Last Autumn it occurred to me that whilst I knew about this novella, I hadn’t actually read it yet. Fortunately, Santa sent me a copy at Christmas, so I was able to remedy this deficiency before the end of the year.
Synopsis
‘An urgent telephone call summons Poirot to Devonshire on what Miss Lemon declares is a “wild goose chase”. The caller is the eccentric detective novelist, Mrs Ariadne Oliver, and the reason for her alarm seems based solely on woman’s intuition. Is the fictional murder scenario she has been asked to devise a cover-up for something more sinister? And what is the significance of the Greenshore Folly, an architectural embarrassment in the sweeping grounds of the otherwise impressive Greenshore House?’
This novella, whilst written in 1954, was never published (until this 2014 edition) as Christie was unable to find a publication to publish it. John Curran in an afterword (called ‘Agatha Christie and the Greenshore Folly’) explains the reasons for this in more detail, although the awkward length was one factor. Instead, Christie would take the ingredients of Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly and use them in her novel Dead Man’s Folly two years later. Christie had set out to write the novella so she could financially contribute to her local church fundraiser. Since the novella could not be sold, Christie went on to write a Miss Marple story to raise the money instead.
Overall Thoughts
As a physical object, the dustjacket is a delight, which is not surprising since it was painted by Tom Adams. Adams also wrote the introduction and whilst it was great to read his thoughts on creating the cover, I was less interested in the other aspects of this section. I think it depends what expectations you have. I went in expecting the introduction to be predominantly focused on Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly and the artwork, but instead I think the piece reads more as autobiography or memoir. Adams concentrates the attention on his personal achievements, other people’s quotes about these achievements, mentioning famous artists he knew, describing meetings he had with Mathew Prichard and wife and thanking family members whose careers he also promotes. Gushing name dropping is just not my thing and in some ways this section felt more like the acknowledgements. But as I say if one goes in with different expectations and/or enjoy memoirs, then you are likely to get more out of this.
After the introduction comes a preface from Mathew Prichard. He discusses the filming of the David Suchet adaptation of Dead Man’s Folly, as well sharing his experiences of Greenway and how it was influential to the plot. I was also interested to note that Mathew says:
‘Nima never based her characters entirely on real-life people, but I would be lying if I did not admit to recognising snippets of Sir George and Lady Stubbs, and particularly Mrs Folliatt, from actual people she knew. Nor was I surprised when I found out that Dead Man’s Folly featured hitch-hikers. We were familiar with the occasional hitch-hiker from the nearby youth hostel called Maypool.’
I feel like this preface was a better introduction to Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly.
The opening of the novella is largely the same, word for word, as Dead Man’s Folly. One minor change is that Ariadne Oliver’s telephone call comes from Nassecombe rather than Lapton, which was the location used in the novella. I can see why Christie changed the opening so little, as it is a wonderful scene with plenty of gentle comedy:
“The name of the caller?” he demanded cautiously.
Miss Lemon spoke into the mouthpiece.
“Air-raid?” she asked doubtingly. “Oh, yes – what was the last name again?”
Once more she turned to Hercule Poirot.
“Mrs Ariadne Oliver.”
Hercule Poirot’s eyebrows shot up. A memory rose up in his mind: windswept grey hair… an eagle profile.’
I thought the phrase ‘eagle profile’ an interesting one, as it is not the image I would immediately conjure up when picturing Ariadne Oliver.
Ariadne is a series character I definitely would have liked to be present in more of Christie’s stories, as she has a wonderful personality. Scenes with her in tend to be more fun. During the telephone conversation she requests Poirot’s immediate assistance, saying she will tell him everything once he arrives. Normally, this kind of behaviour is a bit of a death warrant, but fortunately Ariadne is a series character, so she is safe from being bumped off.
When I reviewed Dead Man’s Folly, I noticed that that Poirot was unimpressed with women in shorts, and it seems that this is a comment Christie originated in the novella version. Both versions of the story also include a derisive remark about Cornish pasties (delivered as a warning from a taxi driver).
Ariadne Oliver is an author who frequently reinvents her physical appearance, which today might seem like personal rebranding:
‘The last time Poirot had seen her, she had been adopting a windswept effect. Today, her hair, richly blued, was piled upward in a multiplicity of rather artificial little curls in a pseudo Marquise style. The Marquise effect ended at her neck; the rest of her cold have been definitely labelled “country practical,” consisting of a violent yolk of egg rough tweed coat and skirt and a rather bilious looking mustard coloured jumper.’
When reading passages like this I admire Ariadne’s boldness for trying quite loud fashion choices, however, this time it also occurred to me that there is a level of chaos in her approach. Ariadne Oliver does not consistently try out one style head to toe but seems to chop and change.
In terms of the plot I would say if you have read Dead Man’s Folly, then you have by and large read Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly, as they are very similar. A key difference is length, with the novella trimming a lot of the conversations down. Normally I am not keen on shorter versions, but I actually found I liked the brevity of the novella, as there are some pacing issues with the novel version. The shorter version may have also worked well for me because I was already familiar with the plot and knew what was coming up.
Due to the reduction in conversations, I think the dialogue that occurs stands out more, meaning some clues are perhaps more prominent and/or are repeated by different characters. One downside of the shorter length is that the reader spends less time with the suspects. Some of these suspects such as the Sally and Alec Legge are more or less walk on parts.
Poirot’s investigative activities are truncated in both the novella and novel version, but I wonder if this is less irritating in the shorter format as you are aware of the space limitations. In addition, certain clues feel more condensed in a key phone call Ariadne Oliver has with Poirot later in the tale. The final chapter explains the solution to the case well, although as with Dead Man’s Folly I am unconvinced that the mystery is something the reader can fully solve by themselves.
Spoiler Warning – Only read the final paragraph if you have read Dead Man’s Folly
One thing I noticed when reading the novella, that I did not see when reading the novel, was that Mrs Folliatt is occasionally given a Miss Marple-like perspective:
‘She paused and said without any change of tone,
“It’s a very wicked world, M. Poirot. And there are very wicked people in the world. You probably know that as well as I do. I don’t say so before the younger people, it might discourage them, but it’s true… Yes, it’s a very wicked world.”’
This passage interested me, as Miss Marple does not shy away from saying there is wickedness and evil in the world, but Miss Marple has learnt this from passive observation. In contrast Mrs Folliatt’s statement is fuelled by a more active observation, as she is an accessory after the fact for the murder of Hattie Stubbs. Yet she hides this terrible crime because the killer is her son. She loved both the victim and the murderer. This moral dilemma and sense of culpability perhaps makes Mrs Folliatt feel a sense of wickedness in the world more keenly, making this passage more emotionally charged in retrospect.
End of Spoiler
Rating: 3.75/5 [The shorter page count made this a slightly more enjoyable reading experience, in comparison to the novel version which received a 3.5/5]
Interesting Fact: John Curran closes his afterword with the following nugget of information that I previously didn’t know:
‘Finally, and poignantly, note that the lines from Spenser, quoted by Mrs Folliatt at the close of (iii) of the novella, and Chapter IV of the novel, are the lines that appear on Dame Agatha’s gravestone in Cholsey churchyard: “Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas, ease after warre, death after life, doth greatly please…”