Mr. Shaitana, a wealthy collector of objets d'art, has an unusual idea for a dinner party after a chance meeting with Hercule Poirot in an art gallery. He invites to dinner four detectives plus four people he suspects may have gotten away with murder.

Along with Poirot are two detectives we have met in earlier Christie works: Colonel Race, the trouble-shooter from the Foreign Office, and Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard. Introduced in this book is Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, a best-selling mystery writer, who has been compared to Christie herself. Like Mrs. Christie, Mrs. Oliver eats large quantities of apples while writing and Mrs. Oliver's books are about a quirky Finn who is not unlike Mrs. Christie's quirky Belgian. Mrs. Oliver will return in six additional novels.

The other four guests that evening are: Dr. Roberts, a successful physician; Mrs. Lorrimer, an affluent widow who loves to play bridge; Major Despard, an African and South American explorer and guide; and Miss Anne Meredith, a young lady Shaitana met in Switzerland.

After dinner, a game of bridge is arranged. Shaitana directs the four detectives to one room while the other four guests play in a separate room. The host says he does not like the game so sits and dozes by the fire in the room where the four possible murderers are playing. When the guests prepare to leave later, it is discovered that Shaitana has been fatally stabbed at some point in the evening.

All four detectives tackle this case in their own way. Bridge players will delight in the way Poirot handles the case. He concentrates on the game itself, the hands that were dealt, and the method of scoring. If you pay attention to the game, you just might guess the murderer.

This is one of Christie's classic surprise endings and, in my opinion, one of her best works.

I was extremely pleased with Cards on the Table. The premise for the book was duly intriguing, with perhaps one of the more creative plot ideas to boot. The sleuths were intelligent and delightful, the possible murderers all sufficiently suspicious, and the victim a person who played his role to the nines.

Dame Agatha made a point to say during the prologue that because you knew right away who the four possible murderers were, the element of surprise during the unmasking would be slightly less than if suspicion were cast on a whole room-full of people. True, perhaps, although not the common thread in ALL mediums.

Cards on the Table, despite its aforesaid lack of surprise, does manage a neat, nice, maybe even SHOCKING unmasking of the murderer. It has no qualms about turning you around, giving you the classic Christie twist that makes you suspect each of the four in turn--and all in one chapter! You then realize that the true murderer is none other than the per! son you least suspected most--and that is perhaps one reason why Poirot was known to say it was his FAVORITE case, after all.

Agatha Christie's preface to this book says it all. In most mystery novels, finding the murderer is easy; one merely has to focus upon the person who was least likely to have commited the crime. Needless to say, this is not that kind of book.

The incomparable Hercule Poirot has always boasted of his insight into the criminal mind. And in this book, he discovers, perhaps, the case most suited to his method. Four murderers, thrown together by a slightly sardonic host. Each had a motive. An oppourtunity. At the end of a bridge game, the host was found dead, and one of the four did it.

Hercule Poirot, once again, delves into the psychology of crime and exercises his "little gray cells". A note: At one time or another during the book, all of the suspects will seem the least likely, and most likely to have done it. Perhaps the most obvious candidate for murder is the one that is guilty. I am saying nothing more.

This was one of my first Agatha Christie novels, and I liked it so much, I read it again. I readily recommend this book. Tommy and Tuppence make for a nice change of pace from Poirot/Miss Marple.

Normally Agatha Christie chooses to focus on the mysteries and not really concentrate on political and social events of that period; consequently her characters sometimes seem to be living in a vaccuum, removed from all that is happening around them. What makes "N or M?" unusual is that Christie chose to focus on WWII and what was happening in England at that time. Tommy and Tuppence who are living quietly in London suddenly find their routine interrupted when Tommy is called away on a secret assignment to try and find Hitler's most dangerous agent who has infiltrated England in advance of a planned attack by the Nazis. Of course, Tuppence who refuses to be left out of anything, follows him and actively helps him while posing as a garrulous widow. The book is more powerful than most because of the very real sense of menace that Christie creates and the feeling of evil lurking in the air. Wingding suspense and a knock-out ending - the only flaw was the focus on romance. Normally, it is nice to have a romantic attachment develop in Christie's books as they provide a nice relief to the mystery, but in this case I thought she should have concentrated only on the mystery; romance is almost superfluous in such a setting. It's interesting to think that while Tommy and Tuppence never actually existed, there may have been characters like them - ordinary people who possessed above-average intelligence who were picked to lead dangerous spy missions and who succeeded precisely because they were so ordinary and therefore not what the enemy was expecting.

