Reading Wednesday
Apr. 10th, 2024 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grundyscribblingThe Poirot tear continues. All of the below by Agatha Christie.
Cat Among The Pigeons
There's a whiff of sexism and racism, but this is far better than some of Christie's earlier works. She’s trying! There’s a murderer loose at an exclusive girls’ school, and no one knows who may be next. Christie lets you see the motive very clearly, but the question is who. Poirot doesn’t actually come into it until maybe the last third of the book, just in time to solve it. This one was fun. (I narrowed it down to the right two people, and was prepared to be quite cross if the one I liked better as a character turned out to be the one who dunnit. Happily for me, it was not.)
Sad Cypress
This one is interesting as it opens with a woman on trial who (the summary tells us) is innocent, but sure isn’t going out of her way to look it. Poirot is asked by a friend to do what he can to help. While there’s a few shady characters, I guessed this one based on it having a similar tell to a previous Poirot. (Will say in the comments if anyone wants to know which one.)
Dead Man’s Folly
Oh my. Christie was quite clever with this one, using what the reader who knows her expects to be her own flaws to muddy the waters. Didn't see it coming at all.
The ABC Murders
Another fun one – Christie misleads while apparently letting the reader in on what Poirot and Hastings don’t know.
Cat Among The Pigeons
There's a whiff of sexism and racism, but this is far better than some of Christie's earlier works. She’s trying! There’s a murderer loose at an exclusive girls’ school, and no one knows who may be next. Christie lets you see the motive very clearly, but the question is who. Poirot doesn’t actually come into it until maybe the last third of the book, just in time to solve it. This one was fun. (I narrowed it down to the right two people, and was prepared to be quite cross if the one I liked better as a character turned out to be the one who dunnit. Happily for me, it was not.)
Sad Cypress
This one is interesting as it opens with a woman on trial who (the summary tells us) is innocent, but sure isn’t going out of her way to look it. Poirot is asked by a friend to do what he can to help. While there’s a few shady characters, I guessed this one based on it having a similar tell to a previous Poirot. (Will say in the comments if anyone wants to know which one.)
Dead Man’s Folly
Oh my. Christie was quite clever with this one, using what the reader who knows her expects to be her own flaws to muddy the waters. Didn't see it coming at all.
The ABC Murders
Another fun one – Christie misleads while apparently letting the reader in on what Poirot and Hastings don’t know.
