After the Funeral


After the Funeral is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1953 under the title Funerals are Fatal and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 18 May of the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at ten shillings and sixpence.
A 1963 UK paperback issued by Fontana Books changed the title to Murder at the Gallop to tie in with the film version. The book features the author's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, but the Murder at the Gallop film adaptation instead featured her amateur sleuth, Miss Marple.
A wealthy man dies at home and his relatives gather after his funeral for the reading of the will, during which his sister states that he was murdered. The next day, she herself is found murdered and Poirot is called in to solve the mystery.

Plot summary

Following the funeral of Richard Abernethie, his family assembles at Enderby Hall for the reading of the will by his lawyer, Mr Entwhistle. His wealth is to be divided between his surviving family: his brother Timothy Abernethie and his wife Maud; his sister Cora Lansquenet; his nephew George Crossfield; his first niece Rosamund Shane, and her husband Michael; his second niece Susan Banks, and her husband Gregory; and Helen Abernethie, the wife of his late brother Leo.
Although Richard died of natural causes and his death was expected, Cora makes the seemingly chance but potently disruptive comment that he was murdered. The day after the funeral, she is found dead, having been violently murdered in her sleep. No motive is obvious in Inspector Morton's investigations; while Cora's life income reverts to the Abernethie estate, her property goes to Susan, while her companion Miss Gilchrist, receives a number of her paintings. However, doubts soon arise about Richard's death in the wake of her murder. Seeking help, Entwhistle contacts his friend, Hercule Poirot, to resolve the matter. Poirot contacts an old colleague, Mr Goby, to investigate the family.
Each family member had their own reason for wanting Richard's wealth and are suspects in his murder. On the day of the inquest, Susan visits Cora's home to clean up her possessions for auction. She learns from Miss Gilchrist that her aunt always painted from life and that she also collected paintings from local sales in the hopes of finding a valuable piece. The day after Cora's funeral, art critic Alexander Guthrie arrives to look through Cora's recent purchases as previously scheduled, but finds nothing of value. That evening, Miss Gilchrist is poisoned with a slice of arsenic-laced wedding cake sent in the post; she survives, having only eaten a small portion. Gathering to select items from Richard's estate before its sale, the family are joined by Poirot and Miss Gilchrist. During discussions, Helen comments about believing there was something odd on the day of the funeral, Gilchrist makes a remark about one of the decorations in Enderby, while Susan recalls finding a painting in Cora's possession, which she believed had been copied from a picture postcard and not painted from life, which was Cora's usual style.
Early the next morning, Helen telephones Entwhistle to inform him what she had realised was odd during Richard's funeral, but is struck savagely on the head before she can say more. Helen suffers a concussion and is taken away for her safety. As Inspector Morton prepares to ask each family member about their movements on the day of Cora's murder, Poirot startles everyone by revealing to them that her murderer was Miss Gilchrist. She had recognised a Vermeer amongst Cora's recent purchases that her employer had not, and knew it was her chance to rebuild her beloved tea shop that she lost in the war. She painted over the Vermeer with a scene of a pier from a postcard, unaware it had been destroyed in the war. Afterwards, she put a sedative in Cora's tea so she would be asleep, while Miss Gilchrist posed as her at the funeral. None of the family had seen Cora for more than two decades, which made her deception easier. After leaving the false suggestion that Richard had been murdered, Miss Gilchrist killed Cora the following day so that the police would believe it was connected to Richard's death. To divert suspicion from herself, Miss Gilchrist also faked the attempt on her life.
Miss Gilchrist had to copy Cora's characteristic turn of her head, but failed to realise she did it to the wrong side, as she rehearsed in front of a mirror. Helen was attacked because she eventually realised this. Furthermore, Poirot knew she had posed as Cora because she made a reference to a piece of decoration, which could only have been seen within Enderby Hall on the day of Richard's funeral. The Vermeer was hidden by Miss Gilchrist so Guthrie did not find it during his scheduled visit. Her claim that Cora painted the pier scene from life was countered by Susan finding a pre-war postcard of the pier in the cottage, along with Entwhistle recollecting that he smelt oil when he visited Cora's home after her murder. Poirot then reveals that two nuns visited Cora's cottage on the day of the funeral and believed someone was inside.
Once accused, Miss Gilchrist breaks down into a flood of complaints about the hardships of her life but quietly goes with the police. During legal proceedings before her trial, she eventually becomes insane, planning one tea shop after another, though Poirot and Entwhistle have no doubt she was in full possession of her faculties during her crime.

