The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time takes place in
the year 1998 in and around the town of Swindon, England. The fifteen-year-old narrator
of the story, Christopher John Francis Boone, discovers the slain body of his neighbor’s
poodle, Wellington, on the neighbor’s front lawn one evening and sets out to uncover the
murderer. His investigation is at times aided, and at other times hampered, by the mild
form of autism he lives with. After Christopher hits a policeman in a misunderstanding
at the scene of the crime, the police take Christopher into custody. They release
Christopher with only a stern warning, under the condition that he promises to them and
to his father not to look into the murder any further.
Christopher chronicles his investigation in a book—the book we are reading—as part
of a school assignment. Ignoring repeated warnings from his father, Christopher
investigates the crime scene and conducts interviews with the residents of his block. He
uncovers a more tangled plot than was first apparent when he discovers that his father
and the owner of the slain dog, Mrs. Shears, had a romantic affair. He subsequently
learns that their affair began in reaction to another relationship, one carried on
between Mr. Shears and Christopher’s mother, before she disappeared from Christopher’s
life.
At school, Christopher prepares for an A-level math exam that will enable him to
attend a university, a feat no other child at his school has managed. He also continues
to work on his book. Upon returning home one afternoon, Christopher accidentally leaves
his book in plain view on the kitchen table. His father reads it, becomes angry, and
confiscates it. Later, Christopher searches for the book and uncovers a series of
letters, hidden in a shirt box in his father’s closet, addressed to him from his
supposedly dead mother. The letters chronicle a life that his mother has continued to
lead with Mr. Shears in London and contain repeated requests for Christopher to respond.
In shock, Christopher passes out in his bedroom surrounded by the evidence of his
father’s deception. When Father comes home and realizes what has happened, he breaks
down in tears. He apologizes for his lies, explaining that he acted out of a desire to
protect Christopher from the knowledge of his mother’s abandonment of the family.
Christopher’s father also admits to killing Wellington after an argument with Mrs.
Shears, his lover.
Christopher, now terrified of his father and feeling he can no longer trust him,
sneaks out of the house and travels to London to live with his mother. During a
harrowing journey, he copes with and overcomes the social fears and limitations of his
condition, dodges police, and almost gets hit by a train. His arrival at his mother’s
flat comes as a total surprise to her, as she had no idea that Christopher’s father had
been withholding her letters. Christopher settles in for a time at his mother and Mr.
Shears’s flat, but friction caused by his presence shortly results in his mother’s
decision to leave Mr. Shears to return to Swindon. Christopher moves into a new
apartment with his mother and begins to receive regular visits from his father. When
Christopher’s pet rat Toby dies, Christopher’s father gives Christopher a puppy. At
school, Christopher sits for his A-level math exam and receives an A grade, the best
possible score. The novel ends with Christopher planning to take more A-level exams in
physics and further math, and then attend a university in another town. He knows that he
can do all of this because he solved the mystery of Wellington’s murder, was brave
enough to find his mother, and wrote the book that we have read.
