Talk:The Sittaford Mystery

Novels: Crime Mid‑importance

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Sylvia -- how is she niece to both Trevelyan and Rycroft?

It is a detail in the story, but confusing to me. How is Sylvia both a Pearson, the niece of Trevelyan's late sister, sister to Brian and James, and more quietly, linked to Rycroft by a book with the name of Martha Rycroft found in the study of Sylvia's unfaithful husband? Why did the Inspector bother to look up the marriage record from 1894, for William Martin Dering and Elizabeth Rycroft? Is she Rycroft's niece by her marriage to the son of that couple, through his sister Elizabeth, and Martha's name in the book is just to make the confusion? Tell me what detail I overlooked. Prairieplant (talk) 01:25, 6 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My reading is that Martin Dering, the novelist, is the nephew of Rycroft, since he's the son of Rycroft's sister Elizabeth. So yes, Sylvia Dering (née Pearson) is thus Rycroft's niece by marriage. It's an example of Christie's occasional fondness for 'over-egging' the plot with ridiculous, hidden relationships between the characters. Rithom (talk) 00:58, 30 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]