Curtain: Poirot's Last Case by Agatha Christie - 07/22 thru 08/0

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

Hello fellow Crime, Mystery, and Thriller readers! This discussion is about Curtain: Poirot's Last Case and your hostess is Gem.
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Summary

The house guests at Styles seemed perfectly pleasant to Captain Hastings; there was his own daughter Judith, an inoffensive ornithologist called Norton, dashing Mr Allerton, brittle Miss Cole, Doctor Franklin and his fragile wife Barbara , Nurse Craven, Colonel Luttrell and his charming wife, Daisy, and the charismatic Boyd-Carrington. So Hastings was shocked to learn from Hercule Poirot's declaration that one of them was a five-times murderer. True, the ageing detective was crippled with arthritis, but had his deductive instincts finally deserted him?

The novel features Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings in their final appearances in Christie's works. It is a country house novel, with all the characters and the murder set in one house. Not only does the novel return the characters to the setting of her first, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, but it reunites Poirot and Hastings, who last appeared together in Dumb Witness in 1937. It was adapted for television in 2013.

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

Hi folks, I'm Gem and will be the discussion leader for Curtain: Poirot's Last Case. I'm going to start reading this within the next few days.

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

I'm really not liking the Judith Hastings character. She's arrogant, unsympathetic, and mean-spirited. I hope I'm reading her wrong and this changes but so far...

[Pamela]

I agree with you Gem about Judith Hastings. It seems so out of character considering her father but then again in all the books about Poirot and Hastings, I don't remember much having been written about Hastings having a family at all. So it was quite a surprise to read that he had one.

To be honest, I read this book years ago, so I'm getting just vague reflections on what happened in the book.

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

I just finished. Judith did, in fact, grow on me... slightly. I am having a really hard time with the conclusion of the book.

How did everyone else feel about whodunit?

[Donna]

This really was a “full circle” first and last murder at Styles for Hercule Poirot. It did have me guessing and second guessing. I was suspicious of every character and the ending...... I think it was a brilliant way to conclude this series for Poirot and gives Hastings a future.

[Veda]

Pamela he met his wife in another case 'Murder on the Links,' which was book #3 for Christie)

Gem as I stated I reread the major works when Suchet retired & even then upon read when I got to Curtain, it was as devastating as the first. Hercule Poirot was a fastidious man, perhaps OCD before it was OCD, yet the cunning, I believe in another case he tried to be a criminal - it was hilarious. I do not want to spoil it for any, yet when Hastings learns the truth

"....the ageing detective was crippled with arthritis, but had his deductive instincts finally deserted him?"

Priceless & getting to watch the adaptation made 'Curtain' come to life, even though the great detectives was ending - made it even more so 😢

RIP Insp 🔍 Poirot RIP

[Cherry]

I personally struggled with the book quite literally dragged on till the very end. And to think this was my second time to read it, albeit after 20+ years. Quite unfortunate that Poirot's last case was far from his best ones.