From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
Utter tosh! That's what I say to this feeble attempt to turn a short play by Christie, into a full-length novel. Atleast Sophie Hannah's New Hercule Poirot mysteries imagine newer stories, and don't try to write filler scenes, bland dialogues and copy-paste mannerisms from earlier Christie novels.
My Rating - 2/5 ...more
My Rating - 2/5 ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is a novelization of a play by Christie, and as usual with these, the style doesn't really match hers. It is fun to read them, though, since I don't have a way to see them plays. Unfortunately I don't think this is one of her best. I'm not one of those readers who think a mystery's a failure if I can guess who did it, but I knew what was going on every step of the way here, the red herrings were obvious in this one. So that's disappointing.
...more
Novelization of a play, novelized not by Christie herself, the seams visible with emphasis on stage directions. Still, the audiobook narrated by John Moffat is well done. Written in 1934, it concerns the formula for "a new kind of explosive," my reading of it coinciding weirdly with Barbenheimer week.
...more
This is an adaptation of Agatha Christi's original. I think Osborne has tried to keep to Agatha's way of dealing Poirot's character. His green eyes twinkling, calling up the whole family before revealing the truth, getting an estranged couple together etc are all in this story too.
...more
You know it is interesting to read a Christie specifically written to be a play. You can see how it would work -- the blocking, the acts, the limited set needs -- and yet for all those "constraints," it works perfectly adapted as a novel. Just perfectly. So while I read it in complete contentment, I can actually see it being performed -- and I would be perfectly happy to be in the audience!
Hercule and Hastings -- nearly as perfect a pair as Nero and Archie. ...more
Hercule and Hastings -- nearly as perfect a pair as Nero and Archie. ...more
3.5 stars
I love Agatha Christie but this reads like a play which it originally was and was not novelized by Dame Agatha so it really is no offense to her. Bit of a disappointment, just my opinion.
I love Agatha Christie but this reads like a play which it originally was and was not novelized by Dame Agatha so it really is no offense to her. Bit of a disappointment, just my opinion.
Adaptation of a Agatha Christie play into a book by Charles Osborne.
Oct 18, 2008
Aubree Goodlad
marked it as to-read
May 02, 2010
MissLemon
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
agatha-other-authors
Jul 25, 2016
Seth
added it
Apr 14, 2017
Cynthia
added it
May 17, 2021
Shannon
added it
Sep 06, 2023
Lillian
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery-vintage-golden-age,
read-in-2023
