Appointment with Death (Hercule Poirot, #19)

by Agatha Christie

Lady Westholme was a very well-known figure in the English political world. When Lord Westholme, a middle-aged, simple-minded peer whose only interests in life were hunting, shooting and fishing, was returning from a trip to the United States, one of his fellow passengers was a Mrs Vansittart. Shortly afterwards Mrs Vansittart became Lady Westholme. The match was often cited as one of the examples of the danger of ocean voyages.

Dr Gerard had displayed throughout the conversation a levity which Lady Westholme, who, being a true politician, had no sense of humour, found definitely deplorable.

She thought: ‘Civilization is all wrong—all wrong! But for civilization there wouldn’t be a Mrs Boynton! In savage tribes they’d probably have killed and eaten her years ago!’

Lady Westholme entered the room with the assurance of a transatlantic liner coming into dock. Miss Amabel Pierce, an indeterminate craft, followed in the liner’s wake and sat down in an inferior make of chair slightly in the background.

Poirot murmured suavely: ‘I am sure, Lady Westholme, that you are quite capable of dealing with situations of that kind. When travelling acquaintances are no longer of any use to you, I am sure you are an adept at dropping them.’ ‘I think I am capable of dealing with most situations,’ said Lady Westholme complacently. The twinkle in Poirot’s eye was quite lost upon her.

‘And now? What really happened, M. Poirot?’

Fair warning: There are two things you must do if you know nothing of the book: discuss it with no one, and read it with all speed.

This is from the extra content in the Kindle edition. It is a comment about The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. 😂