What do you think?
Rate this book
Crooked House / Passenger from Frankfurt
Illustrations from 1975, 1978 in faint and blotchy different unattributed artists' styles date two stories from 1950, 1930. The former add more mood - pensive, apprehensive - to complex woven tales first whodunit, second espionage almost sci-fi, both with big cast of soap opera interactions, typical Agatha chitchat.
"Crooked House" like nursery rhyme, houses family, not dishonest, but overly dependent on the intense personality of wheeler-dealer beloved Leonides patriarch. Grand-daughter Sophia at 22 was proposed to at the end of WW2 by narrator Charles, son of a Scotland Yard Inspector Taverner "Old Man". Two years later, Sophia refuses to marry until they uncover the murderer of Aristide 88. His insulin injection bottle was filled with his eyedrop eserine solution; he warned the family himself of the danger. Youngest grand-daughter Josephine says she knows the murderer, is attacked, and her cocoa poisons Nanny. Charles is the inside investigator.
"Passenger to Frankfurt" is the stranger, with hint of resemblance to long-gone sister, who convinces bored diplomat Sir Stafford Nye, to lend his passport and enveloping hooded distinctive cloak, that she might transit safely on to England. While he sleeps, drugged willingly by a Mickey Finn in his beer, announcements broadcast for Miss Daphne Theodofanous, passenger to Geneva flight diverted to Athens and danger by fog. At a London embassy dinner, she is exotic Countess Renata Zerkowski. To espionage master Lord Altamount, she is Uncle Ned's cleaner-upper Mary Ann. She guides Staffy through Bavarian Youth Music Festival, to elephantine Gräfin (Countess) Charlotte von Waldsausen, who was at Swiss school with his great-aunt Lady Matilda Cleckheaton née Baldwen-White. The obese villain's charismatic protegé, excellent singer and orator, "young Sigfried" rouses youth worldwide to destructive riots, returning Nazi Aryan genocide in a worldwide conspiracy of drugs, weapons, science, and moles.
"Crooked House" like nursery rhyme, houses family, not dishonest, but overly dependent on the intense personality of wheeler-dealer beloved Leonides patriarch. Grand-daughter Sophia at 22 was proposed to at the end of WW2 by narrator Charles, son of a Scotland Yard Inspector Taverner "Old Man". Two years later, Sophia refuses to marry until they uncover the murderer of Aristide 88. His insulin injection bottle was filled with his eyedrop eserine solution; he warned the family himself of the danger. Youngest grand-daughter Josephine says she knows the murderer, is attacked, and her cocoa poisons Nanny. Charles is the inside investigator.
"Passenger to Frankfurt" is the stranger, with hint of resemblance to long-gone sister, who convinces bored diplomat Sir Stafford Nye, to lend his passport and enveloping hooded distinctive cloak, that she might transit safely on to England. While he sleeps, drugged willingly by a Mickey Finn in his beer, announcements broadcast for Miss Daphne Theodofanous, passenger to Geneva flight diverted to Athens and danger by fog. At a London embassy dinner, she is exotic Countess Renata Zerkowski. To espionage master Lord Altamount, she is Uncle Ned's cleaner-upper Mary Ann. She guides Staffy through Bavarian Youth Music Festival, to elephantine Gräfin (Countess) Charlotte von Waldsausen, who was at Swiss school with his great-aunt Lady Matilda Cleckheaton née Baldwen-White. The obese villain's charismatic protegé, excellent singer and orator, "young Sigfried" rouses youth worldwide to destructive riots, returning Nazi Aryan genocide in a worldwide conspiracy of drugs, weapons, science, and moles.
472 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
1 person is currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,775 books75.5k followersAgatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 20, 2021
Passenger from Frankfurt was the first time I’ve had to wade reluctantly through an Agatha novel. It was just so disconnected from reality with such overblown characters that it was impossible to buy-in. And I’m not completely sure if anything actually happened. I’d recommend giving this one a miss.
August 18, 2021
The first few chapters were good - I was interested to see where the storyline would go, but by the time I got to the part about Young Siegfried and the youth, I realised the story had no point and I was too far gone to just quit, so I persevered and finished it.
Agatha was so preoccupied with youth and anarchy and violence that she doesn't think out the rest of the characters (which is the main reason I enjoy reading her detective novels) or the plot. The ending was so rushed and concludes the 193 page novel in 2 pages.
