Lord Edgware Dies

Quite unusually for me, I had guessed the murderer very early on (in Chapter 2), so that it became more of a 'howdunit' rather than a 'whodunit'. Not only did Poirot's little grey cells almost desert him, he was also forced to travel around London to visit suspects and the scenes of the crimes more than usual. The solution is very clever, even if it is over-elaborate as all of Christie's novels seem to be, as is the way the murderer gives themselves away and is forced to commit another crime. Unfortunately parts of the novel appeared to be a bit muddled and feature some truly eyebrow-raising coincidences. In addition, there are a few instances where characters are called out for being Jewish, not exactly in an antisemitic fashion but show more enough to label them as 'other' (love of money, having a 'distinctly Jewish cast of countenance'), which marks the novel as quite dated. show less

''Lord Edgware Dies' is a Poirot novel that I had a lot of fun with. It's accomplished, clever, mischievous and seems to me to be ahead of its' time.

The plot kept me guessing (wrongly most of the time) and was very clever (well, cleverer than me anyway). It was also quite action-packed with more than one death and a slightly frenetic pace at times. About a quarter of the way through I was sure I had the whole thing figured out. I was utterly wrong of course. I found myself suddenly less critical of the hapless Hasting's than usual as I realised that Madame Christie had been leading me by the nose since the first page and I had followed along as if I were the one choosing the path.

In my defence, there was a very rich suspect pool, most show more of whom on only slightly more likeable than the 'got-what-he-deserved' murder victim, Lord Edgware.

The relationship between Hastings and Poirot is beautifully choreographed in this book. Hasting plays Watson to Poirot's Holmes. Poirot displayed more passion and more humour than usual. This time he was more than a gnomic aéé-will-be-revealed-in-good-time plot device. He was engaged with the people around him and even his habitual baiting of Hastings was done with what seemed like real affection.

I liked the fact that we saw Poirot in a social setting with all the soon-to-be-suspects before anyone was killed. The mission he was given before Lord Edgware's death changed his relationship to all the players and powered some of the passion that he brought to solving the case.

There was quite a lot of humour as the story went along. Small observations of the oddities of the English Class system at the time and some playfulness from Poirot who, at one point, shares a children's riddle with Hastings and then enacts it by summoning a superfluous person to the big reveal.

There were a few things about the book that felt ahead of its time or, at least, made me reconsider what I thought I knew about England in the 1930s. There was the casual acknowledgement of Lord Edgware's kinks. These were well known and while not seen as mainstream, not seen as surprising in the English aristocracy either. Then there was the one-woman-show on the West End. This has become popular again recently and I was fascinated to see that it was a way for a woman to break through as an entertained back then. The thing that seemed most ahead of its time was the depiction of the sociopathy of the killer. The final chapter is a letter from the killer to Poirot which made Hannibal Lecter seem like a wannabe. I could easily imagine it as a soliloquy to camera in the TV adaptation. It had a strong shudder factor.

I listened to the audiobook version which was delivered by Hugh Fraser with his usual flair. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.


https://soundcloud.com/harpercollinspublishers/lord-edgware-dies-by-agatha show less

A solid mystery in the Poirot canon with some really excellent red herrings that fooled me. Christie again crafts characters so brilliantly and leads the reader a merry chase as Poirot investigates. I appreciated how meta the book gets in one spot, with a line in which they say that Lord Edgware Dies would make an excellent title and look very good in a book stall. Be warned, however, that this book is decidedly a product of its time (1933) and there is a passage where a character uses a multitude of racial slurs in short succession.

I enjoyed this book more than many of the Poirot books with Captain Hastings in them... I think in part because he wasn't mooning over some girl in this one. There was still mention of women being beautiful, of course. Hastings is still Hastings, after all. But he wasn't trying to save any of the beauties for once, and it was a nice change of pace.

The mystery itself was nice and twisty, and I appreciated that this is one of the ones where Poirot was more stumped than most. I was really amused by the part where Poirot tells Hastings that he's helpful because he falls for the criminal's deceptions, and so Poirot can use what Hastings thinks as an example of what the killer wanted people to think.

There's too many twists for me to really show more talk about the plot, but I liked that this one had plenty of characters for us to speculate about. It was also fun to see Inspector Japp again. show less

Sometimes when you think you’ve gotten one up on Agatha Christie, you realise she has tricked you. I felt sure that trying to drop in “Dina” as a contraction for Geraldine was going to be of significance; I should have realised, when she did it a second time, that that’s what she wanted us to think. I was also taken in by Hastings saying he never saw a certain character again, thereby signalling they had left the story never to return. But of course that was a trick too. Overall an enjoyable Hercule Poirot mystery.

A wonderful classic Christie, double bluff among double bluff. I kinda suspected who it was but by the end I was just as twisted as the poor Hastings. Seriously a good read.

Ratings:-

Poirot gently uncrossed his knees, withdrew his gaze from the ceiling, and looked the young man full in the face. “My name is Hercule Poirot,” he said quietly, “and I am probably the greatest detective in the world.

Christie, Agatha. The Mystery of the Blue Train: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot series Book 6) (p. 149). William Morrow Paperbacks. Kindle Edition.

Hercule Poirot and Hastings are at it again. This time, they're dining after a night at the theatre when they're invited to talk privately with Jane Wilkinson, a famous actress. Jane has a problem in the form of her husband who refuses to divorce her and a new lover who she very much wants to marry. She tasks Hercule Poirot to fix things for her.

This had so many show more twists and turns I was left with whiplash. I found myself flying through the pages. I found Hastings much less annoying in this one, though I don't know if it was that Hastings was less annoying or I was just too preoccupied with the actual mystery. I didn't really like any of the other characters but they certainly had me fascinated. I loved the ending. The letter from Jane was hilarious. I kind of wanted her to actually get away with it all. Very enjoyable. 4 stars. show less