On a routine flight from Paris to Croyden, England, there is a small disturbance of a wasp flying about. As passengers prepare to land and are given their bills for in flight services, one lady is unresponsive.
It turns out she is dead. Examined by a doctor on board, who is accompanied by a curious Poirot, they notice a mark on her neck. Poirot, bending down, finds what appears to be a small, oddly painted dart.
It is declared a murder has taken place, and all passengers are detained and questioned.
At an inquest later it is determined that Madame Giselle, a Parisian moneylender, was killed by a poisoned dart, which was expelled via a blow pipe used by certain South American tribes, by an unknown person, though the jury wanted to charge Poirot!
In the passenger plan above, you see the victim was in seat number two. Very few passengers had a line of sight to shoot anything at her. No one saw anyone else doing anything so suspicious as blowing a dart at another passenger. Few people even got up from their seats during the trip.
Poirot and his old colleague Inspector Japp interview passengers and others of interest in England and Paris.
There's a chapter called the List which I enjoyed that showed what each passenger had in their possession. Many of the passengers had some sort of reading material with them, from books to magazines.
One of the most interesting passengers was a mystery novelist who drew some suspicion to himself with his knowledge of blow pipes and various methods of murder.
Poirot takes a young couple under his wing and enlists their help in his investigation.
One of my favorites so far.
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