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julies_reading 's review for:
Mrs. McGinty's Dead
by Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot has been called to solve the murder of an entirely ordinary woman, an aging cleaner, who was killed in her home presumably for the small amount of money taken from the home. It seems that only her lodger could have done it, and he's set to hang, but something isn't right.
Other than one last year, it's been a long time since I've read a Poirot or a Christie. I've picked up random ones or ones for the movies lately, and in the future I want to pay attention more than that and maybe start reading in order. I picked this one up specifically because I was lent my grandmother's copy!
Even to my amateur eye, this felt weird or different for a Poirot - turns out it is academically considered a weird Poirot. This is a "village mystery", which Christie usually reserved for Mrs. Marple. It feels much lower stakes and the people feel more ordinary, etc. I think the things that made this a village mystery made this less of a memorable one for me.
I thought that the parts with Poirot complaining about his lodgings were funny. I enjoyed seeing what turns out to be the first real introduction to Ariadne Oliver, Christie's caricature of herself. It was quite funny to see how frustrated she is with this person trying to adapt her work but changing everything, but also critiquing inaccuracies in her books. The mystery itself I was meh on. I did struggle to keep people straight because most of our characters are people of extremely similar descriptions (namely several women in their 30's). I feel like there were fewer clues floating around. And I was ultimately faked out by whodunnit; I think it was something that'd fool modern audiences even more than those at the time. It's not a well-known Poirot for a reason, I think.
Overall, this was a bit mundane for a Poirot and I'm not sure I will find it very memorable, but I was fooled by the twist.
Other than one last year, it's been a long time since I've read a Poirot or a Christie. I've picked up random ones or ones for the movies lately, and in the future I want to pay attention more than that and maybe start reading in order. I picked this one up specifically because I was lent my grandmother's copy!
Even to my amateur eye, this felt weird or different for a Poirot - turns out it is academically considered a weird Poirot. This is a "village mystery", which Christie usually reserved for Mrs. Marple. It feels much lower stakes and the people feel more ordinary, etc. I think the things that made this a village mystery made this less of a memorable one for me.
I thought that the parts with Poirot complaining about his lodgings were funny. I enjoyed seeing what turns out to be the first real introduction to Ariadne Oliver, Christie's caricature of herself. It was quite funny to see how frustrated she is with this person trying to adapt her work but changing everything, but also critiquing inaccuracies in her books. The mystery itself I was meh on. I did struggle to keep people straight because most of our characters are people of extremely similar descriptions (namely several women in their 30's). I feel like there were fewer clues floating around. And I was ultimately faked out by whodunnit; I think it was something that'd fool modern audiences even more than those at the time. It's not a well-known Poirot for a reason, I think.
Overall, this was a bit mundane for a Poirot and I'm not sure I will find it very memorable, but I was fooled by the twist.