In this adventure those shoes pose some problems for him. Poirot is a man who takes a certain aesthetic interest in ladies’ clothing. Shoes and buckles do indeed play a part, as do stockings, and ladies’ clothing in general. In this case he finds himself faced with facts that are simply impossible. Poirot firmly believes that a theory is worthless unless it fits all the facts. Christie’s plotting in this novel presents us with cunningly interlocked puzzles. She lays more false scents and we follow them, thinking that now we’re on the right track. In several cases we know that what really happened is not what appeared to happen but that just increases our difficulties since it opens up new possibilities that lead us down more blind alleys. What’s particularly impressive is that even when we know she’s misleading us it doesn’t help us.
The identity of the murderer seems clear, but once again there’s the vexed question of motive.Ĭhristie has a few other tricks up her sleeve as well. Two more murders follow, and the final murder seems every bit as inexplicable as the first. That’s not giving anything away since both Poirot and Japp are keenly aware of this problem right from the start. There’s plenty of other evidence but it’s either tantalising ambiguous or downright misleading without a motive. The case cannot be solved unless the motive can be uncovered. This is a detective story in which motive is of absolutely critical importance. The question of motive worries Japp a lot. It looks like suicide but Chief Inspector Japp is not at all satisfied. As it happens, it’s Poirot’s own dentist who is murdered. She leads the reader by the nose but if it’s any consolation Poirot very nearly falls into the same trap that Christie has laid for the reader. Regarded purely as a detective story it is superb, a classic example of Christie’s ability to lay false scents. It was published in 1940 but internal evidence suggests it may have been written just before the outbreak of war. The Second World War is never explicitly mentioned in Agatha Christie’s One, Two, Buckle My Shoe but it casts a long shadow over the book making it a rather interesting Hercule Poirot mystery.
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