This is an almost perfect example of a late Christie: brilliant initial premise; fun, often comic human observation; and a lingering sense that she gave up on the most interesting possibilities about halfway through. It's never not readable, but there's a point midway where you realize she's probably never going to follow through, and she doesn't - although she gets a lot closer than the mid-book lull suggests.

There are hints, as in so many later Christies, that she really wanted to be writing a different kind of book. Hercule Poirot only shows up for four extended scenes, one of which largely involves him casting judgment on the various authors of detective fiction: a long, languorous interlude that feels like Christie's two-fingered salute to a publishing contract. (You want officious little Monsieur Poirot with his quirks? You got it.) He shows up at the climax to smirkily reveal that he knows it all, infuriating the book's actual protagonist - but to what end? Some of the most interesting aspects of Christie's setup are revealed as red herrings, and at least one of Poirot's revelations is veering toward an admonishment to both character and reader to pay better attention. It feels like a lot of trouble and misdirection just so we can all have a bit of a lecture.

The best sequences of the book are darkly comic vignettes of everyday human bloodthirstiness: the woman who keeps too many cats and forces visitors to cope; the little girl who watches her neighbors from the window, gives them pretend names, and glories in the speculation of a murderer; the neighborhood boys who sheepishly admit to raiding a crime scene for trinkets. These could all be in a Hitchcock film, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn Christie had seen pictures like "Shadow of a Doubt" or "Strangers on a Train." That's the sort of thing I think she'd clearly like to be writing: a darkly humorous thriller, well shy of Poirot or any of his ilk.

(As usual, Hugh Fraser proves a highly enjoyable narrator of the unabridged audiobook. He made the story putter along even at points where I think the physical book would have frustrated me, and I'm guessing he's responsible for a half-star, if not a full one, of my rating.) ( )

Often I find a Christie novel slow to start but this one took off immediately with a murder in the prologue. Then the plot thicken to the point Detective Inspector Hardcastle was stymied. His friend and colleague Colin Lamb was also having difficulty with the clues and interviewing the various witnesses and suspects.

Enter Hercule Poirot after he is approached by Lamb for help in solving the case. His lengthy and complicated solution takes up the last chapter.

This was an interesting read. ( )

4 ( )

I libri della Christie si leggono sempre con grande piacere e questo non è certo da meno anche se, di certo, non è uno dei migliori della serie che ha come protagonista il grande Hercule Poirot.
Qui il famoso investigatore, ormai in pensione, compare infatti solo marginalmente e, come è ovvio, unicamente per risolvere, però a distanza, con l'ausilio delle sue celluline grigie un intricato omicidio. ( )

*3.5 ( )