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Checked out
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Publication
William Morrow Paperbacks (2011), Edition: Reissue, 320 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: Time is ticking away for a murderer in Agatha Christie's classic, The Clocks, as Hercule Poirot investigates the strange case of a corpse surrounded by numerous timepieces in a blind woman's house. Sheila Webb expected to find a respectable blind lady waiting for her at 19 Wilbraham Crescentâ??not the body of a middle-aged man sprawled across the living room floor. But when old Miss Pebmarsh denies sending for her in the first place, or of owning all the clocks that surround the body, it's clear that they are going to need a very good detective. "This crime is so complicated that it must be quite simple," declares Poirot. But there's a murderer on the loose, and time is ticking away....
User reviews
LibraryThing member endersreads
Back in 2007 David Suchet had spoken of wanting to complete the filming of all of the Poirot stories by 2011, in which he will have turned 65. In February 2009 it was announced that another series of four stories has been commissioned by ITV. The four novels comprise "The Clocks," "Three Act
I can't help but think what a rather "Poirotless" film "The Clocks" would be. It was not until page 112, Chapter 14 that Poirot first made entrance into "The Clocks". I can't help but think of Agatha Christie's feelings towards the little Belgian, viz.
By 1930, Christie found Poirot 'insufferable', by 1960, she felt that he was a 'detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep'. Yet Christie claimed that it was her duty to produce what the public liked, and what the public liked was Poirot.
I should hope that I would never feel as a writer, come to despise my creation (hmm...). I can only imagine what she would have created if she killed Poirot off and pursued writing of which her heart was in.
It was nice of Christie to include Poirot at the end of this story again, to give us the mystery solved.
I very much would like to visit the quaint Wilbraham Crescent one day (which backed in onto itself), though not to visit a blind communists such as Miss Pebmarsh, nor crazy cat ladies such as Mrs. Hemmings, and certainly not to visit Sheila Webb, as I absolutely despise her stupid lying face.
I can only agree with Detective Inspector Dick Hardcastle in his opinion of Colin Lamb and his marriage—the man has lost his marbles.
Wheels within wheels within the Crescent that backs in on itself. That's what made this mystery worthwhile, as well as the short but sweet appearance of Hercule Poirot. Also, I am a fan of clocks, which are made up of wheels within wheels; and I very much enjoyed Poirot's further elucidating us on the appearance of such clocks, as well as his encyclopedic knowledge of crime fiction. Unfortunately Hastings was in South America, I believe it was.
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Tragedy," "Hallowe'en Party," and "Murder on the Orient Express".I can't help but think what a rather "Poirotless" film "The Clocks" would be. It was not until page 112, Chapter 14 that Poirot first made entrance into "The Clocks". I can't help but think of Agatha Christie's feelings towards the little Belgian, viz.
By 1930, Christie found Poirot 'insufferable', by 1960, she felt that he was a 'detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep'. Yet Christie claimed that it was her duty to produce what the public liked, and what the public liked was Poirot.
I should hope that I would never feel as a writer, come to despise my creation (hmm...). I can only imagine what she would have created if she killed Poirot off and pursued writing of which her heart was in.
It was nice of Christie to include Poirot at the end of this story again, to give us the mystery solved.
I very much would like to visit the quaint Wilbraham Crescent one day (which backed in onto itself), though not to visit a blind communists such as Miss Pebmarsh, nor crazy cat ladies such as Mrs. Hemmings, and certainly not to visit Sheila Webb, as I absolutely despise her stupid lying face.
I can only agree with Detective Inspector Dick Hardcastle in his opinion of Colin Lamb and his marriage—the man has lost his marbles.
Wheels within wheels within the Crescent that backs in on itself. That's what made this mystery worthwhile, as well as the short but sweet appearance of Hercule Poirot. Also, I am a fan of clocks, which are made up of wheels within wheels; and I very much enjoyed Poirot's further elucidating us on the appearance of such clocks, as well as his encyclopedic knowledge of crime fiction. Unfortunately Hastings was in South America, I believe it was.
