Resumo de The Missing Link - Agatha Christie

Hastings, having suffered serious injuries during WWI, doesn't quite know how to pass his stay back home, since there is no one he could visit. Incidentally, he meets John Cavendish, a friend from his school days, who invites Hastings to stay with him. John, who has studied law, still lives with his step-mother, Emily, at her cost, together with his wife Mary and brother Lawrence. To the chagrin of the rest of the family, Emily has recently remarried. Her new husband, Alfred Inglethorp, is equally hated by everyone in the household. Especially Mrs Inglethorp's maid, Evie Howard, herself a cousin of Inglethorp's, can't stand the intruder and repeatedly warns of the marriage's looming misfortune.
Cynthia, a young pharmacist and daughter of one of Emily's late friends, also lives in the house, and is constantly being exploited in return for Emily's 'generosity' of taking her in.
Soon after Hasting's arrival an unexpected reunion takes place. In the village, he runs into Hercule Poirot, a former Belgian police officer who he has revered for a long time. Escaping German troops, Poirot has found asylum in the village. Shortly afterwards, Miss Howard having departed after an embittered argument about Inglethorp, Mrs Inglethorp dies in mysterious circumstances.
Dr Farmer, a suspicious poison expert living in the neighbourhood, quickly assumes strychnine poisoning as a cause of death and the autopsy confirms his opinion.
In agreement with the Cavendish brothers, Hastings asks his friend Poirot to help solve the case. Soon all evidence points to Inglethorp as the sole heir, who not only had the strongest motive, but was also seen purchasing strychnine at the local pharmacy shortly before the murder under a strange pretext as well as refusing to clear up questions in the case. Thanks to Poirot, however, the suspicions against him are soon allayed. But who is the real murderer?
Cyntiha, who, as a pharmacist had easy access to strychnine; Lawrence, who rifled through her poison cupboard unnoticed and has been proven to have touched one of the strychnine bottles; John, who could have been under the impression of being the sole heir; or Mary, who was rowing heavily with Emily the day before the murder took place? Poirot not only solves the case but also helps two sets of lovers to find each other in the end.

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