How could anyone not love Tommy and Tuppence? They are so full of character, life, and vigor! N or M perfectly exemplifies the beloved characteristics of our dear sweet "Carrot Tops" and "Mrs. Blekensop." This book encorporates all the elements of the classic Mystery story: deceit, suspence, morse code, going undercover, and of course, romance. This is light-hearted must read for every Agatha Christie lover!

The epitome of an Agatha Christie mystery and one of her five finest books. Hercule Poirot is at his most brilliant, along with sidekick Arthur "Dr. Watson" Hastings and a colorful assortment of suspects. An excellent choice as a first Christie book -- or as a second, or a third....

Thirteen at dinner is an excellent book that young adults and adults would especially enjoy. I found it hard to put this book down. It is about the famous detective Hercule Poirot (a very popular character in the Agatha Christie series) who helps his friend Detective Japp on a very strange murder case. It seems that the wealthy Lord Edgware of well-known Regent Gate has been murdered and all evidence is apparently pointing to his wife, actress Jane Wilkinson. Poirot sets out to find out what has happened and finds the surprising truth. He asks himself questions (Who suppressed the letter? What induced Lord Edgware to change his mind about divorce? Who rang Jane Wilkinson up while at dinner at Chiswick?), which help him solve this and all of his cases. In the last few pages, Poirot describes step by step what really has happened. The resolution is both surprising and clever. Agatha Christie has done a great job both making the plot interesting and making people love and look up to the amazing Hercule Poirot. His character has obviously been thought out carefully as was the rest of the book. This book really shows the genius on Christie's part, and I have no idea how she came up with this smart and well put together plot. This book has made me want to read all of her books about Hercule Poirot. I also thought it was smart to make Poirot's assistant, Captain Hastings, the main voice. This made Poirot seem much more mysterious since the reader doesn't know what is going on inside his head. I would recommend this book to anybody who even just likes mysteries because it is one of the better books I have ever read.

Agatha Christie, one of if not the worlds best mystery writers did it again with her wonderful mystery "13 At Dinner", it was great. What is even better about this is that it is on an audio cassette so you can listen to it almost everywhere.

This is a great story! Agatha Cristie who has often been dubbed the "Queen of Mystery" uses one of her best characters, Hercule Poirot who closes this suspenseful case in a great way, in this great mystery. You can try to solve this mystery but believe me it's hard to figure out, but Hercule Poirot does it!

In A Murder is Announced, Agatha Christie's fiftieth detective story, and surely the best of the Miss Marples, "the latest idea is to advertise one's murders beforehand", by placing an advertisement in the paper-hence the title. And so, "once more a murder is announced-for the benefit and enjoyment of Miss Marple."

The setting is Chipping Cleghorn, which is perhaps Christie's best-drawn village setting-and certainly the quintessential Miss Marple novel. Christie vividly captures the feeling of how "the world has changed since the war... Fifteen years ago one knew who everybody was... If anybody new-really new-really a stranger-came, well, they stuck out-everybody wondered about them and didn't rest till they found out. But it's not like that any more. Every village and small country place is full of people who've just come and settled there without any ties to bring them... And people just come-and all you know about them is what they say of themselves... Nobody knows any more who anyone is." It is this feeling of insecurity Christie admirably captures that allows the ingenious plot-quite simply one of her best-to take place. Despite the beauty of the village, however, the simple rural cosiness, "there was a nightmarish feeling at the back of [Detective Inspector Craddock's] mind. It was like a familiar dream where an undertone of menace grows and finally turns Ease into Terror..." Neighbour cannot trust neighbour, and the tension slowly mounts-no atmospherics here, simply first-rate characterisation, with Christie particularly good at depicting elderly spinsters, with a sympathetic treatment of lesbianism and of old age.

