Hercule Poirot's Christmas [Paperback]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2000 | Series: Hercule Poirot (Book 19)

How dreadful that the holidays should begin with a wailing scream and a deathly gurgle! Never has Poirot's mighty brain functioned more brilliantly than in Hercule Poirot's Christmas (New York Times).

Editorial Reviews

Review

'You yearned for a 'good violent murder with lots of blood'. So this is your special story - written for you' Agatha Christie --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; Reissue edition (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425177416
• ISBN-13: 978-0425177419
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Christie, Agatha

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bloody Good Mystery, June 8, 2001

By 

George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Paperback)

Have you ever gotten one of those easy-to-assemble kits and discovered that no matter how you try, the pieces just will not go together? Have you ever labored to solve a puzzle only to find a piece or two missing?

In this case Christie assembles a cast of suspects, gives them ample motive and opportunity, gives them all reasons to lie, throws in a group of clues that simply cannot be reconciled in any logical fashion, and then brings off a solution which explains everything and exposes a killer you'd never suspect.

The story (originally titled "Murder for Christmas") was written in 1938, the same year Christie wrote "Appointment with Death." The two stories share much in common. "Appointment" features a fabulously wealthy, tyrannical matriarch who delights in tormenting her children. "Christmas" features a fabulously wealthy, tyrannical patriarch who delights in tormenting his children. By the time the matriarch/patriarch is bumped off, the reader is ready help kill him/her. The children in both stories are all pathetic weaklings. Despite their weakness, the reader can develop affection for some of them.

"Appointment" featured a rather straightforward, easily achieved modus operandi and Christie's favorite murder weapon--poison. "Christmas" served up a locked room mystery with a diabolically clever methodology fraught with the peril of miscarriage.

One feature of the murder was the vast amount of blood shed when the victim was stabbed. The murderer would have been covered with blood, but none of the suspects seems to have any blood on them. Having read "Murder on the Orient Express," I was familiar with Christie's seeming lack of understanding of the dynamics of blood spatter in stabbing cases. In this case, however, there was a very good explanation for the non-detection of blood on any of the suspects.

Christie never ceases to amaze with her perpetrators. In one case the narrator was the killer. In another the apparent victim turned out to be the murderer. Murderers keep falling out of the woodwork from the most unexpected places. She once even had the butler do it! Poirot's theory of the case insisted on the murderer being a family member. In the end, I think even Poirot was surprised at which family member it was.

Christie plants the clues to the murderer's identity so skillfully, that even though they're there, you'll read right past them without taking any note whatever. When the killer is revealed, you'll slap your forehead and say "of course!"

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Agatha Christie's Locked Room Murder Mystery., May 21, 2003

By 

John Austin "[e-mail]" (Kangaroo Ground, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Paperback)

Although generally regarded as typifying the cozy murder mystery writer in whose books there is either a murder in a locked room or a murder at a family reunion in a country house, Agatha Christie rarely tried her hand at either of these murder mystery genres. In "Hercule Poirot's Christmas", however, she combines both.

The family is the dysfunctional Lee family, summoned to pass Christmas together in the house of old Simeon Lee, the patriarch. During this stressful reunion, a commotion followed by a blood-curdling scream is heard from the room on the first floor occupied by old Simeon. When the locked door is forced open, the furniture is found upended, the safe rifled, and Simeon is found lying dead with his throat cut. The door key is in place, on the inside of the door.

Having depicted how the family members despise, hate, or resent each other up to this point, Agatha Christie next allows the investigations and theories to develop. Poirot is on hand, but she cleverly allows other police inspectors and investigators to do most of the work and make most of the mistakes.

The solution is one you will never forget, but also one that you will probably never arrive at before Poirot reveals all. Agatha Christie is wonderfully clever at laying out all the clues in an arrangement that directs the reader away from the vital ones.

Apart from a few lines of description, almost everything in the text is dialogue. To anyone in the world who has not yet read this 1940 mystery nothing more need be said. To those who are re-reading it, I suggest they notice how cleverly it is plotted and planned.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most puzzling and exciting yet!, December 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hercule Poirot's Christmas ( Previously Titles A Holiday For Murder And Murder For Christmas) (Paperback)

I'll have to agree with the first reviewer of this novel. The title is a bit misleading. However, I do believe that Agatha meant it to be that way. I have studied literature for a while and know that the everything that is in the novel is meant for something. To all the people wanting to read this novel, here's a tip: Everything that is stated in the book, diaglogue, details, etc. are all key to solving the mystery. To all of us Agatha fans, it proves to be true. The characters are very well developed, much better than any other Agatha novel I've read to date. The plot is priceless, the identities confusing (deliciously so!), and the conclusion is a shocking. Agatha knows how to lead her readers on, and proves so with this tale of murder and mayhem around Christmas time. At the beginning of the conclusion, who think it's Suspect A, but then you lean towards Suspect B, and at the end, Poirot reveals in all grandness the killer, and you're sitting there kicking yourself saying, "Why didn't I think of that!" The pacing of the book is good and I read it in two days. The suspense builds and the storytelling is at it's finest. For those of you waiting for a plot summary, read the synopsis above. I won't reveal anything for it'll ruin the surprise of the novel. Though not one of her famous books, it's one her best, this one definitely deserves your money!