Searching for a quick read among my old books, I happened upon this unfamiliar Hercule Poirot mystery. The action takes place during the end of World War II and its aftermath. A very rich and generous man by the name of Gordon Cloade had married a young woman named Rosaleen, whom he'd met during his travels, and before he could re-write his will, he was killed in a bombing raid in London. Therefore his wealth went to his new wife, making all his relatives who counted on his generosity find themselves in tough financial straits. This included his brothers, one of whom was a doctor and one of whom was an attorney, his widowed sister, and a nephew who had taken on the ownership of a farm because of Gordon's promised financial backing.
Rosaleen was just 26, and she and her brother David were living in Gordon's large country home in the Village of Warmsley Vale, near all of Gordon's relatives. David was very protective of Rosaleen, knowing how much she was resented by the family. He fought off their requests for cash. However, the family took some solace in gossip which held that Rosaleen's first husband might actually still be alive, which would make this second marriage void and would mean that Gordon's original will would apply.
This mystery has its share of motives for blackmail and murder, and indeed a number of suspicious deaths do occur, along with an unlikely love story. In spite of all that, this story's ending disappointed me, a rarity for me with Christie's books.
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