{"id":2371,"date":"2026-01-03T22:25:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/hickory-dickory-dock-a-hercule-poirot-mystery-christie-agatha\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:25:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:25:54","slug":"hickory-dickory-dock-a-hercule-poirot-mystery-christie-agatha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/hickory-dickory-dock-a-hercule-poirot-mystery-christie-agatha\/","title":{"rendered":"Hickory Dickory Dock: A Hercule Poirot Mystery – Christie, Agatha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Book Preview<\/h3>\n
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Chapter One<\/p>\n

H<\/span>ercule Poirot frowned.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiss Lemon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, M. Poirot?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are three mistakes in this letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

His voice held incredulity. For Miss Lemon, that hideous and efficient woman, never made mistakes. She was never ill, never tired, never upset, never inaccurate. For all practical purposes, that is to say, she was not a woman at all. She was a machine\u2014the perfect secretary. She knew everything, she coped with everything. She ran Hercule Poirot\u2019s life for him, so that it, too, functioned like a machine. Order and method had been Hercule Poirot\u2019s watchwords from many years ago. With George, his perfect manservant, and Miss Lemon, his perfect secretary, order and method ruled supreme in his life. Now that crumpets were baked square as well as round, he had nothing about which to complain.<\/p>\n

And yet, this morning, Miss Lemon had made three mistakes in typing a perfectly simple letter, and moreover, had not even noticed those mistakes. The stars stood still in their courses!<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot held out the offending document. He was not annoyed, he was merely bewildered. This was one of the things that could not happen\u2014but it had happened!<\/p>\n

Miss Lemon took the letter. She looked at it. For the first time in his life, Poirot saw her blush; a deep ugly unbecoming flush that dyed her face right up to the roots of her strong grizzled hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, dear,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t think how\u2014at least I can.<\/span> It\u2019s because of my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour sister?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another shock. Poirot had never conceived of Miss Lemon\u2019s having a sister. Or, for that matter, having a father, mother, or even grandparents. Miss Lemon, somehow, was so completely machine made\u2014a precision instrument so to speak\u2014that to think of her having affections, or anxieties, or family worries, seemed quite ludicrous. It was well known that the whole of Miss Lemon\u2019s heart and mind was given, when she was not on duty, to the perfection of a new filing system which was to be patented and bear her name.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour sister?\u201d Hercule Poirot repeated, therefore, with an incredulous note in his voice.<\/p>\n

Miss Lemon nodded a vigorous assent.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said, \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever mentioned her to you. Practically all her life has been spent in Singapore. Her husband was in the rubber business there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot nodded understandingly. It seemed to him appropriate that Miss Lemon\u2019s sister should have spent most of her life in Singapore. That was what places like Singapore were for. The sisters of women like Miss Lemon married men in Singapore, so that the Miss Lemons of this world could devote themselves with machinelike efficiency to their employers\u2019 affairs (and of course to the invention of filing systems in their moments of relaxation).<\/p>\n

\u201cI comprehend,\u201d he said. \u201cProceed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miss Lemon proceeded.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was left a widow four years ago. No children. I managed to get her fixed up in a very nice little flat at quite a reasonable rent\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

(Of course Miss Lemon would<\/span> manage to do just that almost impossible thing.)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is reasonably well off\u2014though money doesn\u2019t go as far as it did, but her tastes aren\u2019t expensive and she has enough to be quite comfortable if she is careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miss Lemon paused and then continued:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the truth is, of course, she was lonely. She had never lived in England and she\u2019d got no old friends or cronies and of course she had a lot of time on her hands. Anyway, she told me about six months ago that she was thinking of taking up this job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJob?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWarden, I think they call it\u2014or matron\u2014of a hostel for students. It was owned by a woman who was partly Greek and she wanted someone to run it for her. Manage the catering and see that things went smoothly. It\u2019s an old-fashioned roomy house\u2014in Hickory Road, if you know where that is.\u201d Poirot did not. \u201cIt used to be a superior neighbourhood once, and the houses are well built. My sister was to have very nice accommodation, bedroom and sitting<\/span> room and a tiny bath kitchenette of her own\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Miss Lemon paused. Poirot made an encouraging noise. So far this did not seem at all like a tale of disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t any too sure about it myself, but I saw the force of my sister\u2019s arguments. She\u2019s never been one to sit with her hands crossed all day long and she\u2019s a very practical woman and good at running things\u2014and of course it wasn\u2019t as though she were thinking of putting money into it or anything like that. It was purely a salaried position\u2014not a high salary, but she didn\u2019t need that, and there was no hard physical work. She\u2019s always been fond of young people and good with them, and having lived in the East so long she understands racial differences and people\u2019s susceptibilities. Because these students at the hostel are of all nationalities; mostly English, but some of them actually black,<\/span> I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaturally,\u201d said Hercule Poirot.<\/p>\n

