Hercule
Poirot vacations not far from his home and is dining in a
coffee house when a woman with eyes wide with alarm storms
in. When he offers his assistance, she informs him, “I
am already dead…” and adds, “…let
no one open their mouths” before she rushes from the
establishment. His curiosity sparked, Poirot is determined
to find the young woman known as Jennie. Then Poirot learns
that his Scotland Yard friend Catchpool has been called to
a hotel to investigate the death of three individuals, each
with a monogrammed cufflink in their mouths. Poirot puts the
two incidences together and takes the lead on the investigation.
Together, Poirot and Catchpool work to determine who killed
three victims, why, and how the mysterious Jennie is related
to the murders.
Ms. Hannah’s Poirot has many of the qualities of Christie’s
Poirot, including the personal charisma and fine-tuned characterization
that make Christie’s detective so intriguing. Poirot
manages to be direct in his questioning, but also compassionate,
and the author has done a good job of capturing many of his
quirks.
The Hastings
substitute, Catchpool, is presented in first person point
of view to serve as a narrator, which provides us with the
opportunity to understand his frustration and inability to
discover the clues that are so obvious to Poirot, and adds
the dimension of revealing a past incident that makes him
all the more human. The other characters in the plot are well-drawn
and provide sufficient interest and intrigue to the underlying
mystery.
Ms. Hannah’s novel reflects the brilliant spark and
panache of a masterful novel by Agatha Christie. The author
has attempted the difficult task of providing a satisfying
mystery based upon a well-known character and, in this regard,
she has succeeded admirably.
Reviews of other titles by this author
The
Affair of the Pink Pearl &
Finessing the King [audio]
Philomel
Cottage and other Stories [audio]
Black
Coffee (w/Charles
Osborne)
Hercule
Poirot and the Greenshore Folly
Murder
on the Orient Express 1 (Murder
in the Calais Coach)
Murder
on the Orient Express 2 (Movie Tie-In)
[book]
Murder on the Orient Express 3 (Movie
Tie-In) [audio]
And
Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians)
While
the Light Lasts
After
the Funeral
The
Monogram Murders (w/Sophie Hannah)
Agatha
Christie; An Autobiography
Agatha
Christie: Murder in the Making
|
