Dead Man's Mirror by Agatha Christie

 

Dead Man's Mirror by Agatha Christie.

Published 1937 as part of the collection Murder in the Mews and other stories.

Audio book narrated by Hugh Fraser. Released January 2009. 2hours and 21 minutes.

From the cover of the book:

Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore suspects he is the victim of fraud and contacts Hercule Poirot. The host’s failure to answer to the dinner gong leads to the discovery of his body in the study.

A gun, a shattered mirror – the obvious inference is suicide until Poirot begins his investigation…

Hugh Fraser, known to millions as Captain Hastings in the Poirot productions on television, gives a first-class performance.

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Just time to squeeze in another little audio book review before April comes a-knocking, and there is method to my madness here, because it has a link to Three Act Tragedy my March pick for #ReadChristie2025 - the connection is the mysterious Mr Satterthwaite who has a very brief appearance at the beginning of this short story, in which he actually mentions the Crow's Nest affair! 

In this expanded version of Christie's earlier short story The Second Gong, Poirot is summoned to the home of wealthy Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore, who believes he is being conned in some way. Poirot consults his pal Satterthwaite for the low down on Sir Gervase, and hears him described as an ego maniac with a very eccentric wife. Intrigued, Poirot heads to the Chevenix-Gore estate, but does not get to meet Sir Gervase (alive anyway), as he is found dead in his locked study with a shattered mirror, apparently having committed suicide. 

Poirot and chief Constable Major Riddle set about questioning the rum lot of family, friends, romantic interests, and staff in the house, eliciting widely varying descriptions of Sir Gervase's state of mind and intentions. Poirot, of course, discovers that this was not suicide after all, basing his findings on pertinent clues about the sounding of the dinner going, a stray pencil in the shape of a bullet, the position of Sir Gervase's chair, foot prints in the flower bed, and his ideas about a Chevenix-Gore family secret! Bravo little grey cells! 

This is such a fun mystery, as Christie really plays up the absurdity factor in her characters, particularly what we learn about the reputedly not very pleasant Sir Gervase and the delusional behaviour of his batty wife Vanda. 😆

Beautifully narrated by my fav Hugh Fraser too! 

Have you spotted Mr Satterthwaite in any other Poirot stories? I know he features in the Harley Quinn ones, which I have not read yet - something I need to remedy very soon.

Next Christie up is The Seven Dials Mystery for April's Characters And Careers prompt Butlers! 

Dead Man's Mirror is available to buy in multiple formats.

About the author:

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.