\u201cHalf the nurses in our hospitals seem to be black nowadays,\u201d said Miss Lemon doubtfully, \u201cand I understand much pleasanter and more attentive than the English ones. But that\u2019s neither here nor there. We talked the scheme over and finally my sister moved in. Neither she nor I cared very much for the proprietress, Mrs. Nicoletis, a woman of very uncertain temper, sometimes charming and sometimes, I\u2019m sorry to say, quite the reverse\u2014and both cheeseparing and impractical. Still, naturally, if she\u2019d been a thoroughly competent woman, she wouldn\u2019t have needed any assistance. My sister is not one to let people\u2019s tantrums and vagaries worry her. She can hold her own with anyone and she never stands any nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot nodded. He felt a vague resemblance to Miss Lemon showing in this account of Miss Lemon\u2019s sister\u2014a Miss Lemon softened as it were by marriage and the climate of Singapore, but a woman with the same hard core of sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo your sister took the job?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, she moved into 26 Hickory Road about six months ago. On the whole, she liked her work there and found it interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot listened. So far the adventure of Miss Lemon\u2019s sister had been disappointingly tame.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for some time now she\u2019s been badly worried. Very badly worried.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you see, M. Poirot, she doesn\u2019t like the things that are going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are students there of both sexes?\u201d Poirot inquired delicately.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no, M. Poirot, I don\u2019t mean that!<\/span> One is always prepared for difficulties of that<\/span> kind, one expects<\/span> them! No, you see, things have been disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDisappearing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. And such odd things . . . And all in rather an unnatural way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you say things have been disappearing, you mean things have been stolen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHave the police been called in?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Not yet. My sister hopes that it may not be necessary. She is fond of these young people\u2014of some of them, that is\u2014and she would very much prefer to straighten things out by herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said Poirot thoughtfully. \u201cI can quite see that. But that does not explain, if I may say so, your own anxiety which I take to be a reflex of your sister\u2019s anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the situation, M. Poirot. I don\u2019t like it at all. I cannot help feeling that something is going on which I do not understand. No ordinary explanation seems quite to cover the facts\u2014and I really cannot imagine what other explanation there can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot nodded thoughtfully.<\/p>\n

Miss Lemon\u2019s Heel of Achilles had always been her imagination. She had none. On questions of fact she was invincible. On questions of surmise, she was lost. Not for her the state of mind of Cortez\u2019s men upon the peak of Darien.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot ordinary petty thieving? A kleptomaniac, perhaps?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not think so. I read up the subject,\u201d said the conscientious Miss Lemon, \u201cin the Encyclopaedia Britannica<\/span> and in a medical work. But I was not convinced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot was silent for a minute and a half.<\/p>\n

Did he wish to embroil himself in the troubles of Miss Lemon\u2019s sister and the passions and grievances of a polyglot hostel? But it was very annoying and inconvenient to have Miss Lemon making mistakes in typing his letters. He told himself that if<\/span> he were to embroil himself in the matter, that would be the reason. He did not admit to himself that he had been rather bored of late and that the very triviality of the business attracted him.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018The parsley sinking into the butter on a hot day,\u2019 \u201d he murmured to himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cParsley? Butter?\u201d Miss Lemon looked startled.<\/p>\n

\u201cA quotation from one of your classics,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are acquainted, no doubt, with the Adventures, to say nothing of the Exploits, of Sherlock Holmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean these Baker Street societies and all that,\u201d said Miss Lemon. \u201cGrown men being so silly! But there, that\u2019s men all over. Like the model railways they go on playing with. I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve ever had time to read<\/span> any of the stories. When I do get time for reading, which isn\u2019t very often, I prefer an improving book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hercule Poirot bowed his head gracefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow would it be, Miss Lemon, if you were to invite your sister here for some suitable refreshment\u2014afternoon tea, perhaps? I might be able to be of some slight assistance to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very kind of you, M. Poirot. Really very kind indeed. My sister is always free in the afternoons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen shall we say tomorrow, if you can arrange it?\u201d<\/p>\n

And in due course, the faithful George was instructed to provide a meal of square crumpets richly buttered, symmetrical sandwiches, and other suitable components of a lavish English afternoon tea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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Book Preview Chapter One Hercule Poirot frowned. \u201cMiss Lemon,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, M. Poirot?\u201d \u201cThere are three mistakes in this letter.\u201d His voice held incredulity. For Miss Lemon, that hideous and efficient woman, never made mistakes. She was never ill, never tired, never upset, never inaccurate. For all practical purposes, that is to say, she … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-2371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-agatha-christie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}