Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot, #30)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Mrs. McGinty's Dead

(Hercule Poirot #30)

Agatha Christie,

Hugh Fraser (Narrator)

3.83 · Rating details · 19,639 ratings · 940 reviews

‘Mrs McGinty’s dead!’ ‘How did she die?’ ‘Down on one knee, just like I!’ The old children’s game now seemed rather tasteless. The real Mrs McGinty was killed by a crushing blow to the back of the head and her pitifully small savings were stolen. Suspicion falls immediately on her lodger, hard up and out of a job. Hercule Poirot has other ideas – unaware that his own life ...more

Get A Copy

Audio CD, 244 pages

Published April 12th 2007 by AudioGO (first published 1951)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Mrs. McGinty's Dead, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Best Agatha Christie Book

89 books — 1,209 voters

Best Books of the Decade: 1950's

1,043 books — 1,460 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.83 ·

Rating details

· 19,639 ratings · 940 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot, #30)

May 25, 2020 Dita rated it really liked it

One last Aggie review this week... (That's a blatant lie, there will be more and we all know it.)

Mrs. McGinty is dead and on the surface it is an open and shut case. Her boarder is accused, convicted and sentenced swiftly. Superintendent Spence however, is a man of integrity and something is niggling at him. He asks Poirot to come into the case and poke around so that Spence can be sure that the right man is in jail.

Spoiler: Nope!

This wasn't my favorite Agatha Christie book but her "average" boo ...more

flag 124 likes · Like · see review

May 17, 2020 Adrian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: det-agatha-christie, detectives-challenge-hp-2018-20, zz-owned-books

Poirot triumphs as ever. More tomorrow 😊

Another really enjoyable Poirot adventure. Poirot is called in to a case by an old friend, Superintendent Spence that has already come to a conclusion, a man has been tried and sentenced to death for the murder he committed. So what can Pappa Poirot do ? Superintendent Spence who was the SIO on the case is now convinced he made a mistake in convicting James Bentley of the murder of Mrs McGinty.

Poirot ends up staying with Mrs Summerhayes at Long Meadows whi ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

May 22, 2020 Evgeny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hercule-poirot, crime-and-mystery

Poirot was bored and had nothing to do. Luckily for him his friend Superintendent Spence came to him for a consultation. He recently finished the investigation of seemingly simple murder case where somebody crushed a skull of an old lady. All the clues pointed to her tenant who was arrested, found guilty in the court and was awaiting his execution.

Everything was fine except that Superintendent Spence was a good honest cop. His sixth sense

as well as lifelong experience of dealing with criminals Poirot was bored and had nothing to do. Luckily for him his friend Superintendent Spence came to him for a consultation. He recently finished the investigation of seemingly simple murder case where somebody crushed a skull of an old lady. All the clues pointed to her tenant who was arrested, found guilty in the court and was awaiting his execution.

Everything was fine except that Superintendent Spence was a good honest cop. His sixth sense

as well as lifelong experience of dealing with criminals kept telling him he got the wrong guy, regardless of all the clues. And so he came to Poirot. Poirot became interested in the case. He went to a quiet village where the crime took place and began his investigation stirring a hornet's nest - on purpose expecting the real culprit would betray himself (herself).

The novel is interesting because it had a slow start.

After all, the murder was as unexciting as they come - practically a domestic one. Somehow after the first third of the book or so when Poirot finally started finding clues pointing as somebody else the tale became more and more interesting even if I was able to predict some developments.

Speaking about prediction: I was not able to guess the murderer. Not because I tried too hard and failed; on the contrary - I did not try hard enough. Somehow the plot encouraged me to forget about working out the solution and just to go with the flow.

It might be just a general fatigue. This fact did not diminish my enjoyment of the book when I was amusing myself with Poirot's shenanigans and suffering (his accommodations in the village were way below average and he was used to comfort).
"“I suffer,” said Hercule Poirot to himself in acute self-pity. “Yes, I suffer.”"

4 stars is the final rating. Neither Dame Agatha nor her most famous character showed any signs of slowing down in thirtieth book of the series.

