Book SynopsisDistant cousins Elinor Carlisle and Roddy Welman are happily engaged to be married when they receive an anonymous letter claiming that someone is "sucking up" to their wealthy aunt, Laura Welman, from whom Elinor and Roddy expect to inherit a sizeable fortune. Elinor immediately suspects Mary Gerrard, the lodgekeeper's daughter, to whom their aunt has taken a considerable liking. They go down to visit their aunt: partly to see her and partly to protect their interests.
In the night the rich aunt dies without having arranged a will. Elinor is the key suspect - only she had the motive, the opportunity and the means to administer the fatal poison that killed Laura Welman. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced that she is guilty, and he sets out to prove her innocence.
Ups
A classic Agatha Christie, the queen of the locked room murder mystery. Only a certain number of people were on the scene, and they are questioned one by one by Poirot in typical Christie format. Also as typical with other Agatha Christie murder mysteries, all is not as it seems at first, and as Poirot peels off the layers of hidden secrets in the suspects' lives the mystery begins to unfold. It is hard to comment more on the ups of the book without giving away a spoiler. The clues are masterfully hidden and spread throughout the book, so read it carefully!
Downs
I would not say it was the simplest of Agatha Christie mysteries, but I had guessed the murderer and the murder motive before Poirot announces it at the end of the book. So I did not get the spine tingling sensation that I normally get at the end of a really great Agatha Christie novel - when the murderer is announced and it seems so obvious that you wonder how you did not see it sooner. However this may have been because I had read the book many years back and I subconsciously recalled the ending....
Rating
Language & Style - 9 / 10
Memorability - 7 / 10
Re-readability - 5 / 10
Pageturner factor - 9 / 10
Overall - 8 / 10
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