Perched on the rocky cliffs of the Cornish coast, the
imposing structure known as End House looms over the quiet hotel where retired
detective Hercule Poirot is vacationing. Though the house is intriguing, its
reckless young mistress, Nick Buckly, is even more so. She has narrowly escaped
a recent series of life-threatening accidents, and something tells the Belgian
sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just coincidences or a
spate of bad luck. Someone is trying to do away with poor Nick. But who? And
what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark
history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more
certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And this time Nick may
not escape with her life.
My Review:
Hercule Poirot and his trusted sidekick, Captain Hastings,
are on the scene before the murder is committed in this entertaining and very unpredictable
mystery. No one is as they seem, including the would-be victim, Nick Buckly.
Poirot and Hastings may be growing on me because I didn’t
find them nearly as annoying as I have in the past. Poirot is humbled by his
failure to stop the murder, and the length of time it takes him with his ‘superior
grey cells’ to solve this mystery. Captain Hastings seems to have matured; he
doesn’t give Poirot as many opportunities to ridicule him as was his habit in
the past.
I’m always surprised by the amount of female stereotypes
that Poirot and Hastings employ in trying to solve their cases. You’d think
with a female author, there would be less of that stuff. I guess that's what
makes Agatha Christie’s mysteries entertaining – her ability to detach from her
own personal beliefs to create these lifelike characters that hold opinions,
that I imagine, contradict hers.
4/5
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