Miss Marple's statement that "one is alone when the last one who remembers is gone. I have nephews and nieces and kind friends-but there's no one who knew me as a young girl-no one who belongs to the old days. I've been alone for quite a long time now" captures the whole feeling of the book-elderly spinsters living in solitude in the country, dependent upon each other for their comfort. At the heart of the novel are five old women: Miss Marple, the detective, "the finest detective God ever made. Natural genius cultivated in a suitable soil..."; Miss Blacklock and Miss Bunner; and Miss Hinchcliffe and Miss Murgatroyd. Miss Blacklock and Miss Hinchcliffe are the dominant partners, shrewd and capable; while Miss Bunner and Miss Murgatroyd are woolly-minded and amiable, dependent upon their stronger-minded friends for security. Yet when Miss Bunner and Miss Murgatroyd are both murdered, the true depths of the feelings-of the dependency-Miss Blacklock and Miss Hinchcliffe felt is made apparent. These portraits of love and grief are unrivalled anywhere else in Christie's books, and show her ability to create human characters.

Miss Marple herself is at the top of her powers, actively detecting. Sir Henry Clithering remarks that "an elderly unmarried woman who knits and gardens is streets ahead of any detective sergeant. She can tell you what might have happened and what ought to have happened and even what actually did happen! And she can tell you why it happened!" Although she deprecates her abilities, modestly claiming that she has "no gifts at all-except perhaps a certain knowledge of human nature", her ability to reason from both material clues and dialogue is seen at its best; and she is an active player for once, reasoning and sleuthing like the best of them.

Setting and characterisation aside, the plot itself is one of Christie's best. It is complicated, "all so complex, nearly all so trivial and if one thing isn't trivial, it's so hard to spot which one-like a needle in a haystack", but not cluttered-one of Christie's gifts. The motive, stated quite clearly from the beginning, is money, and Miss Marple "know[s] only too well the really terrible things that people will do to lay their hands on a lot of money." Yet the identity of the real beneficiary / murderer is so well-hidden, aided by "the most amazing impersonation", that the reader will never work out the meaning of the clues, despite Miss Marple's listing them.

"You could get away with a great deal if you had enough audacity", Miss Marple reflects at one point-and both murderess and author do have enough audacity.

In the small English village of Chipping Cleghord something quite remarkable is published in the advertisement section of the local Gazette. Most advertisements are about antique cars for sale, puppies for adoption or lovers seeking reunions, but not this particular one. This one advertises murder. "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m. Friends please accept this, the only intimation." Needless to say that quite a party of people appears at Little Paddocks at the appointed hour. Alas, when it turns out to be all but a joke, only Miss Jane Marple seems to have a clue about what really happened.

This book, published in 1950, was claimed to be Agatha Christie's 50th novel, although not everyone agreed to this number, due to of a few short story collections. It certainly is one of the most memorable books she ever wrote. As always, the personalities of Miss Marple's friends create ample opportunities to introduce subtle sparks of humour to the story. Quite remarkable are the characters of Amy Murgatroyd and Miss Hinchcliff. This was certainly the first time Agatha Christie went this far portraying obviously "gay" people in one of her novels.

The plot itself is quite ingenious, even measured against Agatha's high standards, while the suspense is present from the very beginning until the final revelation. But most importantly the outcome is unscrupulously fair, since the book is scattered with clues - but also with quite a few of her famous red herrings. You need to note down every little detail if you want to catch the murderer before our old friend Miss Marple does.

This book is a must-read for every Agatha Christie addict or fan of a good detective story.

Agatha Christie takes us and Miss Marple to the wonderfully cozy village life of post World War II. We get an insight into what life was like for the English in those years---housing shortages, food rationing, inability to get domestic help, the arrival of strangers into towns that had known stable populations for years. This last part is central to the mystery of this superb novel.

