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Loading... Peril at End House (1932)by Agatha Christie
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No current Talk conversations about this book. Poirot gently uncrossed his knees, withdrew his gaze from the ceiling, and looked the young man full in the face. âMy name is Hercule Poirot,â he said quietly, âand I am probably the greatest detective in the world. Christie, Agatha. The Mystery of the Blue Train: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot series Book 6) (p. 149). William Morrow Paperbacks. Kindle Edition. I love Hercule Poirot. It's hard not to. Not only is he a fantastic detective he's a total character. In Peril at End House, Poirot and Hastings are on holiday when they come across a woman who has been shot at and upon further investigation; the target of a number of murder attempts. Unfortunately it's kind of hard to insist there's danger when the person has never heard of you. âI am Hercule Poirot.â âOh!â said Nick, in rather a flat tone. âOh, yes.â âYou know my name, eh?â âOh, yes.â She wriggled uncomfortably. A hunted look came into her eyes. Poirot observed her keenly. âYou are not at ease. That means, I suppose, that you have not read my books.â âWellânoânot all of them. But I know the name, of course.â âMademoiselle, you are a polite little liar.â (I started, remembering the words spoken at the Majestic Hotel that day after lunch.) âI forgetâyou are only a childâyou would not have heard. So quickly does fame pass. My friend thereâhe will tell you.â Nick looked at me. I cleared my throat, somewhat embarrassed. âMonsieur Poirot isâerâwasâa great detective,â I explained. âAh! my friend,â cried Poirot. âIs that all you can find to say? Mais dis donc! Say then to Mademoiselle that I am a detective unique, unsurpassed, the greatest that ever lived!â âThat is now unnecessary,â I said coldly. âYou have told her yourself.â âAh, yes, but it is more agreeable to have been able to preserve the modesty. One should not sing oneâs own praises.â âOne should not keep a dog and have to bark oneself,â agreed Nick, with mock sympathy. âWho is the dog, by the way? Dr Watson, I presume.â âMy name is Hastings,â I said coldly. âBattle ofâ1066,â said Nick. âWho said I wasnât educated? Ouch. What a burn. I'd say poor Hastings but I've never really liked him all that much. I was disappointed to find him return in this book but at least he provides good comic relief. I do enjoy Hastings being mocked. I didn't really like the characters in this but the mystery was interesting. I totally thought I had it figured out - but I would be wrong. Commander Challengerââ âHeâs all right,â I put in quickly. âIâm sure of that. A real pukka sahib.â âDoubtless he has been to what you consider the right school. Happily, being a foreigner, I am free from these prejudices, and can make investigations unhampered by them. But I will admit that I find it hard to connect Commander Challenger with the case. In fact, I do not see that he can be connected.â âOf course he canât,â I said warmly. Poirot looked at me meditatively. âYou have an extraordinary effect on me, Hastings. You have so strongly the flair in the wrong direction that I am almost tempted to go by it! You are that wholly admirable type of man, honest, credulous, honourable, who is invariably taken in by any scoundrel. You are the type of man who invests in doubtful oil fields, and non-existent gold mines. From hundreds like you, the swindler makes his daily bread. Ah, wellâI shall study this Commander Challenger. You have awakened my doubts.â âMy dear Poirot,â I cried, angrily. âYou are perfectly absurd. A man who has knocked about the world like I haveââ âNever learns,â said Poirot, sadly. âIt is amazingâbut there it is.â Christie, Agatha. Peril at End House (Poirot) (Hercule Poirot Series) (pp. 46-47). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition. It was pretty funny to find out Poirot was right. Hastings was so shocked. âItâs going to be a very unpleasant business,â he said, quietly. âI must see about some kind of defence for her, I suppose.â âThere will be no need, I think,â said Poirot, gently. âNot if I am correct in my assumptions.â He turned suddenly on Challenger. âThatâs where you put the stuff, isnât it?â he said. âIn those wrist-watches.â âIâIââ The sailor stammeredâat a loss. âDo not try and deceive meâwith your hearty good-fellow manner. It has deceived Hastingsâbut it does not deceive me. You make a good thing out of it, do you notâthe traffic in drugsâyou and your uncle in Harley Street.