Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

#25 Hercule Poirot

287 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

 

Blurb

Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, yet there were five other suspects: Philip Blake (the stockbroker) who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist) who stayed at home; Elsa Greer (the three-time divorcee) who had roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess) who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister) who cried ‘wee wee wee’ all the way home.

It is sixteen years later, but Hercule Poirot just can’t get that nursery rhyme out of his mind…

 

Review

When I started Five Little Pigs, I was convinced I’d never read it before. As the story progressed, I realised that I probably had, be it a long, very long, time ago. I remembered just about enough to figure most of the solution out before Poirot revealed all in the final chapter. And, as always, it didn’t matter.

This wasn’t the only time Agatha Christie used a nursery rhyme as a title for one of her mysteries and in Five Little Pigs worked very well for this story. The five surviving suspects all fit their designated little pig very well. At the same time, The Things We Do for Love would have been an equally fitting title for this story.

In this book, the same story is basically told (at least) five times and then repeated five more times in written statements. It should be boring but, no doubt due to Agatha Christie’s genius as a storyteller, it is actually fascinating. Especially since there are minor yet revealing differences between what the five narrators relate.

As always, I don’t want to expand on the blurb for this story. Spoilers are always a no-no, but never more so than in a mystery. Suffice it to say that for me this story ranks among the best mysteries Christie ever published. It was a joy to read and I lost myself in this very clever mystery. It won’t be long until I dive into the Christy-verse again.

 

Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot #36

Publishing Date: Nov 1959

Publisher: Harper Collins

Kindle Edition

 

Blurb

 

Two teachers discover the body of the school's unpopular games mistress, shot through the heart from point-blank range. The school is thrown into chaos when the 'cat' strikes again, and Julia Upjohn knows that without Poirot's help she could be next.

 

Review

 

Before starting this book:

If I remember correctly, I first read this book when I was 15 years old and on holiday in Norway with my parents and brother. I had run out of (Dutch) books to read and because I was at risk of getting bored, my mother bought me this title and encouraged me to read it. I loved the story and it turned out to be the start of a life-long reading relationship with the Queen of Crime. To this day I remain grateful she brought me to Agatha Christie. All of which means that Cat Among the Pigeons was the first full length novel I read in English. Since all of the above happened 45 years (I’m really getting old 😊) ago, it is safe to say I remember very little about this mystery.

 

After I finished Cat Among the Pigeons:

In the first paragraph, I stated that I remembered very little about this mystery, but my memory must be better than I gave it credit for. Less than 25% into the story and well before the first murder, I had a pretty good idea about one aspect of this story. And this continued. The more I read, the more I remembered. It made for a weird reading experience. It felt as if I was always a step or two ahead of the story. Having said that, there were one or two big revelations that did surprise me.

At last, I get to the review proper.

Cat Among the Pigeons has both thriller and mystery elements. I think it’s safe to say that it starts as a thriller involving a revolution and jewelry, then morphs into a traditional mystery set in an English boarding school, before the two merge and everything is revealed.

I was going to put a summary of the story here. In fact, I’d already typed out several paragraphs before deleting them again. There is an awful lot going on in this story, and the cast of characters is huge. I’m not sure I could give a coherent summary without the use of numerous (potential) spoilers. And spoiling even one aspect of this story would be a crying shame.

This is a very good Christie. The way the story is set up, in two different countries and in two different genres, it could so easily have turned into a mess. I’m very happy to say it didn’t. The thriller aspects work as well as the mystery parts, they are both well plotted, they do not get in each other’s way, and actually managed to complement and strengthen each other. All the characters, both minor and major, are vividly drawn, and as (almost) always, the dialogue sparkles. Besides, who doesn’t love an observation like this one:

“Miss Bulstrode had another quality which demonstrated her superiority over most other women. She could listen.”

Hercule Poirot doesn’t appear in this story until the last quarter of the book. And while it is always a shame when we get less of our favourite Belgian detective, the timing did make perfect sense in this setup.

While I’m not sure this is the best of the Christie stories I’ve recently read, it is definitely the story I enjoyed most. I lost myself in this book, the characters captivated me, and the mysteries kept me on my toes.

I’m thoroughly enjoying my reconnection with Agatha Christie. A few decades may have passed but it seems that my reading tastes having changed that much. My mam knew what she was doing when she picked Cat Among the Pigeons from the tiny collection of English books in that Norwegian shop. I’ll never stop being grateful; for her and for all the wonderful things she introduced into my life.