Madame Déroulard was the killer of the short story The Chocolate Box. The elderly mother and killer of the French politician Paul Déroulard, she killed her son not only to stop his political ambitions (which she did not approve of) but to avenge the sins of his own past. For the BBC series, she was potrayed by Rosalie Crutchley.
The Chocolate Box[]
In this short story, Poirot tells his companions about the one time he failed to solve a crime of his own volition. It occurred in Brussels, many years ago, when he was a simple police inspector. When the French politician, Paul Déroulard died, his late wife's cousin Virginie Mesnard invited Poirot to investigate the crime. She did not believe that Paul died from natural causes as everyone else seemed to think.
Towards the end of the story, as Poirot concluded his investigation and prepared to announce his suspect, Paul's mother, Madame Déroulard, summoned him to her house. When Poirot arrived, she asked him to lay out his findings. Poirot did as instructed, stating that he was certain he knew who had murdered her son and that justice would soon be served. Madame Déroulard shared his sentiment for justice, but then caught the young inspector off guard, by revealing that he had got it all completely wrong. The real killer was none other than herself.
Madame Déroulard explains that Paul was highly anti-Catholic, in contrast to her devout self. She was appalled that when he became a government minister, he implemented policies against the church. But much more serious than that, Madame Déroulard stated that she had witnessed Paul kill his wife by pushing her down the stairs. He had done this, she told Poirot, to inherit her money and use it for his political career. Paul's sins did not stop there, however, as he had a weakness for women and began to take advantage of Virginie Mesnard although both he and his mother knew that he had no intention of marrying her. Virginie Mesnard was fascinated by him and the time came when she was ready to yield to him.
After hearing the story, Poirot realises that there was something he'd overlooked, an important clue that would have unmasked Madame Déroulard as the murderer. During his investigation, he found a chocolate box with a mismatched lid--the colour of the lid was different from the rest of the box. He realises that Madame Déroulard poisoned the chocolates, but she suffers from cataracts to the point she needed atropine drops. Thus, she mixed up the lids. Only she could have made such a mistake due to her poor eyesight.
Poirot is stumped as he realises that the truth had been staring him in the face all along. Yet, because of this one small oversight, he almost sent an innocent person to prison for a crime they did not commit. Thankfully, Madame Déroulard stopped him before that could happen.
Despite Madame Déroulard's confession, Poirot did not arrest her. Firstly, there was not enough evidence to ensure a conviction and secondly, there was no point. Following her confession, Madame Déroulard informed Poirot that she is dying. With six months to live at best, the elderly woman asked the young detective if the truth could wait just a little longer? She assured Poirot that he was free to tell whomever he wanted, only that it came out after she gone, and the truth could no longer harm her.
Poirot admired Madame Déroulard's commitment to both her country and the church. Sharing her opinion that Paul (a killer, manipulator and a thief) got what he deserved, Poirot honoured the request and kept her secret. Madame Déroulard died one week later, succumbing to her ailments. Despite her permission, Poirot did not tell anybody the truth about her crime for almost two decades, when he narrated the story to Hastings and how it inspired him.
Trivia[]
- As stated in the story, Madame Déroulard's murder of her son was the only case that Poirot did not solve. It is also what inspired him to become such a good detective by analysing all of the clues.
- Chronically, Madame Déroulard was the first murderer that Poirot encountered during his career.
- She is also one of the very few killers that he sympathised with and allowed to free.