Funerals Are Fatal

After the Funeral (originally Funerals Are Fatal)

By Agatha Christie

Published 1953

213 pages

Synopsis

Richard Abernethie is dead, but there is nothing unusual is finding an ill man dead in his bed. That’s what everyone thinks, until an offhand comment by his estranged sister, Cora, at the funeral that implies a more sinister cause of death: murder.

Abernethie’s old friend and lawyer, Mr. Entwhistle, is stuck on her statement though and begins a line of inquiry, in order to dismiss her implication as nothing more than a joke, or so he makes himself believe. But before he can speak with her, she turns up dead in her home, only the day after the funeral, maimed by a hatchet. Her death seems too convenient to be a coincidence and Mr. Entwhistle enlists the help of another old friend, Hercule Poirot, to investigate Abernethie’s remaining family, each with their own motive and opportunity to commit either murder. When Cora’s companion and cook turns up at the local hospital with arsenic poisoning, the local inspector turns to Poirot with the new evidence and a hope to put this case to rest.

The suspects come together, through Poirot’s design, at Abernethie’s family home, so the detective can observe them in person, unravel the web of family secrets, and solve these heinous crimes. Complete with false confessions, numerous red herrings, and a murderer you won’t see coming!

Key Genre Elements-Mystery

• ·         Readers understand “whodunnit” and why by the end of the book
• ·         The story focuses on the investigator/investigative team
• ·         Pacing always moves toward the reestablishment of equilibrium (justice)

Read-Alikes

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin- The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

A Comedy of Heirs by Rett MacPherson- Genealogist Tori O'Shea gets more than she had bargained for when she researches her own family tree, unearthing information about the murder of her great-grandfather, a crime in which her great-uncle was the prime suspect, and discovers that long-buried secrets can have deadly implications for the present.

Still Life by Louise Penny- Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Canada's Surete du Quebec is called to Three Pines, a tiny hamlet south of Montreal, just north of the U.S. border, to investigate the suspicious hunting "accident" that claimed the life of Jane Neal, a local fixture in the village.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware- On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious and unexpected letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person--but she also knows that she can use her cold-reading skills to potentially claim the money. Hal attends the funeral of the deceased and meets the family... but it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.