Peril at End House, by the wonderful Agatha Christie

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If there even is a reader.
Here's another book review. I wrote it for an assignment. It's ok. But it counts as a review and one half of this blog is about reviewing things, so here it is. Enjoy. Or not. Whatever takes your fancy.


How many times can a killer make a mistake before he reaches his target? That is the question Detective Hercule Poirot ponders over in Agatha’s Christie’s seventh Poirot novel Peril at End House. Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as “The Queen of Crime”, having written over 150 novels, short stories and plays, all of which have together sold over a billion copies in English alone. Christie is no doubt one of the best novelists in history.
Originally published in 1932, Peril at End House features who is arguably the most lovable detective ever put on paper, the little man with the egg-shaped head and impeccable moustache – Hercule Poirot, whose “little grey cells” get him through every mystery put to him.
Holidaying in St. Loo at the Majestic Hotel, Poirot, accompanied by his close friend Captain Hastings, comfortably turns down a mystery he has been asked to investigate and instead reclines on a balcony overlooking the sea, enjoying his “retirement”. But his relaxation does not last long when he stumbles upon Miss Buckley, a pretty young girl who lives at End House, the ramshackle place not far from the hotel. As their conversation unfolds, Poirot learns that “Nick”, as the girl goes by, has had several narrow escapes from death. First, the heavy picture that falls above her bed; second, a boulder that thunders past her on the cliff path; then third, the brakes in her car fail on a steep hill. And fourth – the bullet that misses her head by inches. The bullet that was shot at her while she is talking to Hercule Poirot. So ends Poirot’s holiday, and so begins the mystery of Nick Buckley’s attacker.
Captain Hastings tells the story from first person, and is likable as the narrator, putting in his two-cents whether Poirot finds it helpful or not, and amusing the reader with his subjective views of the other characters. He does his best to help Poirot protect the young Miss Buckley while searching for clues to move them forward in the case. But there are certainly more red herrings than clues. And no motive. Who could have any reason for killing Nick Buckley? End House is heavily mortgaged, asserts Poirot, and therefore inheritance cannot be the motive ... or can it? The little detective is sure that Nick is hiding something – something that will make everything match up.
Poirot and Hastings have no trouble getting themselves right in the midst of the action, attending a party with a fireworks display at End House, where everyone seems to be acting strangely. Ellen, the housekeeper, does not attend the fireworks display as she generally does. Nick is unusually fey and wears a black dress and red shawl to the party, though verbally admitting that she hates black.
After dinner, whilst everyone is out watching the fireworks, Nick and her cousin Maggie, who has come to stay on Poirot’s insistence that Nick must have someone else in the house with her, go back inside to get coats. Poirot can’t stand the damp grass any longer and so soon returns to the house with Hastings. On their way they see a figure lying on the grass, wrapped in a red shawl.
Maggie Buckley is dead, mistaken for her cousin in the darkness.
Quickly Poirot and Hastings devise a list of the suspects. Who would want to kill Nick Buckley? Could it be Frederica Rice, Nick’s closest friend? The man in love with Nick, Commander Challenger? Perhaps Charles Vyse, Nick’s closest of kin. Or is the seemingly friendly older couple living on Nick’s property, Mr. And Mrs. Croft?
No matter how difficult the case, Poirot will get to the bottom of it, you can be sure.
Peril at End House may not be Christie’s greatest novel; most of the characters are not very likable, and some of Poirot’s conclusions seem coincidence, but the book definitely delivers what anyone wants from a Poirot mystery – an ingenious solution to a puzzling plot. Poirot’s perfection in knowing how to solve a case is intriguing and exciting. He knows what he needs and how to get to it. Poirot and Hastings are characters we’re happy to read about again, or meet and get to know for the first time, depending on your previous knowledge of Agatha Christie novels. All the same, Peril at End House has been constantly popular since its publication almost 80 years ago. The book has been adapted into a play, a graphic novel, a TV movie and even a computer game. Whether you’re looking for a good thriller to read over the weekend, wanting a mystery to snuggle down under the covers with at night, or just in need of a page-turner to get you reading again, Peril at End House by the Queen of Crime may be exactly what you’re looking for.