â âM. Poirot.â Challenger rose to his feet. My little friend blinked up at him placidly. âYou are the useful âboy friendâ. Deny it, if you like. But I advise you, if you do not want the facts put in the hands of the policeâto go.â And to my utter amazement, Challenger did go. He went from the room like a flash. I stared after him open-mouthed. Poirot laughed. âI told you so, mon ami. Your instincts are always wrong. Câest Ă©patant!â Christie, Agatha. Peril at End House (Poirot) (Hercule Poirot Series) (pp. 236-237). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition. I think the only thing I liked better was the reason why Lazarus wanted to buy the painting. âI ask your pardon, but, of all my questions, there is one still unanswered. Tell me, why did you offer fifty pounds for that picture? It would give me much pleasure to knowâso as, you comprehend, to leave nothing unanswered.â Lazarus looked at him with an impassive face for a minute or two. Then he smiled. âYou see, M. Poirot,â he said. âI am a dealer.â âExactly.â âThat picture is not worth a penny more than twenty pounds. I knew that if I offered Nick fifty, she would immediately suspect it was worth more and would get it valued elsewhere. Then she would find that I had offered her far more than it was worth. The next time I offered to buy a picture she would not have got it valued.â âYes, and then?â âThe picture on the far wall is worth at least five thousand pounds,â said Lazarus drily. âAh!â Poirot drew a long breath. âNow I know everything,â he said happily. Christie, Agatha. Peril at End House (Poirot) (Hercule Poirot Series) (pp. 238-239). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition. I liked that all the questions were wrapped up by the end - even if I guessed wrong on all accounts. And it was funny. 3.5 stars. 4/13/22 A veey nice case, with a comprehensive conclusion. Listing to a Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot book right after each other underlined the stark contrast in how they navigated the world to solve a case, and how the world sees them. It is both interesting and frustrating somehow. I like Christie's other famous work better (Death on Niles, Roger Ackroyd, Orient Express, Mrs. McGinty's Dead, A Murder Is Announced, Body in the Library), but this one is not bad. The first half is okay. I enjoyed the suspense until we got to the last 1/6 of the book, when all the answers rolled out quickly without too much time to digest. A lot of the important characters broke character at the end of the book, and that basically indicated the narrator Hastings (and the reader, by association) are bad at observing people, and that didn't feel too good as a reading experience. And I still feel there are loose ends unexplained, or explained in a forced manner. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesHercule Poirot (6) Belongs to Publisher SeriesFontana (513) Goldmann (43954) — 6 more Is contained inFive Complete Novels of Murder and Detection: And Then There Were None / Peril at End House / The Murder at Hazelmoor / Easy to Kill / Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie Agatha Christie Crime Collection: The Body in the Library, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, Peril at End House by Agatha Christie The Mysterious Affair at Styles / Peril at End House / The A.B.C. Murders / One, Two Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie Has the adaptationInspired
Fiction.
Mystery.
Historical Fiction.
HTML: In the Agatha Christie classic Peril at End House, a young woman who has recently survived a series of very close calls appears to be the target of a dedicated killerâ??and it's up to Hercule Poirot to save her life. On holiday on the Cornish Riviera, Hercule Poirot is alarmed to hear pretty Nick Buckley describe her recent "accidental brushes with death." First, on a treacherous Cornish hillside, the brakes on her car failed. Then, on a coastal path, a falling boulder missed her by inches. Later, an oil painting fell and almost crushed her in bed. So when Poirot finds a bullet hole in Nick's sun hat, he decides that this girl needs his help. Can he find the would-be killer before he hits his target? No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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This was ingenious, and I enjoyed the Poirot/Hastings dynamic, but none of the other characters really appealed. (