Murder at Hazelmoor

From the book cover:
On a cold, snowy winter evening, six members of the tiny community of Sittaford are engaged in an amusing séance of table turning when suddenly there is a loud rap. The name of T-R-E-V-E-L-Y-A-N is spelled out, then slowly the table rocks out the letters M-U-R-D-E-R. One of the participants in the séance, retired Major Burnaby, is an old friend of Captain Joseph Trevelyan. While protesting that he “doesn’t believe in this tommyrot,” the Major is sufficiently disturbed by the eerie incident to slog his way on foot through the blizzard to Captain Trevelyan’s cottage in Exhampton, six miles away.

Captain Trevelyan has indeed been murdered. He has been dead for two, possibly three hours… about the time of the message from the “spirit world.” Inspector Narracott is called in on the case, and, on circumstantial evidence, arrests James Pearson. James’ fiancée, Emily Trefusis, promptly goes to work to prove his innocence… by proving someone else’s guilt.

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My Review:

Murder at Hazelmoor is a typical Agatha Christie murder mystery. There’s the plucky young heroine (for some reason, Emily Trefusis reminded me of Robert Munsch’s Princess Elizabeth of The Paper Bag Princess fame), the above suspicion killer, a bunch of shady characters, and of course the little side mysteries that are not solved to the reader’s satisfaction.

It’s almost impossible to dislike Ms. Christie’s heroines. They all fit the same archetype. If you want to get a feel for Emily Trefusis’ character, think Tuppence, Anne Beddingfield, Virginia Revel, Katherine Grey and Lady Eileen (Bundle) Brent. They are all gutsy women who shrug of the 1920s ideal of a woman’s place in the world and are often way ahead of the men in their lives.

I felt tricked at the end of this novel, much like I felt at the end of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. It’s one of those mysteries where the reader has to really look at what’s not written on the pages and invent possible scenarios.

Agatha Christie novels are great travel and vacation reads. I’ve accepted that they are not great works of fiction but I’m still disappointed when the plot elements don’t add up. Unfortunately that was the case in Murder at Hazelmoor.

2.5/5