One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (novel)

Did You Know?

• The book's UK title is derived from the children's nursery rhyme 'One, Two, Buckle My Shoe', and each chapter corresponds to a line of that rhyme.
• This is the first Poirot novel to reflect the pervasive gloom of the Second World War and is one of Christie's most overtly political novels.

Plot summary

Poirot visits his dentist, Dr Morley, who mentions his secretary's absence. Later that day, Morley is found dead of a gunshot wound, the gun in his hand. Between Poirot's appointment and the death, Morley saw three patients: Mabelle Sainsbury Seale, financier Alistair Blunt, and a Greek man named Amberiotis. Amberiotis is later found dead from an overdose of anaesthetic.

The police conclude Morley accidentally injected the overdose and committed suicide, but Poirot disagrees. Morley's secretary Gladys Nevill reveals a decoy telegram; Morley had suspected her boyfriend Frank Carter sent it. Mabelle disappears, and a disfigured body is found in the apartment of Sylvia Chapman, who also vanished. Dental records show the body is Mrs Chapman.

Blunt invites Poirot to his country house, where a shot is fired at Blunt. Frank Carter, now Blunt's assistant gardener, is found holding a gun of the same make as the murder weapon. Morley's maid saw Carter on the back stairs before the death. Carter admits he went to confront Morley but found him already dead; he claims he found the gun in shrubbery after the shot and never fired at Blunt.

Literary significance and reception

Maurice Willson Disher in The Times Literary Supplement of 9 November 1940 found the novel dry and colourless, stating that it quickens into life only when a revolting corpse is discovered. Kay Irvin in The New York Times Book Review of 2 March 1941 called it a real Agatha Christie thriller, exceedingly complicated in plot, briskly and compactly simple in narrative, with unflagging suspense leading to complete surprise. Maurice Richardson in The Observer of 10 November 1940 praised Christie's scheming ingenuity and lightness of touch, though he noted the fiend's identity was less obscured than usual and motivation a trifle shaky.

The Scotsman of 26 December 1940 said Christie deals with the mystery in the most ingenious way and produces a masterly solution. E R Punshon in The Guardian of 13 December 1940 found the plot more ingenious than probable, with coincidence worked hard. An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star of 15 March 1941 referred to the story as a neat puzzle with a highly involved plot and a not-unforeseen solution, adding that Christie used the thriller to expound her own rather odd political opinions.

Robert Barnard in 1990 found a fairly conventional murder mystery, beguilingly and cunningly sustained, noting Christie included characters reflecting the politically unstable war time.

References to other works

In Part 3, x, mention is made of Alistair Blunt's involvement in the Herjoslovakian loan; Herzoslovakia had featured in The Secret of Chimneys (1925) and in The Labours of Hercules (1947). In Part 4, i, Poirot and Japp joke about a plot involving a body put into the Thames from a cellar in Limehouse, referencing The Big Four. In Part 7, iii, Poirot recollects the jewel thief Countess Vera Rossakoff, who appeared in The Big Four (1927). In Part 8, ii, mention is made of the Case of the Augean Stables, first published in The Strand in March 1940 and later collected in The Labours of Hercules (1947).

Publication history

The novel was first serialised in the US in Collier's Weekly in nine parts from 3 August to 28 September 1940 under the title The Patriotic Murders, with illustrations by Mario Cooper. The UK first edition was published by Collins Crime Club in November 1940, retailing at 7/6. The US edition by Dodd Mead and Company in February 1941 retailed at $2.00. A 1953 Dell paperback changed the title to An Overdose of Death. Subsequent editions include a 1956 Pan paperback and a 2008 Poirot Facsimile Edition.