Lewis Serrocold

In the novel They do it with Mirrors, Lewis Serrocold is the third husband of Carrie Louise Serrocold. Once he was an accountant, and he is now an enthusiast for the charitable treatment of juvenile delinquents. He is a trustee of the Gulbrandsen Trust.

Lewis is described as "a short man, not particularly impressive in appearance, but with a personality that immediately marked him out". He has a tendency to concentrate entirely on what is immediately occupying his attention, paying no attention to the objects or people surrounding them.

On the night of the murder, Lewis stops Carrie Louise from taking her tonic, saying that it does not agree with her. Just then, Edgar Lawson bursts into the Great Hall, and accuses Lewis of spying on him and working with his enemies against him. Lewis takes Edgar into the study, and the door is locked. Edgar continues to shout at him, and threaten him with a gun.

Two shots are heard from inside the study, and the family is alarmed. Carrie Louise calls to Edgar, asking him to open the door. Lewis opens the door, breathing hard, but otherwise unmoved.

After Christian Gulbrandsen is discovered dead, Lewis stays in Christian's room to make sure nothing is disturbed before the police arrive. He later admits to Inspector Curry that he removed the letter from Christian's typewriter. He explains that he did this to prevent Carrie Louise from finding out the true purpose of Christian's visit. He says that Christian came to tell him that he believed Carrie Louise was being poisoned.

Lewis tells Inspector Curry that some symptoms Carrie Louise was experiencing were consistent with arsenic poisoning, and that the most likely vehicle for administering the poison was the tonic she took. He gives Inspector Curry a sample of the tonic to have analysed.

Lewis' dream is to buy a great tract of territory, finance it, and make it a co-operative, self-supporting community, where juvenile delinquents could live without the temptation of going back to the cities and crime. However, a great sum of money would have been needed to accomplish this.

It is later revealed that Lewis had embezzled funds from the Gulbrandsen Trust. He had also selected a group of boys who had passed through the Institute, trained them, and placed them In key positions. He directed these boys to falsify books, such that large amounts of money were converted without suspicion being aroused. Christian Gulbrandsen had discovered this, and had come to Stonygates to confront Lewis about it. However, Lewis had known that this would happen, and had prepared for it.

Lewis arranged for Edgar Lawson to create the scene in the Great Hall, and threaten him in the study. Lewis left the study by the window, ran along the terrace to Christian's room, and killed him. Meanwhile, Edgar remained in the study, doing two voices, so that it would seem as if both of them were still in the study.

The police questioned Edgar, and he lost his nerve, and ran away. He ran to the lake, and jumped into a punt, which was rotten, and sank. Edgar could not swim, and Lewis went in to rescue him. However, they both got entangled in reeds, and got into difficulties. The police eventually got them out, and attempted artificial respiration, but it was too late.

In chapter 23, Miss Marple later mentions that she suspected that the persona "Edgar Lawson" was an assumed one. Earlier on, the police had learnt that there was a real Edgar Lawson, the son of a poor class respectable woman in Plymouth and a foreign seaman. The police checked up and confirmed his case history. But the young man at Stonygates reminded Miss Marple of Leonard Wylie who was just as devoted to one he calls his father. Carrie Louise agreed with this and noted a likeness in the appearance of "Edgar" and Lewis Serrocold. She added that Lewis had once had a short infatuation for an actress before his present marriage. The relationship was not successful, the actress was a "gold digging" sort but Carrie Louise had no doubt that the "Edgar" at Stonygates was Lewis' son. Miss Marple concurred as this explained "everything.

Murder with Mirrors (1985)
In Murder with Mirrors (1985), Lewis Serrocold is played by veteran actor John Mills. Here he does try to save the drowning Edgar Lawson but does not actually jump into the water as he is prevented by Inspector Curry. After his crimes are exposed by Miss Marple, he goes into his study, pretending to fetch the tape recording of his voice which was used to create his illusion. Inside, he takes a pistol and shoots himself.

BBC's Miss Marple
In the BBC 1991 adaptation of the novel which formed part of the Miss Marple series, Lewis Serrocold is played by another veteran actor Joss Ackland. The details of his crime are slightly different. In this case, his rehad centre had cease receiving financial support from the government so he embezzled funds from the Gulbrandsen Trust to keep his centre afloat. Gulbrandsen discovered this and Lewis had to kill him to prevent exposure. He does not have a utopian island project in mind. In this adaptation, Edgar Lawson does not try to cross the lake in a rotten boat--he tries to swim across. He gets into difficulties. Lewis jumps in to try to save him and drowns together with him.

ITV's Agatha Christie's Marple
In the 2009 ITV version, Lewis Serrocold is played by Brian Cox.

Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie
In Jeux de glaces, the TV film adaptation of Agatha Christie's They do it with Mirrors by France Télévisions, the parallel character is "Etienne Bousquet".