Sophie Hannah

Agatha Christie

The new Hercule Poirot novel - another brilliant murder mystery that can only be solved by the eponymous Belgian detective and his 'little grey cells'.

The New Hercule Poirot Mystery

The Monogram Murders

As a huge fan of Agatha Christie's books, I started reading this book with a bit of bias. Unintentionally I was comparing it with her books and of course nothing can live up to them. 

Nevertheless it was a fun read. I didn't like her version of Poirot so much (yes Poirot likes to gather people around and explain the events to them, but only to the people involved in the mystery, not the whole employees of an establishment!) And I didn't find the characters involved in the mystery very interesting. The last few chapters the conversations were very repetitive, I feel like the story could have been concluded sooner.

I am interested to read her other books and see if I'd change my mind about this Poirot or not. 

Yega

As a huge fan of Agatha Christie's books, I started reading this book with a bit of bias. Unintentionally I was comparing it with her books and of course nothing can live up to them. 

Nevertheless it was a fun read. I didn't like her version of Poirot so much (yes Poirot likes to gather people around and explain the events to them, but only to the people involved in the mystery, not the whole employees of an establishment!) And I didn't find the characters involved in the mystery very interesting. The last few chapters the conversations were very repetitive, I feel like the story could have been concluded sooner.

I am interested to read her other books and see if I'd change my mind about this Poirot or not. 

Jo Young

This book sounded so great! But it didn't turn out well, I only got through half before giving up.

"Equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home" -Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl "Perfect... a pure treat." -Tana French, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Place "As tricky as anything written by Agatha Christie. The Monogram Murders has a life and freshness of its own. Poirot is still Poirot. Poirot is back." -The New York Times Book Review "Christie herself, some might say, could do no better . . . . Enough twists, turns, revelations and suspects to cook up a most satisfying red-herring stew. Literary magic." -The Washington Post "Terrific . . . . uncanny. As Hercule Poirot himself would say, 'Bravo, Madame Hannah. Bravo.' " -The Boston Globe NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Since the publication of her first novel in 1920, more than two billion copies of Agatha Christie’s books have been sold around the globe. Now, for the first time ever, the guardians of her legacy have approved a brand new novel featuring Dame Agatha’s most beloved creation, Hercule Poirot. ‘I’m a dead woman, or I shall be soon…’ Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified – but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim...

Tanya Sutton

Hercule Poirot is having a quiet dinner in his favorite London coffeehouse when he encounters a young woman who is terrified of being murdered. Later that day Poirot hears of a murder at an upscale London hotel and accompanies the Scotland Yard detective staying in his boardinghouse to the scene of the crime. There he learns of a mysterious clue...a monogrammed cuff link left in the mouth of each of the three victims. He can't help but think that the young woman he met earlier that night may be the murder's fourth victim...

I personally really enjoyed this book, though I know it's taken some hard hits from other reviewers and even some critics. I didn't go into this expecting the writing to be anything like Christie's writing because - gasp - Sophie Hannah isn't Agatha Christie! Of course the writing won't be a replica of the original Poirot works. Hannah does, however, capture Poirot's personality - his disdain over a lack of imagination in his detective partner, his excitement when he's put two clues together, and his pompous explanations at the close of the book. Hannah also successfully captures the importance of motive and psychology to the plot. She is able to show us both the morality and the darkness of the characters in her story in a way that was vitally important in all of Christie's work.

In the end, the Monogram Murders should not be looked at as a "continuation" of the Poirot library, but rather a new interpretation of an old familiar character. The puzzling twists and turns of the plot, the voices of the characters, and the seeming impossibility of the mystery are all echoes of the Christie I love, with the fabulous writing of Hannah to pull it all together.

Elin

Sonia Grgas

Josephine

Kate Lillie

Sam 🌙

Anna

"Equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home" -Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl Since the publication of her first novel in 1920, more than two billion copies of Agatha Christie’s books have been sold around the globe. Now, for the first time ever, the guardians of her legacy have approved a brand new novel featuring Dame Agatha’s most beloved creation, Hercule Poirot. ‘I’m a dead woman, or I shall be soon…’ Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified – but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim...

The Monogram Murders The New Hercule Poirot Mystery

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