The Monogram Murders: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery. Sophie Hannah

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2014

      Copyright © Agatha Christie® Poirot® The Monogram Murders™

      Copyright © Agatha Christie Limited 2014

      All rights reserved.

      www.agathachristie.com

      Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

      Cover images © Jon Arnold / Jai / Corbis (elevator door); iStockphoto.com (art deco pattern)

      Sophie Hannah asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780007547425

      Ebook Edition © September 2014 ISBN: 9780007547432

      Version: 2017-03-20

       Dedication

       For Agatha Christie

       Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

1. Runaway Jennie

2. Murder in Three Rooms

3. At the Bloxham Hotel

4. The Frame Widens

5. Ask a Hundred People

6. The Sherry Conundrum

7. Two Keys

       8. Assembling Our Thoughts

       9. A Visit to Great Holling

       10. Slander’s Mark

       11. Two Recollections

       12. A Grievous Wound

       13. Nancy Ducane

       14. The Mind in the Mirror

       15. The Fourth Cufflink

       16. A Lie for a Lie

       17. The Older Woman and the Younger Man

       18. Knock and See Who Comes to the Door

       19. The Truth at Last

       20. How It All Went Wrong

       21. All the Devils Are Here

       22. The Monogram Murders

       23. The Real Ida Gransbury

       24. The Blue Jug and Bowl

       25. If Murder Began With a D

       Epilogue

       Acknowledgements

       Extract from Closed Casket, the new Hercule Poirot novel by Sophie Hannah

       Also by Sophie Hannah

       About the Publisher

       CHAPTER 1

       Runaway Jennie

      ‘All’s I’m saying is, I don’t like her,’ the waitress with the flyaway hair whispered. It was a loud whisper, easily overheard by the solitary customer in Pleasant’s Coffee House. He wondered whether the ‘her’ under discussion on this occasion was another waitress or a regular patron like himself.

      ‘I don’t have to like her, do I? You want to think different, you feel free.’

      ‘I thought she was nice enough,’ said the shorter waitress with the round face, sounding less certain than she had a few moments ago.

      ‘That’s how she is when her pride’s taken a knock. Soon as she perks up, her tongue’ll start dripping poison again. It’s the wrong way round. I’ve known plenty of her sort—never trust ’em.’

      ‘What d’you mean it’s the wrong way round?’ asked the round-faced waitress.

      Hercule Poirot, the only diner in the coffee house at just after half past