So... I am about to embark on review number two for today. Other achievements for today include: getting my laundry done, and the only item remaining on my to do list is "doing the dishes". Things are going well... if not for the fact that actually I now do not really want to go and do the dishes but would rather curl up on the bed with my book. Perhaps I can talk myself into a compromise? It'll be a long shot...
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Lord Edgware Dies - Agatha Christie
First of all... good riddance to Lord Edgeware. We only meet him for a few pages but he seems a perfectly nasty, controlling little man. Secondly, I now believe I will never understand how Poirot does what he does. He keeps all these thoughts inside his little grey cells and does not share with the class so you have no idea how far along he is in solving the case. Mind you, even if he did share what he was thinking I doubt I would get it. I think I am a Hastings not a Poirot and such is my lot in life.
So who do we have on the main suspect list? We have Lady Edgeware, she is presented as a dumb, money grabbing kind of type and the wife of the dead body in the title. Next on the list is her actor friend, Bryan. He was madly in love with her, then scorned by her in favour of a more financially benificial candidate so he has plenty of reason to set her up for murder. Interestingly we have an impersonator as well.... and she is good. Carlotta can be anyone you want and yet go unnoticed, a rare talent indeed. Unfortunately for Carlotta she dies before the whole thing even gets going but we know she is connected to it all. There is the Lord's daughter Geraldine who is mousy, was afraid of her father and happy to see him die. Finally, we have the heir to the estate Ronald Marsh, previously disgraced, a bit of a rogue but now rolling in clover. He comes out with all guns blazing so he is sure to be hiding something. He is the one that is arrested for the murder but you kind of know he didn't do it. Why would he?
There are a few others who could technically be in the frame for the murder but I am happy to say that I was not tempted by them for a minute! I know Christie too well by now. We have Lord Edgeware's assistant who seems to have a bit a sympathy for the daughter but none for the wife or heir. She had opportuity for sure but the motive is a bit foggy. There's the dodgy butler who bolts when the ground gets too hot under his feet. Sure, he may have taken some money but why kill the goose who lays the golden eggs? Last but not least there is the new suitor of Lady Edgeware. I ruled him out as soon Christie mentions him as he sounds like someone who would have trouble fighting his way out of a paper bag with scissors. Therefore, plunging a knife in someone's spinal column does not seem the kind of thing he would be any good at.
Once again Christie leads us up the garden path, gives us several possible scenarios for the murders (oh yes, there are a few more bodies in this one than just the Lord!). It seems that at one point even Poirot is stumped by this one. The final conclusion is delightful and comes out of the blue. Christie is so good at playing at your preconceptions of the types of characters she portrays that you make your own deductions based on type alone and in the end get proven wrong... and I mean totally wrong. The murderer never behaves they way (s)he should with Christie and the brilliant things is that even with that knowledge I am still wrong about who dunnit every time. You tell yourself not to take everything you read on face value, to allow for people to behave out of character and not to type. However, who is more likely to have reason to behave out of character and therefore be the killer? That is never clear to me and that is probably part of why I get it wrong every time.
It is a good story, with a decent body count. It moves along nicely with a bit of a lull when Poirot gets stuck and then a rush to the end once the final clue arrives. You do keep finding out little bits of info as you go along... well Japp does. He seems to be the delegated dog's body in this one. He goes out on the road getting the information whilst Poirot sits at home, has his tea and biscuits, tidies his moustache and lets his little grey cells do the running around..... bloody brilliant!
Title: Lord Edgeware Dies
Author: Agatha Christie
351 pages
Harper
ISBN# 978-0-00-781555-5
Books to be read: 143
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