Smell

In some Agatha Christie stories, a distinctive smell is a significant clue in the solution of a crime. Frequently it is a perfume of some kind, but it could equally be a smell of something unpleasant. Smells could also reveal the kind of poison used.

Stories where smells play a significant part in the plot

 * The Market Basing Mystery - here it is the absence of a smell that is significant.
 * Murder in the Mews - an expanded version of The Market Basing Mystery and has the same plot device.
 * Towards Zero - the smell is that of a dead fish. Angus MacWhirter first smells it on the dog Don and then on a suit.
 * Dumb Witness - Dr Grainger had lost his sense of smell and so failed to detect the garlic smell in the breath that is a sign of phosphorus poisoning.
 * Evil Under the Sun - Hercule Poirot can smell the perfume "Gabrielle 16" in the cave at Pixy Cove.

Adaptations where smells play a significant part in the plot

 * Témoin muet (Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie) - the smell of cheap perfume is used to identify the sender of a letter.