After the Funeral
Dust-jacket illustration of the US (true first)
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| Author | Agatha Christie |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Dodd, Mead and Company |
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Publication date
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March 1953 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 244 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | A Daughter's a Daughter |
| Followed by | A Pocket Full of Rye |
After the Funeral is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1953 under the title of Funerals are Fatal and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 18 May of the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6).
A 1963 UK paperback issued by Fontana Books changed the title to Murder at the Gallop to tie in with the film version. The book features the author's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, but the Murder at the Gallop film adaptation instead featured her amateur sleuth, Miss Marple.
A wealthy man dies at home. His relatives gather after his funeral for the reading of his will, during which his sister states that he was murdered. The next day, she is found murdered. Poirot is called in to solve the mystery.
After the funeral of the wealthy Richard Abernethie, his relatives assemble for the reading of the will at Enderby Hall. The death was not unexpected and of natural causes. Nevertheless, Mrs Cora Lansquenet, says, "It's been hushed up very nicely ... but he was murdered, wasn't he?" The family lawyer, Mr Entwhistle, begins to investigate. Mr Entwhistle relates the outline of the will to the relatives. As Richard's wife and child died before he did, his possessions are divided among his two living siblings and the widow or children of those who died before him. His brother Timothy and sister Cora Lansquenet were alive when he wrote the will. Brothers Leo and Gordon were killed in the war. Richard has a nephew and two nieces, the sum total of the next generation. He spent time with his nephew George, and his nieces Susan and Rosamund and their husbands, Leo's widow Helen, Timothy, and Cora. He split his wealth in six portions. Enderby Hall is to be sold.
The next day, Cora Lansquenet is murdered in her sleep at her home by repeated blows with a hatchet. The motive is not obvious. Her life income reverts to Richard's estate. Miss Gilchrist, Cora's companion, thinks it is because Richard was poisoned, as Cora told her. Miss Gilchrist gains nothing from Cora's death except Cora's own paintings. Entwhistle calls on his friend, Hercule Poirot, to resolve doubts about the death of Richard. Poirot employs an old friend, Mr Goby, to investigate the family. Goby rapidly turns up a number of reasons for family members desperate for the money in Richard's estate. Goby employs all sorts of clever methods to uncover the most private information, using agents who pose as actors, lawyers or Catholic nuns. None of the family members can be cleared of suspicion.
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Wikipedia