Agatha Christie calls The Crooked house as one of her personal favorites and a book that she really enjoyed writing, first published in 1949 The Crooked House is part of the non series books by Agatha Christie which means there is no popular fictional detective like Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot in this one.
Plot:
Charles is the son of the AC of the Scotland yard and is in love with the beautiful Sophia Leonides, when Charles shares his feeling of Love with Sophia, she refuses Charles but not because she does not love Charles but because she might be one of the accused in the murder of her millionaire grandfather. Charles like a knight in shining armor comes to the rescue to help his Fiance and find the true identity of the murderer. But has he bitten off more then he can chew? will the truth save him or hurt him?
Review:
This is only the second non-series Agatha Christie book that I have read and without a doubt her non-series books have been the best, This is an absolute intriguing read. I read the whole book in one day! no doubt people refer to this one as one of her best novels. The Absence of Marple and Poirot in the book is perfect had any of the two of them been in this book then that would have ruined it for me, The amateur sleuth Charles proves to be a great narrator and detective and you can relate more to the Human errors of Charles then the sometimes Snobbish Poirot, the ending of the book is perfect the last 4 chapters are absolutely spell binding and working out the identity of the killer is not easy, I was not able to work this one out, why don't you give it a try too? A must read.
Where can you get it: I got this one from Landmark for Rs 150, I think you can get it cheaper from FlipKart.
I have read this book many times over the years. It too is one of my favourites and my copy fell apart so I had to throw it out last move.
ReplyDeleteha ha lol, it truly is a favorite. and impels me to read more from the non-series.
ReplyDeleteI was really impressed with Crooked House. It's the first Agatha Christie book I've read that doesn't feature Poirot, and Charles certainly makes a great narrator.
ReplyDeleteI love how Christie gives us huge hints towards the murderer throughout - and yet I still didn't pick up on who it was!
Highly recommended, and a great review. :)
hi Bates,
ReplyDeleteif you liked the crooked house, you should also give "and then there were none" by Christie a try. you won't regret it.
and yes agreed only Christie can stump you like that.
thanks.
Awesome post.
ReplyDeleteMy weblog; bill bohack