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LibraryThing member AliceaP
This was written very differently and the plot development was unique also. For starters, the narrative voice changed several times from third person to first person (and it wasn't Poirot as first person either). I thought at first this might create problems like with time jumping but after a few
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chapters the transitions felt familiar and smooth. Secondly, Poirot never set foot on the crime scenes and he never spoke to any of the suspects. From what I've read, this is the only time Christie employed this tactic and it was mostly to show that it was possible for the Belgian detective to accomplish such a feat. As per usual, I thought I had the whole thing figured out only to discover that it was all a pile-up of red herrings and I'd been duped again. Oh, Agatha! Show Less
LibraryThing member Tess22
The Clocks is OK, but not one of her best. There are too many characters involved and the plot goes round in circles. Poirot barely appears, not doing any direct investigating or interviewing, which makes his deduction process less interesting. However there are a few genuine surprises and likeable
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narrators that redeem it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Figgles
Late Poirot (1963 not between the wars as portrayed in the TV adaptation), a little ridiculous but still entertaining! Plot doesn't bear too close an inspection, with two intersecting strands only sorted out by the use of the little grey cells... - all the same I enjoyed it!
LibraryThing member lahochstetler
This novel begins with one of Christie's creepiest murder scenes. A young woman arrives at her employer's house to find an unidentified dead man and a room full of stopped clocks. The rest of the book is spend unraveling the mystery of the dead man's identity and his presence in the home. To
I found the clues offered in this book to be far less subtle than in some of Christie's other mysteries. Indeed, the list of characters at the book's outset gives away a great deal. Ultimately I found the solution to the mystery to be rather odd. Suffice to say that it is very much a product of its time. This is not one of Christie's more haunting efforts, but the reading of it was entertaining nonetheless.
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complicate matters the homeowner is blind, so visual identification is impossible. Before the mystery is solved a young secretary is also murdered, likely in connection with the mystery man. I found the clues offered in this book to be far less subtle than in some of Christie's other mysteries. Indeed, the list of characters at the book's outset gives away a great deal. Ultimately I found the solution to the mystery to be rather odd. Suffice to say that it is very much a product of its time. This is not one of Christie's more haunting efforts, but the reading of it was entertaining nonetheless.
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LibraryThing member arielfl
This was another entry in my cool down with AC summer reading challenge. I read this ahead of viewing the Masterpiece Movie which aired last Sunday. The set up was very much like Three Act Tragedy, my least favorite AC read so far. Hercule Poirot was again a peripheral character who was in the
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novel very little. He just show up in the end to call everyone stupid and solve the mystery. Also like Three Act, this story had a lot of characters to keep track of and a quick solution to the mystery. It was actually two mysteries and like the AC mysteries I've read before, everything is summed up on the last two to three pages. This book is slightly better for me than Three Act just because I liked the characters better. The mystery certainly starts off intriguing enough, how did a dead man come to be found on a blind woman's floor with four clocks in a room that had never been there before? I did not figure out the solution but this wasn't one of the books that kept me on the edge of my seat. There were also references to communism that was an important issue in Chrisite's time but are out of my reference field. I think all of his AC is worth a read although this did not rank in my favorites. I'll watch the movie now and see that if that clarifies things further. Show Less
LibraryThing member ralphmalph
Good book as most of Christie's are. This is a little quick at the ending as she tries to finish the book - I would have preferred more story vs. the quick ending. The title does play a roll but I got more out of the characters which are developed well.
LibraryThing member ForeignCircus
I've been a Christie fan since 8th grade and have read them all so many times that I always remember whodunit. Nevertheless, I find them a relaxing and enjoyable read when I'm taking a break from more weighty fiction. This offering is not one of my favorites, mostly because Hercules Poirot, though
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he makes an appearance, is not central to the story which focuses instead on a young friend of his who finds himself pulled into a murder mystery when he is investigating a case of espionage. The mystery itself is quite enjoyable and the solution satisfying as always; I just prefer to snuggle in with Poirot or Miss Marple when I have the chance. 4 stars. Show Less
LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes
This Agatha Christie mystery is branded as a Hercule Poirot novel but that's a little misleading. Poirot doesn't make an appearance until almost halfway through, and once he does, he's in more of a supporting role. Agent Colin Lamb is the narrator here and he is aided chiefly by Inspector
The plot is well thought out and intriguing, and I expect that from Agatha Christie, but the lack of appearances by Poirot made it less enjoyable. Listening to Poirot figure out the crime and ultimately walking us through his thought process just barely made the whole effort worth it for me.
