A review by grinningcat
Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie

4.0

This is one of my least favorite of Christie’s novels. I’m not crazy about the Tommy and Tuppence novels. Like all of Christie’s Spy novels, I feel that they try too hard and fall flat. Still, even a lesser Christie is better than the better of most authors’ mysteries. Technically, I give this book a 3.5 and round it up to 4. The reason I like this the least of the Tommy and Tuppence books is because the solution hinges on esoteric British knowledge of a long-gone era (gone well before 1973, when the book was published.) One of the things I like about Christie’s mysteries is that she’s usually into Fair Play. That is, she presents all of the clues to the reader, even if the significance of these clues is not clear. Her spy novels (of which most of T&T fall into the category) don’t have that same sense of Fair Play. This is the last book Christie wrote, although it was not the last one published. The book is one that she wrote about murders that took place some years before the setting of the novel.
Christie Stats:
Detective- Tommy and Tuppence
POV- 3rd person
Published- 1973
Means- poison
First Victim- Mary Jordan