Book of the Month July 2014: Dead Man's Folly - Plot & Characters

(c) Harpercollins - the new cover for the book

For July, the chosen Book of the Month for the Agatha Christie Book club at the website is one of my favourite novels. Dead Man's Folly was first published in October 1956 and features the recurring characters of Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. The setting is Nasse House, in the fictional Devonshire town of Nasscombe. Nasse House and its surroundings were inspired by Agatha Christie's own holiday home Greenway House. Recently, for the final series of Agatha Christie's Poirot, David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker filmed an adaption of Dead Man's Folly at Greenway. It was the last Poirot story to be filmed, but not the last to be broadcast.

Plot 

The great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is called upon by his old friend, the crime novelist Ariandne Oliver, to investigate the goings on at Nasse House. Mrs Oliver is helping the owner of the house Sir George Stubbs to run a murder hunt as part of the annual summer fete's festivities. However, Mrs Oliver believes there is something wrong at Nasse, and she feels sure someone will die. Hercule Poirot is called in to hand out the prizes for the murder hunt, much to his dislike, and so he can get to know the potential suspects. There he meets Sir George and his subnormal wife Hattie and Amy Foliatt, the previous owner of Nasse House. But as the celebrations begin, Hattie disappears and the fake body in the murder hunt, played by a young girl guide, turns in to a real body and is found in the boathouse. Hercule Poirot must solve the mystery of Nasse and help the police as they struggle to find the missing Hattie Stubbs.

Book of the Month April 2014: After the Funeral

©HarperCollins

The Agatha Christie Book Club's Book of The Month for April was After the Funeral, a bestseller. The novel was first published in 1953 and featured the unique character of Hercule Poirot. Here are my thoughts on the novel.

Plot 

After the funeral of Richard Abernethie, his family all gather for the reading of the will, including his younger sister Cora Lansequent.  Cora has quite a reputation in the family as a shrewd woman who often blurts out what everyone else is thinking. After the funeral, she says quite naturally "It’s been hushed up very nicely, hasn’t it? But he was murdered, wasn’t he?”. Then, the next day, Cora herself is found beaten to death in her cottage in a little village. Mr Entwhistle, the family solicitor, thinks something is wrong, so he calls in his old friend Hercule Poirot to investigate.

After the Funeral is a very traditional murder mystery: there's a rich upper class family all gathered in a country house and one of them is the killer. There's also a will, a butler and of course, the great detective himself. The solution to the murder is ingenious, and proves the great talent of Agatha Christie. Take nothing for granted, everything is not as it first appears.

©ITV - David Suchet in the TV adaption

Characters 

• Hercule Poirot 
• Gilbert Entwhistle 
• Inspector Morton 
• Richard Abernethie 
• Cora Lansequent 
• Miss Gilchrist 
• Timothy Abernethie 
• Maude Abernethie 
• Helen Abernethie 
• George Crossfield 
• Gregory Banks 
• Susan Banks 
• Michael Shane 
• Rosamund Shane
• Mr Goby 
• Lanscomb