Healthy neglect

39. DUMB WITNESS/POIROT LOSES A CLIENT (Poirot)
A will is written and later changed. A letter is received and a letter written. A client is lost but a dog is gained. Poirot discusses psychology of a dog but it is the psychology of the killer that solves the case.

Memorable quotes:
-"Well, what I say is, it's lucky when you're pleased with what the Lord has given you. It's usually the other way about."
-"... I prefer the life of the innocent to the conviction of the guilty."
-"It's a matter of reasoning," said Poirot. "The dog, he argues from reason. He is intelligent; he makes his deductions according to his point of view. There are people who may enter a house and there are people who may not - that a dog soon learns. Eh bien, I who is the person who most persistently tries to gain admission, rattling on the door twice or three times a day - and who is never by any chance admitted? The postman. Clearly, then, an undesirable guest from the point of view of the master of the house. He is always sent about his business, but he persistently returns and tries again. Then a dog's duty is clear, to aid in driving this undesirable man away, and to bite him if possible. A most reasonable proceeding."

Favourite Guest Character: Bob!
Mystery: **
Final Solution: ***
Entertainment: ***
8/15

38. FIVE LITTLE PIGS (Poirot)
Fourteen years after Mrs. Crale has been convicted, her daughter asks Poirot to investigate her father's death, a famous painter who died of poisoning. He hears five different stories, meets five witnesses, reads five narratives, learns that every little word counts and that one should discuss private things in private.

Memorable quotes:
-"Youth is so vulnerable. It is so ruthless - so sure. So generous and so demanding."
-"Trees grow faster than one thinks."
-"The best thing for a child, I am convinced, is to have what I should term healthy neglect on the part of both its parents."
-"The people who do us most harm are the people who shield us from reality."

Favourite Guest Character: Mrs. Crale
Mystery: **
Final Solution: ****
Entertainment: ***
9/15

37. MURDER ON THE LINKS (Poirot)
Things go wrong for Poirot. Things go wrong for the victim. Things go wrong for the victim's wife. Things go wrong for a stranger. Things go wrong for pretty much anyone involved. Except for Hastings who finds the love of his life.

Memorable quotes:
-"A woman, I consider, should be womanly."
-"Man is an unoriginal animal."
-"Poirot's incurable habit of making a mystery out of nothing never failed to irritate me."
-"For whom will a woman lie? Sometimes for herself, usually for the man she loves, always for her children. "

Favourite Guest Characters: Jack Renauld, Mr. Stonor
Mystery: ***
Final Solution: ***
Entertainment: **
8/15

Old times

Maybe you remember my previous post on sorting old photographs. Well, now I've come to sorting old postcards and letters (among other things). These are two postcards sent to my great-grandmother in 1914 and 1915:



She also kept a postcard of this charming man, the German actor Alwin Neuss.