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Hickory Dickory Dock - Agatha Christie

             
                                               Image Courtesy : Amazon
                                                 

Hercule Poirot frowned. 
"Miss Lemon," he said.
"Yes, M. Poirot?"
"There are three mistakes in this letter."

Yes. The most efficient secretary of Mr. Poirot has made 3 mistakes in a single letter. When Poirot questioned Miss Lemon on what has caused a very rare absent mindedness in her, Miss Lemon informs Poirot about the various mysterious occurrences in the student hostel where her sister works. She arranges a meeting between her sister, Mrs Hubbard and Poirot. 

'I congratulate you,' Poirot said warmly to Mrs Hubbard at the end of the meeting.
She looked startled. 'But why, M. Poirot?'
'I congratulate you on having such a unique and beautiful problem.'

The rest of the story is about how Poirot manages to solve the mystery. But before he solves the mystery, there were couple of gruesome murders that shakes every one in the student hostel.

This book is not up to the usual standards of Agatha Christie. The title of the book and the story itself have very little correlation.  It is one of those rare mystery of AC where I don’t feel engrossed at all. It might be due to the fact that there are too many characters and too many unique characteristics for each of them. I felt confused who is Sally, Celia, Patricia ,Valeria and others after certain point and what are their backstories of them. Again, I felt I was not taken through the process of solving the mystery (after Sittaford Mystery). This is the only AC mystery where I felt disappointed after completing the book.

My rating: 2/5.

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