History Literature / SadCypress

* SheIsAllGrownUp: Mary Gerrard was described by Roddy as a "scrawny kid with lots of messy hair" in her childhood, and it is clear that he doesn't think of her as attractive at that age. At 21 years old, Mary was a very beautiful woman who causes Roddy to fall in LoveAtFirstSight with her.

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Inverted. Both Laura Welman and Mary Gerrard are sympathetic characters, Mary verging on the angelic. The main reason Elinor is accused apart from the evidence, is that nobody else would even seem to have a motive for killing such nice people in the first place.

* IGaveMyWord: Elinor promised her aunt Laura that she would see to it that a provision was made for Mary Gerrard in Laura's will. When Aunt Laura died before she could write a will, Elinor made sure that a suitable amount of money was given to Mary.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: While still deeply in love with him, Elinor breaks up with Roddy and [[UpToEleven gives him relationship advice about Mary]].

The novel opens with a prologue where we get to see part of Elinor's trial and follow some of her thoughts, and proceeds with a series of flashbacks which tell the story in three parts. It contains CourtroomDrama; it's one of the two times Christie used the lovely-woman-in-the-docks plot (the other being ''Literature/FiveLittlePigs'', to a much lesser extent.) Interestingly, instead of having a SummationGathering, the solution is presented at court at the end of the book. The novel has been criticized for its abrupt ending and lack of plausible suspects, but it has received positive reviews as a suspenseful and well-written detective story.

Murder mystery novel by Creator/AgathaChristie. Elinor Carlisle seems to be the only possible suspect for the murders of her wealthy aunt, Laura Welman, and her [[MurderTheHypotenuse romantic rival]], Mary Gerrard. However, doctor Peter Lord, who is in love with Elinor, asks Literature/HerculePoirot to [[ClearTheirName clear her name]], insisting she can't be guilty, [[LoveMakesYouDumb despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary]]. Hercule Poirot points out that there's an extremely strong case against her, but still he agrees to investigate the case and find out the truth.

* SheIsAllGrownUp: Mary Gerrard was described by Roddy as a "scrawny kid with lots of messy hair" in her childhood, and it's clear that he doesn't think of her attractive then. At 21 years old, Mary was a very beautiful woman who causes Roddy to fall in LoveAtFirstSight with her.
* TakeThat: When Poirot visits the scene of the crime, Dr Lord hopes he will find something to aid Elinor that the police overlooked. Poirot chides him, saying he reads too much detective fiction, and points out that the English police are very thorough and collect evidence as they find it with no bias in their work.
%%* TroubledBackstoryFlashback

* WrongGuyFirst: Elinor is passionately in love with Roddy, and the two are initially engaged, but he neither loves her as intensely as she does and, in many ways, doesn't quite deserve her love. The ending implies that Elinor will eventually find love and happiness with Peter Lord, the loyal doctor who has constantly admired and defended her from afar.

%% * PullTheThread: Poirot is set on the right path when a character tells a seemingly pointless lie.

* LoveTriangle: Elinor loves Roddy who falls for Mary (who is seeing Ted, but it's implicated that there's no future there).

** Roddy meets the grown up Mary when he and Elinor was visiting his aunt and becomes immediately smitten with her that he breaks off his engagement with Elinor.

* InheritanceMurder: This is the obvious motive for Elinor Carlisle to have committed the murder she's accused of. Naturally, the relationships in play turn out to be more complicated. [[spoiler: However, in the end, this is actually the motive... just several steps more removed.]]

%%* HookedUpAfterwards: Implied.

%% * TheButlerDidIt: No, seriously. Well, not an actual butler, but still.

%% * FunnyForeigner: More so than in other Poirot books. He has to fake an interest in the royal family to get one of the villagers to talk to him.
%% * GreenEyedMonster: Miss Carlisle is not above this.

%%* HowWeGotHere: Evolves after the HappyFlashback.
%%* IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn: Mary towards Roddy.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Dr. Lord is in love with Elinor, who's in love with Roddy. Roddy is fond of Elinor but has fallen head-over-heels for Mary Gerrard. Mary finds Roddy's attentions annoying and keeps telling him to go back to Elinor. Meanwhile, Mary has Ted, her boyfriend in the village. She likes him but has ambitions that are likely to take her away from him. (However, after about two hundred and fifty pages of this, a {{subver|tedTrope}}sion is implied in the end with Elinor and Dr Lord. D'aw.)