P.S. Mrs. Oliver was one of the characters of the story and after reading this book I became firmly convinced Agatha Christie wrote her after herself. If you read carefully at one point Mrs. Oliver breaks the fourth wall when she talks about her Finnish detective. Substitute him with a certain Belgian colleague of his and you will see what I mean.
"Authors were shy, unsociable creatures, atoning for their lack of social aptitude by inventing their own companions and conversations." ...more

flag 76 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2015 carol. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, should-buy

Alas, Mrs. McGinty; we hardly knew you.

Really. I mean that. She was a widow, a woman who cleaned houses and took in lodgers to make ends meet; had a niece whom she saw at holidays, and was perhaps a bit of a nosy parker; nothing extraordinary to fill the obituary. When Inspector Spence visits the retired Poirot, he shares his troubling concern that the man he arrested for murdering Mrs. McGinty, and who is now facing the death penalty, is not truly guilty. Yes, yes; the circumstantial evidence w
Alas, Mrs. McGinty; we hardly knew you.

Really. I mean that. She was a widow, a woman who cleaned houses and took in lodgers to make ends meet; had a niece whom she saw at holidays, and was perhaps a bit of a nosy parker; nothing extraordinary to fill the obituary. When Inspector Spence visits the retired Poirot, he shares his troubling concern that the man he arrested for murdering Mrs. McGinty, and who is now facing the death penalty, is not truly guilty. Yes, yes; the circumstantial evidence was damning, but James Bentley’s milquetoast personality seems so wrong for the deed. Could dear Poirot perhaps put his little grey cells to work? But the clues won’t be found in McGinty’s past; as Hercule Poirot points out “For, you see, Mon cher Spence, if Mrs. McGinty is just an ordinary charwoman–it is the murderer who must be extraordinary.”

It is true; the murderer is a bit extraordinary. The plotting has an interesting premise, albeit perhaps hard to understand in the modern age. A second murder (because there always is one, isn’t there?) was unsurprising. Overall, the book reminded me more than a bit of A Murder Is Announced, so perhaps take a break between if you are on a Christie binge, or perhaps visit one of her more exotic locales in between.

For once, Christie leads with Hercule instead of consulting him later, providing an enjoyable stroll down nostalgia lane. Poirot laments the loss of Hastings as a sounding board and audience, but since Poirot’s investigative strategy is to stir up the village, he ends up ‘confiding’ in a number of people. We are treated to Christie’s standard cast of the post-war English village: a penniless but connected couple with a shabby family manse, a overly dramatic woman who enjoys her own tales of woe, the dutiful but repressed daughter, a bold young woman emblematic of the new age, an insecure, unsmart woman attempting to climb the social ladder, a postmistress with a penchant for gossip. All standard in many Christies, along with the semi-invalid elderly woman and her playwright son, echoes of Marple’s nephew Raymond.

“Mrs. Sweetiman imparted all this information with relish. She prided herself on being well informed. Mrs. Weatherby whose desire for knitting needles had perhaps been prompted by a desire to know what was going on, paid for her purchase.“

Tone seems on the playful side, which self-referential remarks on writing, appreciation and performance. When Mrs. Oliver and her apples make an appearance, it becomes quite clear that Christie is taking an authorial aside to muse on readers who obstinately prefer troublesome characters and playwrights who take license with an author’s characters. “‘How do I know?’ said Mrs. Oliver crossly. ‘How do I know why I ever thought of the revolting man? I must have been mad!… Why all the idiotic mannerisms he’s got? These things just happen. You try something–and people seem to like it–and then you go on–and before you know where you are, you’ve got someone like that maddening Sven Hjerson tied to you for life.”

Poor Dame Christie. She seems to have had at least a gastronomic sort of revenge on Poirot at least, by boarding him at the worst guest-house possible: "I thought I would open a bottle of those raspberries I put up last summer. They seem to have a bit of mould on top but they say nowadays that that doesn't matter... --practically penicillin." If it is any post-humous consolation, in my old age, I prefer Miss Marple to the conceited Poirot, but I enjoy them both. Mrs. McGinty's Dead is one worth adding to the library.

