The Kidnapped Prime Minister by Agatha Christie. Short summary

5 seconds

The Versailles peace treaty is in jeopardy—the British prime minister is kidnapped on his way to a conference. Hercule Poirot has 24 hours to find the high-ranking official.

1 minute

A short story in the Hercule Poirot series. Hastings and Poirot are discussing sensational news — the attempted assassination of Prime Minister David McAdam. Suddenly the gentlemen are informed that the Prime Minister has been kidnapped on his way to a secret peace conference in Versailles. The kidnapped man’s car has been found on the side of the road with the tied-up driver. Poirot must find the minister in twenty-four hours to prevent the international scandal.

The detective discovers that while traveling to Windsor, accompanied by Secretary Daniels, the prime minister was shot in the cheek by unknown men. He stopped on the way at a rural hospital to dress the wound and went on to catch a train at Dover. On the way, the premier disappeared.

Poirot acted strangely — he did not participate in the search, but sat in his room. Finally, the mystery solved and the detective went to the rural hospital — there and found the kidnapped, who had been substituted during the dressing. Secretary Daniels turned out to be a German spy, and his sister worked at the hospital.