I purchased this book for my own collection.
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: October 3, 2011 (first published 1934)
Summary:
Sir Charles Cartwright should have known better than to allow thirteen guests to sit down for dinner. For at the end of the evening one of them is dead—choked by a cocktail that contained no trace of poison.
Predictable, says Hercule Poirot, the great detective. But entirely unpredictable is that he can find absolutely no motive for murder.
My thoughts:
This is another Hercule Poirot Mystery — so far of the 3 books I’ve read for this challenge this year, they have all been Hercule Poirot Mysteries!
This story was written in three acts and I appreciated that nod to a play. The characters we meet are all involved in the theater in some way – actors, playwrights and even costume designers.
Death by poison is always most fascinating to me and I loved watching the way these deaths were solved. I was definitely not able to figure this one out before it was revealed, no matter how hard I tried. Those twists and turns and red herrings got me!
What I found most interesting in this book was that while Poirot was involved in the “detecting” of the mystery, he seemed to be more on the periphery of the case & not really front and center.
I have now read 11 of the 44 Poirot books, completely out of order which is most definitely not how I like to read series at all. One of these days I will read this series in order. I want to see if there is any type of character arc for Poirot.
Purchasing from the link below supports independent bookstores and my blog!