Three and a half self-referential stars. ...more

flag 50 likes · Like · see review

Nov 19, 2013 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery, fiction, 20th-century, british, literature

Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot #30), Agatha Christie
Mrs. McGinty's Dead is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1952 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 3 March the same year. An old woman apparently struck dead by her lodger for thirty pounds that she kept under a floorboard. When, however, he is asked by the investigating officer to take another look at the case to stop an innocent man going to the gallows, h ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Feb 02, 2020 Ken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Another fine Christie mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the very end.
The fact that this is the 30th Poirot book seems to be noticed as the Belgium detective reminisces of his time with Hastings while a returing character adds much fun to the second half of the novel.

Yet again Christie spings an interesting hook as Poirot is informed by Superintendent Spence of his suspicions that convicted James Bentley might not be the real culprit of Mrs Mcgintys death, with days before his executio ...more

flag 32 likes · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2017 BrokenTune rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

‘I should, perhaps, madame, tell you a little more about myself. I am Hercule Poirot.’
The revelation left Mrs Summerhayes unmoved.
‘What a lovely name,’ she said kindly. ‘Greek, isn’t it?’

Now this is a Poirot novel that strays from the script a bit. It's fascinating but there seem to be three parts to this novel and the crime/mystery part is the weakest one. Yet, I really liked the book because first and foremost, Christie made me laugh out loud quite a few times.

Eh bien, let's start with the w ‘I should, perhaps, madame, tell you a little more about myself. I am Hercule Poirot.’
The revelation left Mrs Summerhayes unmoved.
‘What a lovely name,’ she said kindly. ‘Greek, isn’t it?’

Now this is a Poirot novel that strays from the script a bit. It's fascinating but there seem to be three parts to this novel and the crime/mystery part is the weakest one. Yet, I really liked the book because first and foremost, Christie made me laugh out loud quite a few times.

Eh bien, let's start with the weakest part - the crime/mystery:

So, Mrs. McGinty is found dead and her lodger has been arrested, is standing trial, and will probably be sentenced to hang, but ... Superintendent Spence is having doubts and is consulting an old acquaintance to have a look at the case.

‘I don’t know what you’ll go there as,’ continued Spence doubtfully as he eyed Poirot. ‘You might be some kind of an opera singer. Voice broken down. Got to rest. That might do.’
‘I shall go,’ said Hercule Poirot, speaking with accents of royal blood, ‘as myself.’
Spence received this pronouncement with pursed lips. ‘D’you think that’s advisable?’

From there on, the typical sleuthing adventure ensues, except that there are a lot - and I do mean way too many - characters that are part of the investigation, a few red herrings, Ariadne Oliver - whose involvement in the book has less to do with the plot (I'll get to that later) -, and an ending that seems to have been rather far-fetched.

In fact, by the time the mystery was resolved, I had kinda lost interest in the whodunit part and really enjoyed the characters interacting with each other.

This book is really not about the mystery, which, in my opinion, was rather sub-par. No rather, the book seems to have been a self-reverential celebration of all things Poirot. And this may or may not be to readers tastes. I quite liked it in this case.

We have a lot of details about Poirot himself:

In his early days, he had seen plenty of crude brutality. It had been more the rule than the exception. He found it fatiguing, and unintelligent.
---
My work has enslaved me just as their work enslaves them. When the hour of leisure arrives, they have nothing with which to fill their leisure.

We have a couple of tips of the hat to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which was published 25(!) years before Mrs. McGintys Dead, when Poirot discussed gardening with Spence:

Me, once I decided to live in the country and grow vegetable marrows. It did not succeed. I have not the temperament.’

In many of the details that describe Poirot in this book, Christie seems to take a retrospective stance, It serves as a celebration of his previous adventures, but I also could not help feeling that Christie took the opportunity to have some fun herself and poke her famous character at every opportunity. Not only, does she send Poirot to the country - and we all know how much Poirot hates the country -

It’s not really a Guest House, just a rather decrepit country house where the young couple who own it take in paying guests. I don’t think,’ said Spence dubiously, ‘that it’s very comfortable.’
Hercule Poirot closed his eyes in agony. ‘If I suffer, I suffer,’ he said. ‘It has to be.’

