Peril at End House, by Agatha Christie

 The Book

    When Magdala "Nick" Buckley meets the famous Hercule Poirot while he and Captain Hastings are on vacation, she seems to be a victim of a most subtle and determined murder. She's a smart girl, and Poirot likes her. He is drawn in when after their chance encounter at his hotel, he finds a bullet hole in her hat. From there, Poirot has his work cut out for him, dissecting which of Nick's drugged up friends is truthful, and which is a liar. Nick has already survived four attempts to murder her, Poirot is determined not to let the murderer succeed. 

    Nick takes Poirot's advice and invites her cousin, Maggie Buckley, to stay at End House with her. Poirot has her convinced it is for her own protection. Nick agrees, reluctantly, because she finds Maggie very boring. 

    Maggie arrives and Nick throws a small dinner party that night so she can see the fireworks. Poirot comes to dinner, and notices that Maggie is a poor relation, but she still manages to seem nice. When the party goes outside to watch the fireworks, they get cold. Both Nick and Maggie reenter End House to get coats for their friends. While Nick is upstairs, Maggie gets shot. She was wearing Nick's shawl from earlier in the evening. And although Nick has survived this murder attempt, Poirot is beside himself because he did not prevent the tragedy. 

    From here, Poirot secrets Nick away as he tries to draw the suspect in. But as the plot gets murkier, and the clues turn out to be duds, Poirot is forced to desperate measures and fakes the death of Nick. That draws the culprit out, alright. And when Poirot finally unmasks the liar, and their reasons, he proves that no plot twist is equal to his intellect. 

My Thoughts

    Once again, this is a solid outing by Agatha Christie. I knew from the moment I got the scene in the hotel with the bullet and the hat that I had seen the David Suchet version of this story. There are books where I know I've seen the Suchet, and books that I know I have read. I found no familiar passages in this book, so I am confident that I have not read it before, but I did know the story. All the while I kept wondering, did I remember the plot twist, which is genius, or am I just wise to Christie's tricks at this point? We will need a Miss Marple to know for certain. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This is another one of the leatherette editions my library purchased in the 1980s. It seems newer that some of the other ones, and a quick peek at the copyright page tells me that is indeed true. It states this version cannot be older than 1988.  I suspect several of the other editions were circa 1984. This one is different. First of all the inside part of the hardcover does not have the same 1970s awful wallpaper like "foil" interior. And secondly, the book has less hefty and a lesser quality of paper inside. There are one or two dog ears, but the book still crackles like it is brand new and it was stiff to read, right up until the last few pages. The receipt says I saved $12.00, which is in line with the shorter book at only 175 pages. 

This Book                           $12.00

This Summer                    $543.85

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