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Hardcastle, and somewhat lesser by Poirot himself.The plot is well thought out and intriguing, and I expect that from Agatha Christie, but the lack of appearances by Poirot made it less enjoyable. Listening to Poirot figure out the crime and ultimately walking us through his thought process just barely made the whole effort worth it for me.
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LibraryThing member riida
i remember a few years back, i made a conscious decision not to read agatha christie books the way i eat pop corn...they are that special to me, and i was afraid of running out of christie books before my appetite is satisfied.
just finished 'clocks', and i'm so glad that it has lived up to my
an unidentified man is found dead in a blind lady's sitting room by typist-for-hire Sheila Webb. The blind lady, Mrs. Pebmarsh, denies knowing the dead guy. in fact, she denies knowing Sheila Webb, and even denies hiring a typist at all. and just to make things a bit more interesting, six different clocks were found in the same room as the dead guy, and four of them points to the wrong time!
someone connected to the investigation decides to bring the case to his retired friend far away in london, hercule poirot, who has always boasted that "it was perfectly possible to lie back in one's chair, just think about it all, and come up with the answer."
upon first hearing the details of the case, poirot declares matter of factly, "One thing is certain. It must be a very simple crime."
red herrings galore! vintage christie! :D
just finished 'clocks', and i'm so glad that it has lived up to my
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memories of a proper christie novella :)an unidentified man is found dead in a blind lady's sitting room by typist-for-hire Sheila Webb. The blind lady, Mrs. Pebmarsh, denies knowing the dead guy. in fact, she denies knowing Sheila Webb, and even denies hiring a typist at all. and just to make things a bit more interesting, six different clocks were found in the same room as the dead guy, and four of them points to the wrong time!
someone connected to the investigation decides to bring the case to his retired friend far away in london, hercule poirot, who has always boasted that "it was perfectly possible to lie back in one's chair, just think about it all, and come up with the answer."
upon first hearing the details of the case, poirot declares matter of factly, "One thing is certain. It must be a very simple crime."
red herrings galore! vintage christie! :D
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LibraryThing member tulikangaroo
A light, pleasurable read - not enough Poirot, however!
LibraryThing member aliciamay
A young stenographer finds a body in the home of a blind woman in a room with four extra clocks set to 4:13. Things get more interesting when it turns out that the blind woman did not hire the stenographer, no one knows who the dead man is, and more murders are committed. The town’s Detective
Even though this is one of the Hercule Poirot mysteries, he plays a minor role, appearing in only three scenes as an armchair detective. I thought I had the case solved and was growing frustrated by the lapses of the police and secret agent, but I was humbled when the all-knowing Poirot revealed the more complex solution. One thing that detracted from the book was the side case that the secret agent was pursuing, his hunt for Communists. This concern has always been baffling to me, so I can’t take it seriously. But I suppose it was part of the times and necessary to bring his character, and therefore Poirot, into the fold.
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investigates the case with the help of his friend, a British secret agent, who just so happens to be chummy with Hercule Poirot. Even though this is one of the Hercule Poirot mysteries, he plays a minor role, appearing in only three scenes as an armchair detective. I thought I had the case solved and was growing frustrated by the lapses of the police and secret agent, but I was humbled when the all-knowing Poirot revealed the more complex solution. One thing that detracted from the book was the side case that the secret agent was pursuing, his hunt for Communists. This concern has always been baffling to me, so I can’t take it seriously. But I suppose it was part of the times and necessary to bring his character, and therefore Poirot, into the fold.
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LibraryThing member smik
I seriously could not remember if I had read THE CLOCKS before.
I think perhaps I must have because I worked the solution out well ahead of time.
What I found particularly interesting is the way an aging Hercule Poirot tries to demonstrate his ability to solve the mystery from his armchair.
Colin Lamb, into whose arms Sheila Webb flees when she rushes out 19 Wilbraham Crescent after finding the body, decides to consult Hercule Poirot, a friend of his father's, when he is stumped by the mystery, and Poirot uses him as his sniffer dog, interviewing the residents of nearby houses.
The plot is similar in ways to Christie's previous novel, THE MIRROR CRACK'D FROM SIDE TO SIDE, written the previous year, in which an aging Miss Marple does a spot of armchair detection, and uses her friend Dolly Bantry to get the facts so she can work out who killed Heather Badcock.