And Christie makes sure of it his suffering. This was one of my favourite parts and I am sure anyone who has ever been exasperated by Poirot's eccentricities would chuckle about the following scene of Poirot taking up lodgings at a country inn:

The room was large, and had a faded Morris wall-paper. Steel engravings of unpleasant subjects hung crookedly on the walls with one or two good oil paintings. The chair-covers were both faded and dirty, the carpet had holes in it and had never been of a pleasant design. A good deal of miscellaneous bric-à-brac was scattered haphazard here and there. Tables rocked dangerously owing to absence of castors. One window was open, and no power on earth could, apparently, shut it again. The door, temporarily shut, was not likely to remain so. The latch did not hold, and with every gust of wind it burst open and whirling gusts of cold wind eddied round the room.

‘I suffer,’ said Hercule Poirot to himself in acute self-pity. ‘Yes, I suffer.’

The door burst open and the wind and Mrs Summerhayes came in together. She looked round the room, shouted ‘What?’ to someone in the distance and went out again.
Mrs Summerhayes had red hair and an attractively freckled face and was usually in a distracted state of putting things down, or else looking for them.
Hercule Poirot sprang to his feet and shut the door.
A moment or two later it opened again and Mrs Summerhayes reappeared. This time she was carrying a large enamel basin and a knife.

A man’s voice from some way away called out: ‘Maureen, that cat’s been sick again. What shall I do?’
Mrs Summerhayes called: ‘I’m coming, darling. Hold everything.’ She dropped the basin and the knife and went out again.
Poirot got up again and shut the door. He said: ‘Decidedly, I suffer.’

As I said I really enjoyed this part of the story but I did keep wondering why Christie took to treating Poirot in such a way. Was it to celebrate him or was she falling out with him as a character that had become so famous that he had a life of his own - just as Arthur Conan Doyle fell out with Holmes?

Which brings me to the third part - Ariadne Oliver. Ariadne is basically Christie's way of injecting a fictionalised version of herself into the Poirot stories, and in this one Ariadne enters the scene - nearly knocking Poirot over with her car - and spends a lot of time agonising over how her own fictional creation - Sven Hjerson - is being changed inappropriately by theatre and film producers.

Robin continued blithely: ‘What I feel is, here’s that wonderful young man, parachuted down—’
Mrs Oliver interrupted: ‘He’s sixty.’
‘Oh no!’
‘He is.’
‘I don’t see him like that. Thirty-five— not a day older.’
‘But I’ve been writing books about him for thirty years, and he was at least thirty-five in the first one.’
‘But, darling, if he’s sixty, you can’t have the tension between him and the girl— what’s her name? Ingrid. I mean, it would make him just a nasty old man!’
‘It certainly would.’
‘So you see, he must be thirty-five,’ said Robin triumphantly.
‘Then he can’t be Sven Hjerson. Just make him a Norwegian young man who’s in the Resistance Movement.’
‘But darling Ariadne, the whole point of the play is Sven Hjerson. You’ve got an enormous public who simply adore Sven Hjerson, and who’ll flock to see Sven Hjerson. He’s box office, darling!’

Yeah, I can see Christie having exactly this sort of conversation with agents and producers about Poirot and Marple, and I can see Christie using this particular book as a dig at people trying to exploit her characters. And given the resolution of the plot, what a dig this is!!! If only it had deterred her estate to employ Charles Osborne to adapt her plays as novels!

So, while the mystery plot is rather mediocre, the context this novel provides for Poirot as a character that has developed a public persona outside of the books is just marvelous. ...more

flag 34 likes · Like · see review

Jan 09, 2019 samantha (books-are-my-life20) rated it it was amazing

As always, Christie comes through with a great mystery with the mind of Poirot. Excellent reading

flag 23 likes · Like · see review

Oct 21, 2018 Janete rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-books

I read this book in my mother language (Portuguese). I was loving the story but for me the ending was unconvincing and implausible.

