Of course, I must give 5 STARS to the Agatha Christie work that is often considered her best, or at least, ONE of her best. I am a solid mystery reader, but have never been a true fan of Dame Agatha's. Decades ago and prior to reading this one, I read many...
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Of course, I must give 5 STARS to the Agatha Christie work that is often considered her best, or at least, ONE of her best.
I am a solid mystery reader, but have never been a true fan of Dame Agatha's. Decades ago and prior to reading this one, I read many of her books with plots I considered a bit too convoluted and often not very realistic I probably would not have read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, but it is our book club selection this month. SO - I tuned in to M. Poirot and his dangling & incomplete sentences that seem like - maybe - he is going to give the reader a clue - but in the end, he doesn't. And of course, I missed Hastings. But he did have a quite skilled stand-in by the introduction of Dr. Sheppard, who followed Hercule around and gave his own first-person account of the little man he had first mistaken to be a hairdresser.
Although not my super favorite kind of mystery (I like dark and a bit crazy), I did read this one through to the very end. Now, that took some doing since this is a long book --or at least, seemed like it to me. And I gave it 5-Stars because I knew exactly what I was getting, and Ms. Christie did not pull any deviations from her own pleasing style and popular form of story telling. So I expected the Hastings-like companion, the stereotypical butler, the town gossips, the lovely young lady, and a few relatives with not-so-ordinary familial links, visitors from a long distance, and the matter of an inheritance. And naturally, a suspicious suicide has to be there, for sure! Plus - the rakish young man -- is he a good guy or the devil-incarnate? There were a few secret meetings at that darkened garden house, and of course, we can count on the police officers getting it ALL wrong ... every bit!
And naturally, Dame Agatha would give us a few clue items that could only be considered weird (a feather, for ex.), and naturally, we have Pierot's heavy and constant concern about time - but the "suspects" were up to his challenge. (It all went something like this: "Yes, I came in at exactly 9:14pm." "And I arrived at bit later, at 9:18pm." "And I was the slow duck on the scene - arriving at 9:22pm - but that was because it took 2-1/2 minutes to find my boots, which had gone missing." A custom in these stories is that an article of clothing MUST disappear!
So I read on, entranced by the charm of tradition that comes along with a story by Agatha Christie. Patiently, I waited as I was certain that Pierot was bound to complete one or two sentences at least before he completely solved that mystery at ... well, the English manor house, of course!
But my light jesting aside: This was a DARN GOOD MSTERY. The story was a solid one and delivered the requisite surprises. Even Christie fans will have a jolt or two at the conclusion of this tale, when M. Poirot finally explains all.
So I am charmed, mes amis, to give this book 5-Stars, and a salute to the pleasant and continuing appeal of Agatha Christie.
I had somehow managed to wait until I'd turned 70 to read my first Agatha Christie mystery. Now I know why her work has been popular with so many readers. Each page contains something that feels like it could be a clue, and I found myself highlighting such passages, perhaps to use in my own re-construction of the plot? Well, it didn't matter because none of those highlighted passages really mattered. The only thing that mattered was how Poirot's mind gathered information that I'd never considered en route to determining the real killer. In the end, I never saw it coming, and that is why do many readers love What he Christie's work!
Of course, I must give 5 STARS to the Agatha Christie work that is often considered her best, or at least, ONE of her best.
I am a solid mystery reader, but have never been a true fan of Dame Agatha's. Decades ago and prior to reading this one, I read many of her books with plots I considered a bit too convoluted and often not very realistic I probably would not have read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, but it is our book club selection this month. SO - I tuned in to M. Poirot and his dangling & incomplete sentences that seem like - maybe - he is going to give the reader a clue - but in the end, he doesn't. And of course, I missed Hastings. But he did have a quite skilled stand-in by the introduction of Dr. Sheppard, who followed Hercule around and gave his own first-person account of the little man he had first mistaken to be a hairdresser.
Although not my super favorite kind of mystery (I like dark and a bit crazy), I did read this one through to the very end. Now, that took some doing since this is a long book --or at least, seemed like it to me. And I gave it 5-Stars because I knew exactly what I was getting, and Ms. Christie did not pull any deviations from her own pleasing style and popular form of story telling. So I expected the Hastings-like companion, the stereotypical butler, the town gossips, the lovely young lady, and a few relatives with not-so-ordinary familial links, visitors from a long distance, and the matter of an inheritance. And naturally, a suspicious suicide has to be there, for sure! Plus - the rakish young man -- is he a good guy or the devil-incarnate? There were a few secret meetings at that darkened garden house, and of course, we can count on the police officers getting it ALL wrong ... every bit!
And naturally, Dame Agatha would give us a few clue items that could only be considered weird (a feather, for ex.), and naturally, we have Pierot's heavy and constant concern about time - but the "suspects" were up to his challenge. (It all went something like this: "Yes, I came in at exactly 9:14pm." "And I arrived at bit later, at 9:18pm." "And I was the slow duck on the scene - arriving at 9:22pm - but that was because it took 2-1/2 minutes to find my boots, which had gone missing." A custom in these stories is that an article of clothing MUST disappear!
So I read on, entranced by the charm of tradition that comes along with a story by Agatha Christie. Patiently, I waited as I was certain that Pierot was bound to complete one or two sentences at least before he completely solved that mystery at ... well, the English manor house, of course!
But my light jesting aside: This was a DARN GOOD MSTERY. The story was a solid one and delivered the requisite surprises. Even Christie fans will have a jolt or two at the conclusion of this tale, when M. Poirot finally explains all.
So I am charmed, mes amis, to give this book 5-Stars, and a salute to the pleasant and continuing appeal of Agatha Christie.
I had somehow managed to wait until I'd turned 70 to read my first Agatha Christie mystery. Now I know why her work has been popular with so many readers. Each page contains something that feels like it could be a clue, and I found myself highlighting such passages, perhaps to use in my own re-construction of the plot? Well, it didn't matter because none of those highlighted passages really mattered. The only thing that mattered was how Poirot's mind gathered information that I'd never considered en route to determining the real killer. In the end, I never saw it coming, and that is why do many readers love What he Christie's work!
