Elephants Can Remember

by Agatha Christie Book 37 in the Hercule Poirot series.

First published 1972

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Ariadne Oliver is asked whether the mother of her goddaughter killed her husband or was killed by him in an apparent double suicide years earlier. Disturbed by the question, she consults Poirot and begins interviewing people whose memories of the couple have survived through gossip and fragmentary impressions.

Poirot treats remembered details as clues while recognising that repetition can turn speculation into accepted fact. The investigation moves between the early 1970s and a concealed family history, focusing on twins, identity and the emotional consequences for a daughter whose future is being shaped by an unresolved account of her parents’ deaths.