Line #56 Literature/HerculePoirotsChristmas


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3	''Hercule Poirot’s Christmas'' (published in the US as ''Murder for Christmas'' and ''A Holiday for Murder'') is a 1938 novel by Agatha Christie.
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5	Old, rich and tyrannical Simeon Lee invites his entire BigScrewedUpFamily for Christmas, leading the family members to become suspicious at this sudden display of generosity and friendship. The suspicions prove to be correct: Simeon only intends to taunt his four sons and their wives, telling them they are utter failures and hinting he is soon going to change his will. The only relative to whom he is genuinely nice is his Spanish granddaughter Pilar, whom he has met for the first time.
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7	On Christmas Eve, sounds of a fight and a dreadful scream are heard from Simeon's locked room, and the old man is discovered lying dead in a huge pool of blood with no trace of his killer. Now the entire Lee clan, along with Stephen Farr, a son of Simeon's friend who was visiting as well, and three servants fall under suspicion. Who will solve this strange mystery? Luckily, famed Belgian detective Franchise/HerculePoirot is in town.
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9	The novel was adapted in 1994 as one of ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' episodes, released on Christmas Day, and loosely adapted in 2006 as the first episode of ''Series/LesPetitsMeurtresDAgathaChristie''.
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12	!! The novel contains examples of:
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14	* AgeGapRomance:
15	** George’s wife Magdalene is young enough to be his daughter. [[spoiler:She cheats on him, and he’s not her first older MealTicket]].
16	** Harry and Stephen are both attracted to the much younger Pilar. [[spoiler:She ends up with Stephen]].
17	* AwfulWeddedLife: Simeon Lee cheated on his wife left and right, and she was meek towards him and instead complained all the time to her children.
18	* BeneathSuspicion: [[spoiler:The policeman in charge of the case]] is the killer.
19	* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Lees all hate each other, more or less. Harry Lee is the ne'er-do-well son who ran off with some money and hasn't been seen in 20 years. David Lee cut himself off from the family because he couldn't forgive his father for how Simeon treated David's mother. Alfred's years of living under his father's thumb have left him a weakling. Alfred and George especially are pissed at Harry showing up out of nowhere and potentially claiming some of the family fortune. Daughter Jennifer, who has recently passed away, left the family home and married a Spaniard. Simeon Lee holds all his children to be disappointments.
20	* BlackSheep: Years earlier, Harry got into debt and disappeared with a good chunk of the family's wealth. They consider him a failure, and he hasn't come home or gotten in touch with them except to ask for more money.
21	* BlamingTheCuckold: Simeon Lee's marriage was a disaster, with Simeon constantly having affairs. Several characters, including, rather expectedly, Simeon himself, blame the fact on Mrs. Lee as well, stating she was TheEeyore who constantly sulked and complained rather than stand up to her husband, which he would have preferred.
22	* BucketBoobyTrap: A murderous variation, as the killer puts a decorative cannonball right over the door to Pilar's room, so that it will fall on her and crush her skull. She barely escapes.
23	* BusmansHoliday: Come to think of it, what is Hercule Poirot doing staying with some random local police chief in northern England on Christmas Eve?
24	* ChristmasEpisode: Poirot on a case during Christmastime. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
25	* ContinuityNod: Colonel Johnson, the local police constable, also appears in ''Literature/ThreeActTragedy'', and mentions that book when he reminisces with Poirot about "that Cartwright case."
26	* CrappyHolidays: It certainly put a damper on things when Simeon is found brutally murdered on Christmas Eve. Pilar expresses disappointment that she didn't get to see an English Christmas with tree decorating and a Yule log and such, to which Stephen answers that for that stuff you need "a Christmas uncomplicated by murder."
27	* CreepyUncle: Downplayed with Harry Lee, who is very attracted to Pilar and sadly remarks that "pity one can’t marry one’s niece". [[spoiler:The girl isn’t his niece, as it turns out. She ends up with Stephen, who also believed himself to be her uncle (well, half-uncle)]].
28	* DeadPersonImpersonation: [[spoiler:Pilar and Stephen Farr]] are ''both'' impostors, who opportunistically decided to take the identities of [[spoiler:Simeon Lee's granddaughter and his best friend's son]].
29	* {{Dedication}}: The book is dedicated to James Watts, Christie's brother-in-law, who complained that her murders are becoming "too refined" and wanted a story with a "good violent murder with lots of blood."
30	* DetectiveMole: [[spoiler:Superintendent Sugden of the local police, the investigating officer (with Poirot tagging along in his usual way) turns out to be the killer]].
31	* DirtyOldMan: Simeon Lee makes lecherous remarks towards his daughters-in-law and happily recalls his youthful exploits at every opportunity.
32	* DotingGrandparent: Simeon Lee genuinely likes his granddaughter. It helps that they share an adventurous streak and she enjoys his company too. [[spoiler:He never finds out she was an impostor]].
33	* TheDutifulSon: Alfred is the only son of Simeon’s who lives and puts up with his father. Lampshaded all the time by Harry, who compares Alfred’s dislike of him to the original dutiful son’s irritation about the prodigal son getting welcomed.
34	* DramaticDrop: Horbury the valet dramatically drops a coffee cup when Tressilian tells him that a policeman is coming by. It turns out that Horbury is a blackmailer but it's a red herring.
35	* FairCop: Superintendent Sugden is very handsome. [[spoiler:He takes after his father Simeon Lee]].
