I was rereading it - I first read it about 12-15 years ago. Mitali wrote: 'I started reading this yesterday, and finished today. Overall, an excellent example of Christie's works. He's almost a Deus Ex Machina, plopped into the story to (view spoiler) The only thing I disliked about this story is the all-too convenient character of (view spoiler). This book, on the other hand, was more focused on the characters and their interplay. A Poirot story tends to be about How Hercule Poirot Solves A Crime. However, the unobtrusive presence of Superintendent Battle adds a different feel to the story than the more usual Poirot and his flamboyant ways. The setting, though, is fairly standard - the usual upper class country house with its various guests, all of whom have troubled histories with one another (that setting was best done in The Hollow, I think). Instead, the main murder - (view spoiler) In that sense, it reminds me of Three Act Tragedy - (view spoiler) It doesn't fall into the usual Christie formula of one main murder, with one or two follow-up murders, usually of people who 'knew too much', but were foolish enough not to tell when the time was right. I really enjoyed this one - the murder is rather an unusual one, for one thing.

So it was like reading a 'new' Agatha Christie mystery - the closest I can get to that feeling now, given that I've read all her mystery novels and short stories. I did remember the basic plot, but much not much else, including the identity of the murderer. I started reading this yesterday, and finished today.

Towards zero geraldine mcewan