Status Updates From A Holiday for Murder

Ooooh I was right about Pilar not being the daughter and Farr not being a Farr but not i suppose the current truth of Farr’s identity

At this point Poirot is clearly alluding to the murderer being one of Lee’s bastard sons who he jabbered about. I strongly suspect Sugden but Farr is the other potential killer. Other possibilities:
1) Pilar is not actually Jennifer’s daughter
2) Harry is actually a bastard son who has assumed his identity
3) I’m such a Hastings and it’s actually, idk, Hilda.

the thing is that you can grasp at some of the secrets that the family is holding back, but right now who did what and when is mostly conjecture. Pilar lied about dancing with Farr, or Farr lied about not dancing with her. Who is lying and why? The references to the scream suggest that someone butchered an actual pig in order to get all the blood. The quotations imply David and Lydia acting a part.

Oh no!! They found a body!!

It seems as though the murder scene has been staged. I’m sure that Simeon died some time before the screaming. The bit with the butler taking stock of what the family is doing during the afternoon is a great way to set the scene for the reader and sew doubt. Like, is it REALLY David playing the “Dead March” when he’s preferred Mendelssohn?

Christie always leads into the anatomy of a murder. It’s pretty clear that the wicked old patriarch, who has gathered all of his family together for Christmas, is gonna die. Thus this spread of potential killers and motives. We even get an inkling of who the South African chap is with the remark about Simeon ruining a man who had crossed him. All that’s left is to crowbar Poirot into the whole mess!