The admission here is that both Christie's popular detectives are aging, as indeed the author herself is. To be honest they haven't aged as quickly as she has, having already been quite elderly when they made their debuts 50 years before. The inference is of course that though they are each becoming more infirm, that their brilliant minds are still capable of deduction. This despite the fact that those around them sometimes regard them as a little "gaga".
Of course armchair detection has to be possible if one is given all the relevant facts, because that is what we, the readers, indulge in.
There are a few little things that don't quite work in THE CLOCKS, and I thought the story became rather too convoluted, as if the author had changed her mind several times about which solution to adopt in the end, resulting in rather too many red herrings
I think perhaps I must have because I worked the solution out well ahead of time.
What I found particularly interesting is the way an aging Hercule Poirot tries to demonstrate his ability to solve the mystery from his armchair.
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Eventually he comes to London to be closer to to the scene of the crime, to satisfy his curiosity, he says.Colin Lamb, into whose arms Sheila Webb flees when she rushes out 19 Wilbraham Crescent after finding the body, decides to consult Hercule Poirot, a friend of his father's, when he is stumped by the mystery, and Poirot uses him as his sniffer dog, interviewing the residents of nearby houses.
The plot is similar in ways to Christie's previous novel, THE MIRROR CRACK'D FROM SIDE TO SIDE, written the previous year, in which an aging Miss Marple does a spot of armchair detection, and uses her friend Dolly Bantry to get the facts so she can work out who killed Heather Badcock.
The admission here is that both Christie's popular detectives are aging, as indeed the author herself is. To be honest they haven't aged as quickly as she has, having already been quite elderly when they made their debuts 50 years before. The inference is of course that though they are each becoming more infirm, that their brilliant minds are still capable of deduction. This despite the fact that those around them sometimes regard them as a little "gaga".
Of course armchair detection has to be possible if one is given all the relevant facts, because that is what we, the readers, indulge in.
There are a few little things that don't quite work in THE CLOCKS, and I thought the story became rather too convoluted, as if the author had changed her mind several times about which solution to adopt in the end, resulting in rather too many red herrings
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LibraryThing member riverwillow
This has quite a convoluted plot, almost as convoluted as the layout of Wilbraham Crescent which backs onto itself - 19 Wilbraham Crescent is where the murder takes place. Poirot makes a late appearance and solves the mystery. Not one of my favourite Christies, but not a bad read either.
LibraryThing member RubyScarlett
Quite fun this one was! Loads of good psychology here too and it was refreshing to have a disabled character as one of the main protagonists. Didn't quite feel like a Poirot novel since he makes such a small appearance but I didn't care - Colin was lovely.
LibraryThing member antiquary
A dead man is found in a room in a house where he is not known, with four clocks (none of which belong to the house) ll stopped but set to one time. The man turns out to be a minor con man who preyed on women with pretended offers of marriage. He is identified by his former real wife, a minor
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actress --a type who appears I other Christie novels, vulgar but good-hearted. Poirot is brought into the case relatively late. Show Less
LibraryThing member jrsearcher
I cheated. I had an idea of what was going on, and then couldn't stand the suspense and read the end.
LibraryThing member SueinCyprus
A young typist becomes a suspect in a dramatic case. Hercule Poirot gets involved, and uses his brains and logic to solve the puzzle - which, as so often, left me mystified until the murderer was unmasked. Very cleverly written.
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
3.5***
Hercule Poirot takes a somewhat minor role here, while Inspector Hardcastle and Colin Lamb take the lead.
A young woman stenographer/typist is specifically requested at No. 19. She’s instructed to come in if no one answers the door and to wait in the sitting room. She arrives just a couple
As usual there are red herrings everywhere and a double plot involving an international spy ring. Lamb goes to his good friend Hercule Poirot, who is suffering boredom in retirement, with the challenges of the case. Poirot has claimed he can solve the case just sitting in his chair (as long as someone else has done the leg work and brings him the clues). Of course, Poirot is as good as his word.
The book was written in 1963 so there is the specter of Communism and the cold war here, which makes it quite dated, but Christie is a master and I really enjoy going along for the ride.
I listened to the audio book, expertly narrated by Robin Bailey.
Hercule Poirot takes a somewhat minor role here, while Inspector Hardcastle and Colin Lamb take the lead.
