Welcome to Litsy!

This might not be the most memorable mystery and Poirot is absent for a big chunk of it, but it still ends up being fun.

Agatha knew people, all right.

“I always felt sorry for him. I think that terribly conceited manner of his is a good deal put on.”

“I shouldn‘t be surprised,” said Mr S. “It‘s a very common phenomenon. If I ever see anyone who appears to think a lot of themselves and boasts unceasingly, I always know there‘s a secret sense of inferiority somewhere.”

Loved this one! I wish Poirot had showed up sooner but it all worked out in the end. And once again I was completely wrong! 😂

A good whodunit to start the day. #audiobook

This mystery has a different feel to it than Christie's previous books. Apart from having trouble keeping track of some of the characters, I quite enjoy how she tells this story. Her characters are so animated, I have to wonder how much they're based on actual individuals.

Brilliant, Agatha Christie never disappoints. I was leaning towards someone I thought she could make the murder, but once again I was wrong. I really enjoy her books immensely and completely understand why they were made into mini-series. I also really love the character Poirot. He is delightful with his little grey cells.

I've been obsessively listening to Agatha Christie this past week! When the husband's away, this is apparently how I play.

Poirot seemed a lot more authoritative (almost domineering?) with suspects in this book.

Egg was a hoot. I always love Christie's "terrifyingly alive" modern young women. I wish more of them were from their pov!

I really liked this one!! Kept me glued the whole time. Definitely recommend!

#agathachristieclubr2

Finished this one today. 🎃😈👻 #scarathlon2021 #teamslaughter

4. The murderer in this novel acts particularly callously by staging a "practice run." At the end of the book, Poirot comments that he might have been the victim of this poisoning. How did you feel about this comment? Did you interpret it humorously or earnestly?

#agathachristieclubR2

3. This book marks the reappearance of Satterthwaite from The Mysterious Mr. Quin. How did you feel about this crossover? How does he stack up against Hastings as a sidekick?

#agathachristieclubR2

2. Reviewers of Christie's book commented that Cartwright shows a lot of similarities to an earlier character, Dr. Sheppard in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Do you agree? What similarities did you see?

#agathachristieclubR2

Woohoo! I remembered to do #agathachristieclubR2 questions in a reasonable time! Easier to do while I'm on EIGHT MORE WEEKS of home rest 😭

As always, please remember to tag anyone who has previously commented to keep to discussion going, and please remember to look at the posts following this one for all the questions (I do one question per post).

1. Did you enjoy this novel? Why or why not?

Christie does it again! I had an inkling of who the killer might be but thought, nah that doesn't make sense. But then the twist! And it all made sense! I love her writing and her plotting 😄
Poirot was mostly absent for the first half of the book and then gets sweeped in at the end. It was interesting to see things being investigated by different characters.

At a dinner party the reverend falls dead after taking a sip from a cocktail. Poor is present and thinks it‘s natural death. Sometime later, another dinner party and this time a doctor falls dead. Friends, Sir Charles and Mr Satterthwaite, decide to investigate this themselves and along the way they are joined by Egg.

For being a Poirot mystery, I would expect more of him. He doesn‘t re-enter the scene until way after halfway.

Hi #agathachristieclubR2 friends! I'm trying to get back on top of things after a difficult summer, and I realized that one of the things that's stressing me out is posting catch-up questions for the books I've missed the past few months. So I'm resetting us with the schedule above! If you've already read these, great! You get a couple of months off and are ready for discussion. If you haven't, great! You have some time to catch up. Sound okay?

Another favourite! Interesting mistery and fun characters to follow. And then Poirot shows up at the end to set things straight 😎

This felt so familiar to me but I‘ve definitely never read it before. I do prefer my Poirot books to star Poirot, not have him as a minor character so this one lacked for me but the overall plot was intriguing.

#agathachristieclubr2

I really liked this one. I feel like I always say that with Agatha Christie books!

I really liked how this one had both Poirot and Satterthwaite in it. I really like him too and think he‘s clever.

A really great mystery I hadn‘t read before.

#AgathaChristieClubR2

I really didn't remember this Christie at all, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Poirot is more of a secondary character here as the clue-hunting is being done by others, with the narration in third person rather than from the perspective of Hastings. As always, the clues are there if you can see them, although I, of course, did not!!

I also really liked the way Christie listed the characters in the front of the book!!

