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rachelmanija Nov. 15th, 2022 09:24 am)
rachelmanija Nov. 15th, 2022 09:24 am)Poirot is approached by a beautiful but less-than-bright actress, Jane Wilkerson, who wants him to get rid of her husband, Lord Edgware, who is refusing to divorce her. She's a little vague on what exactly she thinks Poirot can do, but is very clear, in front of multiple witnesses, that she'd like a divorce but would prefer him dead.
Poirot does go to see Lord Edgware, and is thunderstruck when the lord says he's already agreed to divorce her. He tells Jane, who is puzzled as it's the first she's heard of it. Then Lord Edgware turns up murdered. Jane has a perfect alibi, and her motive is now questionable due to the divorce. Does anyone else want him dead...?
The most interesting thing about this book is very spoilery. I remember how astonished I was when I read it as it does something that I think is unique in Christie's catalogue: the murderer is a character who appears in a different Christie book (and is not the murderer in that).
I'd read the other book first The Tuesday Club Murders AKA The Thirteen Problems, a Miss Marple book and instantly ruled out Jane Wilkerson as the murderer based on her appearance in that. How wrong I was, though in retrospect there's no actual reason to think someone can't be a supporting character in one story and the murderer in another, other than genre convention. Once again, Christie is excellent at breaking rules.
Jane is the best character in the book and her confession at the end is very memorable. Not much in the rest of the book is.
Otherwise my favorite thing about the book is that if you add one letter, you get a gentle satire on wellness trends, Lord Edgware Diets.
Though there's a couple clever bits and the end is good, this is overall not one of Christie's better books. Jane is a good character but the rest of the cast doesn't have Christie's usual deft touch with supporting characters. Also, even by Christie standards, it is HORRENDOUSLY bigoted. Skip it.
Christie scale: MEDIUM levels of HOMOPHOBIA. HIGH levels of RACISM. EXTREME levels of ANTI-SEMITISM.
Poirot does go to see Lord Edgware, and is thunderstruck when the lord says he's already agreed to divorce her. He tells Jane, who is puzzled as it's the first she's heard of it. Then Lord Edgware turns up murdered. Jane has a perfect alibi, and her motive is now questionable due to the divorce. Does anyone else want him dead...?
The most interesting thing about this book is very spoilery. I remember how astonished I was when I read it as it does something that I think is unique in Christie's catalogue: the murderer is a character who appears in a different Christie book (and is not the murderer in that).
I'd read the other book first The Tuesday Club Murders AKA The Thirteen Problems, a Miss Marple book and instantly ruled out Jane Wilkerson as the murderer based on her appearance in that. How wrong I was, though in retrospect there's no actual reason to think someone can't be a supporting character in one story and the murderer in another, other than genre convention. Once again, Christie is excellent at breaking rules.
Jane is the best character in the book and her confession at the end is very memorable. Not much in the rest of the book is.
Otherwise my favorite thing about the book is that if you add one letter, you get a gentle satire on wellness trends, Lord Edgware Diets.
Though there's a couple clever bits and the end is good, this is overall not one of Christie's better books. Jane is a good character but the rest of the cast doesn't have Christie's usual deft touch with supporting characters. Also, even by Christie standards, it is HORRENDOUSLY bigoted. Skip it.
Christie scale: MEDIUM levels of HOMOPHOBIA. HIGH levels of RACISM. EXTREME levels of ANTI-SEMITISM.