| “ | What happens if you meet a criminal who is cleverer than you are yourself? | „ |
| ~ Hanrietta to Poirot |
Henrietta Saversnake is the secondary antagonist of Agatha Christie's 1946 Hercule Poirot novel, The Hollow. While she is not a murderess, Henrietta not only had a love affair with her best friend's husband, but also became the culprit's indirect accomplice when she attempted to shield their crime.
She was portrayed by Megan Dodds in Agatha Christie's Poirot.
History
Henritta Saversnake was the friend of Gerda Cristow and the secret lover of Gerda's own husband, Dr. John Christow. Henrietta's love affair relationship was soon discovered by Gerda, along with his previous dalliance with his old flame, Veronica Cray, an actress in Hollywood.
However, everything changed for Henrietta when she had discovered that John was killed, and seeing Gerda with a revolver (the false murder weapon used for confusion). Then, Henrietta heard John uttering her name in his dying breath. She immediately slammed the false gun in Gerda's hand into the swimming pool.
Later, Henritta retrieved the real murder weapon and hid it inside her sculpture to conceal it. She got the sculpture handled by a blind match-seller and placed it on the hedge of Poirot. When Poirot discovered it, he found out that it had no fingerprints and soon discovered that everyone, Henrietta included, were concealing the fact that Gerda had murdered John.
Poirot immediately arrived just in time Gerda prepared tea to kill Henrietta in order to silcence her. Realizing Gerda's next move, Poirot swapped the tea cups when Henrietta arrived to destroy the last evidence in Gerda's hand: the holster that kept the real murder weaon, which had the fingerprints of Gerda. Soon, Gerda accidentally killed herself when she drank the poisoned tea instead of Henrietta.
Henrietta was never arrested because she had not murder anyone. In the epoligue, Gerda visited one of John's patients, who had no cure to the disease due to her doctor's death, but still the patient had a resillient spirit. After seeking closure, Gerda realized that there would be no happy ending reserved for her. Showing that she regretted killing John and despite what he did she still loved him, she decided to make a new sculpture of herself, inspired by her recent expeirence, of which she would titled it as "Grief".
