Agatha Christie publishes Mrs McGinty's Dead

Poirot, disillusioned by the “senseless cruel brutality” of modern crime, pays no attention to the sad case of Mrs.

McGinty, an old woman apparently struck dead by her lodger for thirty pounds that she kept under a floorboard. When, however, he is asked by the investigating officer to take another look at the case in order to stop an innocent man going to the gallows, he realises that things may not be as simple as they first appear to be.

Explanation of the novel's title

The novel is named after a children’s game – a sort of follow-the-leader type of verse somewhat like the Hokey-Cokey - that is explained in the course of the novel.