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Fiction. Mystery. HTML: Hercule Poirot is called on to investigate the murder of a brother and sister, in this classic Agatha Christie mystery now available in an updated edition with a foreword Sophie Hannah. "He was murdered, wasn't he?" When Cora Lansquenet is savagely murdered, the extraordinary remark she had made the previous day at her brother Richard's funeral suddenly takes on a chilling significance. At the reading of Richard's will, Cora was clearly heard to say, "It's been hushed up very nicely, hasn't it. But he was murdered, wasn't he?" Did Cora's accusation a dark truth that sealed her own fate? Or are the siblings' deaths just tragic coincidences? Desperate to know the truth, the Lansquenet's solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery. For even after the funeral, death isn't finished yet . . ..… (more)
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(wikipedia.org)
Another great mystery solved by fantastic Poirot! I really do enjoy him as a detective. He's so funny and really knows what he is doing. This story revolves around the death of Richard Abernethie. The day after his funeral his sister Cora was mysteriously murdered with a hatchet. Poirot is trying to figure out "who done it".
As usual, Poirot is delightful! The crime it's self isn't as spectacular as some of the others, but it's still wonderfully written! The suspects each could have had different motives and reasons. The whole time I thought I knew who had committed the murder and then.....BAM! Agatha Christie hits you with a twist! I throughly loved the ending. I had know idea what was coming!
All in all I give 3.5/5! This means that it really good but not as good as some of the others I've read. But don't get me wrong it was still a good short novel to read in spare time! I can't wait to read other novels by Agatha Christie!
I got a big kick out of this. It did take a little while to get going, but as the story progressed I found myself eager to see how it would all turn out. The plot is semi-recycled from a couple of Dame Agatha's other books, but she's changed
Good stuff. I definitely recommend it to fans of Christie's work.
But when his sister Cora makes the suggestion that Richard was actually murdered, and is then viciously murdered herself on the day after his funeral, the long-time family solicitor Mr
At the beginning of the novel the reader is provided with a copy of the Abernethie family tree, indicating who was at Richard's funeral. Once Hercules Poirot is engaged by Mr Entwhistle to investigate any possible connections between Cora Lansquenet's murder and her claim that her brother was murdered, then we are taken fairly systematically through how members of the family will benefit from either death. In the long run it is a very tidy plot.
It is not the first time I have read this novel, but I found that I had only a vague idea of the final resolution. Red herrings abound and as usual and Poirot does not share all his suspicions. The novel ends with his usual collective revealing of the culprit.
As I have been doing with most of the Christie novel I have read so far, I was also looking for the author's commentary on British social life. The novel is set after World War II and and Enderby, the Abernethie family home, once the scene of a privileged life, will have to be sold so that the proceeds of the estate can be divided up amongst Richard Abernethie's heirs. Yet another sign that the old social order is collapsing.
At the home after the funeral, Cora carelessly tosses off a comment about Richard being murdered. Most of the family chalked it up to Cora just stirring up the pot, as she is wont to do. But the next day, Cora is brutally murdered in her home, and now Mr. Entwhistle is concerned that perhaps Richard was murdered.
He goes to Hercule Poirot to investigate and find out if Richard was murdered and who killed Cora. I found it amusing when Poirot turns to Mr. Goby, a man "famous for the acquiring of information." Goby calls government snooping "God's gift to investigators." Given what we know about the NSA, one could infer that government's spying on their citizens is a time- honored practice.
The family members all have money issues: Timothy hasn't worked due to his "illnesses", and his house and car are falling apart. Susan wishes to buy a pharmacy for her husband. Rosamund wants to use the money to support her and her husband's dreams of staging a play. George apparently has a gambling problem and has been using clients' funds to cover his losses.
They all have motives for wanting the money, and Poirot discovers that many of them had opportunity as well. It's great fun following the clues and trying to put the puzzle pieces together to discover the murderer. (I confess that I was wrong.)
It's interesting that Poirot does not dominate the story. He comes into the story late and stays in the background for the most part. In today's mystery/thriller series books, the protagonist (a cop, investigator, medical examiner) tends to dominate the stories of the books, with the crime relegated to equal or lesser plotlines.
I also found it interesting the lengths that people will go to when money is involved. Like government spying, greed appears to be something that has been with humans for a long time, and probably will be for a long time to come.
Now that I have read three Agatha Christie novels, two of them featuring M. Poirot, I'm curious to read Sophie Hannah's take on the iconic character in The Monogram Murders.
This book certainly had one of the most peculiar motives I've read. In fact this is one of the few mysteries I've read where I didn't have any idea who the killer was until the end of the book. Despite being a Poirot mystery, Poirot isn't in the book very much. The book spends most of it time with the family of the victim(s). They are a strange lot.
