The next morning, Norton is found dead in his locked room with a bullet-hole in the centre of his forehead, the key in his dressing-gown pocket and a pistol nearby. That night, Hastings is awakened by a noise and sees Norton entering his bedroom. Hastings advises Norton to confide in Poirot.

Norton is still concerned over what he saw days earlier when out with Hastings and Cole.

Poirot's testimony at the inquest, that Mrs Franklin had been upset and that he saw her emerge from Dr Franklin's laboratory with a small bottle, persuades the jury to return a verdict of suicide. She was poisoned with physostigmine sulphate, an extract from the Calabar bean that her husband researches. Last, Barbara Franklin, wife of Judith's employer, Dr Franklin, dies the following evening. He falls asleep while waiting to poison Allerton, relieved he took no action when he awakes the next day. When his attempts to persuade Judith to give Allerton up merely antagonise her, the worried father plans Allerton's murder. Hastings assumes it has to do with Allerton. While Hastings and Elizabeth are out with birdwatcher Stephen Norton, Norton sees something through his binoculars that disturbs him. Next, Hastings is concerned that his daughter Judith spends time with Major Allerton, a married man.

Mrs Luttrell recovers, and the incident has a good effect on their marriage. Shortly afterwards, Luttrell wounds his wife with a rook rifle, saying he mistook her for a rabbit. First, Hastings and others overhear an argument between the Luttrells. Three incidents occur in the next few days, showing the imprint of X. Margaret has died in Broadmoor Asylum and Elizabeth is stigmatised by the trauma. The five prior murders took place in the area, among people known to this group.Įlizabeth Cole tells Hastings that she is a sister of Margaret Litchfield, who confessed to the murder of their father in one of the five cases. The guests know each other, with this gathering initiated when Sir William Boyd-Carrington invites the Franklins to join him for a summer holiday stay.

The old house is a guest hotel under new owners, Colonel and Mrs Luttrell. X is among the guests at Styles Court with them. Poirot, using a wheelchair due to arthritis, and attended by his new valet Curtiss, will not share the name of the previously unsuspected person, using X instead. Poirot alone sees the pattern of involvement. Poirot calls-on his old friend, the recently-widowed Hastings, to join him in solving this case. Four of these suspects have since died (one of them hanged) in the case of Freda Clay, who gave her aunt an overdose of morphine, there was too little evidence to prosecute. 5 Sequence of publication in Poirot novelsĪ specific person is unsuspected of involvement in five murders by both the police and family of the victims.

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