agatha christie's poirot elephants can remember

A second murder was apparently committed in Malacca while Dolly was staying with the Ravenscrofts it was an attack on the child of a neighbour. Dolly had married a major called Jarrow and, shortly after his death in India, she was strongly suspected of drowning her infant son, something that she had tried to blame on the little boy’s Indian Ayah.

While Molly generally led an unremarkable life, Dolly had previously been connected with two violent incidents and had spent protracted periods of her life in psychiatric nursing homes. Oliver discover that Dolly (Dorothea) and Molly (Margaret) Preston-Grey were identical twin sisters, both of whom died within the space of a few weeks.

Poirot decides that the investigation must delve deeper into the past in order to unearth the truth. Each 'elephant' remembers (or mis-remembers) a very different set of circumstances, but Poirot notes some facts that may have particular significance: Margaret Ravenscroft owned four wigs at the time of her death, and a few days before her death, she was seriously bitten by the otherwise-devoted family dog. Together they conduct interviews with several elderly witnesses whom they term “elephants”, based on the assumption that, like the proverbial elephants, they may have long memories. She invites her friend Hercule Poirot to solve the disquieting puzzle. Oliver agrees to try to resolve the issue. Oliver what she appears to believe is a very important question: which of Celia's parents was the murderer, and which was murdered? Initially put off by the woman's attitude, after consulting with Celia herself, Mrs. Burton-Cox, to whose son Celia Ravenscroft is engaged. Ariadne Oliver, a school friend of the late Margaret Ravenscroft and godmother to her daughter, is approached at a literary luncheon by a Mrs. Left behind are the couple's two children, including daughter Celia. In the original investigation no one was able to prove whether the case was a double suicide or murder/suicide and, if the latter, who killed whom. Both had bullet wounds, and a revolver with only their fingerprints left between them. The bodies of General Alistair Ravenscroft and his wife were found near their manor house in Overcliffe.

Agatha christie's poirot elephants can remember