Dumb Witness


Dumb Witness is a detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 July 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Poirot Loses a Client. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.
The book features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and is narrated by his friend Arthur Hastings. One novel published after this one features Hastings as narrator, 1975's Curtain: Poirot's Last Case.
Reviews of this novel at publication in 1937 were generally positive, though several pointed out what they considered to be plot weaknesses. The author does "this sort of thing so superlatively well", while The Times in London questioned one of the actions by the murderer: "who would use hammer and nails and varnish in the middle of the night" near an open bedroom door? In the New York Times, this novel was not considered Mrs Christie's best, but "she has produced a much-better-than-average thriller nevertheless", which is a view shared by "Torquemada", who called this "the least of all the Poirot books" and then concluded "Still, better a bad Christie than a good average." By contrast, Mary Dell considered this novel to be Mrs Christie at her best. The Scotsman felt the author deserved "full marks" for this novel. A review in 1990 found this novel to be not very interesting, with obvious clues.

Plot summary

Emily Arundell, a wealthy spinster, writes to Hercule Poirot on the belief she has been the victim of attempted murder after a fall in her home in Berkshire. However, her family and household believe she actually fell by accident, after tripping over a ball left by her fox terrier Bob. When Poirot receives the letter, he learns she has already died; her doctor, Dr. Grainger, states her death was from chronic liver problems. A new will she made while recovering from her earlier fall bequeaths her vast fortune and home to her companion, Miss Minnie Lawson. Seeking to investigate Emily's belief someone wanted to murder her, Poirot, accompanied by his friend Arthur Hastings, notes that under her previous will, her nephew Charles Arundell would have inherited, along with her nieces Theresa Arundell and Bella Tanios. All three wish to contest the will, but do not pursue this course of action.
Visiting the house on the pretence of buying it, Poirot discovers a nail covered with varnish at the top of the stairs, deducing a string had been tied to it. Through Emily's last words, he concludes that Bob had been out all night and that she had therefore fallen down the stairs as a result of a tripwire, and that there is a chance Emily was indeed murdered. Her family thus become suspects in that matter. In his investigations, Poirot learns that during a seance held in Emily's home, a luminous aura was noticed coming from her mouth when she spoke. Visiting Lawson at her home, he learns that she saw someone moving about on the night of Emily's fall, who wore a brooch with the initials "TA", while Lawson's gardener recalls Charles inquiring about his arsenic-based weed killer and is surprised to find the bottle containing it to be nearly empty. Bella later leaves her husband Jacob, on the implication he bullies her, taking the children with her. After Lawson helps to hide them in a hotel, Poirot moves her to another on fear of a second murder; before he does he gives her a summary of Emily's death. The next day, Bella is found dead from an overdose of a sleeping medication.
Poirot soon brings together Lawson and Emily's surviving family, whereupon he reveals that Bella was the murderer. She had hated her husband, never truly loving him, and sought to separate from him and keep her children in England. As she had no means to do so, she decided to kill Emily in order to inherit her portion of her wealth. When her first attempt with the tripwire failed, she decided to switch one of her aunt's capsules for her liver troubles, with one filled with elemental phosphorus, knowing that her death from the poison would mimic the symptoms of liver failure. The aura witnessed by those attending the seance was because of the poison Emily had unknowingly taken. When she found out her aunt changed her will, and that Poirot had discovered the cause of her death, Bella found herself in far worse quandary. She thus relinquished her children back to their father, before committing suicide; the medication was originally intended to be used in murdering Jacob.
Poirot reveals that Lawson saw Bella on the night of Emily's fall, though in a mirror; the brooch's initials were reversed from that of "AT" - Arabella Tanios. The arsenic was stolen by Theresa, who intended to use it, but could not bear to do so in the end. A small sum of cash that went missing was later discovered to have been stolen by Charles; he was aware his aunt had changed her will, before her death. Knowing Emily wished for no scandal, Poirot honours this, while Lawson decides to share her inheritance with Theresa, Charles, and Bella's children. Meanwhile, Poirot and Hastings find themselves returning home with Bob joining them.

