Summary “Stupidity of the Dead”
The famous writer Ariadne Oliver invites the famous detective Hercule Poirot to a holiday in the estate of the Stubbs family, located in a small village near the tourist center. Owner of the estate, George Stubbs, wealthy plebeian, and, according to Mrs. Oliver, a man of limited, but in the business of the dock, lives on an estate with a wife who is twenty years younger than him.
Recently, the architect Michael Weyman came to the estate to design and repair a building in the form of a temple called “Fad”. The former owner of the estate, Mrs. Follyat, lives in the gardener’s house. This single woman, who lost two sons in the war, sold the estate to Stubbs for debts. To arrange a holiday help Mr. Alec Legg and his wife Sally, who live nearby.
Guests of the holiday decide to entertain with the game “Find a victim”, a script to which Mrs. Oliver should write with the help of a famous detective. In a small boat house will lie “corpse,”
Walking on the estate, Poirot gets acquainted with Michael Weiman, who is surprised: why you need to repair the “Fad”, built a year ago? The building does not harmonize with the house, and it is built on a poor foundation.
The famous detective stops at the Stubbs house, where he gets acquainted with its inhabitants. Lady Hattie Stubbs, wearing all-time wide-brimmed hats, turns out to be an idiot woman from the West Indies. Her family owned plantations, but during the earthquake the estate burned down, and the girl’s family died. Mrs. Follyat became her guardian, but Hattie was lucky – Mr. Stubbs fell in love with her and married her. According to others, her husband constantly pampers her, buys jewelry and expensive clothes. But
Poirot meets an old boatman who tells that the youngest son of the Folias, James, was a man of bad faith and made a lot of debts. The boatman says a strange phrase: “Folliats will always live here.”
At breakfast, Lady Stubbs, again dressed in a wide-brimmed hat, receives a letter from her cousin Etienne Suzi, who is due to arrive. A woman is afraid that she does not recognize a relative whom she saw as a girl. Lady Stubbs believes that Etienne is a bad person, capable of any dirty tricks. Citing the headache, she goes to her room.
The estate is preparing for the holiday. Two girls-tourists violate the boundaries of the estate. Mr. Stubbs, when he sees it at the window, screams at them, but his wife calls him inside the house. Poirot recognizes one of the girls – he met her yesterday, when he went to the estate.
Marlene Tucker looks with interest at the famous writer and the famous detective. She informs them that her grandfather saw the corpse of a girl in the forest, but the old man is considered to have survived from the mind, and nobody listens to him.
Dressed in a wide-brimmed hat and hung with expensive ornaments, Lady Stubbs appears on the feast, where many people gathered. Poirot moves from one attraction to another, meets the tourist girls who are already leaving, and sees Mr Stubbs greeting Etienne Susi, who has arrived on the yacht.
Mrs. Oliver wants to see Marlene: the girl is too frivolous, she did not run away on a holiday. Together with Poirot, they enter the house and see a smothered girl lying on the floor. Presentiments of the writer came true.
Arrived at the scene of the incident, the police inspector interrogates the witnesses. At the celebration there were about two hundred people, everyone could go into the house and commit a crime. To whom could Marlene, a silly talker, the daughter of a cook, who had only boys and movie stars on her mind, interfere? As money appears, immediately runs to buy lipstick and perfume, although her parents felt that it was too early to use cosmetics. Mrs. Oliver thinks that Marlene could have known someone’s secret, but the inspector thinks it’s stupid.
To help the police inspector comes the famous detective Hercule Poirot. Their attention is drawn to the arrival of Etienne Susie, whom Lady Stubbs was so afraid of. She disappeared somewhere, and her husband is concerned about her absence.
Etienne surprises the reaction of Lady Stubbs to his letter: a few weeks ago he wrote that he came and later specified the date of his arrival. Why was she so scared just this morning?
The police are looking for the missing lady Stubbs. Through the gate, she did not go out, climb over the fence, as tourists do, she also could not, because she was wearing a long skirt and high-heeled shoes. Miss Bruis believes that Lady Stubbs is walking somewhere, and her husband has too much imagination. Not such a lady as a fool, as everyone thinks.
Mr. Stubbs claims that his wife did not receive a letter from her cousin. He says that Lady Stubbs is afraid of him, as he, she says, is killing people.
