Have Your Say

Discuss Poirot

Talk about everything Poirot related!

Poirot's Secret Love

vintagewares 21 Aug 09 at 10:53 a.m. GMT

In what story does Poirot first encounter Countess Vera?  Seems to me he was taken with her not only for her beauty and cunning, but the fact that she was a jewel thief whet his appetite?  I would like to reread the story but can't remember which one it was...who can help???

Login or register to add posts and reply

16 replies

Reverse order

vintagewares 05 Sep 09 at 11:18 a.m. GMT

The Countess is an integral part of the plot of The Big Four.  Her ability to morph into another character with disguise makes it hard for her to "go straight".  She needs the kick of excitement and living on the edge and she charmingly laughs up her sleeve at society.  The genius of Miss Christie to fashion her characters with personalities that you really care about gives The Countess a certain pathos.  She has a fertile mind but she has chosen to work on the wrong side of the law.   

Tommy_A_Jones 05 Sep 09 at 11:02 a.m. GMT

This reply contains spoiler information. Show reply

I thought The Countess was an accidental Accompliced in The Big Four 

vintagewares 05 Sep 09 at 12:04 a.m. GMT

This reply contains spoiler information. Show reply

Thank you all for your input.  I recall in the television version of when Poirot first meets Vera, David Suchet slyly looks out of the corner of his eye at the actress who plays Vera.  A  treasured moment because he drops his veil long enough to allow us to see his admiration for a lovely lady as well as a cunning thief who has fallen on hard times.  As Miss Christie beautifully weaves a "love" story not unlike Conan Doyle writes for Holmes who greatly admires the opera singer whom he always remembers as "that woman", we are allowed to see a man and not a super thinking machine.   

yamifannetje 28 Aug 09 at 7:44 a.m. GMT

I wonder wether the Countess was already on the right side of the law in "The Big Four". At least, I hope she is. I haven't read it, but I wonder if I would dare to.

3rdGirl 28 Aug 09 at 7:29 a.m. GMT

Oh I shall have to reread it, because I must have misinterpereted it. I think it was the bit about her being a ruin. The reason I was sad because I love the Countess and thought it a shame she had come off badly in their last encounter. I will have too look again.

yamifannetje 27 Aug 09 at 3:33 p.m. GMT

In the "Capture of Cerberus" Hercule Poirot is still attracted by the Countess like he was the first moment he saw her in "The Double Clue". Maybe even more...The last scene in "The Capture of Cerberus" even convinces  the most stubborn unbeliever of that fact.

Frndorfoe 27 Aug 09 at 11:36 a.m. GMT

3rdGirl

I was really sad when he met her for the last time in Labours of Hercule that her star had faded and she was really brash and trashy and had no more allure for him.

Oh 3rdGirl, your words are unkind! But I think Poirot felt differently. In The Labours of Hercules short story The Capture of Cerberus it says and I quote, “...Poirot had never been able to rid himself of the fatal fascination the Countess held for him...Granted that her make-up now resembled a scene-painters sunset, with the woman under the make-up well hidden from sight, to Hercule Poirot she still represented the sumptuous and the alluring..." In another place while Poirot admits she is not what she once was he is still full of admiration, "...Countess Rossakoff might not uncharitably have been described as a ruin. But she was at least a spectacular ruin. The exuberance, full-blooded enjoyment of life was still there, and she knew, none better, how to flatter a man" So, no matter what everyone else thought of her Hercule Poirot never ever thought her star had faded and she was brash and trashy and she was always alluring for him.

3rdGirl 27 Aug 09 at 8:16 a.m. GMT

This reply contains spoiler information. Show reply

I was really sad when he met her for the last time in Labours of Hercule that her star had faded and she was really brash and trashy and had no more allure for him.

Frndorfoe 26 Aug 09 at 11:48 a.m. GMT

Poirot does meet Countess Vera Rossakoff for the first time in The Double Clue. The Double Clue came out before The Big Four. The Big Four was published in 1927 while The Double Clue was published in 1923.

yamifannetje 26 Aug 09 at 8:32 a.m. GMT

Vera Rossakoff plays a part in "The big Four" too? I had the impression in "The double Clue" she and Poirot saw each other for the first time ???

Frndorfoe 25 Aug 09 at 7:44 a.m. GMT

Well, I for one still think that Countess Vera Rossakoff made only three appearances. If you read carefully you would find that in The Capture of Cerberus from The Labours of Hercules and this new Capture of Cerberus the dialogues concerning the Countess are still the same. Of course, the central idea of the story is totally different. I'm not saying that they are the same story in any way and the Countess does have an extended role in The Labours of Hercules story. But what I am saying is that perhaps AC did intend the Countess to have only three appearances, with The Capture of Cerberus being the last one, no matter which Capture of Cerberus did get published eventually.

GKCfan 22 Aug 09 at 7:09 p.m. GMT

We now know that Vera makes a FOURTH appearance!  She appears in the newly released "Capture of Cerberus," one of the recently published "lost" stories that is very different from the story of the same title in The Labors of Hercules.

GKCfan 21 Aug 09 at 4:47 p.m. GMT

You are all right.  Vera makes three appearances in the aforementioned tales.  She was inserted in the Molina version of Murder on the Orient Express, but she's not in the original book.  Vera is mentioned (but does not appear) in a bunch of other novels: I think (not sure) that One, Two Buckle My Shoe and Hickory Dickory Dock are two of them.

Frndorfoe 21 Aug 09 at 1:51 p.m. GMT

Countess Vera Rossakoff first appears in the short story The Double Clue. The 2nd time in The Big Four (and as far as I remember) the 3rd & the last time in the last labour of The Labours of Hercules in the story The Capture of Cereberus.

Tommy_A_Jones 21 Aug 09 at 1:51 p.m. GMT

You are right about the Countess being in The Capture of Cerberus I have recently read it.

ArlenaSMarshall 21 Aug 09 at 12:39 p.m. GMT

I'm believe Countess Vera Rossakoff is in The Big Four, The Labours Hercule Poirot, and in Poirot's Early Cases she is in the story The Double Clue. Hope this is helpful!