Murder for Christmas

Thank God it’s all over!” Lydia said: “Thanks to Hercule Poirot.” “Yes. You know, it was really amazing the way everything fell into place when he explained it.” “I know. Like when you finish a jigsaw puzzle and all the queer-shaped bits you swear won’t fit in anywhere find their places quite naturally.”

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot series Book 20) (p. 333). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Christmas is a time for peace and goodwill - and murder if you're the family of Simeon Lee. The Lee's reunite under one roof for the first time in years on the invitation of the patriarch. Old grudges and old scores are quick to ignite though, leaving Simeon delighted with show more results of his meddling - if only he could've found a way to not end up dead...

I adored this one. Poirot was at his finest and the crime was riveting. The ending in particular was perfection. The whole book was really clever and very well planned. I guessed minor parts but otherwise I was completely stumped by this mystery. The red herrings had red herrings in this one. I sort of guessed about Stephen Farr being a Lee but I was totally stunned by the murderer. OMFG!!!! Mind blown. Superintendent Suget because he's ANOTHER SON!!!!??? - no freaking way. I also didn't realise Pilar wasn't who she said she was.

I liked Superintendent Suget, Lydia and Hilda the best, but all the characters were entertaining. I really loved Poirot's obsession with Suget's moustache though.

Poirot made a little bow and looked the other man over. He saw a tall man with square shoulders and a military bearing who had an aquiline nose, a pugnacious jaw and a large flourishing chestnut-coloured moustache. Sugden stared hard at Hercule Poirot after acknowledging the introduction. Hercule Poirot stared hard at Superintendent Sugden’s moustache. Its luxuriance seemed to fascinate him.

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot series Book 20) (pp. 106-107). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Lol the idea of the luxuriance fascinating him cracked me up. Although I was also pretty amused when he asks him if he uses a special pomade and Suget is like no of course not, it just grows and poor Hercule is so sad afterwards.

“Do not call her my friend,” said Poirot hastily. “Or I shall speak of your friend Miss Estravados, who finds you such a handsome man!” He had the pleasure of seeing the superintendent’s official poise upset again. The police officer turned crimson. Poirot looked at him with malicious amusement. He said, and there was a wistful note in his voice: “It is true that your moustache is superb . . . Tell me, do you use for it a special pomade?” “Pomade? Good lord, no!” “What do you use?” “Use? Nothing at all. It—it just grows.” Poirot sighed. “You are favoured by nature.” He caressed his own luxuriant black moustache, then sighed. “However expensive the preparation,” he murmured, “to restore the natural colour does somewhat impoverish the quality of the hair.”

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot series Book 20) (pp. 212-213). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

A must read Christie. 4.5 stars, rounded to 5 stars. show less

A classic locked-room mystery. Curmudgeonly Simeon Lee has called all his descendants to the manor for Christmas. He plans to change his will – or does he only plan to stir the pot, getting them all riled up and at each other’s throats for his own amusement? Makes little difference what he intended, as no one is amused; and someone is upset enough to kill the old man. But how? And who did it?

Everyone heard the crashing furniture and Simeon’s anguished cry, but when they ran to his room it was locked from the inside! No one had time to exit without being seen, or did s/he? There is no shortage of suspects, and Poirot has many theories on how each of them might have accomplished the murder. But, of course, only one person did it.

I show more did not guess the murderer’s identity and was completely taken by surprise at Hercule Poirot’s reveal. Bravo to Christie for giving us satisfactory explanations for all the red herrings, too. show less

This one is hard to rate. In terms of deception, it's up there among the cleverest of her novels. I had actually just read A Talent to Deceive which goes through the devices she uses, so I knew there was something strange - as in Ackroyd-strange, genre-rule-bending - about who the murderer was, and yet I was completely fooled - as always.
And the epistemological point about the little things that are unnecessary and therefore become meaningful once the narrative is seen from the right angle, is both ingenious and ultimately the reason why Poirot is the greatest crime fiction character of all times.
But the flaws... The psychologising mumbo jumbo in the final Poirot speech; the over-abundance of false identities; and worst of all: the show more implausibility of (a) the extremely complicated setup at the murder scene, and (b) Poirot's very detailed knowledge of the exact details, which he could not have known or deduced, at least not from what information we are given in the book.
So: at the same time one of her strongest and weakest efforts. Hence the three stars. show less

A nasty old invalid codger with an English country estate and lots of money calls all of his children home for Christmas, not to reconcile with them before his death, but to antagonize them for his own glee. So it's no huge surprise when he winds up murdered on Christmas Eve. Poirot is on the case, and Christie fools me again. I loved it.

A rare family Christmas gathering in the home of wealthy invalid Simeon Lee ends in murder. Fortunately, Hercule Poirot is on hand to unofficially consult with the local police. Once again, Poirot's little gray cells are up to the task of identifying a murderer.

The country estate is a typical Christie setting, but this isn't one of her best mysteries. I had read the book before, but it was so long ago that I didn't remember any of the details of the book or the identity of the murderer. Christie is usually a master at misdirecting the reader's attention from important facts and clues, but this time she didn't hide them as well as usual. The killer and motive were obvious to me well before Poirot explained the solution. I enjoyed the show more book, but it will never be one of my favorites, and it's not one I'll be in a hurry to re-read. Christie completists will want to read this one, but readers new to Christie should start elsewhere. show less

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie is a 1938 publication.

A masterful Golden Age mystery!!

Simeon Lee, a difficult old man, blessed with wealth, but cursed with bad health, has invited his adult children home for the holidays. One might believe the old man has become sentimental and is hoping for a reconciliation and perhaps forgiveness from his family before he passes on.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case. It would seem that Lee, the host of this less than cheerful gathering, is playing some dastardly tricks on the people who hope to inherit his fortune.

Unfortunately, his game backfires horribly, leaving investigators with a house full of suspects and a puzzling locked room mystery on their hands. Thankfully, show more Hercule Poirot has kindly offered his assistance in solving the case.

"Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?"

When I was younger, if I were to grab an Agatha Christie novel, for some reason, I always chose a Miss Marple mystery.

But, over the years Hercule Poirot became my favorite of Christie’s detectives. However, there are still many books in this series I have yet to read- and this was one of them.

While I understand that some aficionados have suggested it might be wise to read ‘Three Act Tragedy’ or ('Murder in Three Acts"), before reading this one, but I wanted to read a holiday themed mystery so I skipped way ahead. ( I honestly don’t think it really matters what order you read them in- but purists will be purists-😁😁 - and I'm just in this for the fun- so... )

Christie’s trademark twists kept me on my toes in this solid whodunit/locked room mystery!!

I didn’t figure out who the murderer was and loved the clever red herrings Christie used. I also enjoyed her tongue in cheek humor, poking fun at her own tendency to avoid too much graphic violence and her slight sarcasm about ‘locked room’ mysteries, carefully avoiding any insult to the reader’s intelligence.

Although I thought Poirot was maybe a bit subdued in this installment, I can’t think of a better way to wind up my 2019 holiday reading than with a solid Golden Age mystery written by the queen of crime herself!

4 stars show less

I liked this mystery. Other than the reason for the gathering, Christmas did not feature very much in the book. I liked trying to figure out who did it. The ending was a surprise to me, but after the big reveal, I could look back at events earlier and see the clues that I missed. That is my favorite result and Christie definitely hit the sweet spot. I liked all the characters and Christie did a great job developing them and making each personality distinct and interesting. Overall, it was a satisfying read, but not as "Christmasy" as I hoped.