Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks

The following extracts refer to the version of the story collected in The Labours of Hercules in 1948 (for the newly discovered version see the Appendix). It is further proof of Christie’s fecundity with plot that she was able to imagine a second allegorical interpretation of the last Labour of Hercules. In the original Greek myth Hercules has to pass into Hell, overcoming the ferocious hound that guards the gates; in the Poirot Labour Hell is a nightclub with a large dog in the entrance foyer. The steps down into the club are labelled ‘I meant well’ and ‘I can give up any time I like’, an amusing take on the old saying ‘The path to Hell is paved with good intentions’. And the hound, originally intended as a nightclub ‘gimmick’, plays a vital part in the plot.

As often happens, names were changed, but the following outline is otherwise accurately reflected in the published version:

Cerberus

Raid—blackout for 2 minutes—has it happened? And J tells P?

Combed the place inside out—jewels—no, drugs—no jewels but 5 or 6 people noticed weren’t there—

Secret exit—whole grill moves out—house next door—Cabinet Minister etc.

We were in the clear—Jimmy Mullins—wanted—Battersea Murderer—has given the place a write up—

But this time we’ve got to succeed—

P talks to dog man—

The fatal evening—Is P there?—Or does he hear?

He comes over wall—black out etc.—how many people come out

Mr Vitamian Crusoe—

Miss Sylvia Elkins

Giuseppe Martacendi—cook’s boy

Paul Varesco

Two packets—the emeralds—the other—cocaine

This is a more light-hearted interpretation of the myth than the original unpublished version, with the naming of both the nightclub itself and the amusing use of the steps into it. And we also get a glimpse of Miss Lemon’s hitherto unsuspected feminine instincts in the closing lines. On ‘the fatal evening’ Poirot is at the club but leaves early and Christie adopts the idea of Japp recounting the details to him (‘or does he hear?’). None of the early part of this story, Poirot’s meeting with the Countess in the London Underground and his subsequent visit to her nightclub, features in the Notebooks.

Exhibit G: Murder Is Easy: Seeds of Inspiration

‘I’m never at a loss for a plot’

Cards on the Table, Chapter 4

SOLUTIONS REVEALED

‘The Case of the Perfect Maid’ • The Sittaford Mystery

These short jottings are perfect examples of Christie’s imaginative cultivation of even the smallest seed of an idea into a fully formed bloom—and often, with her customary good sense, she used that idea more than once. These ideas often appear in a list of similar ideas but sometimes on a page in the middle of notes for another title, as inspiration struck. And all of them appear separately from the plotting of the story in which they ultimately appeared.

Poor little rich girl—house on hill—luxury gadgets etc.—original owner

This appears on a list of a dozen ideas for possible Miss Marple stories. It probably dates from the early days of the Second World War as it is surrounded by notes for N or M? and Curtain. This idea is incorporated into ‘The Case of the Caretaker’, which first appeared in January 1942. And 25 years later much of that story was reworked for the 1967 novel Endless Night.

Hargreaves case—young man and girl—she suspected—swears to him she is innocent—he warns her—her innocence is proven—she then admits she is guilty

This idea, which has strong echoes of one of her greatest short story (and subsequent stage) successes —‘Witness for the Prosecution’, appears two pages after a page dated June 1944. It is included while she is sketching ideas for a ‘play on moral issue involving husband and wife’.

Witness in murder case—quite unimportant—offered post abroad—hears indirectly it is a fake offer—or servant—cook?

Appearing in a list of ‘Ideas A-U’ and dating from the early 1940s, this device had already been used in the early Mr Quin story ‘The Sign in the Sky’, first published in July 1924, and briefly in Chapter 6 of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?. And in the early stages of The Big Four this ploy is used on Poirot himself.

Invisible ink—written (will?) Or print a different document

‘Motive Vs. Opportunity’ from The Thirteen Problems and ‘The Case of the Missing Will’ from Poirot Investigates both feature this idea. But as those two stories had originally appeared in the 1920s this jotting, from the late 1930s, cannot be their starting point. It appears on a long list a few pages before the notes for the stories that were to become The Labours of Hercules.

Not identical twins—one sister pretends to be 2—totally different looking woman—(invalid) pretends to be maid—really 2 of them

The idea of non-identical twins appears again and again in the Notebooks—featuring in both used and unused ideas—and this variation on it appears four times, twice in one Notebook. As outlined above, this device is the main one in ‘The Case of the Perfect Maid’.

Spoof butler

This idea is difficult to date but seems to have been a possibility Christie considered for one of Tommy and Tuppence’s Partners in Crime adventures, although the rest of Notebook 65, where it appears, is taken up with Ten Little Niggers. The short story ‘The Listerdale Mystery’, published in December 1925, concerns a ‘spoof butler’ but this note is unlikely to refer to that early story. It seems more likely that it became Three Act Tragedy, where such a butler is one of the major plot devices of that brilliant novel.

Or Japp—unhappy with D.P.P. A case—yes—not happy—asks Poirot will he check up on it. Young man—bitter—difficult

This note, appearing just ahead of a page dated September 1947, eventually became Mrs McGinty’s Dead, but not with Japp (who had long disappeared) but Superintendent Spence from Taken at the Flood. The bitter young man is the already convicted James Bentley.

Short Marple Stories A. Poison Pen—big hearty girl is it

This appears on a lengthy list of similar cryptic ideas for short Marples, sandwiched between the plotting of Sparkling Cyanide and N or M?. It is obviously the germ of The Moving Finger, although a ‘big hearty girl’ is not unmasked at the end of that novel.

…with teeth projecting, discoloured or white and even (better for short story)

The teeth of the victim are one of the first anomalies noticed by Miss Marple when she views The Body in the Library.

Stamp idea—man realises fortune—puts it on old letter—a Trinidad stamp on