Dead Man's Folly

I was smiling through the first half of this book. After setting aside the last two Christie books, 'Hickory Dickory Dock' and 'Destination Unknown', I was glad to find that 'Dead Man's Folly' opened well. It was fast, direct and amusing. I liked that Poirot was involved from the very beginning, well before the first body had hit the ground. I especially liked that he was dragged into the affair by the inimitable Mrs Oliver who leashed him by his curiosity and tugged so hard that he jumped on a train the same day without knowing anything about why he'd been summoned.

Poirot spent the first half of the book flipping between bemusement and frustration. He shared Mrs Oliver's sense that something about the planned murder mystery game was show more off but he didn't know what it was. The cast of characters was nicely drawn (although I did have to push aside the casual misogyny, snobbery, racism and xenophobia that almost all the characters took for granted). The first body caught Poirot and Mrs Oliver by surprise. They literally stumbled over it.

The police then took over the investigation. Poirot remained bemused and played, at most, a supporting role to the Inspector investigating the death. What followed was closer to a police procedural than Poirot's normal probing and posturing. Most of the information is gathered by the police, with Poirot acting, for once, as a good listener in whom people are willing to confide. I particularly enjoyed watching the police and Poirot both struggle to get past the defences of Mrs Folliat, who seemed to me to be a more aristocratic version of Jane Marple, only playing for the other side.

The second half of the book was entertaining but didn't live up to the promise of its beginning. It seemed to me that everything apart from the cleverness of the plot started to fade. Mrs Oliver disappeared without any further contribution. Neither the police nor Poirot could turn the information that they'd gathered into a solution. Time passed. The story almost stalled Then, suddenly, so suddenly that it felt rather rushed, Poirot worked it out and the killer was identified.

I thought the plot was ingenious and the exposition was skilful but I rather got the impression that Agatha Christie ran out of steam and looked for a way to share the cleverness of the crime with as little effort as possible. The big reveal was a nicely written scene but it still felt like a bit of an infodump.

I enjoyed 'Dead Man's Folly' but I was left with the feeling that I'd have ranked it as one of Christie's best offerings if it had been baked for a little longer and if there'd been a little more of Mrs Olivier to brighten things up a bit. show less

I thought this book from beginning to end was classic Agatha Christie. I was happy to read it, especially since it felt like the last few books have been hit or misses for me.

This one has Hercule Poirot in it from beginning to end. Called in by Adriane Oliver because of a "feeling" she has, Poirot travels to her and listens to her explaining she feels she is being led to something in order for a real murder to take place.

The characters in this one are really fascinating. We have Adriane who was written less like a total buttinsky in this one and actually did add a lot to this book. I thought the characters of Sir George and Lady Stubbs were puzzling and was intrigued by them both. Reading about how Sir George married Lady Stubbs even show more if she has a mental deficiency was surprising. We also get a married couple on the brink of divorce, the efficient secretary, a lone architect, and the former owner of the home that Sir George and Lady Stubbs to contend with. The book did not feel overly long even with this many characters.

I thought that Poirot was at the top of his game in this one, and it is funny how known he is to some people, there are references to other cases he investigated in this one, and once again I have to puzzle about Poirot's age. This book takes place in the 1950s. There is once again mentions of the changes that England has undergone since the end of War World II. A lot of family estates have been let go and turned into hotels or hostels. There are young people from all over traveling and wearing scandalous clothing (the young girls wear shirts, the men have overly long hair) and seem to have no problem with trespassing on other people's grounds.

One wonders how Agatha Christie felt about the changing times in England. Reading about how Poirot feels about things was funny (he was horrified by how the women dressed and wondered how did they think they would attract the opposite sex dressed the way that they did) and you can definitely feel a divide between the old England and the new.

The writing reminded me of classic Christie (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) days. I felt like in her last few books she may have been phoning it in a bit. I had to re-read this one in parts because I did miss some things here and there after I got to the end. The flow was pitch perfect in this book, and I actually found myself reading faster to get to the ending.

The setting of the home of George and Lady Stubbs felt haunted to me in a way. We of course find out the reason behind that at the end.

The ending left me sad and a bit horrified (yeah for once I can say that a Poirot book gave me serious pause) when you find out what exactly has gone on and who knew. show less

This late-stage Poirot novel is not a critical darling, and I agree that the mystery and its resolution does not really have the subtle clues and red herrings that Christie was capable of. However, I do not read these mysteries to try to solve them myself, but as entertainment, and this one did entertain me thoroughly.

I have to say that I really enjoy Ariadne Oliver. She's my favorite Poirot supporting character, much better than Captain Hastings, who thankfully only appeared in a few of the early novels. Ariadne Oliver is the author's alter ego, a female crime writer depicted as kind of foolish but with the occasional moment of, mostly unconscious, insight. I always enjoy the way she talks and confounds Poirot.

I also enjoyed that here show more we have Poirot all the time. It's not one of those novels where he appears only for the second half of the story.

So, true, this novel is not among Christie's most dazzling investigations, and the resolution was perhaps a bit too sensational (is this becoming a trend at this point? the previous novel,
Hickory Dickory Dock, also had an unlikely and sensational solution, more so than this one). However, it was always entertaining and intriguing, so I had a great time reading it. show less

Ariadne Oliver, the well-known crime novelist, is staying with Sir and Lady Stubbs at their home in Nassecombe, Devon, engaged to organise a murder hunt for the summer fete. Feeling that something isn't quite right and that someone is subtly manipulating her, she rings up Hercule Poirot and asks him to join her under the pretext of handing out the prizes. On the day of the fete the murder hunt takes a tragic turn when the young village girl who was playing the murder victim is found strangled to death, and the lady of the house vanishes without a trace, presumed dead. Hercule Poirot asks questions and inevitably is the only person to see the connections.

