Agatha Christie Lovers discussion
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Curtain
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From the information I have read about Agatha Christie, this book was actually written shortly before or during the World War II time frame and put in storage with instructions to be published at her death to provide financial support for her daughter. After living through World War I, Agatha knew the danger of war. She was very worried about the future and decided to do this book at that time as "insurance" that her daughter would be provided for, if something happened to her. Luckily for all Agatha Christie fans, she lived through World War II and went on to many years of writing more wonderful books. So her instructions were followed and Curtain was published near her death in 1975 (or 1976), but it was written during the peak of her talent in the 1940s. It has been a while since I have read Curtain, and I look forward to re-reading it as part of this book discussion.
This is a good read. Although published later it was written during the 1940's when AC was at her peak.
I just finished reading Curtain. I first read it in 2014, but it was great to read it again with the group. I really enjoyed this book, this is Agatha Christie at her best. I love the premise that they return to Styles and that they are fighting the notorious "X". In real life, I have a friend who ended up "moving" into a nursing home that many years ago was her primary school that was later converted to a nursing home. So the premise of this story is very believeable. Even though I had read it before, the ending still surprised me, just as any good Agatha Christie novel should. I also think that this book shows Hastings at his best. He is not so bumbling/annoying as he comes off in some of the books. He is questioning everything, but not over the top.And the last manuscript by Poirot is a wonderful way to end the series of Poirot novels.
Calling all members of the Agatha Christie discussion group......This book is smallish for a Christie novel at 152 pages. And it is just June 10th, plenty of time to read and post your thoughts. It would be wonderful if more people participated in these book discussions!
Finished my reading of Curtain last week. While it was good, I also found the ending a bit unsettling and out of character.
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The house guests at Styles seemed perfectly pleasant to Captain Hastings; there was his own daughter Judith, an inoffensive ornithologist called Norton, dashing Mr Allerton, brittle Miss Cole, Doctor Franklin and his fragile wife Barbara , Nurse Craven, Colonel Luttrell and his charming wife, Daisy, and the charismatic Boyd-Carrington. So Hastings was shocked to learn from Hercule Poirot's declaration that one of them was a five-times murderer. True, the ageing detective was crippled with arthritis, but had his deductive instincts finally deserted him?
The novel features Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings in their final appearances in Christie's works. It is a country house novel, with all the characters and the murder set in one house. Not only does the novel return the characters to the setting of her first, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, but it reunites Poirot and Hastings, who last appeared together in Dumb Witness in 1937.