A worry which I think hasn’t really been realised, as I can’t think of anyone I know who would choose a hotel over a normal family Christmas, though perhaps the types of entertainment have changed.
Many of the characters extol ‘a good old fashioned Christmas’ and worry that it is ‘dying out,’ with people choosing to spend it in hotels instead. One thing which is definitely apparent in this story is nostalgia, which comes through in particular with how Christmas is celebrated.
Other aspects also begin to creep into the plot such as Mrs Lacey’s niece Sarah and her unsuitable boyfriend Desmond, cryptic notes and a Boxing Day prank, which has consequences far beyond what its creators planned. Unable to go to the police, due to the fear of scandal, he has come to Poirot for help and it is believed that someone within the King Lacey Christmas party has the jewel. The case in question centres on a stolen ruby, which was robbed from a foolish young royal who allowed a young woman he was seeing to wear it for an evening, despite himself being engaged to someone else. The story begins with Poirot trying to get out of a case which will necessitate him going to a country house called Kings Lacey for Christmas, being predominately concerned with the state of the central heating. It was interesting to read in Christie’s introduction to this story that its’ setting was inspired by her own childhood Christmases at Abney Hall and certain details in the story do parallel with those mentioned in the introduction. And the other reason will not be too difficult to guess either if you are a regular reader of the blog Past Offences, written by Rich, who hosts a monthly Crimes of the Century challenge, as you’ll know that this month’s year is 1960.
I gave this short story a reread for a couple of reasons, one of which is certainly not hard to fathom its’ the Yuletide setting after all.
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