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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie review






Christmas in July, well August..~  even though I’ve had this blog for years, key word here is HAD not USED lol I still haven’t talked about all my favorite authors but one thing at a time, writing is so random and organic that I figured they will be all be eventually avenged for my lazy crimes.  I read a lot, as much as I can, and trust me I could live the cat lifestyle minus the cat food and with reading powers, so to me good books, those few in between great reads that stand out like shining beacons from the ever so abundant plethora of stories will get their space here eventually.  I think of them as the bright stars you can see in the sky on a clear night. It’s incredible how the air way up there looks like the darkest bottom of an ocean trench, sometimes life fells like being stuck between layers of some twisted cake when you become aware of it all..... Not sure how I got here, anyways talking about things I love to read gets me melancholy  but here’s a good ole Poirot  for you guys, Christie is magnificent, if you haven’t read her then shame on you, nothing scary just pure joy, I promise!

HERCULE POIROT’S CHRISTMAS
by Agatha Christie
4.0 out of 5 stars Nothing is so boring as devotion...

I remember buying this paperback about thirteen years ago, it seemed to be such a good find after kneeling on the floor between shelves in the mystery isle, so festive yet ominous at the same time but who doesn't love a good holiday read anyway?

Fireplaces, family gathering, gristly murder, fancy house full of holiday cheer...I'm a big fan of the author and as usual Poirot stuns with his crystal clear logic that takes some colorful turns, I tried my best to guess who the killer was and I did more work with this book than with my last read, I had some clues right but I was wrong again and it was still a satisfying mystery, the characters were colorful, interesting and quite memorable because I knew exactly who was who and everything about them, it made the puzzle solving so much richer and the search for the killer so much more rewarding.

In a nutshell a rich man, Simeon Lee is murdered right before Christmas after he finally took the time to get all of his immediate living family to join him for the holiday. Some members had past resentment and issues between them and old Simeon was banking on making some pranks from it, he liked a bit of fun you see with whomever he marked as weak and he considered most of his money taking children just that. The crime took a while to happen and you get to go along for the ride and observe both sides of the mystery before it even happened, in parts this reminded me of M.C Beaton's Death of a Prankster which was another marvelous holiday read, both books sit warmly in my heart now :)

The best advice that I could leave to those who want to solve the mystery is to pay attention to all the details, they are given to you on purpose, and think outside of the box, If I could go back in time I would check out all the book covers, some give hints to the clues; my edition made me chuckle when I looked at it after I finished. Imagine a whole house filled with random characters on Christmas, trapped in the snow covered mason surrounded by miles of forest that was a witness to a gristly murder, someone bad is between them, those frosty afternoon snow walks are no longer safer nor cheerful... ominous thoughts and feelings come down as another death is being planned...

This is a Hercule book# 19 but it can be read out of order, I often pick one out of the blue and they are always a good choice, the problem Is reading just one.

- Kasia S.

I will write up the reading order for the whole library of Agatha Christie soon. She has a ton of stuffs so be prepared to wallow in the goods. 


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