Agatha was so preoccupied with youth and anarchy and violence that she doesn't think out the rest of the characters (which is the main reason I enjoy reading her detective novels) or the plot. The ending was so rushed and concludes the 193 page novel in 2 pages.
May 28, 2009
This was one of the worst books I've ever read. I can't say that I'd recommend it to anyone. I'm actually not even sure I know what happened.
July 12, 2022
The beginning was promising, the main part confusing, the end rather rushed, but at least a bit interesting.
It's not a usual crime novel, it has agents, conspiracies, political powers, difficult decisions, many thoughts and observations about modern world that are still valid after 50 years. But one can really skip it;)
It's not a usual crime novel, it has agents, conspiracies, political powers, difficult decisions, many thoughts and observations about modern world that are still valid after 50 years. But one can really skip it;)
August 28, 2025
I grabbed this Agatha Christie at the library and had never heard of it. Now I see why. It is not a normal murder mystery but an international spy novel with dystopian overtones. And not well done. I got bored and couldn't follow it. Good thing she has dozens of others I can turn to!
January 5, 2018
Crooked house was interesting
June 12, 2023
Two more stories by Agatha Christie. Passenger to Frankfurt is a very poor story though, not Christie’s best.
April 11, 2024
The crooked house was an enjoyable read, however the Passenger from Frankfurt was a convoluted mess. Almost gave up reading that portion several times.
Read
November 27, 2025DNF
June 15, 2013
Illustrations from 1975, 1978 in faint and blotchy different unattributed artists' styles date two stories from 1950, 1930. The former add more mood - pensive, apprehensive - to complex woven tales first whodunit, second espionage almost sci-fi, both with big cast of soap opera interactions, typical Agatha chitchat.
Hint of theme from quotation "I wish I loved the Human Race" p236 https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/ht...
"Crooked House" like nursery rhyme, houses family, not dishonest, but overly dependent on the intense personality of wheeler-dealer beloved Leonides patriarch. Grand-daughter Sophia at 22 was proposed to at the end of WW2 by narrator Charles, son of a Scotland Yard Inspector Taverner "Old Man". Two years later, Sophia refuses to marry until they uncover the murderer of Aristide 88. His insulin injection bottle was filled with his eyedrop eserine solution; he warned the family himself of the danger. Youngest grand-daughter Josephine says she knows the murderer, is attacked, and her cocoa poisons Nanny. Charles is the inside investigator.
Cast of suspects is vastly distracting, red herrings all (but one). Much younger second wife, passive indolent Brenda, exchanged love letters with intellectual tutor Laurence Brown p25 of grandchildren angry Eustace and sly Josephine. Sons Philip and Roger always competed jealously. Roger has bankrupted the family business; his wife austere minimalist Clemency has a small Barbadoes (sic) island farm they can retire to p125.
Stage actress Magda, Philip's wife, Sophia's mother, over-dramatizes life. Edith handled the household after her sister, the first wife, died. Josephine boasts she knows the murderer; a weight balanced on a door falls on her. Nanny drinks the girl's untouched cocoa, and dies. Wiki says this and "Ordeal by Innocence" were Christie's favorites. "Old Man" is a common sobriquet from the century, for Christie and other authors, back to 1929 Ellery Queen's "Roman Hat Mystery"
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41...
"Passenger to Frankfurt" is the stranger, with hint of resemblance to long-gone sister, who convinces bored diplomat Sir Stafford Nye, ("too smart for his britches") to lend his passport and enveloping hooded distinctive cloak, that she might transit safely on to England. While he sleeps, drugged willingly by a Mickey Finn in his beer, announcements broadcast for Miss Daphne Theodofanous, passenger to Geneva flight diverted to Athens and danger by fog.
At a London embassy dinner, she is exotic Countess Renata Zerkowski p301. To saintly espionage master Lord Altamount, she is Uncle Ned's "maid-of-all-work" cleaner-upper Mary Ann p326. She guides Staffy through Bavarian Youth Music Festival, to elephantine Gräfin (Countess) Charlotte von Waldsausen (translation: forest rush/zoom), at Swiss school with his great-aunt Lady Matilda Cleckheaton née Baldwen-White. The obese villain's charismatic protegé, excellent singer and orator, "young Sigfried" rouses youth worldwide to destructive riots. More reminiscent of 60s anarchy, he is reputed to be Hitler's son, building on Nazi Aryan genocide.
