Scan barcode
shmadsie's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. I don't feel like I got to know the perp/suspects as well as I usually do in these--so while it was a great twist, I wasn't that emotionally invested in it because I didn't have favorites/villains the way I always do among the cast of characters. Hastings and Poirot continued to be ridiculously charming though!
jmbz38's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lireunmardi's review against another edition
5.0
ENORME COUP DE COEUR
Les meurtrières d'AC sont surprenantes car elles paraissent toujours si sottes et superficielles. Alors que leur plan est toujours terriblement bien ficelé.
Poirot est excellent dans cet opus! très drôle, très Poirot <3
Les meurtrières d'AC sont surprenantes car elles paraissent toujours si sottes et superficielles. Alors que leur plan est toujours terriblement bien ficelé.
Poirot est excellent dans cet opus! très drôle, très Poirot <3
ftrebelo's review against another edition
3.0
Classic Poirot novel complete with in-your-face red herrings that trick you into thinking every character is the murderer and then can't be. Great twist in the end.
hillarym's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
fraggerbot's review against another edition
3.0
★★★
What starts off as a simple murder mystery goes a little too over the top, with it's unnecessarily complicated twist just because the reader simply should not be able to guess who/what/how of the crime.
What starts off as a simple murder mystery goes a little too over the top, with it's unnecessarily complicated twist just because the reader simply should not be able to guess who/what/how of the crime.
emzleebee's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
thaurisil's review against another edition
4.0
While I read through Agatha Christie's novels with the Appointments with Agatha group, I'm putting a templated synopsis of each novel in my review. It has spoilers!
Book: 13 of Christie's novels, 9 of Hercule Poirot novels
Setting: London
Detective and Companions: Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp
Crime: Lord Edgware is murdered in his home. Shortly after, Carlotta Adams, a theatrical actress, is killed as well.
Suspects:
- Jane Wilkinson, Lord Edgware's wife
- Bryan Martin, a famous film star and Jane's friend
- Geraldine Marsh, Lord Edgware's daughter from his first marriage
- Ronald Marsh, Lord Edgware's nephew and the new Lord Edgware
- Jenny Driver, Carlotta Adam's close friend and Bryan Martin's lover
- Miss Carroll, Lord Edgware's secretary
- Alton, Lord Edgware's butler who disappears
- Duke of Merton, Jane's lover
- Duchess of Merton, the Duke's mother who opposes his planned marriage to Jane
Twists and Turns:
- Jane Wilkinson is the most obvious suspect because she openly announces her desire to kill Lord Edgware before his murder. She then flounces into Lord Edgware's house, announcing her identity openly, before killing him. It is so obvious that Poirot almost immediately decides she is not the murderer. But she is the murderer and had been deliberately playing a hoax on Poirot.
- Before the murder, Jane sends Poirot to Lord Edgware to request a divorce. Lord Edgware replies that he had already sent a letter to Jane agreeing to divorce her a a few months prior. It turns out that Jane was deliberately tricking Poirot into thinking that she no longer had a motive for the murder.
- It is quickly thought that Carlotta Adams was impersonating Jane Wilkinson when she entered Lord Edgware's house before he died, and that the person behind the murder then killed her with veronal. Only at the end does Poirot realise that Carlotta Adams was impersonating Jane at a separate dinner party while Jane was killing Lord Edgware.
- A letter that Carlotta Adams sent to her sister suggests that Ronald Marsh offered her ten thousand dollars to participate in the murder. Ronald Marsh is arrested, but Poirot realises that a page had been torn from the letter and that the "he" in the letter does not refer to Ronald Marsh but was instead part of a "she" that referred to Jane Wilkinson.
- There are a few other people with motives to kill Lord Edgware. Geraldine hates him because she has oppressed her. Ronald Marsh is in financial trouble, has been denied money by Lord Edgware, and would be the next Lord Edgware upon his death. The Duke of Merton wants to marry Jane.
- Bryan Martin's first interaction with Poirot is to tell him of a man with a gold tooth who has been following him around. The man with the gold tooth is never mentioned again till the end, when Poirot reveals that Martin made up the story merely as an excuse to talk to Poirot and raise suspicions against Jane.
You would have thought that after reading so many of Agatha Christie's novels, I would have seen through her tricks! I read this knowing firstly that Hastings is always wrong, and secondly thinking that the person least likely to be suspected would be the murder, and yet somehow I never suspected Jane.
