Chapter 8 Summary

With the initial questioning complete, the four sleuths are stymied, although Poirot has a sense of something, but his thoughts are not yet clear enough to put into words. He does believe that the murderer's motivation was a spur of the moment decision based on Mr. Shaitana's comments at dinner. Poirot knows that Shaitana invited the four suspects because he believed them all to have committed a murder at some time in their past. He further speculates that Mr. Shaitana sealed his fate during dinner when he spoke of the various ways a murder can be committed, from poison, a shooting accident, a doctor's opportunities, to a mere household accident. Each of the four sleuths has a preference for investigative techniques. Mrs. Oliver, as a mystery writer, is more apt to flights of fancy, and to sometimes mix fact with fiction. Superintendent Battle...