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Loading... Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot series Book 20) (original 1938; edition 2003)by Agatha Christie
Work InformationHercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie (Author) (1938)
Christmas Books (26) British Mystery (41) » 7 more Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This one is quite similar to the TV version with David Suchet as Poirot. I like that the TV version kept the 'Scooby Doo' element with some of the suspects turning out to be someone else entirely. This is one of my favorites of the Poirot books. ( ) I enjoyed this mystery a lot! Even though I didn't guess whodunnit at all. (The only thing I guessed correctly was a few people who DIDN'T do it, despite evidence implicating them, but that's not nearly the same thing.) I found the characters amusing, even the ones I didn't like, and having almost everyone be from one family was really neat. There was so much history there, and so much potential for motives! The setting for this locked room murder mystery is the household of rich man Simeon Lee who invites his dysfunctional family home for Christmas, in order to exercise a rich vein of inventive spite upon them. Son Alfred and his wife Lydia actually live with Simeon, Alfred having moved into the business which Simeon originally meant to bestow upon favourite Harry. But Harry embezzled money and generally misbehaved himself and has been abroad for years, having periodically cabled home asking for money to get himself out of various jams - which his father obligingly provided. Another son, David, has never forgiven Simeon for his mental cruelty to his late mother who bore Simeon's infidelties in a long-suffering manner (and used David as her sponge for soaking up her resentments). His wife Hilda, not understanding how nasty the old man can be, has persuaded David to go home for Christmas in the mistaken belief that Simeon must be lonely - a belief he soon disabuses her of. Another couple of characters also arrive: Pilar, daughter of Simeon's late daughter who married a Spaniard, and a man who seems to be the son of Simeon's late partner when they worked together many years ago in South Africa. Matters escalate when Simeon "accidentally" arranges for all the family overhearing him ring his solicitor to arrange a new will. It's pretty obvious what will happen shortly afterwards. However, there are a lot of red herrings which Hercule Poirot, called in on the case by the chief constable to assist the Superintendant conducting it, must eliminate. The story name is a bit of a misnomer as nothing remotely Christmasy happens - explained in the story as a "Christmas is cancelled" scenario due to the events of the story. It merely provides the pretext for why members of such a family should want to reassemble. The issues I found were firstly that Poirot isn't really the likeable character that he was in earlier books - he just seems to be a mouthpiece of the author. Secondly, there are rather too many characters who aren't who they appear to be which rather stretches the suspension of disbelief. Thirdly, there are some slightly xenophobic attitudes on show, in this case a prejudice against the Spanish. So taking all this into account, I didn't enjoy it as much as other Christie novels. I was also quite surprised that a book produced by a traditional publisher would have quite so many typos. Overall, I would give this a rating of 3 stars. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesHercule Poirot (17) Belongs to Publisher SeriesAdey's Locked Room Murders (0440) Delfinserien (472) Nova terra (50) Gli Oscar [Mondadori] (1108) — 3 more Is contained inMurder for Christmas and Three Other Great Mysteries: The Hollow, Murder in Retrospect, Thirteen At Dinner by Agatha Christie Poirot: The Perfect Murders: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, Murder in the News, Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie Agatha Christie Crime Collection: The Body in the Library, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, Peril at End House by Agatha Christie Death on the Nile; Dumb Witness; Appointment with Death; Murder for Christmas; Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie Has the adaptation
Fiction.
Mystery.
Historical Fiction.
HTML: In Hercule Poirot's Christmas, the holidays are anything but merry when a family reunion is marred by murderâ??and the notoriously fastidious investigator is quickly on the case. Christmas Eve, and the Lee family's reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture and a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. When Hercule Poirot offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man. . . . No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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