Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Cannonball Read 2 #15: Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie

After that godawful Hercule Poirot novel, I had to put down the Christie for a while. I couldn't quite forgive her for that monstrosity. Then Murder is Easy appeared on my Amazon "recommended" list, and I figured I'd give her another go.

Murder is Easy is the story of Luke Fitzwilliam, a British MP retiring from service and returning to England. During his trip home, he is told a story of serial murder disguised as accidental deaths in an idyllic village. He doesn't believe it, but when the elderly lady who told him the tale turns up dead, he can't resist investigating. He travels to the village, only to be met by a puzzling mystery, eccentric villagers, and a beautiful but contrary young woman. He has to interview everyone, trying to decide whom he suspects--is it the humble country doctor? The occult-obsessed shopkeeper? The shady lawyer? The blustery bull-dog enthusiast? Someone else entirely?--and keep himself from becoming the next victim.

The story moved along quickly and was quite twisty and interesting. The mystery itself wasn't easy to solve--I got almost to the end before I figured out who'd done it--which was great, although the romantic subplot was a little forced. On the whole, it was a quick and engaging read.

1 comment:

Jen K said...

I used to read a lot of her when I was younger, and I never could figure out who did it ahead of time. I'm not sure if her mysteries were just more intelligent and less obvious than they are nowadays, or if it's just that between the popularity of CSI-type shows and having read a lot more, things are much easier to predict now. I guess the best way to determine that would be to read another one of her novels now.

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