Agatha Christie: a look Into Criminal Procedure and Gender

57 criminologists, conclude that the fundamental procedural factors are the actions of the first officer on scene, a detective responding to the scene in less than 30 min, the notification of the crime lab and medical examiner’s office, the number of detectives assigned to the case, and the documentation of the crime scene (343). Braga et al. goon to explain that once an officer arrives at the crime scene, those initial factors will largely determine if the case will be cleared. For example, the first officer should be focused on getting information to a medical examiner and looking for any witnesses. It is also important to survey the crime scene for any potential murder weapon or DNA evidence. Both Poirot and Marple are successful detectives in respect to the handling of a crime scene. In Poirot’s investigations, it is common for him to go to the scene of the crime after getting to know the general details of the criminal event. For example, in The ABC Murders, he goes back to the crime scene at 5:30 PM because, He had wished to reproduce yesterday’s atmosphere as closely as possible (30). This also speaks to his practice of discovering the psychology of the murderer. Ashe investigates the crime scene at Andover, he takes in every fine detail, asks questions of the other investigators to whom the crime was first reported, and also consider if fingerprints were found, as the science and technology to process other kinds of DNA was not accessible. In many cases, like that of The Murder on the Orient Express, Poirot is the first investigator on the crime scene, so the body has not been touched. Ashe examined the crime scene, “Poirot’s eyes were darting about the compartment. They were bright and sharp like a birds. One felt that nothing could escape their scrutiny (66). Poirot is known for his thorough examination of crime scenes, as he does not leave a witness to go unquestioned or the smallest scrap of evidence to be overlooked. The way that Poirot discovers evidence at the crime scene would not be able to be deemed inadmissible in a court of law.

58 In contrast to Poirot, Miss Marple is hardly ever the first investigator to arrive at the scene of the crime. In fact, she sometimes has to coerce her way into viewing the crime scene, as she is not a traditional detective, although it could be argued that it is because she is a woman. In
The Body in the Library, when Miss Marple is told that “I’m afraid nobody is allowed in her friend responds with, You know Miss Marple perfectly well. It’s very important that she should seethe body (563). At the actual crime scene, Miss Marple does not seem to make many observations that she shares with people around her. In A Caribbean Mystery, Miss Marple never actually gets to seethe crime scenes or bodies associated with the victims deaths, so this critical piece of investigative procedure is missing for her. What she does do however, is speak the medical examiner to try to piece together the cause of death, which is stated as the next step in investigative procedure.

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