Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. She is a mystery novelist and a friend of Hercule Poirot.
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Mrs. Oliver often assists Poirot in her case through her knowledge of the criminal mind. She often claims to be endowed with particular "feminine intuition," but it usually leads her astray. She is particularly fond of apples, which becomes a plot point in the novel Hallowe'en Party. In the books, Oliver's most famous works are those featuring her vegetarian Finn detective Sven Hjerson. Since she knows nothing of Finland, Oliver frequently laments Hjerson's existence. In many of her appearances, Oliver - and her feelings toward Hjerson - reflect Agatha Christie's own frustrations as an author, particularly with the Belgian Hercule Poirot (an example of self-insertion). The self-caricature has also been used to discuss Christie's own follies in her earlier novels. For instance, in Mrs McGinty's Dead, Mrs.Oliver talks of having made the blowpipe a foot long in one of her novels, whereas the actual length is something like four and half feet - the same mistake Christie made in Death in the Clouds.
Literary function
Even in the one novel in which she appears without Poirot, Mrs. Oliver does not function as a detective, in that she rarely participates in the investigation and contributes only tangentially to the solution. In Cards on the Table she does interview some of the suspects, and in Elephants Can Remember she again interviews witnesses, but none of the essential ones. She is more usually used for comic relief or to provide a deus ex machina through her intuitive or sudden insights, a function that is especially apparent in Third Girl in which she furnishes Poirot with virtually every important clue. Further functions of Mrs. Oliver are: to enable Christie to discuss overtly the techniques of detective fiction; to contrast the more fanciful apparatuses employed by mystery authors with the apparent realism of her own plots; and to satirise Christie's own experiences and instincts as a writer. Mrs. Oliver therefore serves a range of literary purposes for Christie.
Literary appearances
Mrs. Oliver appeared briefly in the short story collection Parker Pyne Investigates (1934), as part of Pyne's unorthodox team of freelance assistants. All her subsequent appearances (save one) were in Poirot novels:
- Cards on the Table (1936)
- Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952)
- Dead Man's Folly (1956)
- The Pale Horse (1961) Oliver's only appearance in a Christie novel without Poirot's involvement.
- Third Girl (1966)
- Hallowe'en Party (1969)
- Elephants Can Remember (1972)
Trivia
In The Pale Horse, Mrs. Oliver is acquainted with the Rev. and Mrs. Dane Colthrop, who are also friends of Miss Marple (as seen in The Moving Finger) — thus establishing that Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot exist in the same world. Books by Ariadne Oliver and by a number of other fictitious mystery writers are discussed by the characters in the Poirot novel The Clocks (1963).
Representations in film and television adaptations
A 1986 adaptation of Dead Man's Folly starred Jean Stapleton as Ariadne Oliver. Zoë Wanamaker played Ariadne Oliver in the 2005 television version of Cards on the Table with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot.