I really enjoyed the book and will have to add Agatha Christie to the ever growing list of authors whose books I really have to read.
It's been a long time since I've read an Agatha Christie novel and I'd forgotten how much fun they can be. The enjoyment mainly derives from trying to work out the puzzle before Poirot (or Miss Marple) announces the solution to the assembled suspects, and sifting the liberally strewn red herrings from the real clues. Poirot doesn't feature prominently in this mystery, and is mainly there to set a few wheels in motion and to pull the threads together at the end. As Sophie Hannah rightly observes in the Introduction, Agatha Christie wasn't concerned with plausibility, but intent on creating an entertaining, and cleverly crafted, murder mystery; in this she has entirely succeeded, with a very neat twist. Of course the upper middle-class structure of society, so often depicted in her writings, appears terribly dated these days, but the insights into human psychology are universal. Not world literature, but excellent value as a brain teaser.
There's a fair amount of detailed descriptions, conversations and internal monologues, skipping about from person to person... but of course the clues to the puzzle are in these; I fell for several red herrings, and was convinced, at different times, that each main character must be guilty... other than the one who is eventually denounced.
Hercule Poirot is involved half-way through the book; he's always a delight, and I liked this book very much. Recommended to anyone who enjoys this kind of light crime fiction of sixty plus years ago.
Originally published as Funerals Are Fatal
From the book jacket: When Cora Lansquenet is savagely murdered with a hatchet, the extraordinary remark she made the previous day at her brother Richard’s funeral suddenly takes on a chilling significance. At the reading of
My reactions
Oh, I love Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells. Always entertaining and always keeping me guessing. Here we have quite a number of characters, all of whom seem to have some motive for killing Cora Lansquenet and/or Richard Abernathie. I’m glad I had a text copy along, because it has a family tree printed in it, which is a great help in keeping these various Abernathie relations straight. What a family! Hardly a likeable person in the bunch. I’d have been happy to have any one of them be the murderer. But that’s the joy of a Christie mystery.
The killer and Dame Christie cleverly give us many red herrings, false clues, misleading statements, and seemingly meaningless occurrences to confuse, baffle and thwart any attempts at solving the mystery. But, of course, Hercule Poirot will unveil the person responsible. I was almost as surprised as the culprit when the reveal came.
Hugh Fraser does a commendable job of voicing the audio. There are so many characters that it is hard to keep them straight at time, especially when there is a meeting of two or more women, but Fraser manages quite well. And I do love his interpretation of Hercule Poirot!
Maybe it is because this year I have read several books of Agatha Christie and this story contains some elements typical for this author. That's why this story seemed very similar to her other novels. To the point it
Also because this story just didn't pull me in. I wasn't interested in it. It's so slow and devoid of twists. The mystery of death, or rather two deaths, is somehow so completely uninspiring. And a group of the characters similar to other characters from the novels of Christie. There is simply nothing distinguishing about this novel. There is not one element that would make it stand out from the others.
I am also disappointed with the ending. Apparently it should be a surprise but even though I did not suspect this person any more than the others, after all this solution at the end is very Christie style. If you read some of her books, it's no surprise. In my opinion, this ending is also somehow too simple. I was expecting something more spectacular, more unique, something more like The Murder in Orient Express.
This is not a bad book by Agatha Christie. It's just not a unique story.
So the old man is dead and there is a funeral, cremation, and everyone goes home to the vast manor house for the reading of the will. Everyone knows the the entire lot will go to George, Richard’s nephew by way of his late brother Leo, but instead the moola and property is to be divided up between everyone but George. He has been written out altogether.
But Cora, in her usual tipsy manner, says how lucky they all were that no mention of murder has echoed within the hallowed walls.
Then Cora is butchered in a most horrible fashion. Soon after her “companion’ is slightly poisoned. Mr. Entwhistle, now suspecting something, asks Poirot to look into things.
This he does and in usual, but brilliant, Christie fashion, he unravels a plot more puzzling than the lawn maze that must grace the estate grounds somewhere.
And the answer has a stunning revelation or three that you won’t see coming.
This is one of the top five or six Poirot novels and somehow I’ve missed it up till now. It seems something good has come out of this pandemic, although, given my druthers, I would gladly have skipped this in favor of what we had.
Remember, “Stay Healthy, Stay Sane, and Stay Away From Me.” I thank you, my wife thanks you, my kids thank you, the grand babies thank you and our new German Shepard grand baby dog thanks you.
By the way, my American copy offers this title in lieu of the Brit one.
I am always partial to mysteries like this one that begin with a family tree. The younger characters and their dialogue maybe aren't as sharply drawn as Christie ages, but she is still at the top of her form when it comes to hiding clues in plain sight.
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Also published as Funerals are Fatal.