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Appointment with Death (Hercule Poirot, #19)

Agatha Christie

Start date: September 1, 2019

Finish date: September 30, 2019

Discussion: Archive: Poirot Buddy Reads

Why we're reading this: The next in our 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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What Members Thought

Nov 30, 2015 BrokenTune rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed

4.5*

"You do see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?"

Mrs. Boynton is despised by everyone who meets her. Even her family. All of her children live under her thumb and it is easy to see how her manipulative tyranny make Mrs. Boynton one of the most despicable characters (view spoiler) in any Christie novel.

Poirot, having once overheard a conversation between two of the Boyton children, is resolved to investigate when a death occurs on a tr ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2016 Doris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, z-2019-challenge, z-2016-challenge, reread

This was a re-read for me, and I had vaguely remembered the who and why, but not the how.

I feel that Christie is cheating here: she doesn't give us enough clues to spot the culprit. (view spoiler) Plus, I for tired of the 'guilty party committing suicide when his/her guilt is revealed' trope. *Why* do authors do that? ...more

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Oct 20, 2013 Rosario rated it liked it

I chose this one as my next Christie when I realised part of it is set in Jordan. After my visit last year, I find myself fascinated by the place.

The plot centres around a very disfunctional family, the Boyntons. Old Mr. Boynton passed away years ago and left control of the family finances to his second wife. Since then, she has kept an iron grip on both the finances and the family members themselves. There are two sons and a daughter from Mr. Boynton's first marriage, as well as a daughter of I chose this one as my next Christie when I realised part of it is set in Jordan. After my visit last year, I find myself fascinated by the place.

The plot centres around a very disfunctional family, the Boyntons. Old Mr. Boynton passed away years ago and left control of the family finances to his second wife. Since then, she has kept an iron grip on both the finances and the family members themselves. There are two sons and a daughter from Mr. Boynton's first marriage, as well as a daughter of his and the second Mrs. Boynton. All four are seemingly in thrall to the woman and unable to break free of her domination. The eldest son is married, and his wife is desperate for them to move away from her influence, but he can't manage it.

And then, on a family trip to Petra, Mrs. Boynton dies. It looks like an accident, but Hercule Poirot is also on holiday in the area, and he suspects someone in her family finally had enough of her psychological torture. Because when he first met the Boyntons in Jerusalem, he overheard one of them say to another: “You see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?”.

I had a bit of an issue with this one, which I'm not sure I would have had if I'd read it at the time it came out. No matter how much I tried to rationalise it (it's the 1930s and the economy is awful, Mrs. Boynton made sure none of the children got a useful education, why should they walk away from the fortune that should belong to them by rights?), I just couldn't buy that these people would not have had enough long before. It would have been more believable if Christie had written them as brainwashed or otherwise psychologically damaged, but as soon as Mrs. Boynton dies, they're all perfectly fine. Plus, the old woman herself didn't seem to be as monstrous as we're told she is... as the blurb puts it: "a mental sadist and the incarnation of evil". She's pretty horrid, but in a much more normal way.

The mechanics of the plot are fun, though. There are some good red herrings, and Poirot is on form. Also, I particularly enjoyed the setting. It's not a travelogue, but quite a good picture emerges of what Jordan would have been like at the time.

Not Christie's best, but a good read, nonetheless.

MY GRADE: A B-. ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Sandy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-detective-grp, rread-2019, mystery-classic, z2019-world-actual

Perhaps because I listened on a day I wasn't feeling well, but this Poirot was disappointing. I (and all she met) am glad the victim died but the solution had little to do with the rest of the novel and I found one of the romantic couples unbelievable. ...more

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