Hercule Poirot's Christmas

To be honest, I find the title of Hercule Poirot's Christmas a bit strange. It features Hercule Poirot and takes place around Christmas, but it's not about Hercule Poirot's Christmas. Oh well, the fact that the mystery is decent is more important than the title Christie chose for it.

Closed Casket

Once again, we have a Hercule Poirot novel written not by Agatha Christie herself, but the modern writer Sophie Hannah. Hannah's first Poirot book, The Monogram Murders, was well-written but over-plotted. How does her second Poirot story, Closed Casket, fare?

...Basically the same.

The Monogram Murders

The glorious return of Hercule Poirot... or is it? It might be a bit difficult to tell from the cover, but The Monogram Murders was written not by Agatha Christie, but by Sophie Hannah. Hannah received permission from the Christie estate to write a Hercule Poirot novel, making this the first “official” Poirot novel since Christie’s passing. Does Hannah’s entry live up to the Queen of Crime’s legacy? Eeeh. The book is fun and well-written, but feels a bit too much like it’s clever just for the sake of being clever.

Dead Man's Folly

Dead Man's Folly is a Hercule Poirot book by Agatha Christie, but perhaps it should have been called "Christie's Folly"... While the premise is fantastic and the idea behind the motive is clever, unfortunately half the cast is pointless, the book never follows through on the premise, and the solution is severely underclued.

There are spoilers tagged with rot-13.