Reviews

⭐ 3/5 ⭐

Audiobook narrated by Hugh Fraser.

Thanks to an Audible sale, I picked up several Christie novels and decided on a spree. In this the titular lady was murdered and her lodger tried and found guilty. One of the investigating police has his doubts about the lodger's guilt and so asks Hercule Poirot to look over the case.

- Possibly more of an issue with listening to the book rather than reading a physical copy, but I found myself getting muddled between the characters. There were a lot of suspects, side characters and names to remember and some sounded very similar which lead to confusion on my part.

- Initially the premise was quite engaging and I enjoy the idea of the convicted being innocent and there being a different murder at large. However, the enjoyment switched to indifference at about the halfway point. The mystery was okay, I half guessed the solution but it didn't feel as polished or satisfying as some of Christie's other stories.

- Who doesn't love Poirot?! He ties with Sherlock Holmes as my favourite literary detective and I do enjoy his character a lot. It was also nice to see Ariadne Oliver put in another appearance.

Okay, not stellar. For more dedicated Christie fans but otherwise would give it a miss.

samhilton's review

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mysterious medium-paced

3.0

avoidthenoid's review

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funny fast-paced

4.5

nicole_schmid's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

[read in the German translation by G. Martin]
I quite enjoyed this book! It was a fun mystery, though undercut by period-typical sexism.
A few words about the translation:
Die Übersetzung an sich habe ich gut gefunden; mich hat nie irgendeine untypische Formulierung aus dem Lesefluss gerissen, die nicht altersgeschuldet gewesen wäre ("Alpdruck" habe ich etwa zum ersten Mal gesehen). Leider war die Orthographie eher mangelhaft.