Harper Audio – Page 3 – Carol's Notebook

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

March 11, 2025March 12, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

Three Act Tragedy is not a story I remember well - it's been ages since I read it last. This time around I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Hugh Fraser, who just does these wonderfully. His characterizations are spot on and his pace and tone match the plot well. The book opens with a dinner party. A retired famous actor, Sir Charles Cartwright, hosts a dinner party for local friends and some guests from London including Mr. Satterthwaite (from the Harley Quin stories) and Hercule Poirot. Of course, someone dies, but only Sir Charles and another guest, the young Miss Egg Lytton-Gore suspect suspect murder. Until a second house party with many of the same guests ends in a similar death, but this time it's definitely murder - the police discover the poison that was used. Sir Charles and Egg convince Satterthwaite and eventually Poirot that they need to take the investigation into their own hands. The plot is...

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

February 24, 2025February 24, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I don't know how many times I've read And Then There Were None or books inspired by it. I know I've watched at least one tv adaptation. This is one of those novels that is surprising and tense the first time through. The second (and third, etc.) time, the reader knows the twist, knows who is terrorizing the characters, knows who is guilty and who isn't, but can appreciate how well Christie puts the plot together. Ten people, strangers to each other, are invited to a remote island by someone they each think they are acquainted with. They are a mix of personalities, but according to a record played the first evening, they are all guilty of murder or causing someone's death. They are then killed, one by one, and a storm means they have no connection to the mainland. They have to trust each other if they want to survive, but know that none of them is as innocent as...

Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie

February 10, 2025February 10, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I have to admit that in general I don't read a lot of short stories. I prefer the room novels give to let us get to know characters, learn motives, discover clues. That being said, this is a very good collection. Miss Marple is a sweet old lady who rarely leaves her small town but has a knack of understanding human nature. Most of the stories start in a similar way. A revolving group sit down to dinner to recall difficult cases. The others are challenged to solve them. Miss Marple, at first overlooked and only included out of politeness, is the one who always arrives at the correct solutions. She notes that people get into the same situations, whether they live in a village or a city. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a wonderful job. All the characters were distinct and consistent across stories. She brought our Miss Marple's sense of humor and pleasure in outwitting...

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

January 8, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I do love a good Poirot mystery and this one is interesting because each of our potential suspects gets to tell their story exactly as they remember it. Poirot is asked by a young woman to solve the murder of her father, Amyas, a famous painter who was killed 16 years ago. Although her mother, Caroline, was tried, convicted, and died in prison, she left her daughter a note claiming she was innocent. Poirot agrees to look into it and happily, the five other people at the house at the time are all still alive. Poirot visits each of them and asks them to write down how they remember the events of that time. They all oblige. Through those accounts, we learn more about Caroline and Amyas Crale, but also about everyone else concerned. Everyone sees the others just a bit differently and layers and layers are added to the timeline and the characters, some obvious, others surprising. We do...

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

December 12, 2024December 12, 2024 by Carol2 Comments

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year is as fun as the cover looks. Rom-com mysteries can be hit or miss, but this one was funny and cute and twisty without being annoying. Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt are both bestselling authors, rivals who don't get along well. Now they have both been invited to spend Christmas with a mysterious "fan" in England, who turns out to be the queen of mystery writers, Eleanor Ashley. They are joined by Eleanor's various family members and other staff, but on the night after their arrival, Eleanor disappears from a locked room. They're snowed in and it seems that someone wants to commit murder. Maggie and Ethan have to put aside their differences to figure out what's going on. The mystery is put together surprisingly well. Just about everyone on the estate is a potential suspect - Eleanor was rich and most of them have something to gain from her death. Eleanor herself has...

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

November 12, 2024November 12, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

In this Christmas novella, which is the third book in the series, Ern once again finds himself on the case of a murder. This time the victim is the current partner of his ex-wife Erin. And of course Erin's been arrested. Ern doesn’t think she's guilty, but can he prove it? I don't usually like meta-fiction, but this series is an exception, mainly because it's fun and funny and knows exactly how hard it's trying. I listened to the audiobook which is the perfect way for me to read it. The story is told in the first person, which works super well for audiobooks. It's like Ern, who is likable as always, is telling us how events unfolded and it even has some minor nods to the listener. The set-up goes along with the season - and the story- 24 chapters, one for each day leading up to Christmas, one for each door in an advent calendar. The murders are clever...