In the novel Sparkling Cyanide, Mrs Lucilla Drake (née Marle) is the aunt of Rosemary and Iris. She is the widow of Caleb, and is the mother of Victor. If Iris dies before turning 21, Lucilla stands to inherit her fortune.
Lucilla was Hector Marle's half-sister. He was much younger than her, and she looked after him after his mother died. She continued keeping house for her father, and "stiffened into a pronounced spinsterhood".
Lucilla was almost forty when she met Caleb, and he had passed fifty. After having been married only two years, Caleb died. Although at the time of the events of the novel, it has been about twenty years since her husband died, she still wears crêpe. She is old-fashioned, and likes what she calls "the decencies" to be observed.
Motherhood was "the supreme experience" of Lucilla's life, as it had come late and unexpectedly. Although Victor is a source of anxiety and grief, and a financial drain on her, she is not disappointed in him. She does not see anything in him except "an amiable weakness of character", and believes that he gets into trouble because he is too trusting, and others exploit his innocence.
Lucilla always insists on sending money to Victor when he asks for it, claiming that he hates asking her for money, but when he is in a terrible situation he has no other choice, and no one else to whom to turn.
After the death of Rosemary, George Barton asks Lucilla to move in with him, to look after Iris and chaperon her. Lucilla thinks of this as a godsend, because she is "in desperate straits of genteel poverty", due to Victor's financial claims.
Lucilla is described as being an "amiable friendly sheep with little will of her own". Her way of talking is described by the family as "twittering". She has a "pleasant, rather silly sheep's face", and soft double chins, which quiver when she nods her head.
Lucilla is startled when George suddenly announces that he has bought a house in the country, Little Priors. She is annoyed when he tells her that Miss Lessing has seen to all the decorating, because according to her, the women of a family like to arrange the colour scheme of their own drawing room, and Iris should have been consulted. However, she is forced to smile at George saying that he wanted it to be a surprise.
Lucilla is very talkative. When Colonel Race calls on her after George's death, it is a while before she stops talking, and he has a chance to speak. When she begins telling him about her son, Victor, he is only able to switch her to a different topic after at least twenty minutes.
When Anthony Browne wants to talk to Iris alone, he deliberately goes to the house when Lucilla is not there. This is because from what he has heard, it will be unlikely that he has a chance to talk to Iris uninterrupted, if Lucilla is there.
Iris also asks Miss Lessing to come and discuss the funeral arrangements for George while Lucilla is out, as she thinks that Lucilla "changes her mind about everything every two minutes", and this will make it more difficult. Iris also says that Lucilla likes funerals. While Lucilla herself does not say whether she likes funerals or not, she does say that as a clergyman's widow, she knows what hymns are suitable for funerals.
When Anthony is telephoning for a doctor for Iris, he is "hampered by a background of exclamations" from Lucilla.
Portrayals[]
Sparkling Cyanide (1983)[]
In the 1983 Warner Bros adaptation, Lucilla Drake is portrayed by Nancy Marchand. The characterisation of her doting relationship to her son is much as in the original novel. Her relationship with the Bartons and with Iris is also warm and affectionate, much as in the novel. Here, however, her supposed motive for the murders is established much more simply and directly. In this adaptation, Lucilla's first husband was Paul Bennett. Bennett had left his fortune in a trust fund to Rosemary Barton. If Rosemary dies without a child, Iris Murdoch inherits. If Iris dies, Lucilla is next in line. Unlike the novel, Lucilla is at the table for both murders, so she becomes a suspect. In addition, she is also one of the four people in the house when Iris is attacked, thereby reinforcing the suspicion.
Sparkling Cyanide (2003)[]
In ITV's 2003 adaptation of the novel, Lucilla Drake is portrayed by Susan Hampshire. The portrayal is similar to the original, except that, as in the 1983 adaptation, Lucilla is present as a guest at the table during both murders and is considered a suspect.
Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie[]
Lucilla Drake is not featured in Meurtre au champagne, the 2012 French adaptation by Escazal Films.