14. The Cornish Mystery

Air date: 28/01/1990
Published: Third story in "Poirot's Early Cases" (1974)

I found The Cornish Mystery, both in its original written form and in its TV adaptation, a delightful story to follow.

It concerns a Mrs Pengelley, who visits Poirot from Cornwall, and who expresses the fear that she is being poisoned. The chief suspect is her husband, a dentist, and the motive the "yellow-haired hussy" who works as his assistant.

When Poirot and Hastings later travel down to Cornwall to see her they arrive to find she has just died! The local GP is convinced she was suffering from acute gastritis, but Poirot makes some initial investigations before returning to London. When, three months later, Edward Pengelley announces his engagement to his assistant, the outcry leads to an exhumation of the body. The discovery of arsenic poisoning prompts the arrest of Mr Pengelley.

It turns out that the motive was not love, but money. Mrs Pengelley's neice Freda was engaged to a local tailor, Jacob Radnor. Freda believed her aunt had a mid-life crush on him, but it turns out he had deliberately encouraged this. Radnor poisoned her and planned for her husband to go to the gallows for it so that he and Freda could pocket the family assets.

In the original Mrs Pengelley is very nervous about publicity when visiting Poirot. In the adaptation this is played out by her reluctance to come to his office. Instead Poirot and Hastings have to meet her in the park. Miss Lemon brokers this, although (again) she is not actually in the original. Japp isn't in the original, either, although turns up in the adaptation at the exhumation. Once again, he fears the worst: that Poirot will spoil what he thinks is a simple case.

Despite these differences the adaptation is remarkably faithful to the original, with large chunks of dialogue being taken verbatim from the original short story. For this reason the embellishments, such as they are, stand out all the more.

First, although referred to, Pengelley's assistant plays no real part in the original, but in the adaptation Poirot and Hastings visit her during their initial enquiries. This enables the producers to indulge in one facet of the team's characteristics that regularly surfaced: Hastings' soft-spot for an attractive woman. Here he is utterly tongue-tied in the dentist's surgery. When he and Poirot leave he exclaims: "What a stunner!"

Second, in the adaptation we see the funeral and a reading of the will, as well as Hastings and Miss Lemon dabbling in ancient Chinese oracle reading (which, I felt, was an unnecessary intrusion).

Third, in the original, Poirot - who knows he has no evidence - convinces Radnor to sign a confession, promising to give him 24 hours start before passing it to the police. Part of his ruse is to point out of the window to two bystanders and imply they are tailing him. Interestingly, in the adaptation, it is Hastings - in a rare moment of quick-witted improvisation - who does this (much to Poirot's amazement!). Interestingly, the original ends at this point, with the implication that Poirot will keep to his promise. In the adaptation it is clear he is not going to do so (to the annoyance of the ever upright and decent Hastings!).

Finally, the presence of Japp allows for the not uncommon 'light' ending. On this occasion, Poirot and Hastings disappear just before the Chief Inspector is informed his case against Pengelley has collapsed!