Christie's fascination with nursery rhymes are well known. Many novels like Hickory Dickory Dock, One Two Buckle My Shoe, Pocket full of Rye etc are named after nursey rhymes. Not only this book gets its title from a nursery rhyme but also it was the first book published by Christie concerning a murder in retrospect.
Carla , a young lady who is about to get married approaches Hercule poirot to investigate a murder that happened sixteen years before. The victim was Amyas Crale, Carla's father. Her mother , Caroline Crale was convicted and sentenced for life for the murder. Later, just before her death in the prison, Caroline sends her daughter a letter in which she claims of her innocence. Now hercule Poirot has to prove (or disprove) her claim.There are five persons involved in the murder whom Poirot labels as the "five little pigs". It is clear that if Caroline didn't do it , then one of these five did it. Poirot visits all the five and studies their accounts of the murder.
"Five little pigs" is a testimony to Christie's excellence in plot construction and story telling. Her genius in unsolving the mystery of a murder in retrospect is unbelievable. The only negative point that can be attributed to this novel is that at places, it seems highly repeatitive as the same incident is retold by the five suspects.
An excellent mystery novel, 3.5 out of 4.
