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Title: Nemesis

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 368

Rating: 3.5*/5

Agatha Christie – Nemesis

I should preface this review by saying that my mum went to great lengths to tell me how bad this book is, and so perhaps I was a little biased going into it. But actually, it wasn’t too bad, although it was also far from her best. I also think that it helps that I read A Caribbean Mystery not too long ago and this one basically follows on from it.

What I didn’t like here was that Christie forced a bunch of her own beliefs into the narrative and the dialogue, and I’m not too sure I agreed with her. For example, she basically said that young women at the time (the 1970s ish) kept accusing men of rape after their mothers found out that they’d had sex. Come to think of it, she spent a lot of time also complaining about how times had changed and she came across as a bitter old woman. It was kind of sad.

Still, I did enjoy the actual mystery, despite the fact that I also predicted both who the killer was and where the body was buried. I also found that, at the beginning at least, the plot was happening to Miss Marple rather than because of her. She’s basically just getting letters from a dead dude and following his instructions.

Agatha Christie

I read the entire second half of this in one sitting on the train back from my mum’s house, and that probably helped me to get a little more enjoyment from it. I managed to get all the characters straight in my head, which can sometimes be a problem, and I also had a pretty good idea in my head of what the environment looked like.

All in all then, this is far from Christie’s best but I’ve always loved Miss Marple and so it was fun to investigate a case with her here, towards the end of her career. Ultimately, it’s worth reading this because it’s worth reading all of Christie’s work. But I wouldn’t go out of your way for it, and you should read A Caribbean Mystery first.

Agatha Christie Quote

Click here to buy Nemesis.

Colin Dexter – Last Bus to Woodstock | Review

Title: Last Bus to Woodstock

Author: Colin Dexter

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 314

Rating: 7/10

Colin Dexter – Last Bus to Woodstock

You pretty much know what you’re getting with a Colin Dexter book, because they’re all pretty much the same. And that’s not to say that it’s a bad thing. In this book, Morse investigates the apparent rape and murder of a young girl, and there are plenty of twists and turns along the way to make sure that you question everything that you thought you knew, and to make you wonder which of the characters might have committed the murder.

And, as with most detective novels, there are secondary deaths along the way, although I don’t want to tell you why in case I spoil the story line. Suffice to say that it’s an interesting enough read, and Morse is in fine form here, but that there was nothing in particular that made it stand out from the rest of the novels in the series. In fact, at times, I realised that I was reading it without really taking in the meaning of the words – it was like the mental equivalent of my eyes glazing over.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing -it was an easy read, and I whizzed through it pretty quickly. It’s probably best to think of it just as a quick piece of entertainment, rather than a work of art or a piece of fine literature. It’s just not that memorable, and I even found that I’d forgotten things even while I was reading it – now, writing this review a couple of days later, it’s hard to focus on things. That contrasts sharply with some of Dexter’s other Morse novels, which still stand out fresh in my mind even months after reading them. If I were you, I’d work through the other Morse books first – your call.