Closed Casket starts when Lady Playford, a wealthy and famous author, changes her will to disinherit her children and give all to her sick secretary. As invited guests, Poirot and his friend Catchpool see all the drama, and when a murder takes place shortly after, they investigate.
I guess the main question is: is this as good as something Agatha Christie wrote?
The answer for me is: not really. There’s a layer of artifice, of trying a bit too hard, that never really leaves the book. Christie has Poirot and the interesting side characters, but it seems like everyone in this book is A Character. Their foibles are so exaggerated that it’s hard to decide who to focus on.
Even the romance, which I normally don’t understand in Christie’s novels, seem even more unfathomable. It’s almost as though the author saw one of the bickering couples that Christie wrote and decided to take it to extremes.
That said, the book is pretty fun. The plot had a lot of twists and turns and Poirot seemed decent (and a bit more humble than normal). And once the book hit its stride - or I got used to this not being Christie - I found myself enjoying it. I guess the only problem with this book is that Agatha Christie didn’t write it.
I have a couple of the books from Hannah's series that I hope to read, but admit I worry I will be disappointed because they aren't as close to Christie's as I might like. You give me hope though. If they are fun in their own right, even if different, I think I will enjoy them!
ReplyDeleteI think if they are her original mysteries and not using Christie's characters, they'll be a lot easier to enjoy, since this was pretty fun once I got used to it not being true Christie.
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