Five Little Pigs

 Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (1942) 266 pages

This book was actually discussed in a medical book I just read (When Doctors Don't Listen, by Wen and Kosowsky). What Dr. Wen liked about this book was that detective Hercule Poirot was looking back at a crime, and using the testimony of several witnesses 16 years later to reconsider a case. For Dr. Wen, practicing medicine is similar to being a detective, and listening to people is crucial. 

Since I didn't recall this book as one of the numerous Agatha Christie books I have read, I found it. A young woman, Carla Lemarchant, has turned 21 and received a letter written to her by her mother, Caroline, who died in prison shortly after being convicted of killing her husband 16 years ago. Caroline says she did not kill her husband. Carla wants Poirot to find out the truth--did or did not her mother kill her father? Caroline's husband, Amyas, was an renowned artist who had an unfortunate habit of having affairs with other women. This time, the woman, only 20 years old, was living with the family while Amyas was painting her portrait, and the young woman becomes very brazen about her plan to marry Amyas. When poison is thought to be missing, and then Amyas dies of poisoning, everyone believes Caroline killed him. Her attitude on the witness stand during her trial does nothing to dispel that notion. 

So 16 years later, Poirot interviews all of the police and prosecutors associated with the case, and then the five witnesses, including a stockbroker (the pig who went to market), the stockbroker's brother (the pig who stayed home), a rich woman (the pig who had roast beef), the governess (the pig who had none) and the teenager who had been injured long ago (the pig who cried wee wee wee). Can Poirot learn anything new with a trail this old? But yes, or he is not Hercule Poirot!