The Unexpected Guest

As of yesterday, I just finished my 65th Christie whodunit, this time a play novelised by Charles Osborne. As we know, quite a few of Christie’s famous plays have been adapted into novels, and when I saw “The Unexpected Guest” in the school library, I just had to read it. I still remember fondly of the first Christie I ever read, “Murder on the Links”, seven years ago. How time flies! Who would have thought that a book I randomly picked at that time would provide such entertainment to me, even after all this time?

I must confess that having read “The Unexpected Guest”, I keep comparing it to the “usual” Christies that I’ve seen so far. Although Osborne did quite a decent job on this title, I have no doubt I would find the other two plays, “Spider’s Web”, and “Black Coffee”, more enjoyable than this. Why, you ask? Because there are no Poirots or Marples to unmask the murderer in their usual climatic revelations, where they point towards the most impossible suspect you can ever think of, and declare him the culprit? Or because the contents (of this book) are much too short to satisfy my expectations of Christie? Or is it because of the rather limited settings and possible list of suspects (which is to be expected in a play), or simply because of the cliched ending where, as I have pointed out before, the suspect is often the one we least suspect in the beginning, so even if you haven’t read this story you can now guess who the culprit is, based on my hint! In the end, I find that the real reason may just be because, since this book was adapted by another author, it lacks the typical humor that we often find in other titles. Oh, how I miss Hastings and Japp!

I will start by giving a brief summary of the story. Our main character, a Mr. Michael Starkwedder, ran his car into a ditch on a cold foggy night. Having no other choice, he went into the nearest house to get help, only to find a dead man in a wheelchair and a lovely lady standing next to the deceased, holding a pistol. The lady, Mrs. Laura Warwick, admitted to having shot her husband but will not give a clear reason why. Instead, when she urged Starkwedder to call the police, he offered to help her by making up a cover story about a mysterious murderer from outside. This proved to be not a difficult task as Richard Warwick, the deceased, had many enemies in his past, among them a Mr. MacGregor whose child was killed by Warwick’s drunk driving two years ago. Thus, a story was made up about how MacGregor had killed Warwick for revenge. The police were called in, and the entire cast for the mystery is introduced.

First, we have Richard and Laura Warwick. The other occupants of the house include Mrs. Warwick, Richard’s ailing mother; Miss Bennett (Benny), the housekeeper; Jan, the young half-brother of Warwick who is “not quite right in the mind”; and Angell, Warwick’s attendant and nurse. The two officers on the case were a Inspector Thomas and Sergeant Cadwallader. In the second half of the story another character appeared; Julian Farrar, their neighbour and local politician whom Laura was having an affair with. At this point several questions surfaced; was Laura really the murderess? Or was she trying to protect somebody, most probably Major Farrar? What was the motive of the murder? To whom did the mysterious set of fingerprints on the table belong to? Was the murder premeditated and carefully planned?

Several interesting scenes followed. The police received a cable from Canada stating MacGregor had died not long after his child’s accident, and therefore the murderer has to be one of the house’s occupants. Mrs. Warwick, who wished to protect the family but had not much longer to live, gave Starkwedder a sealed letter, presumably containing her written confession to the murder. Angell attempted to blackmail Laura and Major Farrar by claiming he saw Farrar in the house at the time of the murder. Towards the end, Jan, in a highly excited state, stole one of Warwick’s guns and threatened everyone with it, before confessing to having shot his half-brother on that fateful night. So it seems like the case is solved, or is it? Knowing Christie as her readers do, the conclusion is often stunning and unpredictable, so I guess I will not divulge much more here. You can take your guess before reading the book yourself!

On the whole, “The Unexpected Guest” did not satisfy me quite as much as other Christies do. I felt it was too short to deliver, and not enough of character development throughout the plot. Not quite as popular as “The Mousetrap”, but perhaps I was too quick to judge, since I have yet to read the other plays she wrote. “Witness for the Prosecution” was not to my taste either.

Other titles I’ve recently finished are “Sleeping Murder” and “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” but it seems like I never have enough time to write on them! Perhaps, one day when I have retired, I will collect all the titles, sit in a quiet corner, and read again from the beginning.

My rating: 3.0/5.0