The Killings at Kingfisher Hill

The New Hercule Poirot Mystery

By: Sophie Hannah, Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

The world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot - legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile - returns to solve a fiendish new mystery. 

Hercule Poirot is travelling by luxury passenger coach from London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate. Richard Devonport has summoned him to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent of the murder of his brother, Frank. There is one strange condition attached to this request: Poirot must conceal his true reason for being there from the rest of the Devonport family. 

On the coach, a distressed woman leaps up, demanding to disembark. She insists that if she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. A seat swap is arranged, and the rest of the journey passes without incident. But Poirot has a bad feeling about it, and his fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered in the Devonports' home with a note that refers to ‘the seat that you shouldn’t have sat in’. 

Could this new murder and the peculiar incident on the coach be clues to solving the mystery of who killed Frank Devonport? And can Poirot find the real murderer in time to save an innocent woman from the gallows? 

©2020 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"What Sophie and Agatha have in common is a rare talent for fiendish unpredictability. They make you see how the impossible might be possible after all." (Sunday Telegraph)

“I was thrilled to see Poirot in such very, very good hands.” (Gillian Flynn, best-selling author of Gone Girl)

"Perfect...a pure treat for Agatha Christie fans.” (Tana French)

Is that it?

Sadly this new Poirot tale is decidedly mediocre, and actually rather dull.
The opening scene goes into tortuous repetitive detail that doesn’t have much to do with the central mystery.
Unfortunately the story it hinted at was far more interesting than the one that gradually unfurled.
The ‘mystery’ gets so bogged down in endless lists and a vast cast of indistinguishable characters, that I lost track of who had died, and had little interest in why.
And any Christie fan knows that a good red herring is not a flagrant lie or laboured yet inconsequential plot lines.
A generous 3 stars overall as I loved the narrator and wanted to like the book.

8 hours of my life I won’t get back

One of the most tedious 8 hour audiobooks I’ve listened to in a long time....and I’ve been looking forward to it since March so in a word it’s a let down. The story was overly complicated and rambling for no apparent reason other than to stretch it out. I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for the story or the characters. Agatha Christie would NOT be impressed. I’m tempted to return the book.

Rather disappointing

I have listened to all the Sophie Hannah Poirots and enjoyed them, until I reached this one. I found it to be overly convoluted and drawn out with a disappointing story and a weak ending, sadly i feel it is the weakest in the series thus far.

Great Narrator

The story is pretty good, however, it is performed by a fabulous narrator who is always brilliant ....

Quite a contrived story- but that’s only in line with AC’s work.

Story is quite contrived and balanced on the usual Christie style red herrings but listenable. Perhaps the flimsiest plot of these so far.
Julian Rhind Tutt makes it more bearable. His Poirot is excellent and consistent, I also like the fact that he doesn’t do this ridiculous thing of doing female characters in a high pitched voice with odd intonation. Readers can make or break an audio book all too often I find myself wondering what females the reader must know to think all women speak in squeaky voices or wondering if their accent is supposed to be Brummie or Scouse! Detracts from the story.

Worth a listen.

Great story until Dénouement - insipid

I have loved the first four books in this new series by Sophie Hanah and eagerly looked forward to book five but sadly although I enjoyed the book all the way until that is the final chapter and my enjoyment was taken from me leaving me with a feeling of something unfinished.

The narrator was perfect all the way through but I felt even they seemed let down by the Dénouement

The complex story is written and woven well, so many threads all muddled which keeps you so interested but then the untangling and reasons for them - the actual murders and why they were done - left me so disappointed.

The murders to me felt just so insipid - yes its exactly the right word - for a Hercule Poirot or indeed any Agatha Christie murder. Now I can understand Hercules's reasoning and his fears about who committed them in the future but still, they were, to me personally not the right type for an AC type book.

It was as if this time the author spent so much time weaving such a wonderful storyline that when it came to the end she did not quite know exactly who did what or why so just fitted them in the best she could in a rush. I admit and enjoy Sophie Hannah's work be it Hercule Poirot stories or others but sadly just not this one.

It will not stop me from listening to the next one if there is one in the hope it will be as good as the first three. I cannot even bring myself to relisten as I have no problem with the rest of the book just the why and who committed the murders - if the rest of the book could be kept the same and a new ending was put on the book that is more AC style that would be perfect.

Whodunnit? Who cares?

A preposterous story, painful in the telling. Unlike her other Poirot books (which are good), this story lacks substance. There is a very thin plot, lacking twists, and coherence. The book mainly comprises an assortment of unlikeable characters saying “I did it/no I didnt”, to which the reader is left responding “who cares? Just let this dreadful story end”. The eventual motives are paper thin and lack any credibility. By the fourth book, I’m now getting fed up with the cardboard cut out character of Edward Catchpool as a stand in for the Hastings role. Despite being a Scotland Yard detective, he is completely devoid of any sleuthing skills but more broadly of any personality. His overly verbose and detailed narrative leaves the reader screaming for some pace and action. Sophie Hannah is a talented writer but I think she may have reached the end of the road with her Poirot revival books.

Boring

Extremely tedious,on;y listened to the end in hope it would improve but it remained boring to the very end

I found it disappointing

I don't know if it's just me but I found this book hard work. I love Poirot and all things Agatha Christie but this one just did not work for me.

Truly awful and dull

I had hoped that this book would be better than the last, but yet again it was too convoluted and, sorry to say, really dull.