Miss Marple is visiting with friends in Chipping Cleghorn when an ad in the Personals column of the morning paper sets village tongues wagging. The ad reads: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m." Is there anyone who will be able to resist turning up at such an occasion?

Readers can follow all the clues---a photograph album with missing pictures, central heating vs. a fire in the fireplace, and a conversation over morning coffee---to solve along with Miss Marple this story of impersonation and foul play in a cozy and quaint English village.

When an unpleasant businessman is taken ill at his London office and subsequently dies of taxine poisoning, authorities discover a house full of likely suspects: a young, sexy wife having an affair; a money grubbing son worried about his father's management of the family business; an angry daughter frustrated in love by her father's control. But no sooner do police suspicions begin to form around one of the three than murder strikes again--and then again--in such a way as to leave them baffled. Enter, of course, Miss Marple, who sets about uncovering a killer who may be a psychotic that is killing victims in accordance with the old "Sing a Song of Sixpence" nursey rhyme.

Most of Christie's great novels were written in the 1930s and 1940s. Although she could still create a stunner when she wished, with A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED a case in point, by the 1950s Christie favored a less complicated approach, preferring to write novels that might be described as creamy confections for a very civilized high tea. A POCKET FULL OF RYE is perhaps the perfect example. Like most Christie novels, the plot is extremely contrived--but in this instance she makes no effort to conceal the contrivance; it is a shell game, pure and simple and without pretension, a game undertaken for the pleasure of it. And when Christie sets out to write a novel for the pure fun of it, there is always a great deal of fun to be had. This will never rank among her greatest works, but fans will devour it in a single sitting and feel as satisified as if they had just enjoyed a blow-out of cream buns. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Almost every formula, idea, and trick that Agatha Christie used in her detective fiction works proved to be entirely successful and won her an enormous reading public. Making use of nursery rhymes was one such formula. Nursery rhymes can reawaken the sense of wonder, mystery and enchantment in any reader. They also can carry symbolic levels of meaning, and some are allegories.

In this her 1953 offering she makes use of the nursery rhyme "Sing A Song Of Sixpence". Appropriately it is one of her Miss Marple books. Although her elderly spinster sleuth has little to do here, and is late making her appearance, it is she who perceives and urges the significance of the nursery rhyme. "Don't you see, it makes a pattern to all this."

The murders occur in the disfunctional family of Rex Fortescue, a financier, and the action occurs in his London office and in the family home, Yew Tree Lodge. The opening chapters are wonderfully engaging. Agatha Christie, when she took the trouble, could sketch characters vividly. Amongst all of them in this book, there are not more than a handful of suspects. To compensate, Mrs Christie throws in buckets full of red herrings.

You'll enjoy the puzzle, and having innumerable theories suggested and dismissed. The solution, when it comes, however, is no more plausible than is the likelihood of a blackbird pecking off a maid's nose.

If you can obtain the unabridged reading of the book by Rosemary Leach, your enjoyment will be enhanced. Rosemary Leach is unusually skilled at "doing" the voices of a large cast of characters, male and female.

Agatha Christie gives us an excellent addition to her "nursery rhyme" mysteries with this one. The king in the counting house counting out his money is Rex Fortescue, financial giant who dies at his London office in the course of a normal working day. For reasons unknown, his coat contains a pocket full of rye. The queen in the parlour who was eating bread and honey is his young second wife, rumored to have married him for his money. Although she is the first suspect, her murder the following afternoon after a tea of scones and honey, shifts suspicion. That same afternoon, the housemaid Glady Martin is also found dead. While unpegging clothes from the clothesline, someone strangled her with a stocking and left a clothespin attached to her nose to complete the rhyme's final line "When there came a little bird and nipped off her nose."

It is the death of the maid that brings Miss Jane Marple into the case. Gladys had been one of the village girls Miss Marple had trained for domestic service. Miss Marple considers it her duty to find the person who killed Gladys, and with Inspector Neele, the investigator in charge of the case, she does just that.

