The Art of Sleuthing
One definition of a sleuth according to urban dictionary is someone who needs to be intelligent, witty, and always a few steps ahead of others. He should never reveal all his discoveries or conclusions. His wisdom is his greatest asset and he needs to hide that wisdom. This definition accurately describes the character Hercule Poirot from the novel The Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Throughout the book there are three main points to sleuthing that Poirot demonstrates: gathering concrete evidence, interrogations, and analyzing information.
The first step to sleuthing demonstrated by the book is collecting hard evidence. Concrete evidence is the foundation of the case. The concrete evidence gathered from the crime scene includes the stab marks on the body, finding the pipe cleaner, the dented watch, the button, and the handkerchief. An example of collecting hard evidence is when detective Poirot examines the body. “How many wounds are there exactly? I make it twelve. One or two are so light as to be practically scratches. On the other hand, at least three would be capable of causing death.” (1.7.19-20) The pipe cleaner and handkerchief, even though they were concrete evidence, made Poirot question the authenticity of the crime scene. Collecting concrete evidence is crucial to solving the case.
The Essay on 5 steps in a process to collect digital evidence
Some important steps in the process of collecting digital evidence from the time you are called to assist and the time when you have to testify are: identifying evidence, collecting evidence, preserving evidence, analyzing evidence and presenting evidence (Solomon et. al, 2011, Loc 2332). One of the first steps in identifying evidence is understanding the purpose of the investigation. This ...
The second step of sleuthing the novel demonstrates is interrogations. Interrogations help the sleuth determine how the concrete evidence is connected to the case. Detective Poirot relies on people’s expressions, manipulates conversations, and uses his intuition when interrogating people to determine the truth and gain information. An example of how Poirot manipulates the conversation is by telling Michel that he had found the button from his tunic, which is evidence found at the crime scene. ‘“Here is a button from your tunic. It was found in the American lady’s compartment. What have you to say for yourself about it?’ The conductor’s hand went straight to his tunic. ‘I have lost no button, Monsieur.’” Another example of how Poirot manipulates the conversation to gain more knowledge from the passengers, in this case, Colonel Arbuthnot ‘“you sit down again, you smoke perhaps a cigarette, perhaps a pipe’- he paused for a fraction of a second. ‘A pipe for me, MacQueen smoked cigarettes.”’ An additional example of how Poirot uses devious methods of collecting information is by observing suspects’ hand dominance by having them write their addresses. Poirot was aiming to compare that information to the stab marks on the body. Poirot is an expert at making his conversations seem casual but he is still gaining information in a slyer fashion. Interrogations are key to determining the guilty individual.
The third step of sleuthing is analyzing the information collected. This case was particularly hard to analyze because it was hard to determine what evidence was phony and what evidence was legitimate. “We now know all we can know. We have the evidence of the passengers, the evidence of their baggage, and the evidence of their eyes. We can expect no further help. It must be our part now to use our brains.” One example is that Mr. MacQueen reveals to Poirot that Mr. Ratchett does not knowing many languages. “We traveled about. Mr. Ratchett wanted to see the world. He was hampered by knowing no languages. I acted more as a courier than a secretary.” However Poirot recalls hearing someone speaking French in Mr. Ratchett’s compartment the night he was murdered, which leads the reader to believe that the murderer speaks French. Also another example is when Poirot brings to attention that Colonel Arbuthnot calls Miss Debenham by her first name, Mary. In the timeframe this book was written it was impolite to call women by their first name unless given permission by the women. This usually means that they had known each other for quite some time. Colonel Arbuthnot claims that he met Miss Debenham on the train, yet he still calls her Mary. This leads the reader to believe that Colonel Arbuthnot has known Miss Debenham before the train ride which seems suspicious. Analyzing the information is the third and final step of sleuthing and from this a conclusion should arise.
The Term Paper on Affects Of Information Technology On Managerial Functions part 1
Affects of Information Technology on Managerial Functions This report demonstrates the practice of scenario planning on the problem situation How might managerial opportunities in the IS/IT industry develop and what is a robust strategy for exploiting this situation? To begin with, the reasons and rationale from completing this report are described in some detail. Then a brief description of the ...
In the book The Murder on the Orient Express the character Poirot demonstrates the three main points of sleuthing which are gathering concrete evidence, interrogations, and analyzing information. A definition of a sleuth is someone who needs to be intelligent, witty, and always a few steps ahead of others, should never reveal all his discoveries or conclusions and wisdom is his greatest asset. Sleuthing is critical to society so that we can have justice in our community.
