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''Dead Man's Folly'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 November of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.95〔 and the UK edition at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6).〔 It features Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. ==Plot summary== Poirot is summoned to Nasse House in Devon by Ariadne Oliver, who is staging a Murder Hunt as part of a summer fête the next day. At Nasse House, Mrs Oliver explains that small aspects of her plans for the Murder Hunt have been changed by requests from people in the house rather deviously, until a real murder would not surprise her. The wealthy George Stubbs owns Nasse House. His much younger wife is the beautiful Hattie, Lady Stubbs. She shows interest in fine clothes and jewellery only, appearing simple to all but her husband's secretary, Miss Brewis. Hattie was introduced to him a year earlier by Amy Folliat, the last of the family who owned the estate for centuries. Widowed, Mrs Folliat lost her two sons during the War. With death duties very high post-war, she had to sell the ancestral home and grounds to keep it intact. She took on the orphaned Hattie, introducing her in society. Mrs Folliat rents the lodge on the estate. Michael Weyman, an architect, is on site to design a tennis court; he criticises the inappropriate location of a recently built folly. Sir George shouts at three young tourists who cross his private property; they are a Dutch woman, an Italian woman, and a man wearing a shirt decorated with turtles. On the day of the fête, Hattie receives a letter from her cousin, Etienne de Sousa, who will visit that day; she is upset by his abrupt visit. A local Girl Guide, Marlene Tucker, waits in the boathouse to pose as the dead victim when a player finds the key to enter. Her first visitor is Miss Brewis with a tray of refreshments at tea time, at Hattie's request. With Mrs. Oliver, Poirot discovers Marlene dead in the boathouse. Hattie cannot be found. Mrs. Oliver produces an abundance of theories to explain the murder and the disappearance, while the police and Poirot narrow the field from all attending the fête, to those familiar with the Murder Hunt. The investigation focuses first on Etienne de Sousa and briefly on Amanda Brewis. Further confusion is added by the behaviour of the Legges, staying in a cottage on the estate and whose marriage is in trouble. After weeks of no progress, Poirot visits Devon again, learning that Hattie is still missing. Merdell, the old boatman, is dead by accident, and was Marlene's grandfather. Poirot puts together several stray clues: Marlene's grandfather had seen a woman's body in the woods; Marlene received small sums of money used to make small purchases, now in her younger sister's possession; Merdell told Poirot that there would "always be Folliats at Nasse House". Poirot tells the police, who find the evidence to support his solution. In the dénouement, Poirot explains that Sir George Stubbs is really Mrs Folliat's younger son, James, a war deserter. Amy had paired him with Hattie, who gained her wealth on her marriage. James fleeced Hattie of her money to establish his new identity and to purchase the old family home. Unknown to Mrs. Folliat, James had married a young Italian woman after deserting the war; wherefore, he killed the original Hattie, and his legal first wife played the role of Hattie thereafter. Marlene Tucker learns the true identity of George Stubbs from her grandfather; so both are murdered, separately. The day before the fête, the first wife takes on another identity as an Italian tourist staying in the nearby hostel. She switches between the two roles frequently over 24 hours. The fake Hattie sends Miss Brewis to bring refreshments to Marlene shortly before the girl is murdered. She kills Marlene then changes to the tourist guise, tossing the large hat she wore as Hattie in the river. Then James's wife leaves the area as the Italian tourist with a rucksack. The day of Marlene's murder had been selected to cast suspicion upon Etienne, who had written weeks earlier of his visit, as he told Inspector Bland. Having grown up with the real Hattie, Etienne would not have been fooled. Two weeks later, James drowns Merdell at the river. Neither the arrests of the culprits nor whether the despairing Mrs Folliat herself faces any legal charges is mentioned. The story ends with the sounds of the police smashing up the folly to locate and exhume Hattie's body. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dead Man's Folly」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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