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2018 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, mystery, x2018-read, auth-f

Fussy. Fastidious. Vain. Brilliant. Poirot's back, but is a little bored, and spends his time carefully considering his meals. And then Superintendent Spence discusses a case with Poirot of a man who was convicted for bashing his landlady on the head. Spence isn't comfortable with the verdict, and gets Poirot to revisit the case for him. Poirot goes to the town of the murder and must stay in a dreadful bed & breakfast, while interviewing the neighbours and generally getting people agitated about ...more

flag 25 likes · Like · see review

Sep 22, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, agatha-christie

"Mrs. McGinty's dead. How did she die?
Sticking her neck out, just like I."

Dame Agatha's penchant to use children's rhymes as an underlying theme for mysteries, enhancing the creepy aspect of many of them, coming to the fore once again. (Really, I hope someone would do a monograph on this quirky aspect of her novels one day.)

Mrs. McGinty was a charwoman - at the beginning of the story, she is dead, bludgeoned to death apparently by her lodger who has been convicted of the crime. But Superintenden ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2017 David Schaafsma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: christie, mystery-detective-thriller

Mrs. McGinty's dead. How did she die?
Sticking her neck out, just like I."

“Had Mrs. McGinty a drab life?” (Poirot)

“Ghastly, I expect,” said Mrs. Summerhayes vaguely. “Always on your knees scrubbing. And then piles of other people’s washing-up waiting for you on the sink when you arrive in the morning. If I had to face that every day, I’d be positively relieved to be murdered. I really would.”

After 2-3 books of literary pretension (Hercules Poirot as Hercules, on a quest for detective greatness!) ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Sep 05, 2017 Simona B rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-and-crime, 1900, in-italian

“ The truth is I’m not very good with people.”
“I adore people, don’t you?” said Robin happily.
“No,” said Mrs. Oliver firmly.”

Mrs. McGinty's Dead is, as far as I can tell, a unique product of Christie's prolific mind. To begin with, it's unusually funny and ironic, far more (good-naturedly) mocking toward the Adorable Egg-Head than I would have expected from the book that initiates the final phase of his career. Secondly, in a few occasions it offers delicious examples of meta-talk between Christ ...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Dec 22, 2017 Veronique rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: r2018, stars-4-0, classics, mystery

This was a fun read to start the year. Once more we are faced with a puzzling murder. Was the man arrested and charged the murderer, or was he framed? The latter of course, which brings our favourite mustachioned Belgian detective to the scene. As you expect, Agatha offers us plenty of red herrings...

However, the reason I enjoyed this novel was for the whole comic angle the author added. Our poor Poirot has to suffer by staying in accommodations that are less than suitable, with nothing that co ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2019 Joseph Sciuto rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It's Agatha Christie, and it's wonderful like always. Great story, beautifully written, with superb characters and the irresistible and quirky Hercule Poirot. Such a joy.

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2020 Piyangie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-mystery

After the disappointment that I met with the earlier two reads of this series, I was a little apprehensive of this read. But I'm glad to have continued with the series, for I found this one to be pretty interesting. It is not the best of mysteries, certainly not a good one by Agatha Christie. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read.

The story is full of Poirot. Perhaps that is the reason why this installment was interesting to me. His queer manner, the uncompromising ego was not shown better be ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2016 Sumit RK rated it liked it · review of another edition

An interesting plot, enough suspects to keep you guessing till the end & a satisfying end (with a usual twist) to tie all ends up. Overall a enjoyable murder mystery that keeps you engaged till the end. ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Feb 04, 2019 Christine PNW rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was only my second time reading this book - the first time I read it, I remember being extremely underwhelmed. Like other Christie's, this one improved the second time I read it. This makes me wonder if rereading Passenger to Frankfurt will somehow turn it into The ABC Murders (kidding, kidding). I attribute this to the fact that I'm less concerned with Christie's high-wire mystery act, and rather I allow myself to be absorbed into her world.

