The flight from Paris to Croydon was a short one, but Hercule Poirot made the terrible mistake of sleeping through it. A mistake because, during the flight, Madame Giselle, a French moneylender, was poisoned. Poirot immediately dismisses the notion that a wasp in the compartment was the guilty party – instead the murder weapon was a poisoned dart. A quick search of the compartment find the blowpipe stuffed down the back of a seat – the back of Poirot’s seat in particular.
When it becomes clear that Giselle was a blackmailer, it falls to Poirot to discover who amongst the passengers was a name on her list of victims. More importantly, however, who amongst the passengers was capable of shooting a poisoned dart across a crowded cabin without anyone else seeing a thing…
On to the eleventh Poirot novel, originally released in the US as Death In The Air, and the second book in two years to feature a murder on the lunchtime Paris to Croydon flight (after Freeman Wills Crofts’ The 12:30 From Croydon). Hastings is still in Argentina, so Poirot ends up bouncing around various sidekicks, starting with Japp (who he seems much chummier with than before), followed by Monsieur Fournier, the French police investigator and finally two of his fellow passengers.
I’m going to be controversial here. I don’t like Death In The Clouds.
I’ll admit, the method of murder is clever, as is the idea that the murderer is given away by the contents of their luggage. But the core problem is that the reader is never given a viable false suspect. Because of that, the middle section drags from interrogation to interrogation as we wait for Poirot to finally put two and two together regarding the motive. The beginning and the ending are very good, but I wonder if this would have worked better as a short story.
There’s not really a lot else I want to say about this one. I know some people are concerned that Poirot’s faffing around causes the second death, but given the fact that he isn’t sure, despite the clue of the luggage, and given the victim’s actions, I don’t think it’s quite the oversight that it could be.
Anyway, over to the current ranking…
Ranking Poirot (So Far)
- The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd
- The Mysterious Affair At Styles
- Peril At End House
- Murder On The Orient Express
- Three Act Tragedy
- Lord Edgware Dies
- Death In The Clouds
- The Murder On The Links
- Poirot Investigates
- The Mystery Of The Blue Train
- The Big Four
- Black Coffee
And yes, I have switched round Three Act Tragedy and Lord Edgware Dies…
Next up, The ABC Murders.
In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel 
I particularly like how this is clued, and the scene where the French detective experiments with recreating the crime on the airplace is quite amusing.
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The beginning (basically up to getting away from the plane) is great – just the middle section that’s a bit of a slog.
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I remember when I read this one being surprised by how much Christie crams into the first chapter, when normally there’s a whole lot of buildup to the actual murder. I wasn’t surprised to find out that this was the American publisher’s influence, encouraging her to cut to the chase.
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I came to this one relatively late when I discovered the remarkable edition with the wasp on the cover, (My first Tom Adams!) it was in the days when there was no Wikipedia, and we are so many different publishers were putting out Christies that you couldn’t keep track of all the titles! That makes it the last “Poirot on his travels” book that I read, and it suffers a bit in comparison. I think the beginning and end are great, but you’re right about that soggy middle and the lack of overt suspects. I do like Mr. Clancy, though, even if we can never buy him as a suspicious fellow.
I have written elsewhere about the unfortunate “stuck in its time” element of Jane and Norman’s courtship. What may have charmed contemporary audiences is more problematic now and unfortunately strikes at the heart of the mystery itself.
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Tom Adams loved to incorporate winged creatures into his covers, even when there was no direct correlation (such as the bats on the Pocket wraparound cover for Peril at End House). I have all of the Pocket wraparounds and a handful of his British Fontana covers.
I agree Death in the Clouds stagnates a bit in the middle. It’s not top rung for me, more like upper middle rung.
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Agreed! Still, the killer’s identity is a shock, and the luggage clue that shouts it out is very clever! I love when a detective can say early on – and FAIRLY – that they know whodunnit!
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Someone once asked my opinion of the different characteristics of various Christie books, and I said of Death in the Clouds that its greatest strength is its clueing and the fairness of the clueing. Jura gur Serapu qrgrpgvir gevrf gb erperngr gur pevzr ba gur cynar, vg’f shaal ohg vg nyfb cebivqrf n inyhnoyr pyhr naq Cbvebg bcrayl qvfphffrf vg jvgu uvz.
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Ahh, I’m not in a position to check ROT-13 this week, so I’ll get back to you on that!
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This is not a Christie favorite of mine. Beyond the sagging in the middle that already has been mentioned, I just don’t believe the culprit would not have been noticed (e.g., unless all the passengers were asleep at the time!). Perhaps several would not have paid attention, but no one saw the subterfuge?
This stretches credibility in a similar way way that the the second murder as done by the culprit in Murder in Three Acts does.
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I have a soft spot for this one mostly because I like the old plane setting… (and find it kind of funny when Poirot is being a bit fussy). But agree it is probably not, strictly speaking, the Best of the Best mysteries.
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