Poirot's Christmas
A family Christmas, a locked room and a millionaire with his throat cut.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas is a Poirot novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK on 19 December 1938 and in the US in February 1939 as Murder for Christmas. It is a locked-room mystery: a family reunites for Christmas and finds the host of the gathering murdered in a private room.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Agatha Christie
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- Hercule Poirot
- Genre
- Detective fiction
- Publisher
- Collins Crime Club
- Released
- 19 December 1938
- Format
- Print (hardback & paperback)
Lore & Background
The frail multi-millionaire Simeon Lee unexpectedly invites his estranged family to his home for Christmas, together with his Spanish-born granddaughter Pilar Estravados and the surprise guest Stephen Farr, son of his former partner in the diamond mines. Simeon tells them he wants to update his will. After dinner on Christmas Eve a crash and a scream are heard; the door of his room is locked, and when it is broken down Simeon is found with his throat slit among overturned furniture.
Reader's Guide
Superintendent Sugden, already at the front door, says Simeon had told him of the theft of a quantity of uncut diamonds from his safe. Pilar later reveals that she is an impostor: the real Pilar was killed by a bomb as the two crossed Spain during the civil war. A US paperback of 1947 retitled the book A Holiday for Murder.
More in Cases & Stories
Elsewhere in Hercule Poirot
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