Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Murder Is Easy

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Murder Is Easy by Agatha Christie

4 reviews

hue's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

3.0

Not one of Agatha's greatest works. Perhaps my opinion is coloured by the episode/movie I saw of this before, where Miss Marple had been included for some strange reason. I think I wasn't such a big fan of Luke as the driving force and got quite bored of him trying to get to the bottom of Miss Pinkerton's suspicions while also courting Bridget. I liked the episode more though, shame on me.

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lilacs_book_bower's review

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Christie had me fooled with this one; I didn't guess either of the reveals at the end. It moves quickly and it is clever. Unfortunately, the two main characters fall pretty flat for me, and no one else gets more than a scene or two, so there is not a lot to hold on to. I think the book should have been longer and had more time for the characters to breathe. Luke and Bridget are apparently passionately in love after about three days, but admit that they don't like each other. (I don't like either of them either.) By the end though, they love and like each other. Christie has a real issue with instalove in her mysteries. Characters meet, talk twice, and then get engaged by the end of the book, and usually run off to somewhere in Africa. The main strength in this one is the mystery's resolution and I would say it is worth checking out for that reason. TW: it's all very vague with references to orgies, but I couldn't tell if there is homophobia in this or if people were down on a character because of the orgies, which women were presumably participating in as well.

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manel's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The book started really well but started to slowed down on the middle. The romance was very much an unnecessary addition to the book.

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Murder is Easy has a very strong opening. I love Luke, seeing Miss Pinkerton as an old aunt of his, listening to her describe the string of murders that has happened in her hometown. It’s quite similar to the opening of By the Pricking of My Thumbs in that Luke, Tuppence and Miss Pinkerton are all a bit vague about what exactly is happening and where. I think I prefer that to Poirot’s being called in on cases in a fairly official manner. I particularly love the passage where Luke describes something he sensed from Miss Pinkerton without her putting it into words. I absolutely believe that this kind of thing is possible, and I find it fascinating. My go-to example is that native English speakers inherently know the correct order of adjectives when describing something without ever being taught this as a rule. Our brains can follow rules and infer things without us being able to point to exactly how it’s done, and that’s really cool!

The opening is not the only thing Murder is Easy has in common with By the Pricking of My Thumbs. The murderers also have things in common, though I won’t say what in the hopes that I don’t spoil the books for anyone. The murderer in Murder is Easy is one of my favourites in the Christie-verse, though I have to say they didn’t strike me quite as delightfully as they usually do this time around.

Last time I read Murder is Easy, I found the romance between Luke and Bridget utterly charming. This time, it felt as though it came out of nowhere and I didn’t particularly appreciate it. It’s amazing how differently things can strike you at different times. This was also the first time I felt a little uneasy about Luke, on very little actual evidence, breaking into the house of one of the people he suspected. I do still like the end, with its focus on a foundation of liking each other rather than a storm of passion.

As far as I’m concerned, you can rarely go wrong with an Agatha Christie. This might not be one of my favourites now, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable, and I still enjoy the solution to the mystery very much! I was also impressed with the neat transparency of Agatha Christie’s prose.

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