Sad Cypress

Did You Know?

• The UK edition retailed at eight shillings and threepence (8/3), the first price rise for a UK Christie edition since her 1921 debut.
• Peter Lord says he was recommended to consult Poirot by Dr John Stillingfleet, a character who later reappears in Third Girl (1966).
• One of the witnesses flown to the trial from New Zealand is named Amelia Sedley, a name borrowed from the novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.

Plot summary

Elinor Carlisle and Roddy Welman are engaged when an anonymous letter claims someone is ingratiating themselves with their wealthy aunt, Laura Welman. Elinor suspects Mary Gerrard, the lodgekeeper's daughter. After a stroke partially paralyzes Mrs Welman, Roddy falls in love with Mary, ending the engagement. Mrs Welman dies intestate, leaving her estate to Elinor, who settles two thousand pounds on Mary.

Later, at Hunterbury, Mary dies of morphine overdose; a tube of morphine Nurse Hopkins claimed to have lost is found. Elinor is arrested. Exhumation reveals Mrs Welman also died of morphine poisoning. Dr Peter Lord, in love with Elinor, brings Poirot into the case.

Poirot investigates the anonymous letter, the poison source—sandwiches made by Elinor or tea prepared by Nurse Hopkins—and Mary's birth secret. The denouement unfolds in court as the defense lawyer presents witnesses revealing Poirot's findings.

Characters

Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective, gives evidence at Elinor Carlisle's trial. Victims are Mrs Laura Welman, wealthy widow of Hunterbury, and Mary Gerrard, her 21-year-old protégée and unacknowledged illegitimate daughter of Sir Lewis Rycroft. In the village: Elinor Carlisle, Mrs Welman's niece; Roderick 'Roddy' Welman, nephew to the late Mr Welman; Dr Peter Lord, Mrs Welman's physician; Nurse Jessie Hopkins, district nurse formerly known as Mary Riley Draper in New Zealand, sister to the late Mrs Gerrard; Nurse Eileen O'Brien, Mrs Welman's nurse; Mr Seddon, the solicitor; Mrs Bishop, housekeeper; Horlick, gardener; Ephraim 'Bob' Gerrard, lodge keeper and Mary's legal father; Eliza Gerrard, his wife; Sir Lewis Rycroft, deceased; Ted Bigland, a farmer's son; Mrs Slattery, housekeeper to Dr Lord's predecessor.

In court: the Judge, Mr Justice Beddingfeld; Sir Edwin Bulmer, defense counsel; Sir Samuel Attenbury, prosecution; Dr Alan Garcia, expert witness; Inspector Brill; Mr Abbott, grocer; Alfred James Wargrave, rose-grower; James Arthur Littledale, chemist; Amelia Mary Sedley, witness from New Zealand.

Literary significance and reception

Maurice Percy Ashley in The Times Literary Supplement of 9 March 1940 praised the book as economically written with fair clues and deft red herrings, noting that Poirot had lost some foibles and Hastings no longer appeared. Kay Irvin in The New York Times Book Review of 15 September 1940 called it not Christie's best but better than the average thriller. Maurice Richardson in The Observer of 10 March 1940 described it as an outstanding crime week and concluded that Christie had done it again. A later review described the novel as elegiac and more emotionally involving than usual for Christie, with ingenuity and superb clueing placing it among the best classic titles.

Adaptations

The 1992 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Sad Cypress aired as five weekly episodes from May to June, with John Moffatt returning as Poirot. A French television adaptation later appeared in 2010 as the sixth episode of Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie.