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A review by nellym27
Murder in the Mews and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
sad
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? Yes
3.75
These aren’t Agatha‘s best ever stories most of them felt like more basic versions of some of her other stories.
Merging the news for me is definitely the strongest. I listened to it and have seen the adaptation and knew that I thought it was a really compelling mystery because the basis of it is something that I don’t think we see enough of in mystery. The motive for so many murders is love and we see sometimes father is getting revenge for their daughters but I don’t think we see enough female friendships or familial relationships (not relevant here but something this made me think about) as a basis for a motive for murder which I which I think is missing the depth of many of those relationships. When I first heard the story it surprised me and I still think it’s a really compelling little story that is quite moving and sad.
The Incredible Theft, or whatever it’s called, was always not going to be my favourite because I find fifth story is much less compelling than murder stories, call me macabre.
Dead Mans Mirror was alright, it’s filled the spot of an Agatha Christie murder story but it’s not one of her most clever. It felt like quite a lot of the rest of her stories and crucially it felt like the murderer was the murderer because she had chosen them to be not because it’s the only person that could’ve been and because it makes complete sense – I don’t think it’s necessarily that natural a reveal to get to.
I like Triangle at Rhodes it’s always interesting when she does this kind of thing. I don’t know if it’s more on this interesting because it holds such a close comparison to Evil under the Sun and to death on the Nile and to the other stories where she is quite preoccupied with this love triangle idea. As someone who has read quite a lot of Agatha Christie it is interesting where you see how she plays with particular tropes and changes the dynamic slightly enough that the whole reveal is completely different, but at the same time it is a weaker plot and It felt a bit underdeveloped.
Overall I enjoyed reading it I really liked having a longer Agatha Christie short stories to read and they were all compelling.
Merging the news for me is definitely the strongest. I listened to it and have seen the adaptation and knew that I thought it was a really compelling mystery because the basis of it is something that I don’t think we see enough of in mystery.
The Incredible Theft, or whatever it’s called, was always not going to be my favourite because I find fifth story is much less compelling than murder stories, call me macabre.
Dead Mans Mirror was alright, it’s filled the spot of an Agatha Christie murder story but it’s not one of her most clever. It felt like quite a lot of the rest of her stories and crucially it felt like the murderer was the murderer because she had chosen them to be not because it’s the only person that could’ve been and because it makes complete sense – I don’t think it’s necessarily that natural a reveal to get to.
I like Triangle at Rhodes it’s always interesting when she does this kind of thing. I don’t know if it’s more on this interesting because it holds such a close comparison to Evil under the Sun and to death on the Nile and to the other stories where she is quite preoccupied with this love triangle idea. As someone who has read quite a lot of Agatha Christie it is interesting where you see how she plays with particular tropes and changes the dynamic slightly enough that the whole reveal is completely different, but at the same time it is a weaker plot and It felt a bit underdeveloped.
Overall I enjoyed reading it I really liked having a longer Agatha Christie short stories to read and they were all compelling.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide