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Mrs. McGinty's Dead: A Hercule Poirot…
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Mrs. McGinty's Dead: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries, 28) (original 1951; edition 2011)

by Agatha Christie (Author)

Series: Ariadne Oliver (3), Hercule Poirot (24)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3,069444,408 (3.67)79
Fiction. Mystery. HTML:

In Mrs. McGinty's Dead, one of Agatha Christie's most ingenious mysteries, the intrepid Hercule Poirot must look into the case of a brutally murdered landlady.

Mrs. McGinty died from a brutal blow to the back of her head. Suspicion falls immediately on her shifty lodger, James Bentley, whose clothes reveal traces of the victim's blood and hair. Yet something is amiss: Bentley just doesn't seem like a murderer.

Could the answer lie in an article clipped from a newspaper two days before the death? With a desperate killer still free, Hercule Poirot will have to stay alive long enough to find out. . . .

.
… (more)
Member:Copperskye
Title:Mrs. McGinty's Dead: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries, 28)
Authors:Agatha Christie (Author)
Info:William Morrow Paperbacks (2011), Edition: Reissue, 272 pages
Collections:Read in 2022, Your library, Read but unowned
Rating:***1/2
Tags:read in June 2022, read in 2022, mystery, crime, British, England, classic, Poirot

Work Information

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie (1951)

Recently added bymkkaufman, White-Fire, TraceyandLouise, Rini55, hollythepenguin, private library
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English (38)  Spanish (2)  Dutch (2)  French (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (44)
Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
I think this is one of my top 10 favorite Christie novels, though it is hard to pick my top favorites. I love the grumbly Poirot, suffering in his miserable rented room to investigate this already solved murder to find the real murderer and save an innocent man. Poirot is so funny, always just a bit flustered at how few people in this backwards small town have ever heard of him, and not sure how to react when people don't believe he is a famous detective. Without Hastings along to help him deal with people, his personality really stands out. ( )
  JBarringer | Dec 15, 2023 |
Superintendent Spence shook his head sadly at Poirot. “You do like to make it difficult, don’t you, M. Poirot?” he said.

Christie, Agatha. Mrs. McGinty's Dead: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot series Book 28) (p. 221). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.


Superintendent Spence has investigated, trialled and convicted James Bentley of murder. All the evidence points to Bentley. The only problem is - Spence doesn't think he did it. So he pays Hercule Poirot a visit to ask a favour - see if he can prove it one way or another.

Superintendent Spence appeared in the last novel, Taken at the Flood and seems to be a no nonsense sort and a decent detective - even if he isn't quite in Poirot's class. Ariadne Oliver, the mystery writer and amateur sleuth who prides herself on her women's intuition also appears. I didn't really like Ariadne in this - she's kind of ridiculous with her flighty nature and faulty women's intuition. But I'm quite fond of Superintendent Spence and I hope to see more of him in the future, so that was good.

As for Poirot, he is busy integrating himself into the community and ruffling feathers of those who have things to hide. I enjoyed this one for the most part but I was kind of lost for a lot of it. Too much going on with kind of bland characters. I didn't like James Bentley and it was hard to care about proving his innocence. I really didn't understand why Maude or Deidre liked him, he was lame.

So not my favourite Poirot but enjoyable nonetheless. 3 stars. ( )
  funstm | Oct 24, 2023 |
Agatha Christie again shines with her tale of mistaken identity that leads to murder. A convicted killer will soon hang for his crime of killing an old woman. Superintendent Spence believes that James Bentley did not commit the crime, so Spence encourages Hercule Poirot to aid in finding the actual killer. The clue to the real killer rests with decades old criminal cases and the photographs of four women. The dead woman, Mrs. McGinty, had seen a photograph during her cleaning of some lady’s house and mentioned this to her lodger. Another person overheard the conversation and decided Mrs. McGinty must die. As usual, Christie weaves a wonderful story with such marvelous names. What a surprise at the end to discover the real criminal. In the end, Poirot must have a turn in playing Cupid to two young people. ( )
  delphimo | Jul 8, 2023 |
Despite a guilty verdict and a death sentence, the police officer in charge of the investigation into the murder of Mrs McGinty is not convinced they've got the real culprit and asks Poirot to check before the execution.

