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Friday, April 8, 2022

#ReadThis @AgathaChristie @HarperCollins @Morrow_PB #MrsMcGintysDead by #AgathaChristie #Twenty-Eighth #28 #HerculePoirot #Mystery #ReadChristie2022

How we love that this book starts at a French restaurant (and for that matter also concludes there) and that we have found one more thing we have in common with Hercule Poirot: a love of escargot!  (see right.)  Time to be taken away to the escargots de la Vielle Grand'mere if only on the pages.  On page two Poirot declares that eating is not only a physical pleasure, it's also intellectual research...and if we could bring him to life to eat dinner with, we absolutely would.

Here is a case that goes beyond the initial facts.  You need to look beyond the victim and the accused and pay attention and read inbetween the lines to truly discover the real beauty of Mrs. McGinty's Dead.  It develops at a good pace and what we liked best in this work were the pronounced characters.  It takes place in an English village so you won't find Poirot jetsetting it here but perhaps this is the weekend to curl up with a local book.  Don't be fooled however: there's no lack of excitement since Poirot narrowly escapes disaster.

Wicked gossip, idle gossip and really all kinds of gossip spring up at every turn here, and it's important to distinguish between relationships that matter and those that don't.  Superintendent Spence is one smart cookie and you should always pay attention to your gut.  

Another great topic addressed here is SHOPPING and the word SALE as in Vicarge sales....for all of our fellow New York residents still missing Century 21 it's nice to read about other people shopping.  And finally other than escargot obviously the best french phrase in this book is: "A secret de Polichinelle" which is a secret everyone can know.  

It's no secret we love Agatha Christie and that she's the best.

Mrs. McGinty's Dead is 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

Hercule Poirot's Christmas

Sad Cypress

One Two Buckle My Shoe

Evil Under the Sun

Five Little Pigs

The Hollow

The Labors of Hercules

Taken at the Flood

The Under Dog and Other Stories







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!



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