An Agatha Christie Mystery...

"I am the best!" said Hercule Poirot. "I do not need to bend and measure the footprints and pick up the cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of grass. It is enough for me to sit back in my chair and think. It is this" -- he tapped his egg-shaped head -- "this that functions!"

 

Carla Lemarchant will need Poirot's best if she hopes to prove that her mother did not poison her father, the well-known artist Amyas Crale, sixteen years ago. Even though her mother is now dead, Carla still wants Poirot to find the real murderer. There are five other suspects for him to consider:  Philip Blake, Crale's best friend, Meredith Blake, an amateur herbalist and Crale's neighbor, Elsa Greer, the lovely young girl who was having an affair with Crale, Cecilia Williams, the governess, and Angela Warren, Caroline Crale's tempestuous younger sister. As Poirot gets each of their stories, he hopes to find the truth lying somewhere between the lies. It won't be easy, but Poirot is nothing if not persistent. 

Five Little Pigs is an entertaining mystery. There's a lot of questioning by Poirot, both of the police and of the five suspects, and each account of the murder he hears paints a little more of the total picture. But questions always linger. I had fun trying to figure out the who, how and why. Although Poirot did it much better than me, I did guess one of the twists at the end before he revealed it. But I couldn't figure out the real murderer. Still, I had a lot of fun trying. I really enjoy the way Agatha Christie writes; she's one of my favorite authors. And I love Hercule Poirot. Which makes this the perfect book to fill the New-to-you Classic by a Favorite Author category in this year's Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen over at Books and Chocolate.

Happy Reading!

A few other Christie novels I've reviewed over the years:

The Seven Dials Mystery (a favorite!)

Murder on the Orient Express

Peril at End House

Hickory Dickory Dock

And Then There Were None

From my TBR shelf...

Author Anthony Berkeley helped usher in the Golden Era of detective fiction. The Poisoned Chocolates Case is his 5th novel. It revolves around the exclusive Crimes Circle Club whose six members have an interest in murder, detection and criminal psychology; as an intellectual exercise, they've decided to solve a recent murder that has Scotland Yard stumped. The club members give themselves one week to study the case and come up with their own solutions, which they'll then present at their next meeting.

The crime they are trying to solve begins with a simple box of chocolates which is delivered anonymously to Sir Eustace Pennefeather at his club, the Rainbow. Not wanting them himself, he passes the chocolates onto Graham Bendix, who then gives them to his wife. Neither knows that the chocolates have been poisoned until Mrs. Bendix dies. It seems the intended target was Sir Eustace, but who would want to murder him? That's what the Crimes Circle intends to figure out.

It's a fun premise for a murder mystery. As each club member presents his or her solution, you as the reader learn a little bit more about the murder, but never enough to solve it completely, especially when the other members quickly refute the others' premises. I thought it was an interesting way to tell a story. And I liked Berkeley's style of writing and his sense of humor, like when he writes that candidates for the Crimes Circle Club "must have a brain and be able to use it" or when he writes that Mrs. Bendix "was not so serious-minded as not to have a healthy feminine interest in good chocolates". Is this the best murder mystery ever written? No. But it is a good one, and I enjoyed reading it. (With a box of chocolates nearby!) And because this book is "Older Than My Mom" it fills another Reading Bingo square which is an added bookish bonus. (Although it could also be in the running for the Ugly Cover square.)

Happy Reading!