Collins, London, 1940
Dodd Mead, New York, 1940
To Peter and Peggy McLeod
(from HarperCollins "The Agatha Christie Collection" cover)
Beautiful, young Elinor Carlisle stood serenely in the dock, accused of the murder of Mary Gerrald, her rival in love. The evidence was damning: only Elinor had the motive, the opportunity and the means to administer the fatal poison.
Yet, inside the hostile courtroom, one man still presumed Elinor was innocent until proven guilty. Hercule Poirot was his name. He was all that stood between Elinor and the gallows...
Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, struck all with yew,
O prepare it;
My part of death no one so true
Did share it.