Actress Rachael Stirling as Caroline Crale before being hanged for Amyas' murder
In the novel Five Little Pigs, Caroline Crale (née Spalding) was the wife of painter Amyas. She was put on trial for the poisoning of her husband, and was defended by Sir Montague Depleach. Originally she received the death sentence, but it was later changed to life imprisonment. Caroline died after a year in prison. She had a daughter, Carla, and a sister. Before dying, she had sent a letter to her daughter explaining that she was innocent, and saying that Carla could always be sure of that.
Poirot does not meet Caroline in person, because she has passed away by the time of the events of the novel. However, he hears descriptions of her from different people, and also sees a portrait of her, in Angela Warren's home.
Caroline's portrait depicts her as having "a long oval face, a gracious line of jaw and a sweet, slightly timid expression". Her face is described as being "uncertain of itself" and emotional, "with a withdrawn hidden beauty".
Caroline's life as a young woman is described for Poirot by Mr Jonathan, who knew her before she was married. According to him, she was a "turbulent unhappy creature", and was very alive. Her father had died, and she was devoted to her mother.
Caroline's mother later married again, and had another child, Angela. As a child, Caroline threw a paperweight at Angela, disfiguring her. She blamed herself bitterly after the incident.
Caroline was friends with Amyas' sister, Diana Crale, and she stayed at Alderbury often. She rode well, and was keen. She waited on Amyas and Diana's mother, Mrs Crale, and was "deft and gentle". She was not happy at home, but she was happy at Alderbury.
Caroline and Amyas had always fought and sparred with each other, but they were "both crazy about each other", and they eventually married.
According to Angela, Caroline was continually haunted by the fact that she had injured her. This caused her to spoil Angela, and to take the view that nothing was ever too good for her. Caroline was always watching herself, fearing that something similar would happen again. She allowed herself to be violent in speech so that she would have no temptation to be violent in action.
Caroline and Amyas quarrelled frequently, and according to Angela, their quarrels were "fantastic and lurid", but they enjoyed continually quarrelling and making up.
On the day before Amyas' death, Elsa Greer told Caroline that she and Amyas loved each other, and were going to be married. Caroline asked Amyas if it was true. He told her that it was, but he did not want to discuss it.
Caroline and Amyas went to Handcross Manor for tea, along with Philip Blake, Angela, and Elsa. According to Meredith Blake, Caroline talked and laughed a lot, and showed a kind of "desperate gaiety". She told Meredith that everything was gone and finished. Meredith explained to Poirot that those words were the literal truth for Caroline, because Amyas was her whole world.
According to Meredith, Caroline turned the conversation to his hobby of herbalism. He took his guests to his laboratory, where he pointed out a bottle of coniine, and took them to the library, where he read a passage about Socrates' death. Caroline had been the last to leave the laboratory, and it was later revealed that she had taken coniine from the bottle in the laboratory.
On the day of Amyas' death, he and Caroline were overheard having an argument in the library. She was overheard saying to him, "You and your women!", and saying that someday she would kill him. They were later overheard arguing again, and the subject of the argument was thought to be Angela, and Amyas' decision to send her away to school.
Caroline brought some iced beer to the Battery garden for Amyas. Meredith had offered to take it for her, but she said firmly that she would go. When she reached the Battery garden, she poured out the beer, and watched Amyas drink it.
After lunch, Caroline took Amyas' coffee to him in the Battery garden. She found him dead, and sent Miss Cecilia Williams to call a doctor. She was later seen polishing the beer bottle with her handkerchief, and then pressing Amyas' fingers on the bottle.
Caroline was arrested, and tried for the murder of her husband. She testified that she had taken the coniine for herself, to use to commit suicide. She was described as not even trying to "put up a fight" during the trial. When Humphrey Rudolph suggested that she had taken the poison to kill her husband, and that she had deliberately poisoned him, she only said, "Oh, no--no, I didn't."
According to Quentin Fogg, during the trial it seemed as if Caroline had "gone away somewhere, quite far away", and had just left her body there. She could not be defeated because she never gave battle.
The jury was out for just over half an hour, and brought in a verdict of "Guilty with a recommendation to mercy". Caroline was sentenced to life imprisonment.
While Caroline was in prison, she wrote a letter to Angela, assuring her that everything was all right, that she felt a peace she had never felt before, and that she was going to Amyas, without whom she could never have lived. She died one year after the trial.
She made no effort to defend herself in court because she was defending her sister, whom she thought was the murderer. However, the latter wasn't the real killer.
Portrayals[]
In the Agatha Christie's Poirot adaptation, Caroline Crale was portrayed by Rachael Stirling. In this version Caroline was hanged.