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==="Problem at Sea"===
Poirot is undergoing the trial ofOn a sea voyage to [[Egypt]], supposedly as a holiday. Not enjoying one bit the motion of the waves, he joins in thePoirot conversationsconverses ofwith thehis otherfellow passengers. Among them is a General Forbes who is angrily dismissive of a man who calls himself Colonel Clapperton. He states that Clapperton is a former [[music hall]] performer who, injured during the war, got himself into a society lady's nursing home and then received her patronage to find him a job at the [[War Office]].
The boat reaches [[Alexandria, Egypt|Alexandria]] and many of the company go ashore. Mrs Clapperton refuses, shouting to her husband from behind her locked cabin door that she has suffered a bad night and wants to be left alone. When everyone has returned later on, Mrs Clapperton is still not answering her door. A steward opens it for her worried husband and they find the lady dead , – stabbed through the heart with a native [[dagger]] andher money and jewellery stolen . Several bead sellers were allowed on the boat at the port and they are questioned, particularly as one of their wares was found on the floor of the cabin. Poirot though is puzzled: the door to the cabin was locked from within and he cannot see a reason why Mrs Clapperton would open it to a bead seller, nor why such a person would murder her and lay himself so open to suspicion. ▼The other passengers on the boat are more sympathetic towards Clapperton, particularly as he demonstrates continuing patience with his shrewish and hypochondriac wife, who complains of her heart trouble while at the same time stating that she keeps extremely active, despite her husband's constant entreaties to take life easier. Even Poirot seems to incur her wrath when he responds a little too dryly to her conversation. Somewhat annoyed with him, she marches out of the smoking room where they have been conversing, dropping the contents of her handbag on the way. She leaves behind a piece of paper – a prescription for [[Digoxin|digitalin]].
Two young girls on the boat, Kitty Mooney and Pamela Creegan, take a shine to the Colonel and decide to "rescue" him from his wife. They take him for a walk on the boat deck while his wife plays [[contract bridge|bridge]], a game which the Colonel will not play. Later on, Poirot sees the Colonel demonstrating amazing card tricks to the two young girls who have taken him under their wing. Able to deal out hands of exact [[Suit (cards)|suits]] to the others, the Colonel makes them realise why he will not play cards – he would be able to cheat and win every time – or at least be suspected of doing so – and it would be better for him not to take part.
▲The boat reaches [[Alexandria, Egypt|Alexandria]] and many of the company go ashore. Mrs Clapperton refuses, shouting to her husband from behind her locked cabin door that she has suffered a bad night and wants to be left alone. When everyone has returned later on, Mrs Clapperton is still not answering her door. A steward opens it for her worried husband and they find the lady dead – stabbed through the heart with a native [[dagger]] and money and jewellery stolen. Several bead sellers were allowed on the boat at the port and they are questioned, particularly as one of their wares was found on the floor of the cabin. Poirot though is puzzled: the door to the cabin was locked from within and he cannot see a reason why Mrs Clapperton would open it to a bead seller, nor why such a person would murder her and lay himself so open to suspicion.
That evening, at Poirot's request, the other passengers are assembled in the lounge. Poirot addresses them and unwraps a [[Ventriloquism|ventriloquist]]'s doll which speaks and repeats the words used by Mrs Clapperton from behind the locked cabin door to her husband. Colonel Clapperton jumps up and promptly collapses, dead of a [[heart failure|heart attack]].
Poirot explains: Mrs Clapperton was already dead when her husband, witnessed by Poirot, Kitty and Pamela, heard her "speak" to him from inside the cabin, but it was her husband using his music hall act. He showed his card trick to the others to divert attention away from his real skill. Poirot's use of the doll in the lounge was helped by a young girl (a fellow passenger and the owner of the doll) behind a curtain providing the voice. Poirot is not surprised that Clapperton died of a weak heart – digitalin would have produced symptoms of dilated pupils which he did not see in Mrs Clapperton but he did see in her husband; the prescription was for him.
==="How Does Your Garden Grow?"===
Poirot receives a strange letter for assistance from an elderly woman, Miss Amelia Barrowby, who livesdies atfive Rosebankdays in Charman's Greenlater. ShePoirot isgoes extremelyto vaguethe inhouse definingand admires the problemwell-maintained garden, butwith addsits severalspring timesflowers thatand discretionedging isof paramount[[Animal asshell|shells]]. familyHe ismeets involved.a Theyoung letterRussian intriguesgirl Poirotcalled whoKatrina hasReiger, hiswho secretaryspeaks Misscryptically [[Felicityof Lemon]]the draftmoney athat replyby sayingrights thatis hehers. She is atinterrupted by the ladydead woman's serviceniece, Mrs Delafontaine, and her husband.
Poirot interviews the local police inspector who tells him that they now know that Miss Barrowby died from a dose of [[strychnine]] but the problem is that the victim and her two family members all ate the same meal.
Five days later Miss Lemon spots an announcement in the "personal column" of ''[[The Morning Post]]'' about the death of Miss Barrowby. Poirot sends a letter to Rosebank to provoke a response from the next of kin, and he duly receives a reply from Mary Delafontaine, the dead woman's niece, saying that his services are no longer required. Nevertheless, he goes to the house and admires the well-maintained garden with its spring flowers and edging of [[Animal shell|shells]]. Let into the house by a maid, the first person he meets is a young Russian girl called Katrina Reiger, who speaks cryptically of the money that by rights is hers. She is interrupted by Mrs Delafontaine and her husband who dismiss Katrina and meet Poirot. They seem shocked to find that he is a detective.
The next day brings the news that most of the estate has been left to Katrina, thereby providing a motive, and she is detained by the police.
Poirot interviews the local police inspector who tells him that they now know that Miss Barrowby died from a dose of [[strychnine]] but the problem is that the victim and her two family members all ate the same meal. The Delafontaines are suspected as they will inherit a large sum of money, which they very much need, but it was Katrina who gave her employer her medicinal powders and it is possible the strychnine was in those. However, Katrina does not appear to benefit from Miss Barrowby's death, and would, in fact, have been out of a job. The next day, brings the news that most of the estate has been left to Katrina, thereby providing a motive, and she is detained by the police. A packet of strychnine powders is found under Katrina's mattress which seems to clinch the matter. Poirot though is not convinced and arranges matters in a methodical order in his own mind. It is then he remembers the garden. He sends out Miss Lemon to make particular enquiries and then interviews Katrina who confirms that she ate separately from the family, as she always did, but had the same food as them.
Poirot, after consulting with Miss Lemon, calls at Rosebank and sees Mrs Delafontaine. At the front door, he points to the unfinished row of shells – the only unsymmetrical item in that well-maintained and symmetrical garden – and points out they are [[oyster]] shells. Miss Lemon found the fishmonger who sold the oysters to theThe Delafontaines. They fed Miss Barrowby poisoned oysters and planted the shells in the garden to hide from Katrina and the maid. Mrs Delafontaine confesses that she and her husband had been pilfering money from her aunt for many years and could not let the estate go to Katrina.
==Literary significance and reception==
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