Mrs. McGinty's dead has several wonderful side ch ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Oct 22, 2015 Obsidian rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book went on forever. Past the point of anything making sense with so many things thrown at the reader I was past the point of keeping straight anything that was happening. It was a relief when the end came just because I was heartily sick of reading this book at that point. The only saving grace I really found was that we had Poirot in this book from beginning to end and not just his usually "spotlight" appearances in the book.

We begin with Hercule Poirot being visited by Superintendent Sp This book went on forever. Past the point of anything making sense with so many things thrown at the reader I was past the point of keeping straight anything that was happening. It was a relief when the end came just because I was heartily sick of reading this book at that point. The only saving grace I really found was that we had Poirot in this book from beginning to end and not just his usually "spotlight" appearances in the book.

We begin with Hercule Poirot being visited by Superintendent Spence who believes that the wrong man (James Bentley) was tried and convicted for the murder of Mrs. McGinty. Spence is worried that he is sending an innocent man to his death and induces Poirot to investigate for him.

Poirot goes to the local village and begins stirring things up after he starts visiting the late woman's employers. It was interesting to see Poirot in a village and lamenting about home miserable he was, but that was interesting for all of five minutes. Poirot whined incessantly. I don't know if it because I have the character of Poirot tied up with David Suchet's portrayal or what, but I initially loved this character. However, after reading so many books, I heartily dislike Poirot a great deal.

I was a fan of Miss Marple except in one case (Nemesis) and the further I go with Poirot I am flummoxed how anyone would go to him to do anything. He doesn't seem to come to deductions as much as he just asks a lot of questions to see if he can force a reaction out of people.

There are so many other characters in this book it was trying to keep them all straight. We have the re-appearance of Ariadne Oliver (Cards on the Table) who is still freaking aggravating. I know that Mrs. Oliver was styled along the lines of Agatha Christie (she writes mystery novels) but she just runs around sticking her nose in where it's not wanted and actually doesn't do anything at all, unlike the role she played in Cards on the Table.

The character of James Bentley is despised by Poirot because he is a man who has been run over by his now deceased mother and doesn't seem capable of anything without a woman telling him what to do. He doesn't even sound attractive, yet he has a potential for two love interests in this book. Yeah I laughed for a while at that one.

I really can't speak much about the writing, it is typical Christie. The flow was bad in this one. Due to the number of suspects and possibilities of who people are I found myself having to stop and re-remember who certain people were and where they were at certain times. I finally decided to stop trying to figure out who did what and just get to the end.

The setting of the village for this one from beginning to end was marked by many as being typical for Miss Marple (which it is ) and not really something that Poirot ever did. However, we have had Poirot go and stay in villages before when investigating (Dumb Witness, Sad Cypress, etc) but I think many reviewers from when this book was initially published found this to be more humorous than other Poirot novels.

The ending when explained made absolutely no sense. We are left with Poirot trying to match make which also was something that Miss Marple would tend to do in her books, though in this case I just wanted Poirot to shut up and go back to his flat with his valet George. ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Mar 14, 2018 Mike rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, reviewed, mystery

I mean the title kind of gives it away: Mrs. McGinty's Dead. Dead as a door nail. She was a rather boring woman who lead a boring life in a seemingly boring town. There was literally nothing that made her special, she was just a charwoman with no close family and few friends. And yet her murder just didn't seem to add up to Superindendent Spence who, finding his old friend Hercule Poirot otherwise unengaged, enlists his help to figure out just what happened and why. and the stakes are high, her ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Oct 26, 2010 Laurel Young rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-year-of-agatha

This is really a *fun* mystery--I don't normally think of Dame Agatha as funny, but she is quite capable of delightfully dry British humor, and by the time she wrote this novel (in the 1950s) she was well into her long career and comfortable/confident enough to play with a lighter tone when she felt like it. I don't mean that poor Mrs. McGinty's death is treated lightly; it isn't. In fact, few of Dame Agatha's novels feature working-class protagonists, and so I was struck by her sympathetic port ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Feb 17, 2018 Vikas Singh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-book

Hercule Poiroit at his best. A gripping story that leaves you in amazed at how skillfully the ace detective with little luck to support manages to solve the crime. Agatha Christie paints a rich tapestry of a small English village with its distinct population. Slowly and slowly she builds each character and as a reader you feel satiated that the author could fulfill your desire to know the real characters. That a crime could be solved after so many years tells a lot about the author's ability to ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2018 Pranta Ghosh Dastider rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mind-blowing.

