Closed Casket

Finally got around to reading the second of the Sophie Hannah versions of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.  Sophie Hannah is the only mystery author who has been given permission to write as Poirot by the Christie family.  So as I am reading I am trying to see if I have the same feeling as when I am actually reading a mystery written by the master of mystery.

The books are fun to read.  They have very well concealed answers to the crime presented.  They are set in the right time period and with a similar cast of characters.  And, of course there is the satisfying ending with Poirot gathering all the members of the house who could be suspects, in a room, to reveal the killer and how and why he committed the crime.  There is the pleasing feeling at the end that yes you as the reader was right there with Poirot and Police Inspector, following closely all the clues that were presented and almost quite sure of who the murderer was, with just a few new facts thrown in at the end to make the reason he or she committed the crime reasonable.

In this novel we are at a country house for the weekend.  The elderly widow who has inherited the family fortune, and also in this case is a mystery author.  Tonight at dinner she announces to the guests who have been invited that she is changing her will.  Of course around the table are her children, her solisitors, other close friends and Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool.
The cast is set, the plot in motion and off we go to see if we can solve the crime that, of course, will be committed after this thunderous announcement.

Hannah has written a clever and entertaining mystery, I am going to go back and study Agatha Christie in much more depth to see if I think personally that she has lived up to the accolades she is gathering that say she is filling Agatha's shoes.  Hannah said in an interview I read, that she is not trying to replicate Christie's style exactly.  So she brought in a new narrator.  She is looking to present a gift to Christie fans,  " That’s what I want people to feel about this too: it’s a proper Poirot novel.”

I will be reading about Agatha Christie and rereading some of her early mysteries over the next few weeks.  I will review what I find out.