36	* ForeignFanservice: Pilar’s exotic allure, a breath of air amongst all the BritishStuffiness, is commented upon by several male characters. Most of whom are her close relatives, which is just one of the signs of how screwed up this BigScrewedUpFamily is. [[spoiler:She’s revealed to be unrelated to them, but only in the end]].
37	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Simeon, who is a gross old creep, can't help but boast about how he had a lot of women back in the day and how his legitimate sons are a disappointment but he probably has more sons "born on the other side of the blanket." In fact he has ''two'' illegitimate sons dropping by for Christmas.
38	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Alfred is Phlegmatic, George is Choleric, Harry is Sanguine and David is Melancholic.
39	* FourthDateMarriage: [[spoiler:Stephen and Conchita]] decide to get married after less than a week of knowing each other, [[spoiler:and less than a day after learning each other's true identities]].
40	* GoldDigger: He says it without malice but Stephen actually calls Pilar a "gold-digger" for her tactic of flattering her grandfather and getting into his confidence. Pilar is unapologetic, saying that "The world is very cruel to women" and they have to strike when they're young and pretty because "When they are old and ugly no one will help them."
41	* HasAType: Pilar freely admits she likes [[WomenPreferStrongMen big, strong men]] of an adventurous character, and she greatly enjoys the company of Stephen and Harry, both of whom fit the description. [[spoiler:She marries Stephen in the end]].
42	* HaveAGayOldTime: Pilar frequently wonders why the English don't seem to be "gay" at Christmastime.
43	* ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter:
44	** [[spoiler:Pilar Estravados]] is revealed to have been killed a while ago. [[spoiler:Her]] ThrillSeeker friend impersonates [[spoiler:her]] in the novel.
45	** [[spoiler:Stephen Farr]] died two years previously. The character introduced under that name is actually [[spoiler:Stephen Grant, Simeon Lee’s illegitimate son]].
46	* InspectorLestrade: Subverted. Superintendent Sugden, while not stupid, seems like he is the standard police inspector character in Agatha Christie novels who asks all the wrong questions and accepts the easy answers while Poirot is the clever one who figures everything out. [[spoiler: This is all averted in the end when Sugden is exposed as the killer.]]
47	* LockedRoomMystery: Simeon’s room is locked, with a mess and a bloodbath inside, and there is no evidence of how the killer could have left it unnoticed. [[spoiler:It is revealed the murder was committed much earlier than everyone thought – the mess and the dying scream were triggered by the killer pulling a string through the window, and the scream was really the sound of a rubber balloon that came from a prank gift shop and was called "The Dying Pig"]].
48	* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Alfred, George, David, Harry, and the late Jennifer Lee. [[spoiler:Plus their half-brothers Stephen Grant and Superintendent Sugden]].
49	* MommasBoy: David worshipped his mother and hates his father for driving her to an early grave. [[BerserkButton Don’t ever suggest to him that maybe she was also at fault in the marital problems]].
50	* MovingBeyondBereavement: In the end, [[spoiler:David]] decides to finally come to terms with the loss of [[spoiler:his mother]], after [[spoiler:decades of dwelling on it]].
51	* MurderInTheFamily: Most of the suspects for Simeon Lee’s murder are his relatives and in-laws. [[spoiler:The murderer is Simeon’s son Superintendent Sugden]].
52	* MsRedInk: George's wife Magdalene, who has expensive tastes that are causing her husband stress, since George lives on an allowance from his father (despite being a Member of Parliament).
53	-->'''David''': Magdalene, I fancy, is a bit of a spender--she has extravagant tastes.
54	* NobodyHereButUsStatues: Pilar hid amid a set of dimly-lit statues to disguise her presence at the crime scene.
55	* NotBloodSiblings: Turns out that [[spoiler:the girl who posed as Pilar]] isn't, in fact, [[spoiler:niece to Harry and Stephen. She and Stephen get married]].
56	* OldRetainer: Tressilian the butler has faithfully worked for the Lees for over forty years. His eyesight has deteriorated to the point that he can barely tell Harry, Stephen, and Superintendent Sugden apart. [[spoiler:Because Simeon is the father of all three.]]
57	* ParentingTheHusband: David looks for a mother-figure in his wife Hilda, which enrages her, as she feels she is a mother to him rather than a wife.
58	* SharedFamilyQuirks: Simeon Lee's sons share their father's habit of throwing their heads back when laughing and [[StrokeTheBeard stroking the chin.]] Including [[spoiler:his bastard son from South Africa]], and [[spoiler:his bastard son who [[DetectiveMole joined the police force...]]]].
59	* ShoutOut: When the family sees the murder scene with Simeon on the floor and blood splashed all over the room, Lydia is theatrical enough to quote a line from ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'': "Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?"
60	* SpicyLatina: An Old World variation with Pilar, an attractive, vivacious, passionate Spanish woman.
61	* StrongFamilyResemblance: Simeon Lee and his sons resemble each other a lot, so that the old butler Tressilian can get confused between them. [[spoiler:Simeon’s illegitimate sons also take after their father]].
62	* SummationGathering: In standard Christie style, as Poirot tells everybody how they ''could'' have done it and uncovers some secrets (like the two different characters that are impersonating dead people) before naming the killer.
63	-->'''Poirot''': I wish to share with everyone the knowledge that I have acquired.

Context Literature / HerculePoirotsChristmas