Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“And they all liv’d together in a little crooked house.”

Crooked House by Agatha Christie

by Leave a Comment

Ooh, I got really into this one. It’s been a month since I’ve finished so I’ve had some time to think (though I do of course wish I’d written the review right away, but alas) and I think the reason that I loved this one so much is that it’s one of the few non-detective mystery novels to get the mystery part right and have it be believable. A lot of the time, as a mystery fan when encountering books with non-detective main characters, there […]

“It is a profound belief of mine that if you can induce a person to talk to you for long enough, on any subject whatever, sooner or later they will give themselves away.”

After the Funeral (Hercule Poirot, #26) by Agatha Christie

by 5 Comments

I had a really good time with this one, and the mystery in this one was actually one of the most intriguing of hers to me, even though it isn’t one of her most popular. I’m not sure why it’s one of her more lowly-rated ones. Maybe because Poirot pulls a Marple and is barely in it? The plot in this one kicks off as family patriarch Richard Abernethie’s funeral. He was ill for a long time, but had been predicted to live at least […]

“He played the part of the devil too successfully. But he was not the devil. Au fond, he was a stupid man. And so – he died.”

Cards on the Table (Hercule Poirot, #14) by Agatha Christie

by 5 Comments

I just love the atmosphere of a good Agatha Christie book. There’s not really anything like it. I was bit of a dum-dum and started listening to this one (with classic Christie narrator, Hugh Fraser) while doing stuff at work and didn’t pay it sufficient attention at first, and so was feeling a bit lost. Which is a shame! Because once I started paying attention, I had a really good time with this one. It’s a bit different than Christie’s other mysteries, in that we […]

“And that very same evening—that very same evening—Lord Edgware dies. Good title that, by the way. Lord Edgware Dies. Look well on a book stall.”

Lord Edgware Dies (Hercule Poirot, #9) by Agatha Christie

by 6 Comments

30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 12/30 The ending has made this one of my favorite Christies. You’d think eventually I’d stop being stymied by this woman’s writing, a woman who started writing mysteries a hundred years ago at this point, but it has yet to happen. Maybe I am just terrible at figuring out mysteries, but it’s probably that Christie was just that good. (Or both.) This one started out pretty standard for me. Poirot is called to do something a little […]

Christie, Two Takes

The Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

by Leave a Comment

The Murder on the Links and The Murder on the Orient Express and The Secret Adversary and And Then There Were None Agatha Christie has always been one of my go-to re-reads. It’s my literary comfort food. I’ve read and re-read most of what I have in my library, but didn’t feel like cracking the cover of an old favorite once again. My to-read pile didn’t look appealing, either, so what to do? I had a bunch of Audible credits and found a bunch of (free) […]

Not her best work, in my opinion.

Parker Pyne Investigates by Agatha Christie

by Leave a Comment

**30 Books in 30 Days** Book 24/30 This review is going to be on the shorter side, because I don’t think I have much to say about this one. Mostly, it just wasn’t what I was expecting! Firstly, this is a short story collection, not a novel (like I thought). Parker Pyne is indeed an investigator of sorts, but not one like Hercule Poirot (like I thought), but one like I’ve never seen before. So, props to good old Agatha on that one for originality, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo