it might have been my loss. Thanks for the quality exposition.

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    • I know. I love the David Suchet tv movie adaptation, as they throw in a fun little mix of humor via Japp stuck w/his inlaws for the holiday. So I will love that…and not the novel.
      The Christmas Pudding short, however, I DO read every year. 🙂 xxxxxx

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  11. This came up again in my inbox, so I dutifully started reading the post. It sounded familiar about a quarter the way through, like I’d already read and responded to it. Sure enough. Figured I got this far, I’d say “hi” to you again. I admire your following, by the way.

    Jay

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