“And suddenly, with a terrific shock, with that feeling as of blurring on a cinematograph screen before the picture comes to focus, Hercule Poirot realised that this artificially set scene had a point of reality...”
I've been reading a lot of Agatha Christie recently (see here and here) and this book had a different feel so some of the others that I've experienced. There was a lot of back story that went with this book. The murder doesn't happen until around page 136 so there's a lot of building up the characters first.
There were some really fascinating characters in this book. Lady Angkatell is this fascinating older woman who has this knack of being able to get people to bend to her will. She is very forgetful and the way she's written almost has you believing she has the beginnings of dementia.
Henrietta is the gorgeous artist who it seems every man falls in love with but she only has eyes for one man...who unfortunately is the man who ends up being murdered.
Gerda (who becomes the widow) is this down-trodden house wife who absolutely dotes on her husband. She spends her life worrying about what's making her husband unhappy and what she can do to make him happier. She's the one who ends up being found holding the smoking gun, every one seems to think that she is guilty but then evidence comes to light that shows that the gun she's holding isn't a match for the bullet extracted from the body. So once again, the question is posed...whodunnit?
I won't reveal any spoilers here but I will just say that I wasn't ENTIRELY happy with the ending. It did feel like a bit of an anti-climax. And there were a few *ahem* obvious points throughout the book. But I'm certainly not saying I didn't enjoy it.
Have you read this book? Let me know what you think.
I have read it but at least 20years ago so, though I remember the name Gerda and Lady A, I can't remember much else. I do love a good Poirot!!! I like your review muchly!!!x
ReplyDeleteI am starting to find it a bit difficult now I've read several in a row to remember which characters committed what crime in which book!
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