A young woman stenographer/typist is specifically requested at No. 19. She’s instructed to come in if no one answers the door and to wait in the sitting room. She arrives just a couple
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of minutes early, and waits as instructed. When the cuckoo clock strikes three she goes over to it to inspect it more closely, which is when she discovers the body of a man who has been stabbed. She runs screaming from the house just as the owner, a blind woman, arrives from her shopping, and she runs right into Colin Lamb who just happened to be walking past looking for another address. Who is the dead man? Who murdered him? Why? How is the girl involved? Why didn’t the neighbors see anything?As usual there are red herrings everywhere and a double plot involving an international spy ring. Lamb goes to his good friend Hercule Poirot, who is suffering boredom in retirement, with the challenges of the case. Poirot has claimed he can solve the case just sitting in his chair (as long as someone else has done the leg work and brings him the clues). Of course, Poirot is as good as his word.
The book was written in 1963 so there is the specter of Communism and the cold war here, which makes it quite dated, but Christie is a master and I really enjoy going along for the ride.
I listened to the audio book, expertly narrated by Robin Bailey.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Clocks by Agatha Christie was originally published in 1963 and features Hercule Poirot. While Poirot is not the main character in this book, he does put the pieces together and come up with correct solution, but he never visits the crime scene or interviews any of the suspects. There are
The story starts out very well with the discovery of a murdered stranger in the front parlour of an elderly blind lady but I didn’t feel that the story held together all that well. Poirot solving the mystery from his armchair made many mental leaps that weren’t entirely convincing and some of the best clues turned out to be red herrings. I did like the addition of the spy story as it spoke to the 1960’s timing. Spy thrillers from authors such as Len Deighton, John LeCarre and Ian Fleming were all the rage in the 1960’s.
Agatha Christie never totally disappoints me, her comments on other mystery writers were fun as was the wry poke at herself with her comments about the fictional Mrs. Oliver and her “foreign” detective. The Clocks was good enough, but I have come to expect much better from this author.
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actually two mysteries in this book, the intriguing murder case that Poirot solves and a cold war spy story. The story starts out very well with the discovery of a murdered stranger in the front parlour of an elderly blind lady but I didn’t feel that the story held together all that well. Poirot solving the mystery from his armchair made many mental leaps that weren’t entirely convincing and some of the best clues turned out to be red herrings. I did like the addition of the spy story as it spoke to the 1960’s timing. Spy thrillers from authors such as Len Deighton, John LeCarre and Ian Fleming were all the rage in the 1960’s.
Agatha Christie never totally disappoints me, her comments on other mystery writers were fun as was the wry poke at herself with her comments about the fictional Mrs. Oliver and her “foreign” detective. The Clocks was good enough, but I have come to expect much better from this author.
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LibraryThing member Auntie-Nanuuq
I figured out a small portion but nit "who done it" or why..... That was the twist away from the given clues.....
I basically skimmed the first 12 chapters (Poirot didn't come in until after that).....
I really dislike chatter/filler.....
I basically skimmed the first 12 chapters (Poirot didn't come in until after that).....
I really dislike chatter/filler.....
LibraryThing member TomDonaghey
The Clocks (1963) (Poirot #37) by Agatha Christie. Here we have Poirot proving his point that a detective need not snoop about like a bloodhound, traipsing across the countryside, magnifying glass in hand, just to catch a killer. Sitting and thinking after the facts have been presented to him is
Here the problem presented is one so extraordinary that it could never happen in real life. Sheila Webb is a young woman who is a typist in an agency that specializes in temporary office workers. She is sent to an upscale address where she discovers a murdered man. There are six clocks set about him, four having been stopped at 4:13 while a cuckoo clock sticks 3.
Sheila runs from the house and into the arms of a Special Branch agent looking into a mystery of his own which has brought him to the same address. Questioning the locals gives him an odd assortment of answers and, puzzled, he turns to Poirot for revelations. It seems the young man’s father and Poirot worked on cases of their own and he had heard marvelous things about the little Belgian.
This is a nice tale and a good puzzle and we find Poirot at his best, sitting and thinking. This is a good read for people who are currently loathe to leave their residences for any reason and proof positive that important work can continue from your own home.
Yeah!
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all he does in this outing. And, of course, it works.Here the problem presented is one so extraordinary that it could never happen in real life. Sheila Webb is a young woman who is a typist in an agency that specializes in temporary office workers. She is sent to an upscale address where she discovers a murdered man. There are six clocks set about him, four having been stopped at 4:13 while a cuckoo clock sticks 3.
