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chrissie_whitley 's review for:
Peril at End House
by Agatha Christie
This was a fairly enjoyable Poirot installment, with an interesting play on the typical formula. Poirot and Hastings start out on holiday, with nothing to induce Poirot (per his own proclamation) into taking on a new case aside from a bullet whizzing past his head. Of course, that very thing nearly happens, but instead of the egg-shaped head, the aforementioned bullet forces a hole through the hat of the charmingly modern young lady introduced as Nick Buckly. Missing her noggin, but doing just as was proposed, Poirot and Hastings endeavor to take on a murder case before the murder has been committed.
Nick and her titular estate, End House, hold their own as main features in this cozy mystery...right up until the very end. Christie has Poirot at a disadvantage here, with a lot of kindling but very little fuel to get his grey cells into high gear. That is, until an actual murder takes place—Nick's own cousin, Maggie. However, the murderer has apparently missed his mark with Nick as the intended target. So, full-speed ahead goes Poirot.
The characterizations were a little wobbly, but the majority of the cast of players were fairly filled out. Some notable exceptions were Nick's crowd—her would-be boyfriend, George Challenger, her best friend, Freddie Rice, and Jim Lazarus, an art dealer in love with Freddie. These three are lacking in some development for no apparent reason.
There was the occasional blatant sexist remark and the stereotypical Jewish comments about Lazarus, and I honestly don't know if we have to just chalk that up to the era in which it was written or if it was meant to be a reflection on that very era because the comments all came in the form of dialogue. So the possibility that it was simply meant to be part of a character's personality and personal prejudices (including Hastings, Japp, and Poirot) is hanging out there for me like bait.
For the most part though, this was a typically entertaining Poirot mystery. On to the next.
Nick and her titular estate, End House, hold their own as main features in this cozy mystery...right up until the very end. Christie has Poirot at a disadvantage here, with a lot of kindling but very little fuel to get his grey cells into high gear. That is, until an actual murder takes place—Nick's own cousin, Maggie. However, the murderer has apparently missed his mark with Nick as the intended target. So, full-speed ahead goes Poirot.
The characterizations were a little wobbly, but the majority of the cast of players were fairly filled out. Some notable exceptions were Nick's crowd—her would-be boyfriend, George Challenger, her best friend, Freddie Rice, and Jim Lazarus, an art dealer in love with Freddie. These three are lacking in some development for no apparent reason.
There was the occasional blatant sexist remark and the stereotypical Jewish comments about Lazarus, and I honestly don't know if we have to just chalk that up to the era in which it was written or if it was meant to be a reflection on that very era because the comments all came in the form of dialogue. So the possibility that it was simply meant to be part of a character's personality and personal prejudices (including Hastings, Japp, and Poirot) is hanging out there for me like bait.
For the most part though, this was a typically entertaining Poirot mystery. On to the next.