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Mrs. Packington felt alone, helpless, and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in the Times that read: "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne." Equally adept at putting together the fragments of a murder mystery or the pieces of a broken marriage, Mr. Parker Pyne is possibly the world's most unconventional private investigator. Armed with just his intuitive knowledge of human nature, he is an Englishman abroad, traveling the globe to solve and undo crime and misdemeanor.
Emily Inglethorp has been poisoned. And it seems everyone at Styles Court, from the hired help to family members, had a motive - and the means. But with Detective Hercule Poirot out of retirement and on the case, no one's getting away with murder. The Mysterious Affair at Styles was not only Agatha Christie's debut; it also introduced her illustrious detective character to the world.
Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her - and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails. The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But Anne is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind?
"Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe," declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, "would be doing the world at large a favor!" It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later - when the Colonel is found shot dead in the clergyman's study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.
Tommy and Tuppence are charming, broke, and in desperate need of work. They decide to set up Young Adventurers Ltd. - "willing to do anything, go anywhere". They are soon caught up in a dastardly plot to overthrow the British government.
In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a table for a seance. Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message: "Captain Trevelyan...dead...murder." Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snowdrifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot....
Mrs. Packington felt alone, helpless, and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in the Times that read: "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne." Equally adept at putting together the fragments of a murder mystery or the pieces of a broken marriage, Mr. Parker Pyne is possibly the world's most unconventional private investigator. Armed with just his intuitive knowledge of human nature, he is an Englishman abroad, traveling the globe to solve and undo crime and misdemeanor.
Emily Inglethorp has been poisoned. And it seems everyone at Styles Court, from the hired help to family members, had a motive - and the means. But with Detective Hercule Poirot out of retirement and on the case, no one's getting away with murder. The Mysterious Affair at Styles was not only Agatha Christie's debut; it also introduced her illustrious detective character to the world.
Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her - and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails. The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But Anne is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind?
"Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe," declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, "would be doing the world at large a favor!" It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later - when the Colonel is found shot dead in the clergyman's study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.
Tommy and Tuppence are charming, broke, and in desperate need of work. They decide to set up Young Adventurers Ltd. - "willing to do anything, go anywhere". They are soon caught up in a dastardly plot to overthrow the British government.
In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a table for a seance. Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message: "Captain Trevelyan...dead...murder." Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snowdrifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot....
So Hastings was shocked to learn from Hercule Poirot's declaration that one of them was a five-times murderer. True, the aging detective was crippled with arthritis, but had his deductive instincts finally deserted him?
Can't fault Hugh Fraser's reading. Loved the twist in this last Poirot. Christie, what an author! Will hear again and again and ...
One of the best Poirot stories -- masterfully narrated by Hugh Fraser, who also performed the narrating character in the David Suchet series. This is among the Agatha Christie books which are not only masterfully woven crime mysteries but also not without literary merits. It revolves around real ethical and moral dilemmas -- a relatively rare thing in murder mysteries.
A poignant final case for Poirot aided by his faithful Hastings in which they re-investigate supposedly solved murders/deaths. In true Agatha Christie style it's intricately plotted and enjoyable to listen to owing much to being wonderfully well-read by Hugh Fraser (Hastings of the TV series).
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
This is a fantastic book. The best thought out story, the best characters, the best twists, and an end you mustn't miss out on.
How clever Agatha was. And to finish like this.....wow.
Buy it, you will not be disappointed.
A clever piece of writing. Not too many characters so it is easy to follow. A contained story as it all happens in one place more or less.
I absolutely loved it. You will too.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
What can I say, Agatha Christie out did herself, in this final case, the suspense intrigue, the amount of suspects that it could have been it was amazing, I was completely dumbfounded when I came to the end and the culprit was announced.
When you start the book you are given a lot of information and you may want to give up but don't you'll regret it if you do.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
unlike conan doyle, agatha has laid her fictional Detective Hercle to a permanant Heavenly home. there will never be annother Hercule.
I love Agatha Christie's books, especially the Poirot's series. He is a great character and with this book I like him more.
Although the plot is as ingenious and improbable as usual, this novel is disturbingly nihilistic and lack the tongue in cheek tone that provides a certain charm to Christie’s tales of murder amongst the parasitic classes. The characters seem to have been reading Nietzsche uncritically, or at least the more intellectual amongst them, which gives me an aftertaste of concern for their subsequent lives (and that’s just those who haven’t killed anyone in this book!)
Styles Court, setting for the first Poirot novel, become a sinister Fawlty Towers, with similar malevolence but lacking the comic relief of Manuel, the waiter. Christie often uses servants as objects of ridicule, less affectionately than in Fawlty Towers, but she doesn’t even relieve tension in this book with that dubious device.
I don’t like this book at all, though it has the attraction of being Poirot’s swan song. I can see why she kept it hidden for so long after she wrote it - a bitter story, maybe closer to her personal philosophy than the requirements of the “Christie brand” of her earlier career - but certain to make a fat fortune once she was too old to write and too old to care.
excelently read Hugh Fraser is fab at the different voices the story wow superb ending
I am not an avid Christie reader, but I am an avid Christie fan. I grew up watching the old Joan Hickson Marple movies (pocket full of rye used to scare the living daylights out of me), and the early series of the David Suchet tv adaptation of Poirot.
But as the years went on, my love for the old Christie books had changed to horror at the most recent adaptations. After years of waiting for a David Suchet adaptation to replace the awkward accent and strange paleness of Albert Finny, I got a Murder on the Orient Express which I could hardly recognize.
The new trend of adaptation, that of deviating heavily from Christie's story, is painful for someone who was used to the quality of the early series. I spent quite a lot of time waiting for the more iconic tales to swing around, and now that they have, they are horrible to behold.
Here, therefore, is a chance for us fans of the older series, fans of the time when Agatha Christie's Poirot was a good show to watch, one that didn't make you cringe at the obvious changes (so obvious, a non-reader can spot them), to experience something of the "Curtain" experience which we deserve, but will never get.
Enjoy, my friends, this delightful performance by Hugh Fraser (Who does a lovely David Suchet impersonation, btw), and dream of what might have been.
- G
4 of 8 people found this review helpful
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I felt that if this was it I would not bother to buy another- then I began to be more adventurous in my choices
Any additional comments?
fun book but the narrators confused me as i preferred the TV series to the books and the voices seemed to be the wrong people. I think Agatha has been so well presented on screen the books fade into the background for me
0 of 2 people found this review helpful