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Begin Content
16 YEARS AGO... murder
had
been
committed. Now, the convicted killer was dead. And the
tangible clues--the cigarette ends, the
footprints, the bent blades of grass--were long
since gone.
But still the strong scent of mystery hung in the air.
The mystery that surrounded the startling case of a
talented
artist
who brought to his wife's
home the
beautiful model he loved--and died for.
With over 200 million copies of her books
sold, Agatha Christie is unequalled as a
renowned and distinguished author of ingenious
tales of mystery and suspense.
MURDER IN
RETROSPECT
Agatha Christie
A DELL MYSTERY
Published by
DELL PUBLISHING CO., INC.
750 Third Avenue
New York, N.y. 10017
Copyright [*copygg'1941,1942 by Agatha
Christie Mallowan
Dell [*reggg'TM 681510, Dell
Publishing Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
Reprinted by arrangement with Dodd, Mead and
Company, Inc. New York, N.y.
Previous Dell Edition-D384
New Dell Edition
First Printing-January 1966
Printed in U.S.A.
hercule poirot looked with interest and appreciation
at the young woman who was being ushered into the room.
There had been nothing distinctive in the letter she had
written. It had been a mere request for an
appointment, with no hint of what lay behind that
request. It had been brief and businesslike.
Only the firmness of the handwriting had indicated that
Carla Lemarchant was a young woman.
And now here she was in the flesh-a tall, slender young
woman in the early twenties. The kind of young
woman that one definitely looked at twice. Her
clothes were good: an expensive, well-cut coat and
skirt and luxurious furs. Her head was well
poised on her shoulders, she had a square brow, a
sensitively cut nose, and a determined chin. She
looked very much alive. It was her aliveness more than
her beauty that struck the predominant note.
Before her entrance, Hercule Poirot had been
feeling old-now he felt rejuvenated,
alive-keen! As he came forward to greet her, he
was aware of her dark-gray eyes studying him
attentively. She was very earnest in that scrutiny.
She sat down and accepted the cigarette that
hi
offered her. After it was lit she sat for a minute or
two smoking, still looking at him with that earnest,
thoughtful scrutiny.
Poirot said gently, "Yes, it has to be
decided, does it not?"
She started. "I beg your pardon?" Her
voice was attractive, with a faint, agreeable
huskiness in it.
"You are making up your mind-are you not?-whether I am
a mere mountebank or the man you need."
She smiled. She said, "Well, yes-something of that
kind. You see, M. Poirot, you-you don't look
exactly the way I pictured you."
"And I am old, am I not? Older than you
imagined?"
"Yes, that, too." She hesitated. "I'm being
frank, you see. I want-I've got to have-the
best."
"Rest assured," said Hercule Poirot, "I
am
the best!"
Carla said, "You're not modest All the same,
I'm inclined to take you at your word."
Poirot said placidly, "One does not, you know,
employ merely the muscles. I do not need to bend
and measure the footprints and pick up the
cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of
grass. It is enough for me to sit back in my chair
and
think.
It is this-was he tapped his egg-shaped head-
"this,
that functions!"
"I know," said Carla Lemarchant. "That's why
I've come to you. I want you, you see, to do something
fantastic!"
"That," said Hercule Poirot, "promises
well!"
He looked at her in encouragement.
Carla Lemarchant drew a deep breath. "My
name," she said, "isn't Carla. It's Caroline.
The same as my mother's. I was called after her."
She paused. "And though I've always gone by the name of
Lemarchant-ever since I can remember almost-that
isn't my real name. My real name is Crale."
Hercule Poirot's forehead creased a moment
perplexedly. He murmured, "Crale- I seem
to remember-was
She said, "My father was a painter-rather a well-known
painter. Some people say he was a great painter. still think
