Hallowe'en Party(1969) by Agatha Christie, Genre: Mystery, Pages:336, 3/5

There are two types of Christie books. There are those like “and then there were none”, “five little pigs”, “murder on the orient express” etc. These had ingenious ways of murder and the investigations were wrapped up quite neatly in the end leaving the reader almost giddy with the unalloyed joy of discovering another great mystery. The second category of books is one in which Halloween Party, unfortunately, falls in along with other less than satisfactory off springs of Christie’s imagination. There are other titles like The Big Four here for company. The denouement leaves much to be desired as many things are conveniently(for Christie) left unexplained.

Christie had me at the very first page of the book when I read her dedication and kind words for Sir P.G. Wodehouse.I felt almost delirious because both P.G. and Agatha are among my favorite authors of all time.

However, after completing this, I felt, and I think Sir Wodehouse might have agreed that Christie could have chosen a better book for the honor.

The book starts off promisingly. There is a Halloween party. A young girl, Joyce, tells everyone in the course of conversation that she had once upon a time seen a murder. She adds to the intrigue by claiming that at that point of time she could not recognize it as a murder and hence hadn’t told anyone. By the end of the party, she is herself found drowned. Hercule Poirot is summoned for investigation.

Poirot is in fine form right up to the last chapter. There were many people at the party and hence he gets to interview some memorable characters and exercise the grey cells. 

In many chapters, Christie, through some of her creations, rants about the laxity of the law while dealing with the chronologically young. It sometimes comes across as over the top, pedantic and even condescending.

The build up to the final showdown is vintage Christie and had my pulse all pounding.

It is the end which left me like a person interrupted at the cusp of orgasm. I felt pissed off and wanted to strangle someone myself. 

After finishing this, it felt to me as if Ms. Christie had, for once, created such a complex mystery that it became very difficult even for her to provide a plausible motive to her killer.

This is recommended only for die hard Christie fans. This could have been a classic but falls short when it mattered the most and ends up leaving a sour taste in the mouth.

Five Little Pigs(1942) by Agatha Christie, Genre: Mystery, Pages:336, 4/5

It has been sixteen years since Caroline Crale was accused of poisoning her husband the painter, Amyas Crale in a fit of jealousy. Amyas had become besotted with a much younger woman, Elsa, one of the models for his paintings and was about to leave Caroline.

Caroline leaves behind a little daughter Carla. Now Carla is nubile. She has just received a letter from her long dead mother proclaiming her innocence. Carla wants to find out whether Amyas’ death was suicide or murder and for that she hires the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Poirot zeroes in on five persons who were there at the time of the crime and starts exercising his famous grey cells.

Poirot’s task is cut out here as it has been a very long time since Amyas’ death. He begins by interviewing the five suspects. Then he asks them for a written account of the event so that they are able to describe the days leading up to it. Then the scene is reconstructed and Poirot finally arrives at the solution.

I feel this is one of the more engaging Christie books. Poirot actually gets to do a lot less detecting and much of the book is about him speaking with the five people. 

The crime and the motive seem clear enough in the beginning. I had zeroed on one of the five and was actually gloating only to get the rug pulled from under my feet. 

This is one of those which deliver surprises nearly to the very last sentences. It is a very clever book and the denouement is startling and the explanation completely convincing.

I think I can include this in my top ten Christie books and I feel it is a must read for Agatha aficionados and mystery buffs.

  

P.S.  Flipkart is offering 33% discount on all Christie titles till the end of July. They have become dirt cheap and are available for around eighty bucks each. Splurge a few hundred, people and get true bang for your buck. I ended up buying 20 of her books. One of the sections of my book shelf resembles that of a book store with the signature of Christie beautifully embossed on the spines.