Ratings31
Average rating3.7
The first of a new-look series of Hercule Poirot books for the 21st century 'It's been hushed up very nicely, hasn't it? But he was murdered, wasn't he?' There are certain things that are best left unsaid. Though tragedy had touched the life of the wealthy Richard Abernethie, his sudden death seemed pretty unremarkable for a man of his age. So why would his sister wait until his funeral to say he had been murdered? When she is savagely killed with a hatchet the next day, her extraordinary remark suddenly takes on a chilling significance. In desperation, the family solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery...
Featured Series
47 primary books98 released booksHercule Poirot is a 98-book series with 47 released primary works first released in -2100 with contributions by Agatha Christie, Hugh Fraser, and Agata Kristi.
Reviews with the most likes.
It's Agatha Christie - what more needs to be said?
OK, one thing this reinforced for me is that Christie wrote characters and dryly comedic narration so well, her books are eminently re-readable, even though they're mysteries. That's saying something!
As I have been making my way through Christie's mysteries chronologically, I have found some gems and some duds. This one is somewhere in the middle. It doesn't stand out to me as one of her best, but I truly enjoyed it. It's a solid mystery and does a good job of making you look the other way. Recommend.
Definitely something that hooks the reader up from page one. I did not, and would have not guessed the murderer. It was definitely a shock. And the intelligence put in this book was quite remarkable. I was astonished. It was honestly better than I expected
The writing style is extraordinary as well. I definitely want to read more of Agatha Christie's work.
According to what I have written earlier, the book seems perfect, doesn't it? And so, one might wonder why I rated it 4 stars and not 5 stars . It is because of the sexism present so remarkably in this book. As a woman, writing a book in the fifties, I did not expect such sexism to be loud and clear without any attempt to conceal it.
I was very disappointed because of that.
But all in all, cancel out the sexism, I think the book would have deserved 5 stars.