Daniel Clancy

In the novel Death in the Clouds, Mr Daniel Michael Clancy is a mystery writer. He was one of eleven passengers onboard a flight from Paris to Croydon Airport.

After one of the passengers on the plane, Madame Giselle, is found dead, a thorn with a discoloured tip is found on the floor beside her. Mr Clancy identifies this as a native thorn shot from a blowpipe by certain tribes. Mr Clancy had done research on blowpipes and darts for a book that he wrote, The Clue of the Scarlet Petal. He had also purchased a blowpipe from a shop in the Charing Cross Road. However, this is not the same blowpipe that was found on the plane. Mr Clancy brings his blowpipe to the inquest as proof of this.

During the flight of the Prometheus, Mr Clancy had left his seat to get a continental Bradshaw out of his raincoat pocket. His raincoat was at the back of the plance, so he passed near Madame Giselle's seat. However, he says that this was much earlier than the time of death.

Mr Clancy is afraid of wasps, and noticed one on the plane. This was just after the steward had brought him coffee. He had struck at the wasp, and it went away. He did not notice anything suspicious happening around him, as he was absorbed in perfecting the alibi of a character in the book he was writing.

Later in the novel, Norman Gale and Jane Grey notice Mr Clancy at the same restaurant as them, and decide to follow him. Mr Clancy's progress is erratic, as he sometimes moves with a brisk trot, and other times slows down almost to a stop. His direction is also erratic, and at one point he makes so many right-angle turns that he ends up walking the same streets twice. Jane takes this as a sign that he is afraid of being followed.

Norman and Jane observe Mr Clancy staring at a butcher's shop, and overhear him talking to himself. He mentions a woman who will not speak, and someone who has to be silenced. Jane considers this suspicious. They follow him to 47 Cardington Square, which is where he lives.

Poirot calls on Mr Clancy, accompanied by Jane. Mr Clancy had earlier stated that he was not a tidy man, and Poirot finds this to be true, as the room in which they find him is in a state of chaos.

Mr Clancy is in the habit of eating bananas, which inspired him to make Wilbraham Rice, the private detective he created in his novels, eat bananas as well.

Mr Clancy tells Poirot that he is writing the case of Madame Giselle's death into a fictional story called The Air Mail Mystery. He intends to write perfect pen portraits of all the passengers, and reveal an unexpected solution at the end. His solution is that a girl sneaks onto the plane disguised as the pilot, and conceals herself under the victim's chair. She releases gas which knocks everyone unconscious for a few minutes. She fires the dart at the victim, and then parachutes out from the rear door of the car. He intends to make the girl a snake charmer, who extracted the snake venom from her favourite python.

Mr Clancy also explains that the reason he was staring at the butcher's shop was because he had been trying to find a good name for the criminal in a short story he was writing, and he saw just the name he wanted over the butcher's shop. The things Norman and Jane had overheard him saying also related to the story he was writing, as he was trying to come up with a reason for the young woman in the story not to speak.

At the end of the novel, Poirot invites Mr Clancy to dinner, along with Inspector Japp, and Norman Gale. After dinner, Poirot reveals who the murderer is, and how the murder was committed. Mr Clancy considers this the most thrilling experience of his life.

Portrayals
In the the film adaptation of Death in the Clouds in Series 4 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot drama series, the part of Daniel Clancy is played Roger Heathcott. As in the original novel, one of the crime books he had written was "The Clue of the Scarlet Petal". In this adaptation Jane Grey borrows a stack of Clancy's books for Poirot to read. Among Clancy's other works are "Death Under the Bench" and "The Case of the Bald Man". However, unlke the original story, there is no mention of a blow pipe in "The Clue of the Scarlet Petal", although Poirot did find a blowpipe on the shelf in Clancy's house. Clancy later told Poirot during the denouement that he had researched the blowpipe for a book but never wrote it because "Wilbraham wouldn't let me".

In the NHK's anime adaptation Death in the Clouds, the character of Daniel Clancy is voiced by Takeshi Aono. The interview between Clancy and Poirot is briefer than in the original. Poirot did not read his novels and he did not see a blowpipe in Clancy's house. But, as in the original, he and Norman Gale are the only two Prometheus passengers called together for the denouement.