Lord Edgware Dies
Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
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| Author | Agatha Christie |
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| Cover artist | Lambart |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
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Publication date
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September 1933 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| Preceded by | The Thirteen Problems |
| Followed by | The Hound of Death |
Lord Edgware Dies is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1933 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Thirteen at Dinner. Before its book publication, the novel was serialised in six issues (March–August 1933) of The American Magazine as 13 For Dinner.
The novel features Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp. An American actress married to Lord Edgware asks Poirot to aid her in getting a divorce from her husband. Poirot agrees to help her, meeting her husband. That evening, the actress is seen at a dinner with thirteen guests, which has an associated superstition. By the next morning Lord Edgware and another American actress are found murdered, each at their own homes. Poirot investigates.
The novel was well received at publication, in both London and New York, noting the clue that came from the chance remark of a stranger, calling it ingenious. A later review called it clever and unusual.
The actress Jane Wilkinson asks Poirot to convince her husband Lord Edgware to agree to a divorce. When Poirot does so, Edgware says that he has already agreed to a divorce and written a letter to Jane informing her. When Poirot reports this to Jane, she denies having received the letter. That evening, two things happen. First, Lord Edgware is murdered in his study. Second, in the morning newspaper, it is reported that Wilkinson attended a prominent dinner party the previous evening.
Inspector Japp informs Poirot of the murder at Regent Gate. He reports that Jane Wilkinson went to Regent Gate, announced herself to the butler, was seen from above by the secretary, and entered her husband's study. He is not found until the next day. Jane is described as amoral by her fellow movie actor Bryan Martin, meaning she thinks and cares only about herself.
At the party, there were thirteen guests at the dinner table. One guest mentioned that thirteen people at table means bad luck for the first guest to rise. Guest Donald Ross thought he was first to rise, but Jane Wilkinson was first, when she answered a telephone call. On the morning Lord Edgware's murder is discovered, comedian/actress Carlotta Adams (known for her uncanny impersonations, including one of Wilkinson) is found dead from an overdose of Veronal, a death Poirot hoped he could prevent. A gold case with her initials marked in rubies and filled with the sleeping powder is found among her possessions. The case bears an inscription: "C.A. from D, Paris, November 10th Sweet Dreams".
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