The book is filled with possible suspects: Percival, the eldest son along with his wife and daughter; a younger son Lancelot and his wife; Miss Effie Ramsbottom, an elderly aunt; and several suspicious servants.

Once again, it is Miss Marple's life-long experience with wickedness and her understanding of a young girl's mind that leads her to the solution of this outstanding mystery.

This book's quite well written, but i could guess the ending much earlier than the last few pages, so i can't really give it five stars.

The story : Elinor Carlisle is accused of poisoning Mary Gerrard, with the case against her apparently watertight. But Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, is not at all convinced. He undertakes the commission of finding out the truth, as opposed to defending Elinor ..........

What's unusual about this as a Hercule Poirot story is that he doesn't dominate the book, and other characters have equally big roles to play. He's more like the 'usual' detective in that he comes every now and then to make inquiries - but of course in his powers of reasoning and analysis he's far from 'usual'.

The various characters are well-etched, and the mystery unfolds nicely. However, it's possible for even the slightly alert reader to guess the ending well in advance, which to me is a drawback in this sort of a book.

All in all, a very well written murder mystery, well worth a read - but Agatha Christie (even if not many others!) has done better.

Come away, come away, death,
and in sad cypress let me be laid;
fly away, fly away breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid
- clown's song in Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_, Act II, scene 4

Copyright 1939/1940. No narrator.

Unusual structure: the prologue is from the viewpoint of Elinor Carlisle, on trial for the murder of Mary Gerrard. Her defense counsel has a bad fright as she hesitates before pleading 'not guilty'. From her viewpoint, we can see only a frozen, numb detachment. Poirot is in court, watching her; she believes he's attempting to tell why she did it.

For all we know, she might have.

Part I, told in flashback from Elinor's viewpoint, begins at what Elinor considers the starting point - the arrival of an anonymous letter - and ending with Mary Gerrard's death; Poirot has no part to play here. (Occasionally the flashback slips a little, following Mary Gerrard through scenes where Elinor wasn't present; however, such scenes pull their weight in terms of character development, which also serves to bring the crime home to the reader, as we get to know the victim. Or do we?)

Poirot enters the tale properly in Part II, when Peter Lord, the local doctor who seems to have fallen for Elinor, asks Poirot to clear her - admitting flat out that he doesn't care about the truth. (Poirot, of course, doesn't take it on those terms, and Lord gives in, since no truth could make the case against Elinor any worse - as far as he can see). Part I is told in flashback from Elinor's viewpoint, though not in 1st person. Part II follows Poirot in 3rd person as do most non-Hastings Poirot stories.

The initial anonymous letter - warning Elinor to watch her back, since Mary Gerrard has become a much-favoured protege of Elinor's wealthy, invalid aunt Laura - draws Elinor out of her social butterfly routine in London to Laura Welman's country house. By bringing Laura and Mary to mind, the letter naturally flows into an overview of the Welman household as seen by Elinor.

Christie's characterization is unusually vivid herein: Elinor's passion for Roderick (her fiance, a relative of Laura Welman's late husband), Mary's neither-fish-nor-fowl social position (given a lady's upbringing through Laura Welman's efforts) and discomfort with her dependence on others. Roderick is uncomfortable with others' emotions, or with unpleasantness of any kind; it's characteristic that he avoided Laura Welman's sickroom after her second stroke. Elinor is honest enough with herself to admit that there's no *reason* for her deep feelings for him. Laura throws some light on this in conversation with Mary; her insight into her own character reveals that Elinor seems much like her. The district nurse (O'Brien) and the live-in nurse (Hopkins) serve other purposes than the obvious roles of witness and foil: they gossip with one another off duty, giving us sidelights on the lives of the other players, particularly their common patient.

When first introduced - after we know she'll be murdered - Mary emerges quickly as a more sympathetic character than Elinor, however we may pity Elinor's unhappiness in love. Mary wants to make her own way and support herself, while Elinor is content (as Roderick points out) to simply exist as a kind of living artwork. Roderick is honest enough to admit that he, too, has relied too much on the prospect of inheriting his aunt's money to seriously strive to make his own way.