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2019 Leigh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, mystery, english, own, will-read-again, classic, series

I actually rate this one as one of Agatha Christie's best Poirot. Just superb!

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 10, 2019 Cathy Ryan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, crime, murder-mystery

4.5*
I couldn’t resist this when it came up on Audible. One of my favourite Agatha Christie stories, despite the lack of Captain Hastings, but compensated by a superb narration and comic timing from Hugh Fraser. There’s chances of a few more finding their way into my Audible library.

Mrs McGinty is dead. The question is by whose hand. Who would want to harm the local charwoman who, although she kept herself to herself, was somewhat of a busy body. Superintendent Spence is concerned the man now fac 4.5*
I couldn’t resist this when it came up on Audible. One of my favourite Agatha Christie stories, despite the lack of Captain Hastings, but compensated by a superb narration and comic timing from Hugh Fraser. There’s chances of a few more finding their way into my Audible library.

Mrs McGinty is dead. The question is by whose hand. Who would want to harm the local charwoman who, although she kept herself to herself, was somewhat of a busy body. Superintendent Spence is concerned the man now facing the death penalty may not be the true culprit. James Bentley was Mrs McGinty’s lodger, the only suspect and all the evidence pointed towards him. Due to retire in six months and already with a new case to investigate, Spence didn’t want to be responsible for an innocent man, if that’s what he was, going to the gallows. He asked for Hercule Poirot’s help. Only too happy to be of service, with too much leisure time breeding boredom in his own retirement, Poirot agrees.

So, once again Hercule Poirot is on the case, taking himself off to the village of Broadhinny where Mrs McGinty lived, to begin his investigation.

The best aspects of this story are the characters, their interactions and the humour. The plot is almost secondary. Agatha Christie seemed to be having fun at Poirot’s expense with this book. He is not a lover of the country, yet he finds himself in a small village, staying in a less than salubrious guest house run by the scatty Maureen Summerhayes. The food is dreadful, the house cold and draughty and the comfort nothing like he is used to.

The cast of colourful and eccentric characters is quite large and includes the fabulously hilarious Ariadne Oliver, also in the village to consult with a playwright who is adapting one of her books for the stage, while bemoaning her own depiction of the main character. She and Poirot meet on the road as Mrs Oliver is driving into the village in a car that’s quite a tight fit.

Mrs Oliver is determined to help Poirot solve the case and introduces him to the locals. It’s fun to see Poirot completely out of his comfort zone and among people who, to his dismay, have no idea who he is.

The clues centre around a newspaper article found at Mrs Mrs McGinty’s, something the police missed first time round, about four women who were involved in sensational murder cases a couple of decades previously. What follows is a classic Poirot investigation, with several options for the murderer and much misdirection with false clues, until finally the light dawns and all the loose ends are tied up. ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 01, 2019 Leah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, 2019

Where are they now?

When old Mrs McGinty is brutally killed in her own parlour, suspicion quickly falls on her lodger, the rather unprepossessing James Bentley. All the evidence points in his direction, and he is duly charged, tried and convicted. But somehow it doesn’t feel right to Superintendent Spence. He’s met many murderers in his long career and Bentley doesn’t seem to him to fit the profile. With the police case closed, he takes his concerns to his old friend Hercule Poirot, asking him to Where are they now?

