Murder on the Orient Express / The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
by Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot
On This Page
Description
"Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer"--Publisher's description.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
The mystery elements are impeccable, as always with Christie, but the story assumes much prior knowledge of the reader that may be known to the original audience but is now lost in the 21st century. Audio book narrated by David Suchet is perfect
Agatha Christie has been called "the queen of crime" for good reason. She was a prolific mystery writer, authoring 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections including the classic Murder on the Orient Express, which is so famous that even those who have never read it at least know the title. The Guinness Book of World Records lists her as the best-selling novelist of all time, with about 2 billion copies sold.
This volume brings together three of her Hercule Poirot novels, including the aforementioned, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (which her peers in the Crime Writers Association voted the best crime novel of all time in 2013), and Curtain, Hercule Poirot's last case, which she wrote during World War II and sealed in a bank vault show more for over 30 years, along with Sleeping Murder, Miss Marple's last case. Those novels were only published at the end of her life.
Christie was a master of the puzzle. She created intricate plots around crimes that leave both physical and psychological clues, with a host of characters all harboring secrets. These three novels show her at her best, as the brilliant Hercule Poirot sifts methodically through the clues while his hapless sidekick (Generally Captain Hastings but Dr. James Sheppard in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) helps gather in the clues without comprehending their real meaning.
Rather than summarize the stories, I'll leave it to you to read them. They are all well worth your time.
P.S. You may notice it took me a long time to read them myself, but that was because of a lunatic schedule interrupted by a the process of downsizing our home. I spent a couple of months not reading much of anything. It's not a reflection on Christie's work! show less
This volume brings together three of her Hercule Poirot novels, including the aforementioned, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (which her peers in the Crime Writers Association voted the best crime novel of all time in 2013), and Curtain, Hercule Poirot's last case, which she wrote during World War II and sealed in a bank vault show more for over 30 years, along with Sleeping Murder, Miss Marple's last case. Those novels were only published at the end of her life.
Christie was a master of the puzzle. She created intricate plots around crimes that leave both physical and psychological clues, with a host of characters all harboring secrets. These three novels show her at her best, as the brilliant Hercule Poirot sifts methodically through the clues while his hapless sidekick (Generally Captain Hastings but Dr. James Sheppard in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) helps gather in the clues without comprehending their real meaning.
Rather than summarize the stories, I'll leave it to you to read them. They are all well worth your time.
P.S. You may notice it took me a long time to read them myself, but that was because of a lunatic schedule interrupted by a the process of downsizing our home. I spent a couple of months not reading much of anything. It's not a reflection on Christie's work! show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
2,154+ Works 440,622 Members
One of the most successful and beloved writer of mystery stories, Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay, County Devon, England. She wrote her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920, launching a literary career that spanned decades. In her lifetime, she authored 79 crime novels and a short story collection, 19 show more plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language with another billion in 44 foreign languages. Some of her most famous titles include Murder on the Orient Express, Mystery of the Blue Train, And Then There Were None, 13 at Dinner and The Sittaford Mystery. Noted for clever and surprising twists of plot, many of Christie's mysteries feature two unconventional fictional detectives named Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Poirot, in particular, plays the hero of many of her works, including the classic, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), and Curtain (1975), one of her last works in which the famed detective dies. Over the years, her travels took her to the Middle East where she met noted English archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. They married in 1930. Christie accompanied Mallowan on annual expeditions to Iraq and Syria, which served as material for Murder in Mesopotamia (1930), Death on the Nile (1937), and Appointment with Death (1938). Christie's credits also include the plays, The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution (1953; film 1957). Christie received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for 1954-1955 for Witness. She was also named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971. Christie died in 1976. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Murder on the Orient Express / The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 297
- Popularity
- 108,571
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.42)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
