The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

by Agatha Christie

Unusually, I started another Christie mystery immediately after finishing the previous one.  Well – why not? I wanted something undemanding. I got both in this book.

Having recently listened to a podcast featuring Lucy Worsley – author of a book on Christie published last year – I was aware that this was the boo, that really put its author on the map.  I was also aware of who the murderer would turn out to be.  If I remembered rightly.  And no, I’m not going to give a spoiler here.

Suffice to say that even when you know who did the crime, it is still a very satisfying read.

Both this and The Mysterious Affair at Styles were Kindle downloads, and rather good value.  There are a few other books in this series, and I hope to come back to those.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

by Agatha Christie

Downloaded after listening to a podcast about Agatha Christie.  The author’s life is indeed well-documented, and I had read, watch and listened to various accounts.  Lucy Worsley, a TV personality and historian, has recently published a biography.  She was appearing on the podcast and I was doing a sewing project and listening to various pods and audiobooks.

This one triggered me to read another of Christie’s books.  I wanted some easily readable fiction, and this fit the bill.  It is Christie’s first novel, written during the First World War and published in 1920. In it, she introduces her famous detective Hercule Poirot.

 

Dead Man’s Folly

by Agatha Christie

I downloaded this after reading something (on Bookertalk perhaps?) about Agatha Christie’s home, Greenway, in Devon. This book is apparently set in the house and gardens. It is one of her last.

It’s a long time since I read any Agatha Christie. This is one of her many stories involving Hercule Poirot, whom I always imagine as David Suchet since his appearance as this character in the many TV dramatisations of Christie’s stories. Poirot is invited to Devon by a crime writer, Ariadne Oliver, who – I believe – also appears in other books. Ms Oliver is helping to organise a ‘murder hunt’ as one of the entertainments for a garden party at a big house. She has a feeling that there is something not quite right about it, and invites Poirot on the pretext of presenting the prizes.

Sure enough, there is a murder, a disappearance and another death that may or may not be suspicious. Poirot’s unravelling of the story is not entirely satisfactory; the reader has to suspend disbelief and surprise as to how he ever worked that one out!

Still, an easy read when I needed something to take my mind off a stressful situation. Now more than ever I am determined to visit Greenway – not just as a day visitor, but to stay in one of several National Trust holiday rentals on the estate. Next year, God willing.