4:50 From Paddington – Agatha Christie

Title: 4:50 From Paddington
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 288
Category: 8. Read a book written by a woman
Format: Paper

Date Started: July 5th 2017
Date Finished: July 7th 2017

This is the third and final of my Agatha Christie reads today and focuses not on the famous detective Poirot, instead it is one of her Miss Marple novels.

Miss Marple’s friend Ms. McGillicuddy is on her way to visit when she saw a woman being strangled on a train that passed by her very close to the station. Naturally nobody believes this older lady could have actually witnessed a murder except Miss Marple. But, and here’s the weird part, no body shows up. So this murder mystery is part search for the murderer and part search for the dead body.

This book is so short that I really don’t want to spoil any of the greatness by telling you more than that. But in traditional Agatha Christie fashion there is a twist at the end. And for once I actually saw the twist coming.

At any rate, there’s a chance there will be more Agatha Christie to come next year. So, what are your favourite Agatha Christie novels that I should be checking out?

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

 

 

Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

Title: Murder on the Orient Express
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 274
Category: 5. Read a book written before 1950
Format: Paper

Date Started: June 24th 2017
Date Finished: June 28th 2017

This is the second of my Agatha Christie books for the year, this is probably one of the most well known Agatha Christie books out there. So well known that it’s getting a brand new movie to be released this year. In fact, that’s the reason I chose this book because I wanted to read it before seeing the movie. Of course, having read the book I’m now wondering about some of their casting choices but we’ll see. Okay, mostly I’m wondering about Michelle Pfeiffer who is playing a character who is described as ‘homely’, a word I never would’ve thought to associate with Pfeiffer. But we’ll see.

At any rate, the famous detective Poirot boards the Orient Express on the way to a job, but someone is murdered on the train and it’s up to him to solve the murder. There aren’t that many people on the train but the victim seems to have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

And again there’s a classic Christie twist at the end which is super fun and I won’t spoil it for you.

If you read no other Christie book then definitely read this one.

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Unexpected Guest – Agatha Christie

Title: The Unexpected Guest
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Murder Mystery/Play
Pages: 114
Category: 44. Read a book where a stranger comes to town
Format: Paper

Date Started: June 20th 2017
Date Finished: June 24th 2017

Okay, so this is a play not a novel as such but… It’s well worth a read. This is the first of 3 Agatha Christie works to make it onto my list this year. So I’ll address the obvious criticisms of Agatha Christie now. She has been criticised for having poor character development and while I agree that if Agatha Christie were writing now she probably wouldn’t get published for that reason it’s also important to remember that she is not writing now. Her books were written half a century ago when much character development was of a similar level. So yes the characters are incredibly superficial but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of any of the books I read of hers. In part perhaps because these books are incredibly short, but also because they have such great reveals that I wasn’t expecting.

In fact, that was my favourite thing about this play. Just as I was thinking it was a little bit boring and that it wasn’t worth my time, it turns out boom. Actually here’s this thing I just wasn’t expecting. Boom here’s another one.

This play is set entirely in a single room, with an unexpected guest coming across a house where a woman is standing over a dead man. A very clearly murdered man. And thus begins the murder mystery.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars