Why Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs Is One Of The Greatest Crime Novels Ever

When considering the greatest fictional crime novels, the immediate thought goes to either Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes or to Agatha Christie's masterclass Murder on the Orient Express. Yet we might have to reconsider another one of Christie's novels, Five Little Pigs.

There are a few singular points in this book which have been thoroughly overlooked. For example, in your typical book, you don't see a private detective trying to solve a crime that took place sixteen years in the past. This is probably one of the rarest cases that you could imagine to take place in a book but alas, that is not all for one of the suspects, Caroline Crale who has already been tried in court and proved guilty for the murder of her husband, Amyas Crale, an artist and later dies in prison.

Now, her daughter, a young woman of twenty-one who was just a baby at the time of her mother's trial brings up the case after discovering an old letter from her mother stating that she was innocent. Desperate for the truth, she turns to detective Hercule Poirot who in turn tracks down all five of the main suspects, interviews them and asks them to write a short narrative of the week the crime too. Here lies another unique point as we see an entire section of the book gives the narratives of the main suspects. Hence, we can see how Christie shows each of the character's views on the crime.

And Christie's Belgian detective adds some humour to the story by relating a rhyme to it as the rhyme has a significant similarity to the case itself as the rhyme " Five little pigs " shows the five main suspects, a stockbroker, his brother, a socialite, the governess, and a disfigured young archaeologist who was only fifteen at the time of the crime as one pig who went to market, one who stayed at home, one who had roast beef, one who had none, and one who cried 'wee wee wee' all the way home.

This is another interesting point that might strike readers. A nursery rhyme in a crime novel? This rhyme does play a significant role in this case. We can confidently say that nearly all the suspects had a strong motive for murdering of Amyas Crale. However, Caroline Crale by far had the strongest motive and the best opportunity to kill him. With Christie, the obvious solution is almost never the correct solution but with a case like this, you never know.

The final major intriguing point of this book is not unusual but is nonetheless brilliant. The Final Showdown, when the detective Hercule Poirot gathers all the suspects along with the person who brought him the case. This part is always the best part of a crime novel and is a must for a great book. This is a rather special book mainly for its unique features. And as the book itself says, "A case of murder is a case of murder whether it happened yesterday or sixteen years ago.

Photo Credit: Asher Franklyn