Iris Russell

In the short story Yellow Iris, Iris Russell (née Weatherby) is the late wife of Barton Russell.

Some four years before the events in the story, she had been at the dinner hosted by her husband in New York when she had died due to poisoning by cyanide. Although it was believed that she had committed suicide, her husband Barton insisted that he knew that she had been poisoned. Whether she was really poisoned or had committed suicide four years earlier was not clarified during the denouement of the story, nor was any motive suggested for why she might have been murdered.

Portrayals
Iris Russell is played by Robin McCaffrey in the film adaptation of Yellow Iris in Series 5 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. Her maiden name is changed to "Wetherby" and she is the daughter of a Labour peer. Her father, Lord Wetherby, had made his fortune in textiles and when he died, he left everything to her. In this adaptation, and in contrast to the original, the fact that she was really murdered and the motive for it is made quite clear. Her husband and Stephen Carter were partners in the Sovereign Oil Company. They had obtained a concession to extract oil in Argentina by bribing General Pereira. Iris was a highly principled person and could not tolerate such dishonesty and threatened to expose her husband and Carter. Barton therefore poisoned her to silence her.

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