The inspector narrows the circle of suspects. Penetrate into the locked house could only be the one who had the key, or Marlene opened the door herself, but she could open only to the organizers of the game. Lady Stubbs asked Miss Bruis to take the girl’s food at a quarter past four, and at five o’clock she was found dead.
The inspector interrogates those whom Marlene could admit. Michael does not know anything about the incident, but is surprised that Lady Stubbs could take care. He, too, does not consider her a weak-minded.
Sally Legg was always in her tent for divination and went out only to a tea tent, a snack.
Immediately aged for about ten years, Mrs. Follyat always cries and worries about Hetty. The woman believes that her pupil ran away, not wanting to meet with his cousin. Poirot seems that Hetty is dead, and Mrs. Follyat knows this and does not finish much.
Poirot sympathizes with Mr. Stubbs, who can not find his place. Since he was on the lawn all day, the famous detective does not suspect him.
Miss Bruis complains to Poirot that Lady Stubbs enslaved her husband. She is cunning, lies, extorts money from him for outfits and jewels. Now she is alive, healthy and fled with some fan. In the evening she yawned, went to her room and immediately left through the side door.
Reflecting, Poirot comes to “Fad”, finds there a keychain from Sally Legg’s bracelet and meets an unfamiliar young man who is looking for a way out of the estate. Sally comes to the building to find a key chain. The famous detective decides that yesterday she came not to a tea tent, but to “Freak” to meet someone. Sally complains that she is unhappy in a marriage. Her husband is called by some strange people, and she tells nothing. At first she thought that he had a mistress, but then realized: it’s different. In the construction appears Alec Legg, who is afraid of someone.
In the river, Lady Stubbs’ hat is found. The police make a search on Etienne’s yacht, but finds nothing.
Poirot examines the teller’s tent. Through the wall opposite the entrance you can go out and, having passed unnoticed through the thickets, get to a small gazebo, which the famous detective also examines.
The police investigation is stalled, Lady Stubbs’ bodies never found. The news comes that the old boatman drowned-after drinking more than he should, the ninety-two-year old man fell into the river.
The inspector seeks help from Hercule Poirot. The famous detective visited the family of Marlene. He learns that the dead boatman is the grandfather of the murdered girl, he once worked in an estate belonging to the Folliath family. Recently, the old man got money, and he was often seen drunk, and Marlene bought herself cosmetics for the money that someone gave her.
Poirot comes to Alec Legg. Sally left, and the famous detective advises him to go after his wife. Alec is in a political party, with a member of which he had a meeting in the “Fad”. When Alec decided to back away from the rules of the party, he was threatened. On Poirot’s advice, Alec decides to make peace with his wife.
Poirot meets with the police inspector – he knows who the murderer is, and where the body of Lady Stubbs is hidden. Mr. George Stubbs killed his wife.
Poirot comes to Mrs. Follyat. Her youngest son James was not killed in the war, he deserted. In the care of Mrs. Follyat, there was a witty girl with a huge fortune. James Folliath married her, using clever combinations under a new name, George Stubbs appropriated his wife’s fortune and became the owner of his own estate. But he was recognized by an old boatman, who dropped the phrase: “Follyat will always live here.” James Folliath could not marry, since he was already married to a woman connected with the criminal world.
James Folliat came to the estate with his lawful wife, who portrayed the idiot. They were hindered by the arrival of Etienne, who at once would have guessed that he was not his cousin. Also the old boatman did not mix much with his granddaughter. Giving the girl money for silence, James and his wife came up with a plan. Having appointed a holiday on the day of Etienne’s arrival and having thought up that he was killing people, James’s wife plays two roles: the feeble-minded Lady Stubbs and the tourist. She covers her face under a broad-brimmed hat, and the tourist’s clothes under a long skirt. As a tourist, she spends the night at the hostel, so Miss Bruis saw her coming out through the side door.
Asking Miss Bruis to take Marlene food, so that she appeared in the house at a certain time, James’s wife comes to the teller’s tent, exits through the back wall and, unbeknownst to anyone, gets into the arbor where the tourist’s backpack was hidden. After changing clothes, she comes to the boat house, strangles Marlene and leaves the camp site. At the moment, the police are busy searching for her.
The real Hattie was killed and the body was hidden under the “Fad”, which is now being broken.
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