I caught at least some of the little discrepancies which served as clues but still couldn't put them together. ( )
  Robertgreaves | Jun 18, 2023 |
First published in 1952, the novel was adapted by MGM in 1964, and released as 'Murder Most Foul'. The character of Hercule Poirot was replaced by Jane Marple, played by Margaret Rutherford. In 2008 David Suchet starred as Poirt and Zoë Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver in the ITV production.

After our discussion we will watch the David Suchet ITV production.

I am re-reading this for my U3A Agatha Christie Group, so the main feature of this review are the discussion questions I have written.

Who is the narrator?
The book opens with Poirot reflecting on his previous investigations and the role that his good friend Hastings played in them as "the stooge". What do you understand that to mean?
Why does Superintendent Spence come to Poirot?
Even though James Bentley has been convicted of the murder by a jury why does he doubt that he is guilty?
There seem to be conflicting descriptions of Bentley. He is said to have the mind of a 12 year old, to be a bit screwy, to be shy and awkward, daft, lacking in confidence, although others said he was educated. Which do you think is correct? Could he plead insanity?
Poirot contrasts himself with Inspector Spence. "he is a good and painstaking police officer.... But it should be different for me" Why? What disappoints him?
What was the significance of Mrs McGinty buying a bottle of ink?
Why did Mrs McGinty cut the picture out of the Sunday Comet?
An interesting phrase: from him she takes the Greenwich time - what does it mean? (Shelagh Rendell is looking at her husband)
Why does Christie bring Mrs Oliver into the story?
What did her employers have to say about Mrs McGinty? There were a number of reasons why people disliked her.
An interesting comment on the effects of World War II on English communities:
the war has complicated things. Records destroyed—endless opportunities for people who
want to cover their traces doing so by means of other people’s identity cards, etc., especially after “incidents” when nobody could know which corpse was which! If we could concentrate on just one lot, but you’ve got so many possibles, M. Poirot.
This is a comment that Christie has made elsewhere. What does it mean? What effect does it have on an investigation?
Who attempted to push Poirot under the train?
What is the irony of Mrs Upward ringing 3 women to come to visit her? What did she think she knew? What did she intend to do with her knowledge?
In the last pages Poirot gets the remaining characters together and says he knows what the motive for the murders was - money. Was he right? Can you explain the plot?
Why did Maude Williams get involved?
How was the identity of the murderer finally discovered?

I think this is an easy novel to underestimate. In fact the plot is quite complex. And there are comments about the social and economic effects of World War II that are valuable. ( )
  smik | May 28, 2023 |
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» Add other authors (10 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Christie, Agathaprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Alves, IsabelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Życieńska, EwaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Baker, GeorgeNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Campos, AlmeidaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Freitas, Lima deCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Griffini, GraziaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Houm, LiseTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kalkofe, OliverNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
López Hipkiss, GuillermoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mantovani, EmmaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Marenco, Maria TeresaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McAfee, MaraCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McKenzie, JuliaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Moffat, JohnNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Riambau, EstebanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schlumper, SemTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schulz, RobertIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Symons, JulianContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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To Peter Saunders
in gratitude for his kindness
to authors
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Hercule Poirot came out of the Vieille Grand'mere restaurant into Soho.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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aka Blood Will Tell
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Mystery. HTML:

In Mrs. McGinty's Dead, one of Agatha Christie's most ingenious mysteries, the intrepid Hercule Poirot must look into the case of a brutally murdered landlady.

Mrs. McGinty died from a brutal blow to the back of her head. Suspicion falls immediately on her shifty lodger, James Bentley, whose clothes reveal traces of the victim's blood and hair. Yet something is amiss: Bentley just doesn't seem like a murderer.

Could the answer lie in an article clipped from a newspaper two days before the death? With a desperate killer still free, Hercule Poirot will have to stay alive long enough to find out. . . .

.

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