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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
What a fast paced and amazingly thought of book. Brilliant.
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Read this if you play bridge!!
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one had a great premise, but the execution was not the greatest. Miss Agatha, you can do so much better!!
A guy gives a party, there are 4 guests who, supposedly, have committed a murder and gotten away with it, and 4 'detective' guests, host gets killed, whodunnit? So, obviously one of the 'killers' got nervous and killed to protect their secret. The rest of the book is the four detective characters uncovering the pasts of the 'killers' and that's where the story fall completely apart, in my opinion. By the end you realize that none of the 'killers' had anything to worry about, not a thing... Like, there's no surprise witnesses to the murders that they got away with, no surprise evidence, just the suspicion of this one eccentric man. In 3 out of the 4 'killings' there was even an official inquest at the time, which failed to uncover anything damaging. So, why would any of these characters bother to kill the guy (and commit more murders towards the end)??????? Just have dinner and leave, there, done. I just became more frustrated as the story went on and I don't see myself ever wanting to reread this one.
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story:
Mr Shaitana is a man who prides himself on knowing other people's secrets. So when he boasts to Poirot that he has a collection, not of objects related to murder, but of murderers themselves, the great Belgian sleuth is more than a little uneasy. Invited to a party to 'view the exhibits', Poirot is joined by seven other guests. Four of them are detectives, of one sort or another. So that must mean the other four are more than they seem...
Four players will sit down to a game of bridge. By the end of the night, there will be a murder that only one of them could have committed. But which?
My thoughts:
This month's theme for #ReadChristie2025 is 'Detectives', and we are spoilt with them in this book! Not only do we have Poirot, but we see the reappearance of two characters introduced in earlier novels — the solid and slightly stupid-seeming Superintendent Battle (who appears in five Christie novels, first in "The Secret of Chimneys", and who featured in last month's read, "The Seven Dials Mystery"); and the adventurous Colonel Race (who appears in four Christie novels, the first being "The Man in the Brown Suit"). We are also treated to the very first appearance of mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver (a character humourously based on Christie herself), who will go on to feature in six more Christie novels, all but one of them alongside Poirot.
This is a clever mystery, as there are almost no clues to go on... The very unlikable Mr Shaitana (we are not sorry to see him murdered!) invites eight people to a party — four 'detectives', represented by Poirot (private), Battle (Scotland Yard), Race (Secret Service [unconfirmed!]) and Oliver (fictional), and four alleged murderers. The two groups sit down to games of bridge in two separate rooms, with Shaitana sitting by the fire in the room with the murderers. By the end of the evening, he is dead, and with no one having entered the room, one of the four must have done it. But there is nothing to go on beyond the characters and histories of the four suspects, something which each of our detectives then goes about tackling in their own particular styles.
I thought perhaps that there was one twist too many at the end of this book, but it was good for each of the potential murderers stories to be resolved, and overall this is a really excellent mystery that keeps you guessing all the way!