All books by Agatha Christie except as indicated.
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - shortly after Hercule Poirot visits his dentist the man is found dead. There's lots of waffling on whether it was suicide or murder, with Poirot on the murder side. It looks like he may be right when two more people die. The government gets involved and it seems things will be hushed up for national security reasons. But Poirot is always interested in the human angle and keeps digging. I found this one confusing and convoluted.
2 stars
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Five Little Pigs - 16 years ago a woman was convicted of killing her famous artist husband. Now, the just turned 21 daughter comes to Poirot with a letter from her mother stating her innocence. Poirot must try to reconstruct an old crime and he does so by visiting the 5 other people in the house at the time. He gets 5 different interpretations so there is quite a bit of repetition in the story. It's still satisfying to see Poirot ferret out the truth.
3 stars
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Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran - after the death of Christie's daughter, 73 notebooks were discovered. They contained plots, characters, and setting for many of her books along with reminders to herself, Christmas lists, and books she had read. The author, who discovered the books, goes into great detail about them. Almost too much. I did skip portions as there are spoilers (there are warnings) for books I haven't read. Too dry for me.
2.5 stars
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Towards Zero - several people are gathered at the beach house of an elderly widow. Including the current and ex-wife of a tennis player. When the widow is murdered all the signs point to the tennis player. But Superintendent Battle is suspicious at the wealth of clues. And it looks like a natural death may not be so natural after all. I was totally surprised by the identity of the culprit and really liked how the book led up to the murder. I don't think I've read this before.
4 stars
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Death Comes as the End - a very different Christie book, a historical mystery set in ancient Egypt. A widowed daughter returns to her childhood home and everything is still the same. Her brothers are under the thumb of her father, a ka-priest of some wealth. Her sister-in-laws are still squabbling and a household member is still stirring up trouble. Then her father returns from his travels with a beautiful concubine and the trouble really starts. The body count is really high in this, which does eventually cut down on the number of suspects.
3.5 stars
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The Moving Finger - a man recovering from an accident and his sister move to the quiet village of Lymstock and almost immediately receive an anonymous letter accusing them of vile behavior and not being really related. It seems there has been an outbreak of these letters and eventually one of them causes a suicide. This is classified as a Miss Marple but she's doesn't appear until very late and in almost a cameo role. Most of the detecting is done by the narrator. This is also a rather odd love story.
4 stars
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The Labors of Hercules - a collection of short stories in which Poirot decides to take just twelve more cases before he retires. And he wants each of them to resemble a feat of Hercules.
3 stars
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Sparkling Cyanide - one year ago a beautiful wife and sister commits suicide during a dinner at a fancy restaurant. Now her husband wants to have a dinner in her honor at the same place with the same people with one exception, an empty chair for a mysterious guest. Of course someone ends up dead. Again, everyone is a suspect and everyone has a good reason. However, no one could have done it. This is an adaptation of a short story that featured Hercule Poirot. But here the police are aided by Colonel Race.
4 stars
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The Hollow - Hercule Poirot arrives at the home of the Angkatells to find a scene that he believes is fake - a man lies bleeding into the pool with a woman standing over him holding a gun while family members look on in horror. But it is not an act, the man was shot, apparently by his wife. All this happens after we've been introduced to all the characters and learned the reason his wife may have wanted to kill him. I didn't like any of the people in this book, I believe I'm in the minority.
3 stars
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The Listerdale Mystery - a collection of short stories.
Witness for the Prosecution - a collection of short stories. On the list I'm using to keep track of all my Christies, these two collections had stories listed that were not in the edition I was reading. But between the two of them all the stories were represented. Witness for the Prosecution was my favorite.
3 stars
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A Murder is Announced - a notice is placed in the local paper of Clipping Cleghorn (one of my favorite village names) saying a murder will occur at a certain house at 6:30. Naturally, several people show up, expecting to play a game of Murder. Instead, a young man bursts in, shots are fired, and the young man is dead on the floor. Why, Who, and How? Miss Marple happens to be in town visiting the vicar's wife so she is able to assist the police.
4 stars
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