Welllll all my library holds came in, so as you can see, Led Zeppelin has been pushed back yet again! 😂 Most of these are either for May reading challenges or holds that need to be returned fast since they are new books. I also added a Norway travel guide to my chapter-a-day pile!! These should be some pretty fast reads so I am cautiously optimistic that I will make a dent!! #WeeklyForecast @Cinfhen

A great read that I always enjoy! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had so many things to get done today, but instead I read another book. This is my #doublespin for October. @TheAromaofBooks
A Poirot mystery, but he doesn‘t play a significant role until the last part. Speaking of playing roles, this starts out at an actor‘s home. Mr. Satterthwaite is a MC, too. I thought I would be better by now at guessing the murderer, but I still never know. Also, this had a great last line. @Clwojick #teamslaughter 16pts

1. Going into the city. I finally have free time and I can‘t use it lol. That said, I also miss work.

2. It‘s slowed things down for sure. I listened to a lot of audiobooks at work and now that I can‘t go I just. Haven‘t been doing that. However, I‘ve paired down my bookshelves a decent amount.

#twofortuesday
@TheSpineView

An enjoyable listen, one which I devoured within a couple of days. Full review available here: https://thecuriousmagpie2018.wordpress.com/2020/04/17/audiobook-review-three-act...

I almost always enjoy Hugh Fraser's narration of Agatha Christie's work and thank god for it. It was the only thing that made this Poirot story bearable. Well, that and the fact that it has less overt racism than some of her earlier stories. I think what disappoints me most is that I guessed the murder 1/3rd of the way through.

This week‘s #weeklyforecast is very similar to last week‘s because I got so little reading done this week. I hope to finish my listen to the tagged book, get to page 403 of The Red Sphinx for my #yearofdumas, finish Pride of Eden, and with any luck, read all of Nairobi Noir and An American Marriage. I‘d really like to also at least start one of my February wishlist reads. #dreambig

I really enjoyed this one. Poirot is a little bit of a deus ex machina, with only a cameo appearance or two until almost the end, when he applies his little gray cells, unravels the mystery, and unmasks the murderer. But I enjoyed following the clues through the eyes of the three amateur detectives. This has a satisfying conclusion—one that I kind of anticipated but kept talking myself out of until it was revealed!

Well, I got who if not why

"Rather a difficult name for a servant to remember—the parlourmaid here is rather stupid. She came and said to me, “Mrs West India has come,” and of course I suppose Rushbridger does sound rather like West India"

In what accent does Rushbridger sound anything LIKE West India, Dame Agatha?

Another favorite Christie for me. The solution is chilling and diabolical, and I think quite a bit darker than most of her other books. #agathachristieclub @Bambolina_81 #booked19 #foodorbeverageoncover @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft #readharder #cozymystery @bookriot

My first Agatha Christie!

This may have become one of my favorites. ❤ It's such a clever mystery. I watched the tv adaptation before reading the book and was surprised at Mr. Satterthwaite's role in the novel but not the show. It worked though. I loved it.

"In all the world there is nothing so curious and so interesting and so beautiful as truth..."

A man who dramatises himself is sometimes misjudged.

Lunch hour reading! 😀

Finished Christie (a pick) and immediately started A Head Full of Ghosts. Maybe not the smartest move. The Christie narrator was so good and I'm struggling with this new narrator...I'm also not sure if Ghosts works as an audiobook. I'm only on chapter 2 so maybe I need to give it more time 😂

Started this yesterday. So far so good.

This was such a fun and clever mystery. I liked the theatrics and drama Christie created in this one.

Evening reading and cuddles. I'm half way through this and finding it very entertaining.

Continuing to read my way through all the Poirot books. This has probably been my least favorite so far. I predicted the killer but the whole story just wasn‘t my favorite. Oh well, on to the next one.

These are my two books for #LMPBC #GroupB and #whodunitthesequel, but I‘m having a hard time getting into either of them. Does anybody else feel this way sometimes with their “assigned” reading? I like getting new books each month, etc. but it almost feels like homework to me. 🙈 Just me?

More from my Agatha Christie binge-- can Dame Agatha be too clever in her plotting? If so, I think she might be too clever here. Still fun to watch these unfold, and delicious with spaghetti and meatballs 🍝

Nothing says I'm gonna finish off this awful cold like tea in my favorite Totoro cup, and an Agatha Christie novel. Perfect company for this chilly weather 😊🤒😷. Thank you so much for all the goodies, @ForeverNerdy, that was incredibly thoughtful!

#LMPBC #GroupB

Thank you so much to the lovely @ForeverNerdy for the thoughtful Poirot-themed gifts she sent to each of us in #LMPBC #GroupB! So cute! Can‘t wait to use that cup cozy. Thank you!