After the Funeral
A remark at the reading of a will, and a murder the next day.
After the Funeral is a Hercule Poirot novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US in March 1953 as Funerals are Fatal and in the UK on 18 May 1953. A wealthy man dies at home, and after his funeral his sister states that he was murdered; the next day she herself is found murdered and Poirot is called in.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Agatha Christie
- Country
- United States
- Series
- Hercule Poirot
- Genre
- Crime novel
- Publisher
- Dodd, Mead and Company
- Released
- March 1953
- Format
- Print (hardback and paperback)
- Pages
- 244 first edition, hardback
Lore & Background
After Richard Abernethie's funeral, his family gathers at Enderby Hall for the reading of his will by his lawyer, Mr Entwhistle. Richard died of natural causes, but his sister Cora Lansquenet remarks that he was murdered, and the next day she is found violently murdered in her sleep. Entwhistle asks his friend Poirot to help. Cora's companion, Miss Gilchrist, is later poisoned with arsenic-laced wedding cake but survives, and Helen, another of the family, is struck on the head before she can tell Entwhistle what had seemed odd at the funeral.
Reader's Guide
Poirot reveals that Cora's murderer was Miss Gilchrist. She had recognised a Vermeer among Cora's recent purchases and saw her chance to rebuild the tea shop she had lost in the war. A 1963 UK paperback retitled the book Murder at the Gallop to tie in with the film, which replaced Poirot with Miss Marple.
More in Cases & Stories
Elsewhere in Hercule Poirot
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