A review by bethpeninger
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

4.0

Poor Bob the Dog. His obsession with playing with his ball on the stairs is to blame for his mistress falling down said stairs and almost breaking her neck. But as Miss Emily Arundell reflects on her tumble she suddenly isn't sure at all that Bob and his ball are to blame. In fact, a few things about the night she fell don't make a lot of sense. So she writes two letters of correspondence, one to her solicitor and one to a man she's heard can solve mysteries, Mr. Hercule Poirot.

Two months later, the famed detective Hercule Poirot opens a letter from Miss Emily Arundell that was dated from April. Two mysteries intrigue Poirot: one, why he is receiving a letter two months past its written by date, and two, what Miss Arundell has said in her letter. His faithful sidekick and friend Hastings propose a trip to the village where Miss Arundell lives so that Poirot's curiosity can be quenched.

Much to Poirot and Hastings's surprise, Emily Arundell died within two weeks of writing her letter to him. Quickly the mystery of the delay of the letter is solved but more perplexing, given Miss Arundell's death, is what she wrote in her letter to Poirot and what he should do about it now. Something isn't right about Emily's death, as natural as it seems to be, and Poirot puts himself on the case.

This was a clever mystery of subterfuge, it was fun to travel along with Poirot and Hastings as they chased clues much like a dog chases a ball.