84 pages • 2 hours read
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Josephine is Sophia’s younger sister and Aristide’s granddaughter, a homely 12-year-old who is “not quite right in the head” (197). Kept away from other children at Aristide’s behest, she nonetheless has a precocious intellect that charms Charles. As the investigation into Aristide’s murder unfolds, Josephine involves herself, indulging a fascination with violence and morbidity. She hints to Charles that she knows who the murderer is but refuses to reveal a name. Charles feels protective of her and worries that her close-held knowledge might endanger her life.
Arthur and Taverner exclude Josephine from their official suspect pool because of her age until the novel’s final chapter, when Edith completes a murder-suicide to stop Josephine from doing more damage. Edith leaves behind letters revealing that Josephine indeed committed the two murders at Three Gables: “The crooked child of the little crooked house” (199) poisoned her grandfather and nanny because she was born evil due to a confluence of bad traits from both sides of her family.
Josephine encapsulates Christie’s view of evil as a fixed and immutable quality. While her wickedness was likely exacerbated by the way her parents mistreated her, she is a prototypical example of the bad seed, a born criminal with no moral compass and no chance at redemption.
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And Then There Were None
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A Pocket Full of Rye
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Death On The Nile
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Murder at the Vicarage
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Murder on the Orient Express
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Poirot Investigates
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The ABC Murders
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The Mousetrap
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
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The Mysterious Affair at Styles
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The Pale Horse
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Witness for the Prosecution
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