Laura Welman's remarks on assisted suicide, and Dr. Lord's counters, reflect a position taken consistently in Christie's work. In particular, Lord's example of a man who survived sixteen years of the Little Ease torture also appears in _Destination Unknown_, whose chief character was persuaded to take on a dangerous secret mission rather than committing suicide, and who later came to see that people can adapt to almost any conditions.

Some of the courtroom scenes drag a bit, as expert testimony and other evidence are presented in part II without Perry Mason-style flash and dazzle, which may leave readers feeling that the story has built up to this point, only to let the dramatic tension fizzle. The obligatory Poirot Tells All tying-up-loose-ends scene helps bail this out, of course.

Agatha Christie is reknowned for creating apparently simple murder mysteries that unexpectedly twist for completely unexpected conclusions--and no where is this better seen than in SAD CYPRESS, a cleanly written tale about a romantic triangle that leads to murder with only one possible suspect.

The novel opens with Elinor Carlisle actually in the dock, accused of double murder in an effort to hold the affections of her distant cousin and fiance Roderick Welman. When called into the case by a local doctor, Hercule Poirot discovers that Elinor behaves exactly as if she is guilty of the crime. Nonetheless, he agrees to investigate... and as Poirot works to uncover the truth, he finds that virtually everything about the crime indicates that Elinor did indeed commit the crimes--a circumstance which, almost perversely, makes him begin to question the guilt others have taken for granted.

This is one of Christie's least known but most effective novels, a work that deserves to be ranked with the likes of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, THE ABC MURDERS, and A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED. The characters are among her most vivid, the story has an unpretentious atmosphere, and the solution is both absolutely reasonable and absolutely unexpected. Christie writes with considerable clarity, and the simplicity of her approach makes the story all the more effective. An impressive work, sure to please both old fans and newcomers alike; recommended.

Murder committed on board an airplane! Agatha Christie was certainly fond of unusual plot twists - murders committed on luxury trains, during card games, killers who killed in alphabetical order, but this one takes the cake! An old woman is mysteriously killed by a poisoned dart and suspicion naturally falls on her fellow passengers. Of course, Poirot who was on board, is called upon to find the guilty party. I found the way he meticulously traces the victim's life and tries to find linkages between her and the passengers interesting, it's much more realistic than detectives who are able to miraculously solve crimes seated in their armchairs! I also found the characters in the book very interesting, particularly that of Jane Grey. The twist at the end is fairly unexpected and the story is resolved in a satisfying way. A nice touch is the addition of a little romance that lightens up the proceedings. A very good read!

Although it was once considered one of Christie's best works, the fame of DEATH IN THE CLOUDS has been somewhat eclipsed over the years by other 1930s works such as AND THEN THERE NONE, THE ALPHABET MURDERS, and MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS--but even so, it really should be ranked among her finest efforts.

In some respects, the novel resembles ORIENT EXPRESS, for it offers us the tale of a murder committed on an aircraft, a circumstance which gives the writer a very tightly drawn field of suspects. In this case, the victim is a French money lender of somewhat dubious repute and the murder occurs directly under the nose of an air-sick Hercule Poirot and seemingly in the most incredibly improbable manner imaginable.

In addition to one of Christie's most effective jaw-dropping plots, the book is extremely witty, sometimes almost to the point of parody. Christie frequently mocked mystery writers who found ridiculous ways in which to dispatch the victim, and here she not only presents us with an impossible murder, she offers us exactly such a novelist as one the primary suspects! But in typical Christie fashion all is not as it seems: there are numerous twists to the fast-paced tale--and only the most astute reader will be unsurprised by her solution. Extremely enjoyable, clever, lots of fun, and highly recommended.