Sheila runs from the house and into the arms of a Special Branch agent looking into a mystery of his own which has brought him to the same address. Questioning the locals gives him an odd assortment of answers and, puzzled, he turns to Poirot for revelations. It seems the young man’s father and Poirot worked on cases of their own and he had heard marvelous things about the little Belgian.
This is a nice tale and a good puzzle and we find Poirot at his best, sitting and thinking. This is a good read for people who are currently loathe to leave their residences for any reason and proof positive that important work can continue from your own home.
Yeah!
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LibraryThing member bcrowl399
I truly enjoyed this Christie mystery. It wasn't too convoluted at the end when they revealed the killer.
LibraryThing member lamour
Often I find a Christie novel slow to start but this one took off immediately with a murder in the prologue. Then the plot thicken to the point Detective Inspector Hardcastle was stymied. His friend and colleague Colin Lamb was also having difficulty with the clues and interviewing the various
Ente
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witnesses and suspects.Ente
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LibraryThing member saroz
This is an almost perfect example of a late Christie: brilliant initial premise; fun, often comic human observation; and a lingering sense that she gave up on the most interesting possibilities about halfway through. It's never not readable, but there's a point midway where you realize she's
There are hints, as in so many later Christies, that she really wanted to be writing a different kind of book. Hercule Poirot only shows up for four extended scenes, one of which largely involves him casting judgment on the various authors of detective fiction: a long, languorous interlude that feels like Christie's two-fingered salute to a publishing contract. (You want officious little Monsieur Poirot with his quirks? You got it.) He shows up at the climax to smirkily reveal that he knows it all, infuriating the book's actual protagonist - but to what end? Some of the most interesting aspects of Christie's setup are revealed as red herrings, and at least one of Poirot's revelations is veering toward an admonishment to both character and reader to pay better attention. It feels like a lot of trouble and misdirection just so we can all have a bit of a lecture.
The best sequences of the book are darkly comic vignettes of everyday human bloodthirstiness: the woman who keeps too many cats and forces visitors to cope; the little girl who watches her neighbors from the window, gives them pretend names, and glories in the speculation of a murderer; the neighborhood boys who sheepishly admit to raiding a crime scene for trinkets. These could all be in a Hitchcock film, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn Christie had seen pictures like "Shadow of a Doubt" or "Strangers on a Train." That's the sort of thing I think she'd clearly like to be writing: a darkly humorous thriller, well shy of Poirot or any of his ilk.
(As usual, Hugh Fraser proves a highly enjoyable narrator of the unabridged audiobook. He made the story putter along even at points where I think the physical book would have frustrated me, and I'm guessing he's responsible for a half-star, if not a full one, of my rating.)
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probably never going to follow through, and she doesn't - although she gets a lot closer than the mid-book lull suggests.There are hints, as in so many later Christies, that she really wanted to be writing a different kind of book. Hercule Poirot only shows up for four extended scenes, one of which largely involves him casting judgment on the various authors of detective fiction: a long, languorous interlude that feels like Christie's two-fingered salute to a publishing contract. (You want officious little Monsieur Poirot with his quirks? You got it.) He shows up at the climax to smirkily reveal that he knows it all, infuriating the book's actual protagonist - but to what end? Some of the most interesting aspects of Christie's setup are revealed as red herrings, and at least one of Poirot's revelations is veering toward an admonishment to both character and reader to pay better attention. It feels like a lot of trouble and misdirection just so we can all have a bit of a lecture.
The best sequences of the book are darkly comic vignettes of everyday human bloodthirstiness: the woman who keeps too many cats and forces visitors to cope; the little girl who watches her neighbors from the window, gives them pretend names, and glories in the speculation of a murderer; the neighborhood boys who sheepishly admit to raiding a crime scene for trinkets. These could all be in a Hitchcock film, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn Christie had seen pictures like "Shadow of a Doubt" or "Strangers on a Train." That's the sort of thing I think she'd clearly like to be writing: a darkly humorous thriller, well shy of Poirot or any of his ilk.
(As usual, Hugh Fraser proves a highly enjoyable narrator of the unabridged audiobook. He made the story putter along even at points where I think the physical book would have frustrated me, and I'm guessing he's responsible for a half-star, if not a full one, of my rating.)
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Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1963-11-07
Physical description
320 p.; 5.31 inches
ISBN
0062073818 / 9780062073815