books 2008: The Big Four, by Agatha Christie

[supercheesegirl]

This was okay. I really got into the story, but I think the mystery was just a little too big for me--Hercule Poirot against an international crime syndicate, outthinking each other every step of the way. The cover of my copy is a little creepy, too--it shows the heads of "the big four" in four boxes, which looks to me as if the four have been beheaded and their heads are on display on someone's shelves. Very weird design.

Comments

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

It's been suggested that Christie actually intended this as sort of a joke — fitting Poirot into a story more suited to Doc Savage.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I think I've only read one other Christie novel, so if it was a joke I didn't get it. Darn--I'm the kind of book nerd who read The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Udolpho before reading Northanger Abbey, so I'd understand what Jane Austen was poking fun at.

[queende.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd or The Murder on the Orient Express for Christie. Also good are the Tommy and Tuppence stories (as well as the BBC interpretations for Mystery starring Francesca Annis) and the Miss Marple stories (Mystery had these starring Joan Hickson--the only TV interpretation of Miss Marple my family recognizes).