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Agatha Christie – The Listerdale Mystery | Review

Title: The Listerdale Mystery

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 192

Rating: 4/5

This little collection of short stories was a lot of fun, but then I was always going to think that because I’m a big fan of Christie’s short fiction. It was also a pleasure to finally have a full collection to read, because the last few short story collections that I’ve picked up have been ones that included a ton of stories that I’d already read.

This might not be the best place to start if you’re new to Christie, but it does give you a pretty decent overall view of what her work is like, and you can read each of the stories as little standalones without any need to read previous novels or stories.

Overall then, if you spot this going cheap at a charity shop, definitely pick it up. Don’t go out of your way for it though, at least until you start to run out of other Christie books to read. As for me, I’m just a little sad because I’m starting to run out of her books.

Learn more about The Listerdale Mystery.

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger | Review

Title: The Moving Finger

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 304

Rating: 4*/5

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

This book was a lot of fun, and part of that is because it’s less of a “whodunit” and more of a “whowroteit“. Basically, the plot follows the goings on in a small English town when a spate of anonymous letters leads to what appears to be a suicide. That actually helps to put a unique spin on this that you don’t always see in a crime novel. The drama comes from the tension and anticipation as you wonder who’s going to be targeted next.

This is actually one of Christie’s Miss Marple novels, but Marple plays such a minor role in the story that she might as well not be there. But that’s not such a problem, because it actually helps to highlight the other characters in the story. I always find myself immediately forgetting about Agatha Christie’s characters purely because they differ from book to book and I’ve already read so many of them. But the characters here were pretty believable, even if they were old-fashioned in their ways.

That’s to be expected from a book that was first published back in the 1940s, and I personally found that it stood up well to the test of time. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the best Agatha Christie book – nor even the best Miss Marple book – but it’s still a decent read and I’m glad I picked it up. The time seemed to fly by when I was reading it and although I gave it my best shot, I wasn’t able to guess who was behind it all. And then, when it all came together in the last thirty pages, it all made sense. It’s just a cracking little murder mystery.