Like a "court jester", Staff sees through silly sham to truth p363, despite web interweaving arms, drugs, finance, science and mystery Juanita in Venn diagram p384 (literary convenience that initials of those responsible match their domains) from mastermind spider Gräfin, unraveled by Matilda's network of deaf aging courtiers. The plot skitters hither thither, lots of characters adding bits. Perhaps a good movie could abbreviate to action highlights and scenic Alps. My attention drifted and skimmed.
I'd thought the stuffed bear beside Staff in Frankfurt airport would have a larger role; finally it serves as his best man. Humor boundaries over-stretched, like cheap rubbery balloon.
Hint of theme from quotation "I wish I loved the Human Race" p236 https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/ht...
"Crooked House" like nursery rhyme, houses family, not dishonest, but overly dependent on the intense personality of wheeler-dealer beloved Leonides patriarch. Grand-daughter Sophia at 22 was proposed to at the end of WW2 by narrator Charles, son of a Scotland Yard Inspector Taverner "Old Man". Two years later, Sophia refuses to marry until they uncover the murderer of Aristide 88. His insulin injection bottle was filled with his eyedrop eserine solution; he warned the family himself of the danger. Youngest grand-daughter Josephine says she knows the murderer, is attacked, and her cocoa poisons Nanny. Charles is the inside investigator.
Cast of suspects is vastly distracting, red herrings all (but one). Much younger second wife, passive indolent Brenda, exchanged love letters with intellectual tutor Laurence Brown p25 of grandchildren angry Eustace and sly Josephine. Sons Philip and Roger always competed jealously. Roger has bankrupted the family business; his wife austere minimalist Clemency has a small Barbadoes (sic) island farm they can retire to p125.
Stage actress Magda, Philip's wife, Sophia's mother, over-dramatizes life. Edith handled the household after her sister, the first wife, died. Josephine boasts she knows the murderer; a weight balanced on a door falls on her. Nanny drinks the girl's untouched cocoa, and dies. Wiki says this and "Ordeal by Innocence" were Christie's favorites. "Old Man" is a common sobriquet from the century, for Christie and other authors, back to 1929 Ellery Queen's "Roman Hat Mystery"
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41...
"Passenger to Frankfurt" is the stranger, with hint of resemblance to long-gone sister, who convinces bored diplomat Sir Stafford Nye, ("too smart for his britches") to lend his passport and enveloping hooded distinctive cloak, that she might transit safely on to England. While he sleeps, drugged willingly by a Mickey Finn in his beer, announcements broadcast for Miss Daphne Theodofanous, passenger to Geneva flight diverted to Athens and danger by fog.
At a London embassy dinner, she is exotic Countess Renata Zerkowski p301. To saintly espionage master Lord Altamount, she is Uncle Ned's "maid-of-all-work" cleaner-upper Mary Ann p326. She guides Staffy through Bavarian Youth Music Festival, to elephantine Gräfin (Countess) Charlotte von Waldsausen (translation: forest rush/zoom), at Swiss school with his great-aunt Lady Matilda Cleckheaton née Baldwen-White. The obese villain's charismatic protegé, excellent singer and orator, "young Sigfried" rouses youth worldwide to destructive riots. More reminiscent of 60s anarchy, he is reputed to be Hitler's son, building on Nazi Aryan genocide.
Like a "court jester", Staff sees through silly sham to truth p363, despite web interweaving arms, drugs, finance, science and mystery Juanita in Venn diagram p384 (literary convenience that initials of those responsible match their domains) from mastermind spider Gräfin, unraveled by Matilda's network of deaf aging courtiers. The plot skitters hither thither, lots of characters adding bits. Perhaps a good movie could abbreviate to action highlights and scenic Alps. My attention drifted and skimmed.
I'd thought the stuffed bear beside Staff in Frankfurt airport would have a larger role; finally it serves as his best man. Humor boundaries over-stretched, like cheap rubbery balloon.
May 15, 2025
OK but not a favourite. These super conspiracy, international spy organisation type of books are not my favourite.
January 26, 2016
a bit disappointed of the ending but i like the characters. i'd like to be the passenger doe. ^^
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews