False identification is the deliberate misidentification of a person, whether or living or dead, as part of a crime. It can in some circumstances be a crime in and of itself, particularly if it is done to conceal another crime such as fraud, theft, murder or treason. Sometimes fancy dress is used to make identification of a person harder, or to cast suspicion on someone else.
Agatha Christie uses this plot device in several of her stories including Nemesis, The Clocks, Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, The Thirteen Problems, The Body in the Library, N or M?, The Voice in the Dark and several others.
It is something that she borrowed from real life although of course in her fictional worlds such things are more common and more exciting than in our world.
Characters who used a false identity[]
- Pilar Estravados - Hercule Poirot's Christmas
- Samuel Long - The Gate of Baghdad
- Sir George Stubbs - Dead Man's Folly - real name James Folliat
- Hattie Stubbs - Dead Man's folly - real name unknown (nationality: Italy)
- Muriel King - The House at Shiraz
- Claud Darrell - The Big Four
- Jennifer Fortescue hid the fact that she actually was Ruby MacKenzie, the daughter of Mr MacKenzie - A Pocket Full of Rye
- Eric Leidner - Murder in Mesopotamia
- Father Lavigny - Murder in Mesopotamia
- Nigel Chapman - Hickory Dickory Dock, Changed a last name and concealed his family history
- Samuel Edward Ratchett - Murder on the Orient Express
- Gerda Blunt - used the identities of her old friend and murder victim Mabelle Sainsbury Seale and her husband's cousin Helen Montressor and also the wife of a secret agent Sylvia Chapman among other personas.
- Elsa Hardt and her accomplice - The Adventure of the Cheap Flat - rented a flat in London as Mr. and Mrs. Robinson.
- Charlotte Blacklock posed as her sister Letitia Blacklock - A Murder is Announced
- Emma Stamfordis posed as Julia Simmons - A Murder is Announced
- Victoria Jones used various false personas like the niece of a famous archaeologist - They Came to Baghdad
- Henry Carmichael used various disguises as a secret agent - They Came to Baghdad
- Anna Scheele - They Came to Baghdad
Characters who were deliberately falsely identified by someone else[]
- The body of Alan Carstairs was identified as Alex Pritchard by Pritchard's “sister” - Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
- The bodies of Margaret Ravenscroft and Dorothea Jarrow (twin sisters) were claimed to be each other - Elephants Can Remember
- After suffering from amnesia, Beatrice Barron was told by her sister Barbara Barron that she was Alice Clayton, a maid - The Voice in the Dark
- The Body in the Library - The body of Pamela Reeves was identified by Josie Turner as being her cousin, Ruby Keene.
- The Companion - It wasn't Amy Durrant that drowned in Gran Canaria, it was Mary Barton.
- Christine Redfern - disguised herself as Arlena Stuart and was misidentified by her husband in a scheme to murder Arlena.
- Nemesis - Clotilde Bradbury-Scott falsely identifies the disfigured body of Nora Broad as that of Verity Hunt.
- One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - Mabelle Sainsbury Seale is misidentified by dentist Mr Leatheran as Sylvia Chapman because their dental charts had been swopped.
- The Clocks - Merlina Rival is paid by someone to falsely identify a dead body
Other cases[]
- Stepbrothers Roland Gilliatt and Timothy Eden were deliberately changed by Timothy's mother at a very young age. (The Harlequin Tea Set)
Aliases[]
- Madeleine de Sara is the alias used by Maggie Sayers.