This was my very first Agatha Christie book, so naturally, I was interested to know how she writes. It had a slow start, but once a women was found dead the story begins to unfold. It's interesting to read about the curious detective, Hercule Poirot, and his views on the case, which are extremly different from those of the police. His method of finding the killer is exactly opposite of what Inspecter Japp thinks: All people on the plane are guilty until proven inocent. Aided by his friends Jane Grey, the hairdresser, and Norman Gale, the dentist, and a colorful cast of characters, this book is definitly a must for mystery lovers!

Neither Poirot Loses A Client nor Dumb Witness was actually a good title for the book. Poirot could not lose a client he never had, nor was there a witness, dumb or otherwise.

Nonetheless, it was an interesting story - Poirot received a letter more than a month after the writer died, written just days before the demise. The writer had not mentioned the problem except her having suspicions after the incident of the dog's ball, and need utmost discretion to protect the family name.

Upon arrival at the Littlegreen House in Market Basing, Poirot and Hastings learned that the late Ms Arundell changed her will right before her passing and left everything (except gifts to servants) to her none-too-brilliant companion Ms Lawson, denying her only relatives, 2 nieces and 1 nephew, even a single penny.

Here, we saw Hastings mortified by Poirot's employment of deceptions in gathering information from various people in Market Basing. A familiar reader would find that odd, wouldn't a long-time companion of Poirot be familiar with his un-Englishness approach to problem solving?

The characters involved were interesting, but not very colourful. One dowdy niece married a charming Greek doctor, practically a scandal in the insular society. Another led a fast life in London, then inexplicably got engaged to a pedantic country doctor who seemed more interested in his research than her. The nephew was generally acknowledged as an incorrigible rascal, charming, but not to be trusted. Last but not least, the suddenly wealthy Ms Lawson who had an unhealthy interest in spiritualism.

The sharp-eyed Poirot immediately deduced the truth of the incident of the dog's ball which prompted Ms Arundell to write the letter. He felt he had enough justification to continue his investigation despite all signs to Ms Arundell dying not to foul play. This was a well-done tale, true to Poirot's formula - study the murder, and you would find the murderer.

There is also an interesting part in the book looking through the eyes of a dog.

I have only read a few of Agatha Christie's novels: Murder of Roger Ackryod Murder on the Orient Express Dumb Witness ABC Murders Poirot's Last Case

But Dumb Witness is definetly up in my favourite book list.

My head was glued in the book from start-finish. I really couldn't put it down...... Agatha Christie always get's your attention, and you must be alert at all time.

A Must Read, as you can see from other review below me, this is a brilliant book, but also read the other's I've mentioned!

At first the title intrigued me, but as i got down to reading the book, I found that the title had nothing much to do with the story. But nevertheless, i enjoyed the book. It's about the murder of an old lady, and the suspects are the relatives after her money. So what's the title have to do with the book? Simple. Only one witness was there to this murder...and the witness is dumb. yep... we're talikng about her pet dog here. The irony to the story is that inspite of having a witness, Poirot has to unravel the mystery, with hardly any clues. But poirot being poirot solves the mystery....making another good book to read. Most of christie's books are a bit similar, but not exactly same, making it possible to read most of her books without getting bored. While this sounds like one of those typical books, it's really not. Read it...then you'll see.

Like many other writers, Christie went through an apprentice period during which she created the particular style we recognize as unique to her work. Novels from this early period are hit and miss--and MURDER AT THE VICARAGE, which introduces the famous Miss Marple, might best be described as a bit of both.

VICARAGE offers the story of the widely unpopular Col. Protheroe, who seems determined to vex every one he encounters--including his daughter from a former marriage and his current wife, the latter of which has undertaken a liaison with a local artist. One evening the Colonel pays a call to vicarage only to find the Vicar out on a call... and while waiting is shot dead under what seem impossible circumstances. No sooner is the body discovered than people who could not possibly have committed the crime begin to confess, and the Vicar and his neighbor, the meddlesome Miss Marple, form a somewhat uneasy alliance to ferret out the truth.

