From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Sad Cypress (Hercule Poirot, #22)

Agatha Christie

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Archive: Poirot Buddy Reads

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

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What Members Thought

Oct 02, 2019 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tbr-with-gr-groups, want-to-reread, christie

4.5 stars - I really enjoyed this, I somehow missed this title when I devoured as many Christie mysteries as I could get my hands on when I was young!

This mystery offered everything I love in Christie’s golden age classics: courtroom drama, a knotty puzzle, believable characters, with the added tension of what appears to be an airtight case against proud, young Elinor Carlisle in the murder of beautiful Mary Gerrard. The story opens in court as the airtight case is winding up; Christie does an e ...more

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Jun 12, 2019 Laura Anne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, british-isles

2019 It's official: I've read all of Agatha Christie's novels. I started around my tenth birthday, and it only took 25 years. I really didn't want it to end. I put off the last few books for more than a decade. ...more

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Apr 07, 2017 Nanosynergy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, british, mysteries-thrillers-espionage, 2017read, fiction, reviewed, fiction-1940s

Elinor Carlisle is on trial for the murder of Mary Gerrar. Conviction based on the evidence seems almost certain and the police are convinced it is an open and shut case. But one man who believes in her innocence recruits Hercule Poirot to investigate.

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Jan 28, 2011 Becky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

First sentence: "Elinor Katharine Carlisle. You stand charged upon this indictment with the murder of Mary Gerrard upon the 27th of July last. Are you guilty or not guilty?"

Premise/plot: Harriet Vane had Lord Peter Wimsey, and Elinor Katharine Carlisle has Peter Lord. Though her hero is not an amateur detective, but a country doctor. Still, Peter Lord, who fell in love with Elinor at first sight, has the wisdom to seek the best of the best to clear her name: Hercule Poirot. He wants Poirot to fi First sentence: "Elinor Katharine Carlisle. You stand charged upon this indictment with the murder of Mary Gerrard upon the 27th of July last. Are you guilty or not guilty?"

Premise/plot: Harriet Vane had Lord Peter Wimsey, and Elinor Katharine Carlisle has Peter Lord. Though her hero is not an amateur detective, but a country doctor. Still, Peter Lord, who fell in love with Elinor at first sight, has the wisdom to seek the best of the best to clear her name: Hercule Poirot. He wants Poirot to find evidence that will acquit her of murder. Is love blinding him? Is the woman he loves guilty of murder? It seems that she had opportunity to kill her aunt (supposedly out of greed) and Mary (supposedly out of jealousy). But Lord and Poirot doubt the supposed motives. They see other possibilities.

My thoughts: I loved this one. I just LOVED it. I loved the characterization! I loved the story! While Peter Lord is no Lord Peter, I did enjoy him very much! I was quite surprised by how pleased I was that Elinor had someone on her side. Not that Elinor was completely lovable. She was flawed--very flawed. But still. By the end, I was seeing her through Peter Lord's eyes, I was seeing her with love.

"One does not practice detection with a textbook! One uses one's natural intelligence." (196)

"One must understand with the cells of one's brain before one uses one's eyes."(196)

"One always likes to know exactly what lies have been told one."
"Did Welman tell you a lie?"
"Definitely."
"Who else has lied to you?"
"Everybody. I think: Nurse O'Brien romantically; Nurse Hopkins stubbornly; Mrs. Bishop venomously; You yourself--"
"Good God!" Peter Lord interrupted him unceremoniously. "You don't think I've lied to you, do you?"
"Not yet," Poirot admitted.
Dr. Lord sank back in his chair. He said, "You're a disbelieving sort of fellow, Poirot." (198)

ETA: I first read this one in 2011. So it has been quite a while. I haven't reread many Christie novels. So it's always tricky for me to match plot points and characters with titles. I don't always even remember if it's Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. I read this one for the 1940 Book Club. As soon as I realized it was THIS MYSTERY, I was so excited. I remembered loving these characters!

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Sep 14, 2023 Marcella rated it really liked it

Shelves: murder-mysteries, fiction, 2023-75-book-challenge

“Why should these things happen to one? It’s not as though one wished them to happen! It is contrary to all—to all one’s ordered expectation of life!”
Hercule Poirot said: “Ah, but life is like that! It does not permit you to arrange and order it as you will. It will not permit you to escape emotion, to live by the intellect and by reason! You cannot say, ‘I will feel so much and no more.’ Life, Mr. Welman, whatever else it is, is not reasonable!”
Roderick Welman murmured: “So it seems….”
Poirot ...more

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