Agatha Christie Lovers discussion

Originally published in 1972. Features Hercule Poirot (#37) and Ariadne Oliver (#8).

Hercule Poirot is determined to solve an old husband and wife double murder that is still an open verdict! Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. Here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies -- a husband and wife -- shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder? Poirot delves back into the past and discovers that 'old sin can leave long shadows'.

Definetly on my top 3.

I got so caught up in the story that I spent the night reading it so I could get to the end.

Brilliant! This one I had no clue.

Loved it.

You've read quite a few Animated. Do you know the #?

So I just finished this one last night. It was a good book, and I really enjoyed reading it, but I'm kind of disappointed that it seemed so easy to figure out. By the second half, I already had the whole thing figured out. Christie is usually able to surprise me with her endings. I've only figured out a couple of them but usually it takes a little longer. Not that this took anything away from my enjoyment of the book.

I love Mrs. Oliver! Her and Poirot just play so well off each other, and I think she just adds to any book she's in. Her and Poirot going back to the past to talk to the "elephants" and learn what happened and why made the book interesting. Diving into the past to piece together the story, and learning all about it in the end. Even though I knew the ending, it was still a nice, and enjoyable read.

There's a dramatic audio on Youtube where Ariadne Oliver is played by Julie McKenzie (last Miss Marple) https://youtu.be/74Dhomn9LZE .

I totally agree. Mrs. Oliver and Poirot get along quite well. In a sense, Poirot has his equal as far as crime detection. Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd NOT. Actually, A.O and H.P. are more fun.

Lately, I have been reading several of Agatha Christie's books that seem to be near the end of her writing career and I enjoyed this one the most of those. But I think I could tell that she was older when writing this, because I could actually guess the elements of the mystery in this one a few chapters before the end, and I have never been able to do that with her earlier books.

This was the first book that I read with Ariadne Oliver in it and I enjoyed her. I have heard for many years that Agatha Christie was the model for the "Murder she Wrote" TV series and you can see that Ariadne Oliver might have been the inspiration for that.

I do think that there was way too much mention of elephants and some repeats in dialogue related to elephants. I am sad to say that repeats in dialogue get a lot worse in next month's book "Postern of Fate". Again, I think this is another sign of aging in Christie's writing, but I still really enjoyed this book. I wish she had stopped here and didn't write "Postern of Fate", but she felt that she wanted to write up until the end of her life.

This is my first month joining the Book of the Month discussions and I am glad I found the time to participate! Look forward to commenting in future months.

I'm still behind with my reading, so I'm posting late again.

Like others in this post mentioned, this puzzle was really easy to figure out, compared to her earlier books. I had figured out the part about the sisters around the middle of the book, but I had been wondering if the small boy that Dolly had tried to hurt had been Desmond, until it was revealed that it had been Celia's brother, Edward.

I really enjoyed the book-- I really like the Ariadne Oliver character, she is so cute when she gets flustered. I also liked Poirot in this book, it is so nice when he's not nattering on about his "little grey cells".