cocoonofbooks 's review for:

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

4.0

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My reaction to several Hercule Poirot books I've read recently has been "This is good if you're looking for something different than a typical Hercule Poirot mystery." This, though? This is a good, solid, typical Hercule Poirot mystery. You've got a cast of characters on whom suspicion is thrown pretty much equally, you've got a host of clues that don't all arrange themselves into sense until Poirot fits the pieces together for you, and you've got enough of a twist to be satisfying without feeling like it's too far-fetched to be realistic. This one also spends most of the time with Poirot (as opposed to the previous one, Taken at the Flood, which was mostly a family drama with occasional Poirot scenes), and Christie has dispensed with the irritating Hastings well before now. We also get a visit from the always-entertaining Ariadne Oliver. The result is a not spectacular but ultimately satisfying mystery.