This is the first Poirot book. I've never read this before, although I have read the last one in Poirot's series. Anyway. This is the story of a fairly wealthy elderly lady who dies in her locked bedroom (locked from the inside) at her home called 'Styles.' It is determined she died from Strychnine poisoning, possibly from her coffee or cocoa that evening.

Present are an array of characters, all of whom seem to have motives for killing her. Hastings is one of those characters, and he asks his friend Poirot to come and investigate.

There are many twists and turns which make the reader suspect everyone at some point. I didn't suspect the actual suspect for more than a second, though. As always with Agatha Christie, the plot is superbly written. Everything planned out perfectly. Poirot, in his first outing, is instantly himself. He made me smile a lot. He's such a fab character.

People who live clever mysteries. It's not an edge-of-the-seat mystery. It's more an exercise in brain power. An exercise I, in this instant, lost, lol.

Poirot. He is such a classic character. He is witty, intellectual, condescending, and just a joyful character to read.

One minor grumble is that Poirot isn't in the story as much as I would have liked. He went to London and seemed to be gone a long while. I also didn't like Hastings much in this book. He is self-absorbed and pompous. He sulks when Poirot isn't around to spend time with. It's not endearing.

Read all Agatha Christie books in order.

Amused. Happy.

Agatha Christie. She is the Queen of Mystery. What more can I say?

It's clever. And Poirot is very charismatic and amusing. It's a good yarn!

No. I do, actually.

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Created Jan 06, 2024 at 6:53am • Submit your own review...