The Mystery of Three Quarters

The New Hercule Poirot Mystery

By: Sophie Hannah

Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The world’s most beloved detective, Hercule Poirot - the legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and most recently The Monogram Murders and Closed Casket - returns in a stylish, diabolically clever mystery set in the London of 1930.

Returning home from a luncheon, Hercule Poirot is met at his door by an imperious woman who introduces herself as Sylvia Rule. "How dare you? How dare you send me such a letter?" Ignoring his denials, Mrs. Rule insists she received a missive claiming he had proof she murdered a man named Barnabas Pandy and advising her to confess her crime to the police. Threatening the perplexed Poirot with a lawsuit, she leaves in a huff.

Minutes later, a rather disheveled man named John McCrodden appears. "I got your letter accusing me of the murder of Barnabas Pandy." Calmly, Poirot again rebuts the charge. Each insisting they are victims of a conspiracy, Mrs. Rule and Mr. McCrodden deny knowing who Pandy is.

The next day, two more strangers proclaim their innocence and provide illuminating details. Miss Annabel Treadway tells Poirot that Barnabas Pandy was her grandfather. But he was not murdered; his death was an accident. Hugo Dockerill also knows of Pandy, and he heard the old man fell asleep in his bath and drowned.

Why did someone send letters in Poirot’s name accusing people of murder? If Pandy’s death was an accident, why charge foul play? It is precisely because he is the great Hercule Poirot that he would never knowingly accuse an innocent person of a crime. Someone is trying to make mischief, and the instigator wants Poirot involved.

Engaging the help of Edward Catchpool, his Scotland Yard policeman friend, Poirot begins to dig into the investigation, exerting his little grey cells to solve an elaborate puzzle involving a tangled web of relationships, scandalous secrets, and past misdeeds.

©2018 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Good setup; long, drawn-out resolution

Poirot lives on in this series, and Insp. Catchpool is good as his sidekick and putative narrator. Plus, the vocal narrator, Julian Rhind-Tutt, is excellent.

I wish Poirot and Catchpool could be surrounded by some more likable characters. I understand that a murder mystery necessarily involves people who could be capable of terrible acts, but I prefer suspects & witnesses who might be implicated without being so unpleasant.

I don’t know if the attitudes portrayed are accurate for the era. The topic of illegal abortion was raised a couple of times, with an enraged kid talking about murder, countered only by an unsympathetic provider who apparently didn’t care whether or not the patient wanted the procedure. (I somehow doubt providers were forcing the upper class to have unwanted illegal abortions.) And why would Poirot summon children at play to attend his big reveal about murder and multiple families’ secrets? It doesn’t seem like something kids would need to learn about in a big group setting. Also, the word “murder” is thrown around a lot, unquestioned. I waited for an alleged murder victim to pipe up and ask if there weren’t other crimes on the books to cover dishonesty, without calling it murder.

I enjoyed a lot of the book, including clever twists and some nice musings on forgiveness. But I found the second half of the story needlessly long and hard to believe. The underlying wrongdoing seemed to me a silly basis for the alleged crime. There was also a three-day affair that was supposedly one’s only possible love. I wondered how one kid got so preternaturally well-adjusted. I also don’t understand the perspective that hanging is the only acceptable outcome of a criminal case.

In sum, though, the book was a fairly pleasant journey, because it captured Poirot’s attitude and approach so well, and because the narration is superb.

Disappointed with this one

I enjoyed the first two books of this supplement to the original Poirot books. However, I found book three disappointing. It did not have the feel of the decade in which it was set and the depiction of Poirot himself, as well as many of the other characters, were not compatible with their time either. The story itself was interesting to a point but the way the characters were written detracted from its telling. Maybe it is asking too much of a modern author to write such a prolific character when she has neither lived during his time nor experienced the details of life as did the original author. Christie’s details of the time period in which she writes add a very important layer to the entire story she writes. You can vividly imagine her Poirot in 1920s-30s England and the society of that time. This telling attempts it but lacks that necessary layer.

disappointed

struggled to finish it....did not like the way Poirot was written but enjoyed Catchpool's character.

My wife always knows whodunnit

But this story stumped her. Rah! Minimal criticism is constantly changing the volume while driving for suddenly loud/suddenly soft voices.

Ah, Sleuth Poirot

Very good. Constant twists and turns. Variety of characters to keep your mind trying to help solve the event.

Great Mystery

Author did a credible job of making me believe I was reading another Christie mystery!

A New Hercule Poirot to enjoy!

I fell in love with Agatha Christie's books years ago. Poirot and Marple being my favorite characters. I have listened to the three books by Sophie Hannah and found this one to be very, very good!
I think the denouement was spun out a bit long, but since I hate the story to be over it's not a serious complaint. The narrator who reads these books is exceptional. I hope we can look forward to more Poirot by Ms. Hannah, with Jjulian Rhind-Tutt narrating.
G. Knipe

This is prime Poirot

I like everything about this but most especially I love the narration. David Suchet will always be Poirot to me and Julian Rhind-Tutt sounds very much like him and the Poirot I know.

Great premise & narration

This book was saved by the narration, which was superb. A bit drawn out with plot twists that were rather extraneous for my taste. Good premise... tho I likely will not add more from this author to my collection.

Amazing

Great story a lot to take in but so worth it. I will need to redo it to get all the details I did not pick up on.