Author: Sophie Hannah
Publication Date: August 28, 2018
Publisher: William Morrow
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.
“We Agatha Christie fans read her stories--and particularly her Poirot novels--because the mysteries are invariably equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging. Sophie Hannah had a massive challenge in reviving the beloved Poirot, and she met it with heart and no small amount of little grey cells. I was thrilled to see the Belgian detective in such very, very good hands. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home.”
— Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl
Hercule Poirot returns home after an agreeable luncheon to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met. She is furious to be so accused, and deeply shocked. Poirot is equally shocked, because he too has never heard of any Barnabas Pandy, and he certainly did not send the letter in question. He cannot convince Sylvia Rule of his innocence, however, and she marches away in a rage.
Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him — a man called John McCrodden who also claims also to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy...
Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered? And can Poirot find out the answers without putting more lives in danger?
I must admit that I have never read an Agatha Christie novel, so I have nothing to compare this one too. However, I must say that I really loved and adored this novel. I found it to be very atmospheric and I found myself completely submersed in the mystery. Some parts seemed slow because of the rich descriptions and all the background information that the author had to provide, but the mystery was well laid out and Sophie Hannah’s puzzles were intriguing as they unraveled.
“It is not a pleasant thing, to be accused of something one has not done. One ought to be able to brush the untruths aside, but somehow they take hold of the mind and cause a spectral form of guilt—like a ghost in the head, or in the conscience! Someone is certain that you have done this terrible thing, and so you start to feel as if you have, even though you know you have not. I begin to understand, Georges, why people confess to crimes of which they are innocent.”
“Most certainly, there is more, and I shall find out what it is. Not one unsavory morsel will escape from Hercule Poirot!”
“You might be cleverer than I am,” I said, though the person I was addressing had no chance of hearing me, “but I wouldn’t assume you’re cleverer than Hercule Poirot.”
I am very intrigued to read the other two books by Sophie Hannah, additions to the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie. Sophie Hannah has done her research well when it comes to our detective, Hercule Poirot. Many critics have negative things to say about Hannah’s writing of Poirot, but I believe she has done an outstanding job in the continuation of this series.
***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at William Morrow in exchange for my honest review***
No comments:
Post a Comment