When old Mrs McGinty is brutally killed in her own parlour, suspicion quickly falls on her lodger, the rather unprepossessing James Bentley. All the evidence points in his direction, and he is duly charged, tried and convicted. But somehow it doesn’t feel right to Superintendent Spence. He’s met many murderers in his long career and Bentley doesn’t seem to him to fit the profile. With the police case closed, he takes his concerns to his old friend Hercule Poirot, asking him to investigate with a view to either turning up evidence that will clear Bentley or alternatively finding something that will reassure Spence the right man has been convicted. But Poirot must hurry, before Bentley goes to the gallows...

This is yet another great mystery from the supremely talented Ms Christie. First published in 1952, she was still at the height of her formidable plotting powers and had that ease and occasional playfulness in her style that always makes her books such a pleasure to read. I’ve always loved the books in which Ariadne Oliver appears – Christie uses this mystery-writing friend of Poirot to provide a humorous and delightfully self-deprecating insight into the life of the detective novelist, and Ariadne’s love/hate relationship with her Finnish recurring detective must surely be based on Christie’s own frustrations with her Belgian one.

Poirot’s accommodation provides a good deal of humour in this one too. He must stay in the village, so boards with the Summerhayes – a couple with little experience of providing for paying guests and less talent. Maureen Summerhayes is delightful but scatterbrained, and her untidiness and lack of organisation drive the obsessively neat Poirot to distraction, while her less than mediocre cooking skills leave him longing for a well-cooked meal and a decent cup of coffee.

Following a clue missed by the police, Poirot soon begins to suspect that the motive for the murder lies in the past. He discovers a newspaper cutting in Mrs McGinty’s effects relating to four old murders with photos of the murderers, under the heading “Where are they now?” Poirot thinks that one at least of them may be living in the village complete with a new name and persona. But which? The recent war has destroyed many records, allowing people with shady pasts to reinvent themselves with reasonable safety from discovery. But as word of Poirot’s investigation spreads, it seems as if someone is getting nervous, and nervous murderers take risks...

I enjoyed this one thoroughly. I’d read it before long ago and pretty soon remembered whodunit but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment. It allowed me instead to look out for the clues as they happened, so I can say that this is a fair-play one – all the clues are there and they’re often quite easy to spot, but much more difficult to interpret correctly. Great fun, and as always Hugh Fraser’s narration is excellent, bringing out all the humour and warmth in the stories. Highly recommended!

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2020 lethe rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: c-record-correct, d-20th-c, p-removed, a-adult, r-challenges-past, z-reread, z-pre-book-journal, g-crime, g-cosy, c-own-cover-photo

I'm pretty sure that except for the spy stories I read all Agatha Christie's novels at least twice, but I couldn't remember anything about this one apart from 'Mrs McGinty's Dead'.

It was a quick read and I really enjoyed it up to the dénouement, which I thought was rather silly and a disappointment. 2.5 stars.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2015 Poonam rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-thriller-suspense

Such an engaging story with soo many suspicious characters and soo many options for the motive of the murder.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 20, 2017 Bshayer Alkuwari rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Dear Hercule Poirot.. you are amazing!

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2020 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this, read with the reading the Detectives group - I either missed it years ago, or didn’t remember it.

Superintendent Spence asks Poirot to look into a murder case - a man has already been tried and convicted and is awaiting his death sentence, but Spence just doesn’t think he did it. Poirot agrees to take on the case, and heads to the village where it occurred; the only lodging available is a ramshackle old home owned by a friendly military couple who’ve returned from India. Th ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Reading the Detec...: Poirot Buddy Read 30: Mrs McGinty's Dead	24	17	Jun 03, 2020 12:47PM
Reading the Detec...: Poirot Buddy Real 30 : Spoiler Thread for Mrs McGinty's Dead	25	23	Jun 01, 2020 02:49AM
The Agatha Christ...: July 2017: Mrs. McGinty's Dead	2	15	Aug 14, 2017 06:23PM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED!: Agatha Christie book - Poirot [s]	3	25	Sep 27, 2007 07:44AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Mystery

1,156 users

Fiction

298 users

Mystery > Crime

297 users

Mystery > Detective

112 users

See top shelves…

About Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

41,339 followers

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. She wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in Romance. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in t ...more