All Columns in Alphabetical Order


Saturday, May 29, 2021

#ReadThis @AgathaChristie @HarperCollins @Morrow_PB #HerculePoirot'sChristmas by #AgathaChristie #Nineteenth #19 #HerculePoirot #Mystery #ReadChristie2021

 
It's a cold and rainy weekend in New York...it might remind you of WINTER!  And Christmas!  But when does Christmas come in May?  It does when it is next in Poirot order on Whom You Know!  Time to take a holiday to the jolly old mother country, which is far bloodier and darker than a Happy Christmas.  Old Simeon Lee in his old age has tried to unite his family....but how does one define family?

Twists and turns abound every corner and with a curdling scream, the deed is done.  As usual, who did it?   Employ all your grey cells says our esteemed leader of logic, Poirot.   It does not matter that this is a Christmas tale; the holiday itself is arbitrary.  The characters and their respective motives for murder are in high gear to make the long weekend fly by for you when you open up this winner.

You would think by the 19th book in, we would be able to guess who did it but no, not even Peachy's original theory was correct.  Agatha brilliantly always comes in with a clincher at the end and her ability to be unique and not repetitive has obviously secured her highly esteemed spot in literary history forever.

Well-organized in chronological order from December 22nd to December 28th, Hercule Poirot's Christmas has got everything except peace and goodwill.  A prodigal comes home, a long lost granddaughter is discovered, and as God says in Spain - you take what you like and pay for it!  Keep remembering that saying as you journey through this winner.  Actions have consequences!  

For all readers that share our love of the four C's (obviously cut, color, clarity and carat) you will be delighted to find the murdered protagonist had a career in diamonds.  However in the world of Agatha, the four C's might be considered to be Crime, Conspiracy, Criminality and of course CHRISTIE.  And today you might even add cybercrime for good measure.

Does it all meet the eye?

Throw back your head and laugh. An elephant never forgets.  Sapristi!  Epatant.  You'll never guess.  Beware of the false moustache!

Hercule Poirot's Christmas is Highly Recommended by Whom You Know.

Previously on Whom You Know, we have raved about Agatha:


The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Murder on the Links

Poirot Investigates

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Big Four

The Mystery of the Blue Train

Peril at End House

Lord Edgware Dies

Murder on the Orient Express

Three Act Tragedy

and we took a break from only him and did him with others in Midwinter Murder

and returned to only him with Death in the Clouds

The ABC Murders

Murder in Mesopotamia

Cards on the Table


Murder in the Mews

Dumb Witness

Death on the Nile

Appointment with Death












About the Author
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only in the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She is the author of eighty crime novels and short-story collections, around thirty plays, two memoirs, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott


She first tried her hand at detective fiction while working in a hospital dispensary during World War I, creating the now-legendary Hercule Prior with her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. In 1930, Miss Jane Marple made her first full-length novel appearance in The Murder at the Vicarage, quickly becoming another beloved and enduring character to rival Poirot's popularity. Additional series characters include the husband-and wife crime-fighting team of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, private investigator Parker Pyne, and Scotland Yard detectives Superintendent Battle and Inspector Japp.


Many of Christie's novels and short stories were adapted into plays, films, and television series. The Mousetrap opened in 1952 and is the longest running play in history. Academy Award-nominated actor and director Kenneth Branagh helmed the acclaimed major motion picture Murder on the Orient Express in 2017 and its sequel, Death on the Nile, starring in both films as the Belgian detective. On the small screen Poirot has been most memorably portrayed by David Suchet, and Miss Marple by Joan Hickson and subsequently Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie.


Christie was first married to Archibald Christie and then to archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, whom she accompanied on expeditions to countries that would also serve as the settings for many of her novels. In 1971 she achieved one of Britain's highest honors when she was made a Dame of the British Empire. She died in 1976 at the age of eighty-five. The one-hundred-year anniversary of Agatha Christie stories and the debut of Hercule Poirot was celebrated around the world in 2020. Whom You Know will never stop celebrating it!

Back to TOP