Customer Reviews

Dead Man's Folly

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aridane Oliver is prominent in this novel as she has been hired to stage a Murder Hunt for the village fete to raise money for local charities. Her famous intuition tells her something is not right and her intuition is shown to be right on target when a real body is found instead of the "pretend" corpse in the murder game. Mrs. Oliver calls in her friend Hercule Poirot for assistance. Poirot is fond of Mrs. Oliver and has been since he first met her while solving the murder of Mr. Shaitana in "Cards on the Table."

This novel is filled with well-drawn characters including: George Stubbs, the owner of Nasse House where the murder occurs; his wife Lady Hattie, a young woman obsessed with her jewels; Etienne de Sousa, Hattie's debonair cousin who arrives unexpectedly and unwelcomed; Marlene Tucker, a sniffling teen-ager who was chosen to play the "corpse"; and Mrs. Folliat, the former lady of the manor. Along with others, they form the backdrop as Poirot and Mrs. Oliver follow clues that lead to impersonation, old sins, and a ruthless killer.

Having read and re-read most of Christie's famous works, I decided to sample this lesser-known story set in post-war England. Christie delivers as she always has; the story is gripping, perplexing, witty, and charming.

The premise is nothing new for Christie; most of her mysteries are domestic murders, where one of the household must have done it. This book follows the same pattern. What makes this story different and interesting is the Murder Hunt, organized by the character of Adriane Oliver. Since it will be obvious to the reader from the very beginning that Mrs Oliver is based on Christie herself, the whole Murder Hunt plays very effective mind tricks with him. It is as if the author has jumped into the mystery to give vital clues.

The rest of the mystery is the typical blend of varied and fascinating characters, in a sprawling setting. The exotic foreigner, trophy wife, country squire, efficent secretary, all well-recognized mystery story hallmarks are present. Of particular interest is the character of Mrs Folliat, the old and mysterious ex-owner of the estate in which the story is set. As Hercule Poirot quickly divines, there's something about Mrs Folliat...

The only problem with this book arises towards the end. With the exception of Oliver, Folliat and obviously the incomparable Poirot, the other characters are a shade disappointing. I have always appreciated Christie's shrewd analysis of the psyche of the domestic murderer. The reason why it is always near impossible to guess whodunnit is that the ruthlessness is always so neatly concealed within the character of the murderer. However, in this particular story, the characters are not as well-developed as they should be. They are interesting and plausible people, but rather simple. There is little of the shadowy bent of mind that makes them possible murderers. This leads to the actual solution sounding a tad contrived. A further disappointment is that the ending fails to tie up the Murder Hunt with the parallel tale of the actual murder. All along, the Murder Hunt has proven suggestible and exciting, but in the end nothing comes of it.

Having said that, there is nothing seriously wrong with Dead Man's Folly. It possess all of Poirot's cunning and idiosyncratic charisma. And the true mark of the genius is that the reader will neither be able to guess at the solution before Christie herself decides to reveal it, nor will he be able to put the book down.

Discovering an Agatha Christie mystery you've never read is like discovering gold. And Dead Man's Folly is Hercule Poirot at his best. Even near the end of the book, you wonder if he is actually going to be able to solve this one.

Good friend and mystery writer, Ariadne Oliver, unexpectedly calls Poirot and imperiously demands the little detectives' presence at a village fete in Devon, where a Mystery Hunt is about to take place. She worries that it won't just be a fake murder. Intrigued, our hero immediately takes the train to the village of Nassecombe to try to put a stop to whatever is afoot. Mrs. Oliver turns out to be correct in her assumptions and Hercule is terribly perturbed that he wasn't able to prevent it. As usual there are lots of red herrings and a totally convoluted solution. An excellent read.

What "improvements" have been made for the Berkley edition? There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further differences still in the Signet, Bantam, and Black Dog & Leventhal editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

and solves this crime in the last few pages of the book, with little to go on and less proof than usual that what he says is right. Agatha doesn't let us see the wheels working in this book, as she usually does, which is disappointing. The solution suddenly came about in a big rush after many chapters spent dithering around with a story. Granted, it's an interesting story -- but in the end, I was left wanting more.

I started reading this story but lost interest part way through. when I finished it, it was by listening to David Suchet's excellent reading on an audio book. One of the chief attractions for me in this book is the wonderfully random Mrs. Oliver. She just cracks me up with her hairdos and outfits and idiotic comments. Of course the story is great, Christie at her best...I didn't guess the murderer, but I like to be surprised.

Mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver has been enticed into devising a "murder hunt game" for a village fundraiser--but as the event approaches she feels increasingly uneasy, as if some one among those in charge of the event is manipulating her game to their own sinister purpose. She accordingly puts through a call to old friend Hercule Poirot, who drops in on the proceedings to discover that some one has turned the game into reality.

DEAD MAN'S FOLLY is not among Christie's better known works, and in truth it does not rank among her great classics. Even so, it has its charms, particularly in the form of Ariadne Oliver, a somewhat frazzled, absent-minded, and eccentric character clearly intended as a parody of mystery novelists in general and Christie herself in particular. The novel itself is nicely written and offers Christie's usual clever twist at the end. An enjoyable read for fans of the genre!

Although I wouldn't recommend this for an introduction to Agatha Christie (try Ten Little Indians, Murder in Mesopotamia, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) I think that the twist at the end is one of her most believable. As Poirot says, everything clicks into place. I agree with another reviewer that the beginning isn't that great, Mrs. Oliver saying she suspects something, but I think it DOES work for the book's atmosphere of something faintly wrong about Nasse House. I love the ending. It's so much more centered around the characters and the character of Mrs. Folliat is very touching. The comic relief also works: Mrs. Oliver, the "bloodhound-like" Mrs. Masterton and her husbands' horsy agent Captain Warbuton are nice touches, as are the hapless girls from the hostel and the foreigner-hating Constable Hoskins.

This book I thought was pretty good. The plot was alright, but it kind of dragged on. The ending was great, but if you want to read some really good books by Agatha Christie, definately pick up And then there were none, and Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

This is one of the later Hercule Poirot mysteries (1957), but the setting and characters are vintage pre World War II. This is all to the good because Dame Agatha is the master of the country house with endless servants hovering about doing tiny tasks. Her one nod to modern times is a shortage of gardeners.

Crime writer Ariadne Oliver calls upon her friend, Hercule Poirot. She has been hired to provide a Mystery Hunt at Sir George Stubbs' annual Fete. She has a "hunch" that all is not well. Ms. Oliver is prescient; her mock "victim" turns into a real one. There is no shortage of suspects, but Poirot and the authorities are baffled.

Ms. Christie rains clues as big as rocks along with her usual red herrings. The problem for the astute reader is not who (though Ms. Christie conceals the murderer with her usual adroitness), but how and why. "Dead Man's Folly" is a very busy book, and the scattered presence of Ariadne Oliver (one of my least favorite continuing characters) is perhaps one distraction too many. Subtract one star for overdone motivation, and another one-half for Ms. Oliver's constant dithering. Rating: 3-1/2 stars.