Agatha Christie does it again! This murder mystery is a true tangled web of mystery after mystery after mystery. It reminds me of an old version of the movie "Knives Out".
Summary
Hercule Poirot is back for another mystery. Captain Hastings, Poirot's sidekick, has gotten off the train he took from Paris to Calais and rushes to the flat he shares with Poirot to tell him of a mysterious, acrobat "woman of the stage" who tells Hastings her name is Cinderella. Upon Hasting's arrival at the flat, Poirot receives a letter from a Mr. Renauld that beckons the detective's come with a desperate last line of the letter scrawled hurriedly at the bottom - "For God's sake, come!".
Poirot and Hastings head to Merlinville-sur-Mer where Renauld's sprawling Villa Genevieve is located. Upon arrival, though, the maid reports to the gentlemen that Renauld was murdered the night before/early that morning. Even in his surprise, Poirot takes the case. He begins asking questions of the seemingly harmless wife: Mrs. Renaud who tells him at 2:00 in the morning, two masked and heavily bearded men came into the bedroom, bound and tied her, and took her husband, asking him to reveal a secret. Mr. Renaud promised his wife he would be back by morning, but he was found on the property's golf course buried in a shallow grave and golf bunker with his wife's airplane dagger, a gift from their son Jack, stuck in his back.
The maids tell Poirot about a frequent visitor of the Villa Genevieve: Madame Dubreil, who, upon investigation, proved to be quite evasive. When Poirot took a look at her bank statement, he knew why. She had been forwarded large sums of money over the past couple months. Madame Dubreil and her daughter, Marta (the girl with the anxious eyes according to Poirot and Jack Renaud's lover...or one of them) appear to have been bleeding someone for money. Who other than their wealthy neighbor, Mr. Renaud (if that's his real name)?
Was Madame Dubreil Renaud's mistress? Does Marta really love Jack? Does Jack hate his father? His mother? What will come of Hasting's early romance? How many airplane daggers are there? Did Renaud have a secret? What is to come of the Beroldy case that took place some twenty years earlier? What is its relation to the Renauld case? Are they one in the same? Is crime truly hereditary?
Christie wraps up all these questions into a beautiful gift that is tied with the impeccable and intriguing bow that is Hercule Poirot.
Review
I absolutely loved this book. I think it is one of the most underrated Agatha Christie novels. It is so well thought out. There are twists and turns in the twists and turns. It takes a truly intelligent person to read and understand this book. That is why I do not think I fully understand Christie's masterpiece.
This is a truly first class detective novel. It was certainly not predictable. It felt like a movie reel playing in my head.
FIVE STARS! FIRST CLASS! AGATHA CHRISTIE!
I read this book with the help of a WONDERFUL podcast. It is called Phoebe Reads a Mystery. A woman picks a mystery and reads a chapter or two per episode. It is perfect for the busy body or the commuter who wants to read, but feels the haven't the time to physically sit down and read a book. I love this podcast and look forward to reading The Hound of the Baskervilles with Phoebe.
Happy Reading!! Comment your thoughts below. What's your favorite Agatha Christie novel? If you have already read this, did you enjoy it? Or not?
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