One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2025

Christie taps into the near-universal fear people have of the dentist in a mystery where the anxious patients were so busy quaking they became unreliable witnesses when poor Mr. Morley is murdered, practically in front of their eyes!

There are certain humiliating moments in the lives of the greatest of men. It has been said that no man is a hero to his valet. To that may be added that few men are heroes to themselves at the moment of visiting dentist.

Hercule Poirot was morbidly conscious of this fact.

This book made me think of an old Crest commercial, “Look, Mom, no cavities!”  Unlucky Poirot had three fillings and couldn’t get away fast enough. He is back home relaxing when his friend, Chief Inspector Japp, calls from Scotland Yard to say it looks like Mr. Morley shot himself, right after his 12:00 pm patient (by the way, historically, dentists in Britain did not get the title "doctor").

Poirot is very surprised because he had not noticed anything off in Mr. Morley’s demeanor and returns to the dental office with Japp. They wonder why anyone would want to murder a dentist but it begins to seem quite probable, and there are quite a few odd characters in Morley’s life to examine. His partner drank too much, his secretary was dating someone he disapproved of, his sister was disagreeable. The patients from that morning are also under suspicion: in addition to Poirot, there were Mr. Blunt, a prominent banker, whose niece is acting suspiciously; Colonel Abercrombie, an Anglo-Indian; Mr. Amberiotis, a Greek businessman; a dangerously attractive American, Mr. Raikes; Mr. Barnes, recently retired from the Home Office; and some female patients – Poirot notices the buckle on one woman’s shoe, which turns out to be his key to understanding why Mr. Morley was murdered. That is, once Japp stops believing Morley gave a patient a fatal overdose by accident, then killed himself.

The case is very puzzling to Poirot until he accompanies one of the suspects to church and experiences a moment of revelation:

Hercule Poirot essayed in a tentative baritone.

“The proud have laid a snare for me,” he sang, “and spread a net with cords: yea, and set traps in my way . . . .”

His mouth remained open.

He saw it – saw clearly the trap into which he had so nearly fallen!

. . . . For the first time, Hercule Poirot was looking at the case the right way up.

Well, Poirot finally figured it out but there was no way I could have guessed how this very complicated murder took place! Do you think it’s a bit unfair of the author not to provide enough clues for the reader to at least try to figure things out? Sometimes I guess who but not how. In this mystery, I was simply not astute enough to keep up with Christie!

I read this for Read Christie 2025 and Carol’s Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge. I was actually at the dentist yesterday and meant to mention it to my hygienist who said she is a reader.  

Title: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: William Morrow, paperback (originally published in 1940)
Genre: Mystery/series
Source: Library