This is a highly enjoyable and rather complex murder mystery, where Hercule Poirot, show more rather unusually, doesn't immediately have the answer to the puzzle to hand. While the solution makes sense within the confines of the novel, it is – like the solutions in a lot of Christie's novels – rather far-fetched, involving a bigamous marriage and someone living under a false name. There are plenty of red herrings, while the few clues are expertly placed. The atmosphere at the house is well executed, even if the characterisation is occasionally painted with somewhat broad brush strokes.

Some readers may find the liberal and casual use of terms such as 'subnormal', 'mentally undeveloped' and 'feeble minded' for characters displaying signs of lower intelligence offensive, a clear sign that the novel has dated a lot (originally published in 1956). show less

I thought this book from beginning to end was classic Agatha Christie. I was happy to read it, especially since it felt like the last few books have been hit or misses for me.

This one has Hercule Poirot in it from beginning to end. Called in by Adriane Oliver because of a "feeling" she has, Poirot travels to her and listens to her explaining she feels she is being led to something in order for a real murder to take place.

The characters in this one are really fascinating. We have Adriane who was written less like a total buttinsky in this one and actually did add a lot to this book. I thought the characters of Sir George and Lady Stubbs were puzzling and was intrigued by them both. Reading about how Sir George married Lady Stubbs even show more if she has a mental deficiency was surprising. We also get a married couple on the brink of divorce, the efficient secretary, a lone architect, and the former owner of the home that Sir George and Lady Stubbs to contend with. The book did not feel overly long even with this many characters.

I thought that Poirot was at the top of his game in this one, and it is funny how known he is to some people, there are references to other cases he investigated in this one, and once again I have to puzzle about Poirot's age. This book takes place in the 1950s. There is once again mentions of the changes that England has undergone since the end of War World II. A lot of family estates have been let go and turned into hotels or hostels. There are young people from all over traveling and wearing scandalous clothing (the young girls wear shirts, the men have overly long hair) and seem to have no problem with trespassing on other people's grounds.

One wonders how Agatha Christie felt about the changing times in England. Reading about how Poirot feels about things was funny (he was horrified by how the women dressed and wondered how did they think they would attract the opposite sex dressed the way that they did) and you can definitely feel a divide between the old England and the new.

The writing reminded me of classic Christie (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) days. I felt like in her last few books she may have been phoning it in a bit. I had to re-read this one in parts because I did miss some things here and there after I got to the end. The flow was pitch perfect in this book, and I actually found myself reading faster to get to the ending.

The setting of the home of George and Lady Stubbs felt haunted to me in a way. We of course find out the reason behind that at the end.

The ending left me sad and a bit horrified (yeah for once I can say that a Poirot book gave me serious pause) when you find out what exactly has gone on and who knew. show less

Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie was an interesting mystery story although it is not destined to go down as one of my favorites by this author. This is both a Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver story but I never felt totally engaged by the story or the characters.

It begins with a phone call as Ariadne Oliver implores Hercule Poirot to come to Devon and put his grey cells to work on figuring out what is “wrong” with the set up at a large country estate where she is planning a murder story for a local festival. Poirot comes and finds that he too senses something strange is going on. He is too late to stop a young girl from being murdered in the exact way that Ariadne had planned for the fake victim to be killed. At the same time show more the mistress of the house disappears and although no body is found, is also deemed to have been murdered. It isn’t until a month goes by and Poirot makes another visit to the area that he is finally able to put all the pieces together.

Dead Man’s Folly is a story of false identity, family history and evil deeds so I am not exactly sure why I wasn’t able to fully embrace it. Originally published in 1956, I did get a sense that the book was completed more in the wish to fulfill a contract than in the desire to produce an excellent mystery. Interesting enough, but leaves one questioning whether Hercule Poirot shouldn’t be considering retirement. show less

Oh, Poirot, I see how you stare at me from the cover of this book. You, with your pen and silly little mustache, waiting to see if my little gray cells will be any sort of match for yours. As if they ever could be. You probably puzzled it all out within the first fifteen minutes, while I had to wait until the very end of Dead Man's Folly to discover who was the real killer. Once again Agatha Christie takes her audience on a roller coaster ride of red herrings, peculiar characters, and mysterious clues.

Ariadne Oliver, who is one of my favorite recurring characters, has been asked to write a game that resembles a murder mystery party. Oliver feels as if she's being played or steered when the players start suggesting changes to her story. show more So she does the only practical thing she can do--she calls Poirot. While her game is being played, two things happen: 1. A murder. 2. The disappearance of Lady Hattie Stubbs. And of course, Poirot is on the case!

This is an intriguing story with a few plot twists that kept me guessing. I really had no idea who the murder was, or what the motive was until Christie laid it all out at the end. I tried to use my 'detective skills' from watching Poirot and Marple on the small screen. But alas, nothing. I love the way Christie writes such diverse characters. All of them with a plausible motive.

I can't compare this to other Hercule Poirot books that Christie has written. as this is my first, but I would like to say: Well done, Christie! There's a reason why Christie is known as the Queen of Mystery, and this book is a clear example as to why.

Read more at http://www.toreadornottoread.net/2014/08/review-dead-mans-folly.html#KvydbfYwXcv... show less