Characters

  • Mr Entwhistle - the Abernethie family's solicitor, he is also an assistant in the case and one of the friends of Inspector Morton.
  • Inspector Morton - the investigating officer for the Berkshire County's police investigation into Cora's murder.
  • Hercule Poirot - the Belgian detective called in by Entwhistle to aid Morton and the family.
  • Mrs Cora Lansquenet - the victim of the case; an amateur painter and the youngest sister of Richard Abernethie. One of the heirs to Richard's fortune, before her murder.
  • Richard Abernethie - a wealthy widower, recently deceased and cremated before the start of the novel. Lost one brother in World War II and another brother and two sisters to other causes. His only surviving son Mortimer, died six months earlier.
  • Timothy Abernethie - only surviving brother of Richard; a grumpy invalid and one of the heirs to his brother's fortune.
  • Maude Abernethie - Timothy's wife, a strong, healthy woman who tends to her husband's needs.
  • Susan Banks - Richard's first niece, daughter of his brother Gordon and one of the heirs to his fortune; she is a woman with a drive for business and Cora's heir.
  • Gregory Banks - Susan's husband; a chemist, who inadvertently gave a non-lethal overdose to one of his customers in the past.
  • George Crossfield - Richard's nephew, son of his sister Laura; a solicitor for a stock broker's office and one of the heirs to Richard's fortune.
  • Rosamund Shane - Richard's second niece, daughter of his sister Geraldine; she is an aspiring actress and another heir to Richard's fortune.
  • Michael Shane - Rosamund's husband; like her, he is an aspiring actor.
  • Helen Abernethie - widow of Richard's brother Leo and one of the heirs to Richard's fortune.
  • Miss Gilchrist - Cora's paid companion; she owned a tea shop until it was lost in the war.
  • Lanscombe - butler at Enderby Hall.
  • Janet - kitchenmaid at Enderby Hall.
  • Marjorie - cook at Enderby Hall.
  • Mrs Jacks - Enderby Hall's cleaning lady.
  • Mrs Jones - Timothy and Maude Abernethie's cleaning lady.
  • Alexander Guthrie - an old friend of Cora Lansquenet and an expert on artwork.
  • Miss Entwhistle - spinster sister of Mr Entwhistle.

    Themes

Unlike in Taken at the Flood, in which there is a strong sense of post-war English society re-forming along the lines of the "status quo ante", After the Funeral is deeply pessimistic about the social impact of war. A pier on a postcard has been bombed and not yet rebuilt, which fact is pivotal to the plot. Richard Abernethie is devastated that his only son died abruptly from polio, an epidemic of that time. The son was fit, healthy, about to marry, and then gone. Richard sees no other single heir worthy of succeeding to his estate entire. The Abernethie drive and talent for business are found in his niece Susan, but he cannot consider her as sole heir because she is female. Rather, he reacts to her by being disappointed in her husband. Not finding any one person to take over his fortune and business, he divides the money among family members who seem likely to waste it on gambling and theatrical ventures.
One person he valued was his sister-in-law, now widowed by the war. She had a child in a war time affair, but never told Richard, aware of his Victorian views, telling others he is her nephew. She is grateful for his kindness in including her in his will, as she can now raise her son on faraway Cyprus with a proper education. The child is loved, but his mother feels he cannot be accepted in post-war England. The last name chosen for Cora's husband, the much disliked painter with some claim to being French, is Lansquenet. It is unusual as a last name, as mentioned in the story. The word is the name of a card game and is the term for the German mercenary foot soldier with a lance or lancer of the 15th and 16th centuries, who may have played that card game.
Food rationing in England came to an end in the year of publication, but its effect is still felt in the egg shortages that are mentioned in the novel. Throughout, there is a strong sense of the hardships of the post-war period, including the conniving Miss Gilchrist's heartache at losing her cherished teashop due to food shortages and being forced into a life of dependence, in which she is regarded as little more than a servant. There are also comments on the increased burden of taxation associated with Clement Attlee's government.