I liked the interactions between Poirot, Hastings and Japp here. Hastings has improved from his initial extreme silliness in the first few Poirot books, and appeared more of an average man and a credible juxtaposition to Poirot. Poirot was his usual arrogant yet kind self, and I appreciated the way he consoled Hastings when Hastings blamed himself over Ronald Marsh's death. The conversations between Poirot and Japp made me laugh, with Japp regularly making tongue in cheek insults at Poirot and Poirot getting affronted.
There is a letter at the end from Jane to Poirot, in which she displays her vanity, self-centredness and lack of a conscience. She says that she did not expect Poirot to be so clever, and ends by saying she will forgive Poirot, for she she must forgive her enemies. It provides an interesting insight into her character.
Favourite quote in this book, from Poirot to Hastings: "And so could you know it if you would only use the brains the good God has given you. Sometimes I really am tempted to believe that by inadvertence He passed you by."
Book: 13 of Christie's novels, 9 of Hercule Poirot novels
Setting: London
Detective and Companions: Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp
Crime: Lord Edgware is murdered in his home. Shortly after, Carlotta Adams, a theatrical actress, is killed as well.
Suspects:
- Jane Wilkinson, Lord Edgware's wife
- Bryan Martin, a famous film star and Jane's friend
- Geraldine Marsh, Lord Edgware's daughter from his first marriage
- Ronald Marsh, Lord Edgware's nephew and the new Lord Edgware
- Jenny Driver, Carlotta Adam's close friend and Bryan Martin's lover
- Miss Carroll, Lord Edgware's secretary
- Alton, Lord Edgware's butler who disappears
- Duke of Merton, Jane's lover
- Duchess of Merton, the Duke's mother who opposes his planned marriage to Jane
Twists and Turns:
- Jane Wilkinson is the most obvious suspect because she openly announces her desire to kill Lord Edgware before his murder. She then flounces into Lord Edgware's house, announcing her identity openly, before killing him. It is so obvious that Poirot almost immediately decides she is not the murderer. But she is the murderer and had been deliberately playing a hoax on Poirot.
- Before the murder, Jane sends Poirot to Lord Edgware to request a divorce. Lord Edgware replies that he had already sent a letter to Jane agreeing to divorce her a a few months prior. It turns out that Jane was deliberately tricking Poirot into thinking that she no longer had a motive for the murder.
- It is quickly thought that Carlotta Adams was impersonating Jane Wilkinson when she entered Lord Edgware's house before he died, and that the person behind the murder then killed her with veronal. Only at the end does Poirot realise that Carlotta Adams was impersonating Jane at a separate dinner party while Jane was killing Lord Edgware.
- A letter that Carlotta Adams sent to her sister suggests that Ronald Marsh offered her ten thousand dollars to participate in the murder. Ronald Marsh is arrested, but Poirot realises that a page had been torn from the letter and that the "he" in the letter does not refer to Ronald Marsh but was instead part of a "she" that referred to Jane Wilkinson.
- There are a few other people with motives to kill Lord Edgware. Geraldine hates him because she has oppressed her. Ronald Marsh is in financial trouble, has been denied money by Lord Edgware, and would be the next Lord Edgware upon his death. The Duke of Merton wants to marry Jane.
- Bryan Martin's first interaction with Poirot is to tell him of a man with a gold tooth who has been following him around. The man with the gold tooth is never mentioned again till the end, when Poirot reveals that Martin made up the story merely as an excuse to talk to Poirot and raise suspicions against Jane.
You would have thought that after reading so many of Agatha Christie's novels, I would have seen through her tricks! I read this knowing firstly that Hastings is always wrong, and secondly thinking that the person least likely to be suspected would be the murder, and yet somehow I never suspected Jane.
I liked the interactions between Poirot, Hastings and Japp here. Hastings has improved from his initial extreme silliness in the first few Poirot books, and appeared more of an average man and a credible juxtaposition to Poirot. Poirot was his usual arrogant yet kind self, and I appreciated the way he consoled Hastings when Hastings blamed himself over Ronald Marsh's death. The conversations between Poirot and Japp made me laugh, with Japp regularly making tongue in cheek insults at Poirot and Poirot getting affronted.
There is a letter at the end from Jane to Poirot, in which she displays her vanity, self-centredness and lack of a conscience. She says that she did not expect Poirot to be so clever, and ends by saying she will forgive Poirot, for she she must forgive her enemies. It provides an interesting insight into her character.
Favourite quote in this book, from Poirot to Hastings: "And so could you know it if you would only use the brains the good God has given you. Sometimes I really am tempted to believe that by inadvertence He passed you by."
emmabeckman's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this one! I thought the red herrings were pretty good, and I couldn't remember if I had seen this one on TV before. I liked the subtle fourth wall breaks from Christie. And I loved that this one was all set in London.