Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tell me your dreams by Sidney Sheldon

Its difficult to write about this book because it would lead me to give away too much of the plot which might be detrimental to those who have not read this work. So, hence my little thoughts around this book here. Ashley Patterson , a software engineer, feels that she is being stalked by an unknown person. One day, she finds that some strange writings on the mirror and asks for police protection. Strangely, the police person who came fo r protection is found dead. Who has killed him? Is anyone following Ashley Patterson? It is a classic example of how a thriller has to be written. The book is slick and brilliantly edited to sustain the narration. There are no additional words/lines/pages written that deviates/distracts the readers from the plot. The book also touches upon various problems a women undergo in her personal and professional life. Another important theme that resonates in the book is how a childhood trauma can shape the minds of youth and how the inner t...
Post a Comment
Read more

4.50 from Paddington (Miss Marple) - Agatha Christie.

                                     Image Courtesy : Amazon Mrs. Elspeth McGillicuddy is on a visit to St. Mary Mead to meet her friend Miss Marple in a Train where she sees a man strangling a woman in the adjacent train. She informs the ticket collector who does not believe her. She reached St. Mary Mead and informed  Miss Maple about the murder. Miss Marple decides to find where the body of the dead person is. With the help of train time table and local maps, Miss Marple concludes that Rutherford hall as the possible location of where the body could be hidden. She hires Lucy Eyelesbarrow, an intelligent house keeper, to assist her in finding the body in the Rutherford hall. Mr Crackenthorpe and his family lives in Rutherford Hall. Lucy enters Rutherford Hall as a house keeper and successfully finds the dead body. Who is the dead pe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Black Coffee - Agatha Christie

                                                             [Image courtesy : Amazon ] Sir Claude, a famous scientist,  requests Hercule Poirot's help to protect the formula of a new explosive he discovered and deliver the same to a office in :London. Claude suspects that one of the inmate of his own house is involved in the mischief. Poirot agrees to help Claude and reaches his house only to find him dead. Now, Poirot is determined to find the truth behind the mysterious death. The setting of the novel is similar to Christie's other novels like Murder on the links,  certain pieces of ABC's of murders, Dumb Witness (though the letter never reached Poirot in the latter case ) etc  where Poirot was invited to solve a case and the invitee is dead before he could arrive.  If you are a fan of Poiro...
Post a Comment
Read more