This time around Poirot happens to be passing through Iraq and is called upon by the local authorities to look into a suspicious death. Dr. Leidner is in charge of an archaeological dig. There are tensions among the members of the party and Dr. Leidner has hired a nurse, Amy Leatheran, to look after his wife, who has been overly nervous. Then, his wife ends up murdered.
Nurse Leatheran is our narrator this time around. She has not known the members of the dig for long and has her own opinions about their personalities and what's been going on. We also see Poirot and his investigation through her eyes and she's not always complimentary. The characters are drawn well, with their secrets, fears, and jealousies. The whodunnit is not great. It just seems rather unlikely all around, but I still enjoyed the book....
Most Agatha Christie's are rereads for me, including Cards on the Table. I remembered the setup. Mr. Shaitana invites Poirot to a dinner party, promising to introduce him to one of his collections, murders who have gotten away with their crimes. It turns out there are four "murderers" and four of Christie's detectives, Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle, and Ariadne Oliver, at the dinner. After dinner, they play bridge and by the end of the night Shaitana is dead.
It's a clever mystery. We only have four suspects, but figuring out which one is guilty is not as easy as it seems. All of them have the same motive - Shaitana made several veiled references to the crimes and, if they were actually guilty, any of them may have been afraid he would go to the police. Poirot is the lead, but he does a nice job collaborating with the others. It's fun to see the different personalities and...
I've read most if not all of Christie's book before, but The Seven Dials Mystery is not one I remember well. Maybe Battle just doesn't grab my attention like the rest of Christie's detectives.
It starts out promising. We've got a weekend house party at Chimneys. One of the young men, Gerry Wade, always sleeps late and the others decide to play a prank on him, setting eight alarm clocks in his room to ring one after another. But then he still doesn't wake up - turns out he died overnight. Of course, since this is a Christie, we know it wasn't just coincidence. Then another man is killed and Lady Eileen 'Bundle' Brent decides they need to investigate.
Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to the audio or maybe all the young people just blended into each other, but I got a little confused. And then it veers off into international intrigue, and it turns out I just wanted a traditional...
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...
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...
