I very much enjoyed this particular installment of the Poirot series. The story was for me one of the good ones in the series. The book is of two parts and Poirot makes his appearance proper in book two. However, this doesn’t stop the famous Belgian detective from solving a crime that would have otherwise been put down to natural causes through his brilliant psychological analysis.
Christie presents us here with an odious victim, the older Mrs. Boynton- an old woman who is a mental sadist. I came across another detestable victim in one of my previous reads, but this victim was a thousand folds worse. I was very much relieved by her death although it was a murder (it’s very mean of me, I know 🙂) and reading became much pleasanter in her absence.
I really liked the characters of the story (except the victim, of course) especially the Boynton children and the young doctor, Sarah. It’s not easy to like all the characters in a story, yet after The Mysterious Affair at Styles, I was able to feel so here.
The ending was abrupt and rushed on, which was a little disappointing. I wish that Christie took a little more time to shape it well. That is my only complaint about the story, however. Overall, I was much pleased with it and had a very interesting time reading it. This installment was yet another reminder for me as to why I keep on continuing with this series.
Rating: 4/5
