This is one of my favourite Poirot novels, it's a brilliant book, this adaptation certainly does it justice. The writing is smart, the music is terrific, and it boasts some lavish production values too. There are some glorious costumes throughout. Carlotta Adams - An American impersonator conducting a tour in London and Paris. Hired to impersonate Edgware's wife by an unknown employer. Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1933 UK first edition), 5 February 2007, Hardcover, 256 pp; ISBN 0-00-724022-8 It is still an enjoyable story, very well made, it look sumptuous like the early Poirot mysteries. At the end though, you are only left with one plausible suspect.

Oh! I know very well that you always have a little idea that I am conceited, but, indeed, I assure you, I am really a very humble person.”Jane Wilkinson wants to kill her husband and comes up with a ruse that will give her an apparently unshakable alibi. She gets Carlotta Adams to impersonate her at a dinner party while she commits the murder. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, came out in 1920. During her first marriage, Agatha published six novels, a collection of short stories, and a number of short stories in magazines. And yes it was good, a great story, fabulous characters and a real twist at the end as Poirot solves the crime(s). We also meet Carlotta Adams, an American impersonator, who is on tour in London and Paris. In a performance watched by Poirot and Hastings in chapter 1, she mimics Jane Wilkinson exceptionally well. Interestingly, this performance is viewed with pleasure by Jane Wilkinson herself, who is seated in the audience, just behind Poirot and Hastings.

I read Christie, study her actually for her inventiveness in playing a game that is central to the future of narrative. It is truly important. Foreshadowing: The episode opens with a theater production in which Jane Wilkinson is playing Lady Macbeth. However all suspicions lead to Jane Wilkinson. Then there is the visiting mimic from the USA who is putting on a show. She is later found dead. Poirot thinks the mimic was hired to impersonate Jane Wilkinson so she would be framed for her husband's murder. Adaptation Dye-Job: Jenny Driver is mostly recognisable, in the book, from her distinctive red hair. In the adaptation, she's dark-haired.

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You have the confidence — always the confidence! You never stop and say to yourself — can it be so? You never doubt — or wonder. You never think: this is too easy!’ The novel was then adapted for an eighty-seven minute TV movie in 1985 starring Peter Ustinov in one of his six appearances as Poirot. The production was made under the US book title of Thirteen at Dinner and co-starred Faye Dunaway in the dual role of Jane Wilkinson and Carlotta Adams. The story was updated to be set in contemporary times and not in the 1930s. David Suchet played Chief Inspector Japp; Suchet would later play Poirot himself on the long-running ITV series.