Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

According to the note which serves as a foreword to this book, Agatha Christie wrote this in response to a complaint from a brother-in-law that her books didn't have enough blood. Well, this one has TOO MUCH blood!!Not an untypical story, a British family that has parted ways and not seen each other for years is summoned home for one last Christmas by their widowed father, who states this may be his last chance to see the entire family before he dies. So the four brothers arrive, each with their own secrets and reasons for not wanting to be at the family home. One brother left over 20 years ago when their mother died and has not been back since. Another, after some sort of scandal, has wandered around the world. And the last is now a Member of Parliament, mostly due to the money his father has paid to advance his career. Added to the family for the first time is a Spanish grand-daughter, whose mother, the only daughter, recently died and her grandfather finally located her and invited her to come for this Christmas celebration. At the last moment, another stranger, the son of the father's old business partner from South Africa, completes the house party.But on Christmas Eve, after all but the father have finished dinner and gone off to various parts of the house, a huge noise of furniture being tumbled about is heard from the father's room, and a loud scream, as from a dying man. The others rush to break open the locked door and find their father dead, in a pool of blood, with his throat slit.Hercule Poirot is spending Christmas in the country at the home of the Chief Constable of the District and they are called to the house at the behest of the local Superintendent. The Superintendent shares that a quantity of uncut diamonds has also been stolen from the old man's safe and he had been summoned to find out the thief, which is why he was at the front door when all the ruckus happened.Everyone, of course, has an alibi. AND everyone, of course, had reason to dislike the old man, but who of them hated him enough to slit his throat, and how did they manage it?Poirot is invited by the oldest brother to move into the house so he can more easily figure out what happened, and he does. But it is NOT the ending you expect!!

i have no idea how agatha came up with this stuff. like this one was just so out of left field i wasn’t even close

Item Arrived in Expedient Pristine Condition! One of Agatha Christie's Best! Flow of Story, Characters, Plot, Timing Incredibly Written. Murder on the Orient Express & Death on the Nile (Tie), Hercule Poirot's Christmas & Lord Edgeware Dies (Tie), ABC Murders & Murder on the Mesopotamia (Tie), Mrs. McGinty's Dead & Halloween Party (Tie), Death in the Clouds, And Then There Were None Are My Favorite Christies Thus Far!

One of my favorite Christies and one I haven't read in quite a while. I remember the cover of my old paperback had the gruesome image of a screaming, skeletal old man in chair surrounded by flying objects. Ugh. That's the main reason I gave the book away. The murder is one of Christie's more interesting, not to mention puzzling.The story revolves around the Lee family. The Lee patriarch is the colorful, cruel, and charismatic Simeon, who sadistically toys with his children, none of whom have lived up to his expectations. Things come to a head one fateful Christmas when all of his surviving children converge for a nice family get together - the ever faithful Alfred, the eldest son and resident doormat, and his cool, elegant wife, Lydia; the rakish Harry, the family blacksheep (who always reminds me of George Sanders for some reason); miserly politician George with his much younger (and quite expensive) wife Magdalene; David, an artistic, overly sensitive Mama's boy who still mourns his mother and hates his father a passion; David's loyal, very motherly wife Hilda; and Pilar, the half-Spanish daughter of Simeon's only daughter, Jennifer, who passed away a year earlier. Also entering the mix is the mysterious Stephen Farr, son of Simeon's former business partner in South Africa. Then, of course, there are the servants, especially the very loyal, ever present butler, Tressilian, and the valet, Horbury, who is described by Magdalene as "Sneaking round like a cat and smirking.”Once the family is assembled, old Simeon lets loose and tells them all what he thinks of them.“You’re not worth a penny piece, any of you! I’m sick of you all! You’re not men! You’re weaklings—a set of namby -pamby weaklings. Pilar’s worth any two of you put together! I’ll swear to heaven I’ve got a better son somewhere in the world than any of you, even if you are born the right side of the blanket!”His daughter-in-law Hilda tries to warn him:"Hilda Lee said slowly: 'I’m afraid. . . .'Simeon said: 'You’re afraid— of me?'Hilda said: 'Not of you. I’m afraid— for you!'Like a judge who has delivered sentence, she turned away. She marched, slowly and heavily, out of the room. . . ."Of course, Simeon gets his comeuppance in a surprisingly dramatic and violent - for Christie anyway - manner. This is one of the more enjoyable Poirot outings and is really a lot of fun. The murderer is very surprising and Christie does an excellent job with the clues.Very recommended.

The plot was intriguing, and only Hercule Poirot could unwind it, but I had problems keeping the wives seperate in my head and struggled a bit with the flowery dialogue.