From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Death in the Clouds

Agatha Christie

Start date: February 1, 2019

Finish date: February 28, 2019

Discussion: Archive: Poirot Buddy Reads

Why we're reading this: The next in our popular series of Poirot buddy reads.
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Archive: Poirot Buddy Reads

* Reading Order for the Unofficial Poirot Buddy Reads
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last updated Dec 27, 2020 08:20AM

Poirot Buddy Read 40: SPOILER THREAD Curtain
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What Members Thought

Jul 29, 2012 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is one of Agatha Christie's most enjoyable mysteries, with Poirot not only solving the murder but also enjoying success with his match making powers. It is during a flight from Paris to Croydon that a murder takes place - when moneylender and blackmailer Madame Giselle is found slumped in her seat, apparently killed by a poisoned blow dart. The whole thing seems incredible and Poirot sets out to discover who the culprit is, while protecting the innocent. There are some wonderful suspects he ...more

38 likes · Like · see review

Jul 15, 2020 Anissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-fiction-uk-ireland, 2020, mystery-suspense-crime, cozy-mystery, series, library-borrowed-kindle-unlimited

A fine mystery featuring Hercule Poirot and a confounding murder on a plane in plain sight of the passengers including Poirot. But more importantly, just know that this Kindle Unlimited edition has a fair number of irritating transposed passages & word usage errors (see my Kindle Notes for some examples). Choose another edition and save yourself the bother.

19 likes · Like · see review

Jun 21, 2013 Kavita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: uk, mystery, golden-age-mystery

Poirot gets as sick on air as he does on sea, and when a murder is committed under his own eyes, he is annoyed. However, his sharp eyes still manage to spot a wasp, or is it one? Turns out it's a dart dipped in some obscure South American snake poison! As poor Japp says, this isn't an English murder. Sometimes I wonder if Christie made fun of the English constantly! The icing on the cake is that the blowpipe used for blowing the dart is found shoved behind Poirot's seat!

The jury wants to bring a ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2017 Damaskcat rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Hercule Poirot finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation when a murder takes place almost under his nose on a flight from Paris to Croydon. Unfortunately because he suffers from travel sickness he was asleep for most of the flight. In the confined space of a commercial airliner in the 1930s, the number of suspects is limited but the police of both France and England fins themselves puzzled for quite a long time.

I enjoyed this mystery and thought it was interesting that the author inv ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 31, 2021 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-mystery, mystery, vintage-mystery, agatha-christie, bought-2019, mount-tbr-2021

Death is waiting for one of the passengers who cross the English Channel on the air liner Prometheus. Hercule Poirot suffers from mal de mer and mal de l'air. So, he sleeps for most of the journey and someone murders Madame Giselle right under the nose of the airsick detective. The victim is a money-lender who backs her loans to the upper classes with a bit of judicious blackmail as security. Only rarely does anyone default on their loans when they know Madame Giselle will publish their darkest Death is waiting for one of the passengers who cross the English Channel on the air liner Prometheus. Hercule Poirot suffers from mal de mer and mal de l'air. So, he sleeps for most of the journey and someone murders Madame Giselle right under the nose of the airsick detective. The victim is a money-lender who backs her loans to the upper classes with a bit of judicious blackmail as security. Only rarely does anyone default on their loans when they know Madame Giselle will publish their darkest secrets.

At first, the steward thinks the Frenchwoman is asleep as well and leaves her alone until just before the plane will land. When he tries to awaken her, he discovers, to his horror, that she is dead! At first glance, it looks like she may have had a severe reaction to a wasp sting (there had been one flying around the compartment), but it soon proves to have been from a dart laced with an obscure snake venom. Then a blowpipe is found stuffed down by Poirot's seat--of all places! [Causing those at the inquest to believe "that little foreigner done it."] Some of Poirot's fellow passengers seem to fit the profile of Madame Giselle's clients, thus giving them a possible motive, but it seems impossible that any of them could have used the blowpipe to kill her within the small confines of the plane without being seen by at least one person.

Poirot has asked his friend Inspector Japp to get him a detailed list of what was in each passenger's pockets and carry-on baggage and he is quick to spot the essential clues. But he is also puzzled because although objects he expected to be found were found--they were among the belongings of the wrong person! Several trips to France and more interviews with all the passengers and the stewards will be needed as well as an interview with an as yet unsuspected person before the puzzle will make sense.

It hasn't been so very long since I read this one--but I'm attempting to read Dame Agatha in publication order and didn't want to skip over. She wasn't able to pull the wool over my eyes this time. I was rather proud of myself that I remembered all the little clues that Poirot picks up on so easily (and that I missed totally when I read this the first time). I still enjoyed myself and was able to sit back and observe the fun without spending time trying to work out whodunnit. A fun read.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 03, 2021 Lady Wesley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: chirpbooks, mystery-golden-age-or-similar, listened

Death in the Clouds, as narrated by Hugh Fraser (aka Captain Hastings), is lots of fun. Of course, I had no idea who the murderer was, and honestly, Poirot's intuition bordered on unbelievable. I do think this is one of Agatha Christie's best novels, primarily because of the unusual setting. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2014 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-as-an-audiobook

The great narrator on the audiobook did a great job. The killer was a bit far fetched even for an Agatha Christie fan like myself but the interesting side characters made up for that. I particularly like Mr. Clancy the mystery writer. I think she had a lot of fun writing him and poking fun at her profession.

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Nov 30, 2021 Sarah G rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I loved the seemingly impossible premise of the murder. Also the in-flight food sounded extraordinary!

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Dec 19, 2013 Christine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: authors-a-to-d, mystery-thriller-suspense, read-in-2015, nbrc-gladiator-challenge-2015

That was fun. I tend to read more Miss Marple than Hercule Poirot, but I enjoyed this a lot. He is an eccentric and intelligent man, that shows. I havent read AC in ages. I have to come back to her books more often but then again I would miss all the new books that come out. Darn!

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Jun 18, 2015 Lynnie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-1980s, read-in-2000s, crime, golden-age-detective-story, read-in-2021

I really enjoyed this book. I appreciate the Poirot books so much more now than when I first read them. I find him a very comforting detective, much more so than Miss Marple (though I used to love her books the best).
This was a good mystery with some humour and match making too.

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