In talking about
similar themes and characters in the Christie canon, one incident stands out
from the rest. In no less than three novels, The Pale Horse, By the
Pricking of My Thumb, and Sleeping
Murder, she has an elderly woman in a nursing home asking about the child
behind the fireplace.
While it may seem
as if the books were similar due to the timing, it must be remembered that Sleeping
Murder predates its release by some 30 years. Therefore, Christie was writing
about this particular incident over the course of some three decades.
The incongruence
of the incident occurs in The Pale Horse and Sleeping Murder, where the incident
does not have anything to do with the conversations at hand. The incident occurs
while the protagonists in the book wait for someone else. The incident is
thrown into the action in these later books as a jarring note. This marks a
change from Christie’s earlier works where she makes every word count – every word
driving home to the denouement. 
It’s only in By the Pricking of My Thumbs that
Christie investigates what that crime entails. Tommy and Tuppence clear up the
mystery of the child. In reviewing John Curran’s Agatha Christie: Murder in the
Making, he shows that Christie took notes on the “your poor child” behind the
fireplace, but he too cannot come up with a satisfactory explanation for its
appearance in three novels.
Well-observed! I think I was aware it came up more than once, but certainly hadn't clocked up all 3. I think it might be mentioned in her autobiography?
ReplyDeleteJeffrey, I think I read The Pale Horse first and was so intrigued by the story! Then came Thumbs.....I think that book uses the "your poor child" story as a great hook, and I think the payoff is terrific! It's just that all the stuff in the middle is sorta ... well ... you know....... And then came Sleeping Murder, and I thought, perhaps enough is enough. But you are right, of course: Sleeping Murder came first, and then she waited and waited for the right time to spring that story!
ReplyDeleteJeffrey, glad you picked this up to highlight. I knew she had used the incident twice, but didn't remember it in The Pale Horse. I remember being very creeped out by it the first time I encountered it in Thumbs (back when I was a preteen...).
ReplyDeleteI didn't recall it The Pale Horse. Clearly an idea that obsessed her!
ReplyDeleteI wish Curran had found something more. It's intriguing.
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