John Moffat stars as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in eight more BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations. The stories in this volume are Dead Man's Folly; Mrs McGinty's Dead; Taken at the Flood; Evil Under the Sun; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe; Sad Cypress; Murder in Mesopotamia; Lord Edgware Dies. Based on the original novels by Agatha Christie, these superb adaptations feature a cast of outstanding actors playing an array of likely suspects… 16 hours approx
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.
I'm trying to be more experimental this year; I've never listened to a radio play before and as I'm a huge fan of all things Christie, I thought I'd give this a go. The acting was first rate; John Moffat in particular conveyed the brilliance and arrogance of Poirot spectacularly. Some of the screams seemed a little melodramatic for my liking but I suppose necessary when you have nothing but your voice to convey mood/drama! The scripts were very cleverly adapted from the original novels. I also loved the musical interludes which helped immerse you in the time period.
Thoughts: It was good! I enjoyed all of them, because I love radio plays, but some were better than others.
Evil Under the Sun: Honestly, I just had to look up the plot summary in order to remember whodunnit, but that doesn't really matter. I really enjoyed the characters in this one, especially Linda, who would have killed her stepmother if only her little voodoo thing would've worked.
Sad Cypress: It was... okay. The murder was kind of sad because the victim was nice, the mystery itself was tolerable, the trick that was key to the solution was ingenious, Poirot's involvement in the budding romance of two young people was cute. The real stand-out, to me, was when Elinor Carlisle said that momentarily wishing Mary Gerrard dead was as good as having committed the murder itself. This strikingly mirrors Linda's perspective in Evil Under the Sun -- there is the desire to be free of an obstacle and the immediate feeling of release when that thought arises, as if the act of imagining someone's murder was a sort of unburdening of oneself; and then the respective murders happen, of course, and both Elinor and Linda feel somewhat guilty, and then it turns out they're perfectly innocent. I think it's somewhat interesting commentary on sin and guilt and innocence.
Murder in Mesopotamia: I personally think way more murder mysteries should occur on archeological sites. This story has also rekindled my interest in Agatha Christie's own archeological exploits, and the exploits of the contemporaries, some of whom are alluded to via characters here.
Lord Edgware Dies: Another one that was just kind of okay. There was too much back and forth, too many misleading clues, and I'd sort of pegged the murderer from the get go, just because it was so silly, the sort of things the radio play drew attention to.
Hallowe’en Party: Parts of this story were what A Haunting in Venice (2023) was based on. I kind of wish there was a full-blown adaptation of this particular story. Based on the Wikipedia article, it was among Christie's last, as she was 79 when it came out, and readers felt it wasn't as good as her previous works. I haven't read the novel itself, so I can't comment on it, but I feel like there are a lot of good actors these days who could really bring the theatrical drama of this story to life, especially the ending.
Murder on the Links: This one could've been abridged better. There were too many characters and too many twists. The last part of it, as various people turned out to have false identities and secret pasts... honestly, I was lost and relieved when it was over.
Five Little Pigs: I didn't really like the mystery itself, but I liked that the person who initially went to jail for the murder took the fall to protect her sister, who she'd thought done it. The idea of her carrying her own personal guilt with her throughout her entire life and then freeing herself of it by taking the blame for something she didn't do was really touching.
Would I read a sequel or the author's other works: Ye.
Would I recommend this: If you like radio plays, sure. But beware! These stories may not be abridged as well as the ones from the first collection.
Wonderful full cast performances of the little Belgian detective. Absolutely hinges on John Moffat's performance and it is wonderful. I have listened through twice and will undoubtedly listen again!
I just cannot pause or stop this one. Never one for ‘audio’ books I find myself totally enchanted by this one. John Moffat as Hercule Poirot is perfect and the whole radio adaptation is quite brilliant. And that too when I have read all the books in this collection, some time or the other! Such is the power of Agatha Christie’s writings… I can read her books again and again and still feel as intrigued or as rapt in the story, inspite of knowing the outcome.
Hearing an old fashioned radio adaptation brought the stories to life and of course had me searching for more! It was truly like watching a play and one could visualize the entire drama as if it was happening in front of ones eyes. From Evil Under the Sun to Five Little Pigs each story is most engaging and comes alive with the perfect rendition of each character by these British actors.
Each story is familiar and has most probably already been devoured as books by anyone and everyone but put together as radio adaptations just brings them alive. It is not like you have read them before or know whodunit ... its much more than that and I for one am totally hooked. Has BBC converted all into plays? I'm searching rabidly!!
Skipped Hallowe’en as I had read it Nov 2024 and Murder on the Links as goodreads says I’ve read it and left 2 ⭐️.
Pros - something new to listen to. And pretty good vocal performances.
Cons - the audio was inconsistent: some voices [but not others] could be hard to hear but then the music would get quite loud. I also got annoyed that most of the murders involved actresses / femme fatales / strong women and of 4/6 it was mostly women who died.
Excellent Full Cast production. The cases tend to blend into one another, and, of course, Poirot always gets his man (or woman). It would have been nice to have a case that stumped him, forcing a sequel "case" to get it resolved.
As with the first collection I thoroughly enjoyed the dramatic versions of Agatha Christie's work. Hope there is a third collection. Can be listened to again and again.
Very entertaining! Some of the stories I had already read, but I have still enjoyed the radio drama rendition very much! John Moffat is a very believable Poirot :)
Always fun to read Poirot's cases. This isn't the first time I've read these stories, but it is the first time to listen to these particular dramatizations.
I’m a big fan of Agatha Christie, and I’m also a big fan of radio dramas, mostly from the Golden Age of radio. While this isn’t from the Golden Age (it’s far more recent), I would argue that it is just as good as anything that was produced in that era. John Moffat is superb as Hercule Poirot, and the supporting cast is equally as excellent. It was a delight to recognize voices from British shows I’ve seen, like both of the leads from “Waiting for God.” This is a high quality production and well worth the time.
BBC Radio performances are wonderful as always. Hercule Poirot is one of the greatest detectives ever. Five little pigs are one of my favorite stories. Hallowe’en party was just chilling to the bones🦴