Characters

in the Times Literary Supplement, while approving of Christie's work, commented on some length at what he felt was a central weakness of this book: "Who, in their senses, one feels, would use hammer and nails and varnish in the middle of the night within a few feet of an open door! – a door, moreover, that was deliberately left open at night for observation! And, incidentally, do ladies wear large brooches on their dressing gowns?.. These are small but tantalising points which it would not be worth raising in the work of a less distinguished writer than Mrs Christie; but they are worth recording, if only as a measure of curiosity and interest with which one approaches her problems and attempts to anticipate their solution."
In The New York Times Book Review, Kay Irvin wrote that "Agatha Christie can be depended upon to tell a good tale. Even when she is not doing her most brilliant work she holds her reader's attention, leads them on from clue to clue, and from error to error, until they come up with a smash against surprise in the end. She is not doing her most brilliant work in Poirot Loses A Client, but she has produced a much-better-than-average thriller nevertheless, and her plot has novelty, as it has sound mechanism, intriguing character types, and ingenuity.
In The Observer's issue of 18 July 1937, "Torquemada" said, "usually after reading a Poirot story the reviewer begins to scheme for space in which to deal with it adequately; but Dumb Witness, the least of all the Poirot books, does not have this effect on me, though my sincere admiration for Agatha Christie is almost notorious. Apart from a certain baldness of plot and crudeness of characterisation on which this author seemed to have outgrown years ago, and apart from the fact that her quite pleasing dog has no testimony to give either way concerning the real as opposed to the attempted murder, her latest book betrays two main defects. In the first place, on receiving a delayed letter from a dead old lady Poirot blindly follows a little grey hunch. In the second place, it is all very well for Hastings not to see the significance of the brooch in the mirror, but for Poirot to miss it for so long is almost an affront to the would-be worshipper. Still, better a bad Christie than a good average."
The Scotsman of 5 July 1937 started off with: "In Agatha Christie's novel there is a minor question of construction which might be raised." The reviewer then went on to outline the set-up of the plot up to the point where Poirot receives Emily Arundell's letter and then said, "Why should the story not have begun at this point? M. Poirot reconstructs it from here and the reader would probably have got more enjoyment out of it if he had not had a hint of the position already. But the detection is good, and the reader has no ground for complaint, for the real clue is dangled before his eyes several times, and because it seems a normal feature of another phenomenon than poisoning that he tends to ignore it. For this Agatha Christie deserves full marks."
E.R. Punshon of The Guardian began his review column of 13 July 1937 by an overview comparison of the books in question that week when he said, "Only Mrs Christie keeps closer to the old tradition, and this time she adds much doggy lore and a terrier so fascinating that even Poirot himself is nearly driven from the centre of the stage." In the review proper, he went on to say that the dedication of the novel to Peter was, "a fact that in this dog-worshipping country is enough of itself to ensure success." He observed that Poirot, "shows all of his usual acumen; Captain Hastings – happily once more at Poirot's side – more than all his usual stupidity, and there is nothing left for the critic but to offer his usual tribute of praise to another of Mrs Christie's successes. She does indeed this sort of thing so superlatively well that one is ungratefully tempted to wish she would do something just a little well different, even if less well."
In the Daily Mirror, Mary Dell wrote: "Once I had started reading, I did not have to rely on Bob or his cleverness to keep me interested. This is Agatha Christie at her best." She concluded, "Here's a book that will keep all thriller fans happy from page one to page three hundred and something."
Robert Barnard: "Not quite vintage for the period: none of the relations of the dead woman is particularly interesting, and the major clue is very obvious. The doggy stuff is rather embarrassing, though done with affection and knowledge. At the end the dog is given to Hastings – or possibly vice versa."

Possible errata

The son of Bella and Jacob Tanios is mentioned as Edward and, twice, as John in the novel. The boy is mentioned by name by his mother in Chapters 2, 16, 17 and by his father in Chapters 2 and 17 as well. At any other time, they are mentioned as "the children". At the very end of Chapter 16 in one print version, when Bella, her daughter Mary and Poirot are joined by Jacob Tanios and their son, Poirot asks Bella a question and she replies:
"When do you return to Smyrna, madame?" "In a few weeks' time. My husband – ah! here is my husband and John with him."
At the start of Chapter 17, Jacob Tanios then calls his son John:
"Here we are," he said, smiling to his wife. "John has been passionately thrilled by his first ride in the tube. He has always been in buses until today."
Other print versions have more switches between John and Edward.
However, in the audiobook edition read by Hugh Fraser, the boy is always called Edward, even in those two instances where the print version has the wrong name. Thus they are termed errata. It is not clear when the errata were corrected for the audiobook.
The book is inconsistent in its references to Bella Tanios' maiden name. There is an early reference to her as Bella Winter. Later she is referred to as Bella Biggs, daughter of Professor Biggs
Also in the audio book, the title of Chapter 18 is A Cuckoo in the Nest, changed from A Nigger in the Woodpile, in early texts. That change is more likely attributed to changing values as to accepted language, than considered errata.

History of the novel

Dumb Witness was based on a short story entitled The Incident of the Dog's Ball. This short story was lost for many years but found by the author's daughter in a crate of her personal effects, in 2004. The Incident of the Dog's Ball was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making. The short story was also published by The Strand Magazine in their tenth anniversary issue of the revived magazine in 2009.

Quotes

Poirot on lying as needed to learn the facts, in conversation with Hastings in Chapter 26:

H: "More lies, I suppose?"

P: "You are really very offensive sometimes, Hastings. Anybody would think I enjoyed telling lies."

H: "I rather think you do. In fact, I'm sure of it."

P: "It is true that I sometimes compliment myself upon my ingenuity," Poirot confessed naively.

Adaptations

Television

In 1996, the novel was adapted as part of the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet as Poirot. The adaptation made a number of notable changes to it, which included the following:
The cast includes:
broadcast a full cast adaptation of the novel in 2006, featuring John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot and Simon Williams as Captain Arthur Hastings. Music was composed by Tom Smail.
The production was recorded for sale as an audio book on cassette or CD. Three editions of this BBC Radio Full Cast Drama were released in the UK and US markets, the latest being the January 2010 US edition on CD,.

Graphic novel

Dumb Witness was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 6 July 2009, adapted and illustrated by "Marek".

Publication history

In addition to those listed above, thirteen paperbacks issued from July 1969 to June 2011 are shown at Fantastic Fiction. The most recent hardback edition was issued in April 2013 for the US market by Center Point.
The book is in continuous publication, and in several forms. Two Kindle editions have been issued: one in January 2005 by William Morrow Paperbacks and again in October 2010 by HarperCollins. Four audio editions for the UK and US markets are listed, from August 2002, all read by Hugh Fraser by HarperCollins Audiobooks in the UK, and by BBC Audiobooks America and Audio Partners, The Mystery Masters February 2006 in the US.
The book was first serialised in the US in The Saturday Evening Post in seven instalments from 7 November to 19 December 1936 under the title Poirot Loses a Client with illustrations by Henry Raleigh.
In the UK, the novel was serialised as an abridged version in the weekly Women's Pictorial magazine in seven instalments from 20 February to 3 April 1937 under the title Mystery of Littlegreen House. There were no chapter divisions and all of the instalments carried illustrations by "Raleigh".