murder mystery
Book Review: Go Back for Murder
Go Back for Murder
by Agatha Christie
5 out of 5 stars
Carla has just come of age, and is told of the true dark past of her family. Her mother was convicted of poisoning her father and died in prison when Carla was only five years old. But before she died, Carla’s mother wrote a letter to her daughter, to be opened on her 21st birthday, explaining that she was innocent and had not poisoned her husband. Now Carla is interviewing all the people who were present when her father was poisoned, trying to find out the truth. Who really poisoned her father, and why did her mother seem content to take the blame?
Continue readingBook Review: The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories
by Agatha Christie
Kailey (Luminous Libro)‘s reviewSep 26, 2021 · edit
really liked itbookshelves: owned-books, books-read-in-2021, favorite-mystery
This collection of short stories includes stories with Miss Marple, Poirot, and Parker Pyne. I enjoyed these so much! It’s amazing to me how Agatha Christie can create this little puzzle in just a few pages, and lay out all the clues and a few red herrings, then cleverly reveal the solution in an entertaining way.
Continue readingSad Cypress Video Review
Book Review: Sad Cypress
Sad Cypress (Hercule Poirot, #22)
by Agatha Christie
5 out of 5 stars
Elinor has been accused of murder. Young Mary Gerrard was poisoned with morphine, and Elinor was the only one who had access to the sandwiches that Mary ate. Only Hercule Poirot can sift through the evidence and find the truth. There are various suspects: Elinor’s ex-fiancée who was fascinated with the dead girl, the doctor who attended Mary’s last moments, and two nurses who love to gossip. Who had the motive to kill an innocent young woman just turned twenty-one?
I loved this mystery! The clues really had me guessing, and I had no idea who the murderer could be until close to the end. I guessed that something was amiss with the nurses, but I also suspected the ex-fiancée, and I couldn’t figure out what the doctor was up to. They are all so slippery and everybody lies to Poirot.
Continue readingPlay Review: The Mousetrap
The Mousetrap and Other Plays
by Agatha Christie, Ira Levin (Introduction)
3 out of 5 stars
This is such a great collection of Agatha Christie’s plays! Some I liked more than others, but they were all interesting and mysterious.
There were a couple of the plays where I found it easy to guess who the murderer was. I wonder if I saw the play actually being acted on stage, it might not be so easy to tell. So much depends on the tone of voice and the atmosphere of a scene. Reading a play just isn’t the same.
I love the complex characters, and all the red herrings and wild clues! Each play has a certain charm and fascination that kept my attention.
Continue readingPocketful of Rye Video Review
Book Review: Pocketful of Rye
A Pocket Full of Rye
by Agatha Christie
4 out of 5 stars
A businessman collapses in his office, poisoned by a rare substance. His widow has been hiding an affair, and the police inspector sees her smiling behind her fake tears. Miss Marple comes into the case to investigate the involvement of her former maid, and notices that the murdered man had rye grain in his pocket. Several other facets of the case seem to mimic the nursery rhyme about a king in his counting house, the queen eating bread and honey, and the maid in the garden hanging out the clothes. Inspector Neele will need Miss Marple’s help to unravel the clues!
I liked the way this murder mystery followed the nursery rhyme, “Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, four and twenty blackbirds baked into a pie…” There were so many red herrings and each of them were memorable and interesting! The plot really had me guessing, and I was fascinated by the way Miss Marple figured it all out.
Continue readingBook Review: The Man in the Brown Suit
The Man in the Brown Suit
by Agatha Christie
5 out of 5 stars
Anne is all alone in the world with no job and no family. She goes to London looking for adventure, and finds it when she encounters the Man in the Brown Suit. A strange man falls to his death in the subway, and Anne is a witness to the mysterious behavior of a passerby who claims to be a doctor and examines the body in the subway station. The man drops a cryptic note, and Anne is determined to unravel the case and find the Man in the Brown Suit. A sea voyage to South Africa reveals a group of passengers who all behave suspiciously, and Anne doesn’t know who to trust; At least, until Anne falls in love with the most mysterious passenger of all.
This book is just as wonderful reading it the second time! This is by far my favorite Agatha Christie novel!
Continue readingBook Review: Twelve Girls in the Garden
Twelve Girls in the Garden
by Shane Martin
3 out of 5 stars
Professor Challis is invited into a garden with statues of twelve girls, and is intrigued by the mysterious disappearance of the sculptor. He meets one of the models, a Greek girl named Polly, and he begins to inquire into the mystery. Challis is plunged into the world of art dealers, audacious fake art, blackmail, and murder. But the mystery always goes back to the twelve girls who modeled for the statues in the garden.
I liked this murder mystery! It was interesting and kept my attention. I liked the writing style and the way the author paints this picture of sultry models, glamorous artists, and shady art deals in Paris or Athens. With just one paragraph, the reader is plunged into a world of glamor and deceit.
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