Book Review: Lord Edgware Dies

by StevenHelmer

A review of the 1933 mystery novel written by Agatha Chrisite

Synopsis: When Lord Edgware is murdered, his actress wife, Jane Wilkinson is the primary suspect, both because she wanted to end her unhappy marriage so she could marry another man and because witnesses swear she was at the house when he was killed. However, when it is revealed her husband was willing to divorce her and she was at a dinner party the same night, it is up to Hercule Poirot to figure out who else had a motive for murdering him.

Review

Normally, it takes me a couple weeks to get through an Agatha Christie novel. However, I had some extra free time this week and, because of that, I was able to get through this one in a matter of about four days.

After doing so, my overall opinion of the book is somewhat mixed.

Poirot
Poirot
Image courtesy of Pixabay

While, overall, I do enjoy reading Agatha Christie, I've come to realize she tends to fall back on the same format in many of her books. As part of that, I've discovered if one of her characters has (or at least seems to have) an air-tight alibi, chances are they are the one who did it. And, using that philosophy, I was able to successfully name the killer after only a few chapters.

That being said, there were still some things to like about this murder mystery. As always, Christie has a wide-variety of interesting characters, ranging from the victim himself (who is rumored to be somewhat sadistic and likely abusive toward his wives) to the American actress, Carlotta Adams, who ends up being an accomplice and one of the killer's other victims. 

As is the case with many of Christie's novels, many of the characters seemed to have their own motives for wanting Edgware dead. While, based on the philosophy I mentioned before, there weren't any real surprises as far as those red herrings were concerned, the additional suspects did, at times at least, give me cause to at least reconsider my theory, especially since the person I was looking at seemed to have no reason to want Edgware dead.

At minimum, the possible alternative suspects did keep me reading the book, mostly so I could figure out what secrets they were really hiding and see how their stories all played out as well. So, while I was ultimately proven correct, I still had every reason to read this book from cover to cover.

Lord Edgware Dies: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)

When Lord Edgware Dies a most unnatural death, detective Hercule Poirot must solve a most confounding conundrum: if the obvious killer, the slain peer’s spiteful wife, didn’t do...

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Final Opinion

I did enjoy reading this book and would recommend it if you are looking for a murder mystery that can be read in a reasonable amount of time. However, if you've read a lot of Agatha Christie books, I don't think you'll have a hard time figuring out who the killer is.

My Grade: B

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Updated: 01/31/2018, StevenHelmer
 
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DerdriuMarriner on 04/02/2022

StevenHelmer, Thank you for practical information, pretty pictures and product lines.
The library system here does have Lord Edgware Dies amongst its Agatha Christie books. It also has the film version with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. And it also has yet another film version, under the title Thirteen at Dinner and with Peter Ustinov as the detective.

Would you happen to have seen either one or both of the two above-mentioned movies?

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