Five Little Pigs

A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Hugh Fraser

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, but just like the nursery rhyme, there were five other "little pigs" who could have done it: Philip Blake (the stockbroker), who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist), who stayed at home; Elsa Greer (the three-time divorcee), who had her roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess), who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister), who cried all the way home.

Sixteen years later, Caroline's daughter is determined to prove her mother's innocence, and Poirot just can't get that nursery rhyme out of his mind.

This title was previously published as Murder in Retrospect.

©1942 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers

Another excellent mystery.

Am so enjoying Agatha Christie's mysteries and Hugh Fraser's narration. This book kept me from my sleep. Excellent!

Agatha Christie, The Best There Is

Listening to the audiobook, I had to relisten to sections at the beginning, to understand all the characters and their relation to one another. But pretty soon, the story comes into focus, and the mystery is on. By the time I reached the end, it was more apparent than ever that this is Agatha Christie, the best there is.

Fantastic series of twists

I’ve always loved this one, an excellent use of layered twists and the whole investigate the past trope.

Classic Christe

Worth the time. Twists and turns to find the truth. No need for 7 more words to describe this book

One of the author is best

I so enjoyed this! The narrator was absolutely perfect and really one of Agatha Christie’s best.

Murder in retrospect

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend any Agatha Christie.

What did you like best about this story?

It's an unusual story because it's the reconstruction of a case many years after it happened.

Have you listened to any of Hugh Fraser’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I like Hugh Fraser, but I have to say that his Poirot here wasn't that much distinguishable from the other characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

They thought the past wouldn't come back. They were wrong.

One of my favourites

This is one of my favourites because I really feel for some of these characters. More than any of her books I find this one emotional because I feel like so many lives were ruined by this murder and like there was a genuine villain. I found this a very satisfying book. The narration as always is excellent.

Little repetitive in chapters

Mystery wise the premise was interesting but the characters and chapters were repetitive and not deep. Hugh Fraser makes it an awesome listen though

First Agatha Christie novel!

This was my first Agatha Christie book and it was very enjoyable! I will get others. Characters and narration were very good.

Good, but not Christie's best

Hugh Fraser (who played Hastings, the sidekick of Hercules Poirot on the well-loved tv series) narrates this book, as he has done with several other Christie books.

He did the best he could with this book I think. While I doubt there are actually any "bad" mysteries by Agatha, I would not place this among her best works. It is tedious, and Poirot goes back and forth among the possible candidates for the murderer just interviewing them.

There is very little action otherwise, and I found myself actually becoming a little bored (almost a first for anything by AC). Don't know whether a different narrator might have spiced it up a bit--Fraser wasn't terribly animated in his reading--though perfectly ok in other respects.

I'd say, if you love Agatha Christie, this should be on your listening/reading list so you can complete the works. It is not bad--it just is not up to the usual quality of her writing.