The novel has been adapted for radio in 1992 by BBC Radio 4 with John Moffat as Poirot. It has also been [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402444/ adapted for TV]] by London Weekend Television as part of the ninth season of starring Creator/DavidSuchet as Poirot and Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh as Elinor Carlisle. Tropes for the TV adaptation can be found on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the series]].

Series/{{FemMyrorArFlerAnFyraElefanter}}

The novel has been adapted for radio in 1992 by BBC Radio 4 with John Moffat as Poirot. It has also been [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402444/ adapted for TV]] by London Weekend Television as part of the ninth season of starring Creator/DavidSuchet as Poirot and Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh as Elinor Carlisle. Tropes for the TV adaptation can be found on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the series]].

Series/{{FemMyrorÄrFlerÄnFyraElefanter}}

The novel has been adapted for radio in 1992 by BBC Radio 4 with John Moffat as Poirot. It has also been [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402444/ adapted for TV]] by London Weekend Television as part of the ninth season of starring Creator/DavidSuchet as Poirot and Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh as Elinor Carlisle. Tropes for the TV adaptation can be found on [[Series/{{Poirot} the page for the series]].

Series/{{Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter}}

The novel has been adapted for radio in 1992 by BBC Radio 4 with John Moffat as Poirot. It has also been [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402444/ adapted for TV]] by London Weekend Television as part of the ninth season of starring Creator/DavidSuchet as Poirot and Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh as Elinor Carlisle. Tropes for the TV adaptation can be found on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the series]].

''Series/{{Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter}''

The novel has been adapted for radio in 1992 by BBC Radio 4 with John Moffat as Poirot. It has also been [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402444/ adapted for TV]] by London Weekend Television as part of the ninth season of ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' starring Creator/DavidSuchet as Poirot and Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh as Elinor Carlisle. Tropes for the TV adaptation can be found on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the series]].

* TheButlerDidIt: No, seriously. Well, not an actual butler, but still.

* FunnyForeigner: More so than in other Poirot books. He has to fake an interest in the royal family to get one of the villagers to talk to him.
* GreenEyedMonster: Miss Carlisle is not above this.

* PlotHole: If [[spoiler:Nurse Hopkins]] wanted to murder Mary and frame Elinor for the murder, then it doesn't make sense to [[spoiler:offer the poisoned tea]] to Elinor as well; Elinor would have died, too, which would have been extremely risky and there would have been no one to frame.
** The TV adaptation seals up the hole by Elinor stating publicly [[spoiler: that she doesn't drink tea; she prefers coffee]]. Ironically, this brings up a question in itself [[spoiler: since the prosecution alleged that Elinor poisoned either the tea or the sandwiches, why didn't Elinor's lawyer point out as part of her defence that Nurse Hopkins didn't die from eating and drinking the same things as Mary, which would imply that Mary was poisoned elsewhere - or ask ''why'' that was so?]]
* PullTheThread: Poirot is set on the right path when a character tells a seemingly pointless lie.

The novel has been adapted for radio in 1992 by BBC Radio 4 with John Moffat as Poirot. It has also been [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402444/ adapted for TV]] by London Weekend Television as part of the ninth season of ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' starring David Suchet as Poirot and Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh as Elinor Carlisle. Tropes for the TV adaptation can be found on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the series]].

** the tv adaptation seals up the hole by Elinor stating publically [[spoiler: that she doesn't drink tea; she prefers coffee]]. Ironically, this brings up a question in itself [[spoiler: since the prosecution alleged that Elinor poisoned either the tea or the sandwiches, why didn't Elinor's lawyer point out as part of her defence that Nurse Hopkins didn't die from eating and drinking the same things as Mary, which would imply that Mary was poisoned elsewhere - or ask ''why'' that was so?]]

* [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout-Out: To Shakespeare]]: This title is taken from the Clown's song from ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' (II, iv).

** the tv adaptation seals up the hole by Elinor stating publically [[spoiler: that she doesn't drink tea; she prefers coffee]]. Ironically, this brings up a question in itself [[spoiler: since the prosecution alleged that Elinor poisoned either the tea or the sandwiches, why didn't Elinor's lawyer point out as part of her defence that Nurse Collins didn't die from eating and drinking the same things as Mary, which would imply that Mary was poisoned elsewhere - or ask ''why''?]]