Elephants Can Remember is a 1972 murder mystery novel by Agatha Christie, featuring detective Hercule Poirot.
At a literary luncheon, crime novelist Ariadne Oliver is approached by Mrs Burton-Cox, whose son Desmond is planning to marry Ariadne's goddaughter Celia Ravenscroft. Twelve years before, Celia's parents were found dead, both shot by a revolver that carried only their fingerprints. Since the police was never able to reconstruct the tragic event, Mrs Burton-Cox asks Mrs Oliver to find out whether it was Alistair Ravenscroft who killed his wife Margaret before committing suicide or vice versa. Despite the weird request, Mrs Oliver is determined to find out the truth. The only people she can turn to are the elephants — the witnesses who knew the Ravenscrofts very well — and, of course, her friend Poirot.
This was the last Poirot novel Christie wrote, although one more book, the pre-planned series finale Curtain, was published in 1975 after sitting on the shelf for 35 years. Elephants Can Remember received an adaptation in the thirteenth and final season of the television series Poirot in 2013, starring David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker. Tropes for the adaptation can be found on the series page.
This work contains examples of the following tropes:
- Almost Dead Guy: As Mme. Zelie relates, she and Alistair found Margaret mortally injured but not quite dead. Margaret has enough life in her to go on a quite long speech in which she makes Alistair promise not to turn Dorothea in and get her once again committed to an asylum.
- Animal Motifs: Elephants, obviously, since they are associated with memory.
- Author Avatar: The last appearance of Christie's avatar, Ariadne Oliver, the scatterbrained author of mystery stories. Mrs. Oliver is at a literary luncheon when Mrs. Burton-Cox approaches her and kickstarts the plot.
- Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: Mrs. Matcham is the very very old nanny who knew Capt. Ravenscroft and the girls Margaret and Dorothea back in Malaya. She relates how much she hated living in the Sunset House of Happiness for the Aged, where she wasn't allowed to keep her own stuff.
- Cain and Abel: Dorothea killed Margaret by pushing her off a cliff.
- Central Theme: Memory.
- Continuity Nod:
- Superintendent Spence, a character in three previous Poirot novels, pops up again. They discuss Mrs. McGinty's Dead and Hallowe'en Party, two cases that they were both involved in.
- Poirot mentions re-investigating the murder of a long-dead artist, which was Five Little Pigs.
- Mr. Goby, a guy with a knack for finding out secret information who popped up in a few Poirot novels, also makes a last appearance.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Christie was really fond of this trope. The woman who was shot wasn't Margaret but her deranged twin sister Dorothea.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After twelve years, Celia finally learns the truth about her parents' death and is finally able to move on. Desmond has thwarted her stepmother's attempt at disinheriting him, although he forgives her and grants her an adequate sum of money before marrying Celia. Zélie can finally live free from the burden of the secret, and Mrs. Oliver has found out the truth about her late friend, ending her last appearance in the series on a high note.
- Elephants Never Forget: Metaphorical elephants in this case, since they are the witnesses whose recollections provide the clues to Poirot. Although, as Mrs Oliver reflects, "we are human beings, and mercifully human beings can forget".
- Inspector Lestrade: Superintendent Garroway, who investigated the death of the Ravenscrofts, could not possibly imagine how they could be connected to the death of Margaret Ravencroft's sister Dorothea just three weeks before. They are, of course.
- The Killer Becomes the Killed: Dorothea killed her twin sister. After a dying Margaret begged her husband not to turn Dorothea in, Alistair switched their identities, passing off Dorothea as his wife—but then he shot her three weeks later, before killing himself.
- The Mentally Disturbed: Margaret's sister Dorothea spent time in various psychiatric nursing homes after being suspected of drowning her own child.
- Murder-Suicide: Which one of the spouses killed the other and then committed suicide? As it turns out, neither did. Margaret was already dead by the time and her twin sister Dorothea was impersonating her. Alistair killed her before shooting himself.
- Pet Positive Identification: The family dog bites its longtime mistress Margaret. It is one of the clues that Margaret has really been replaced by her twin sister Dorothea.
- Replacement Goldfish: Mrs. Burton-Cox adopted her son Desmond specifically as a replacement for her biological child who died in an accident.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Downplayed. While still bright and inquisitive, Mrs. Oliver seems to have trouble recalling past events and sometimes gets lost in her thoughts.
- Sibling Triangle: In the backstory, back in Malaya, Alistair Ravenscroft first fell in love with Dorothea Preston-Grey before transferring his affections to her twin sister Margaret. It's suggested that Alistair perceived something wrong with Dorothea, namely the mental illness that eventually drove Dorothea to murder.
- Summation Gathering: Even when all the characters involved in the mystery are dead! Poirot gathers together Mrs. Oliver, Celia and Desmond, and Celia's old nanny Mme. Zelie, at the scene of the tragedy to explain what happened.
- Title Drop: Variations on the phrase "elephants can remember" are repeated several times, including the very last line where Mrs. Oliver says that elephants can remember, but people can forget.
- Twin Switch: Dorothea killed her twin sister Margaret. Then Alistair arranged for his sister-in-law to assume his wife's identity. It Makes Sense in Context.
- Vague Age: This being the last novel written by Christie featuring both of them, Poirot and Mrs. Oliver are still around in the early Seventies (or the late Sixties) despite them being probably middle-aged during the events of Cards on the Table, which was published in 1936.
- Victory-Guided Amnesia: Sort of. After Poirot has solved the case, everyone can finally leave the past behind and start a new life.