The Miss Marple of this particular novel is not the character we know from later books; although the outlines of the character are well established, she is not greatly sympathetic and she lacks the disconcerting twinkle found in such works as THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY and A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED. Moreover, the other characters, the setting, and the plot seem extremely stiff. The solution, when it comes, is also rather gimmicky in a way which Christie cannot yet make entirely plausible. I would not recommend this particular Christie to newcomers--but I do recommend it longtime fans, who will enjoy seeing how Christie developed the character of Miss Marple and how she herself evolved as a writer, particularly since the outline of the plot is a device to which she would return with considerably greater effect in later and more substantial novels.

A very friendly firm called Audio Partners is releasing a series of complete classic mystery novels read by highly competent actors. So we have Hercule Poirot himself in the person of David Suchet doing "Death on the Nile" for instance, and on six cassettes with James Saxton doing the honors.

Now any review of a book on tape must consider the book itself and the reader separately. The latter might lack the vocal variety of Suchet--that is, he does not change his voice all that much for each character However, "Vicarage" is told in the first person by the Vicar himself, and so Saxton's voice is quite appropriate if one keeps in mind who is supposed to be speaking. In this way, he does a very good job indeed of keeping up the listener's interest, although this particular Christie novel is not quite as spellbinding as was "Murder on the Orient Express" for example.

The tale itself was dramatized very well on PBS a while ago as part of the Joan Hickson "Miss Marple" series, but it did leave out a good deal of the adverse opinions that other residents of St. Mary Mead have of her. None of the male characters seem to like her very much, but that is because they recognize her ability to see through the lies with which most of them surround themselves in even the most routine of days, let alone those that involve a shocking murder in the Vicar's own study

. Not really a comic creation, Miss Marple still elicits broad smiles as she free-associates the present events and the people with those from her past experience and usually manages to come up with the solution on that basis alone. At any rate, this tale is just a tad padded and perhaps would have profited from a slight abridgment; but I am grateful to have a full edition, as it were, on this Audio Partners tape.

My two favorite British detectives are Miss Jane Marple and Lord Peter Whimsy. If you prefer action filled American mysteries or fast moving Sherlock Holmes tales, Agatha Christie is probably not for you. She creates mind puzzles in which you are given all the clues while the author tries to confuse and mislead you into suspecting the wrong person. No one has ever been better at red herrings and misdirection than Agatha Christie. If you enjoy glimpses into British life in the 1920's combined with enjoyable characterizations and creative plotting, settle down to enjoy an excellent example of the cozy mystery genre. The Murder at the Vicarage combines all of the best characteristics of vintage Agatha Christie without the sometimes annoying presence of Agatha Christie's more famous detective, Hercule Poirot.

Christie felt that The Mystery of the Blue Train was her weakest book and in fact stated on occasion that she hated it. While it is not one of her top ten books in my estimation, it is still an excellent book, with good writing, fascinating characters, good plot development and classic Christie style and flair.

Agatha Christie has the rare talent at protraying human character and illustrating with a shroud of spell binding mystery. This novel is a superb example of accurate identifiable characters amid a cloak of deep mystery.

Hercule Poirot unravels the web of intrigue slowly and the finale is a wonderful feeling of recognition and the juicy understanding of the author's prowess.

This book is great reading, buy it, pick it up, read it through and then smile as I did when it was over. Weep because your enjoyment and suspense cannot continue as Poirot wraps up the ending.

Do not weep, there is the 'Sittaford Mystery' and 'A Murder is Announced' and 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' and 'Curtain' and the very excellent 'Mysterious Affair at Style' to read.

I am sure Agatha Christie fans everywhere wish she could have kept on writting forever as I do. We shall miss her always.

I first read this book at the age of 13 and loved the story. I was also struck by the great atmosphere of England and the French Riviera created by Christie. I found the characters of Katherine and Derek sympathetic and believeable and that of Lenox, very sad. I also liked the way Poirot is able to bring them together while simulataneously pursuing the killer. My only complaint was that I felt the actual mystery was less complex than some of Christie's other works (like "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"). However, the overall story was so enjoyable that I don't think anyone would care. Definitely one of my sentimental favorites for its happy ending and the way it leaves you with a feeling of optimism at the end.