Poirot is enjoying a meal one
evening in Pleasant’s Coffee House when a distraught
young woman comes hurrying in, saying that she is about to
be murdered. She vanishes again into the night, leaving Poirot
wondering what he can do. Meanwhile at the Bloxham Hotel three
people have been found dead, each laid out as if for burial
and with a monogrammed cufflink in their mouth. It is up to
Poirot and Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard to discover whodunit,
and why.
Writing a new Poirot novel is no easy task if you are not
Agatha Christie. Set in 1929, this is a tale from the beginning
of Poirot’s career as a private detective and he does
come to some sort of life, just not exactly what we are expecting.
He has a lot more to say, does not mind fresh air so much
and seems keen to hoard information rather than share it.
Ms Hannah has concocted a tortuous, twisty tale of old sins
casting long shadows which to say any more about would spoil,
one point in the novel’s favor. Agatha herself would
have penned a more succinct story that would hit the ground
running (as this actually does) and then stay running until
the end. This tale takes the scenic route, with more talk
than action in the first hundred pages; it is the characters
that are more interesting than the clues. We don’t really
get to know them until Catchpool takes a train to Great Holling
and then things take off as we are introduced to the victims
and everybody else to do with the events of 1913. Catchpool
tells most of the story in his own words, and combines Hastings’
naivety with Japp’s role as an actual policeman. Unlike
these other sidekicks Catchpool actually runs from the crime
scene, is upset by dead bodies and seems so unsuited for police
work that it is surprising that he is a Scotland Yard detective.
Poirot does the detecting, with a baffled Catchpool in his
wake, mostly without any other police backup. For me, the
most Agatha Christie character was the sharp, insightful waitress
Fee with her understanding of human nature and burning ambition
to run her own teashop. I would be interested to read any
subsequent Poirot novels by this author, but hopefully these
would not involve Catchpool.
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
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