Venetia Kerr

In the novel Death in the Clouds, The Hounorable Venetia Anne Kerr is the daughter of Lord Cottesmore. She lives at Little Paddocks, Horbury, Sussex.

At the beginning of the novel, Miss Kerr is returning to England from the south of France, and meets Lady Horbury on the Prometheus. Poirot exchanges his seat with Miss Kerr, so that the two ladies can sit together.

Miss Kerr is a childhood friend of Lord Horbury, and they are both interested in horses. She tells him about the two-year-old that she bought from Chattisley's sale.

Miss Kerr has always loved Lord Horbury, and he is fond of her. When he asks if she would marry him if he were free, she answers that she would. She suggests that they could go off together, so that his wife would have to divorce him, but he will not hear of it.

At the end of the novel, Poirot predicts that a marriage between Miss Kerr and Lord Horbury will occur in a year's time.

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 Venetia Kerr is played by Amanda Royle. Her portrayal is slightly different. In the original novel, Venetia and Cicely only met, by coincidence, on board the Prometheus. In the adaptation, Venetia is a "friend of the family". She, Cicely and her husband Lord Horbury had come to Paris together to watch the Roland Garros tennis tournament. Venetia is Cicely's friend and constant companion, trying her best, for example, to restrain Cicely's excessive drinking. Like in the novel, Venetia and Lord Horbury are attracted to each other and share common interests, for example, in horses and tennis. Cicely suspects as much but doesn't seem to care as long as she can indulge in her own pastimes of gambling and drinking. In the adaptation, Venetia actually suspects that Cicely killed Madame Giselle. After riding with Lord Horbury, she tells him that it would be best if Cicely would "do the decent thing" and she explained that she meant that Cicely would confess to the crime. She suggests that this would be something both she and Lord Horbury really wanted.