Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

Sometimes when you become familiar with characters from TV adaptations it discourages you from reading the books. I like Agatha Christie for a bit of relaxing reading, but it had been a while since I had read ant of her Hercule Poirot books. To be truthful I read Five Little Pigs because it happened to catch my eye when I was looking for something to read. I think I must have read it before, but I didn't remember the plot. After the first couple of chapters I was hooked and I really wanted Hercule Poirot to prove that the wrong person had been convicted of the crime sixteen years before and I found it hard to put the book down. It was a very enjoyable and satisfying read, and I was pleased and a little surprised by the resolution of the plot. As an added bonus the story was set in Cornwall, my favourite place in the world! This book has reminded me how much I enjoy Agatha Christie.

Crooked House

I have had the children on holiday from school for the last couple of weeks, so I needed a bit of easy reading that I could pick up and put down whenever I needed a few minutes distraction. What could be better than a nice murder mystery (I had a few murderous thoughts of my own last week!) so I decided to see what Agatha Christie had to offer. I have read and reread all her Poirot and Miss Marple books but I have never thought of reading any of her other work. I thought perhaps I wouldn't like it, but I read Crooked House and I was soon engrossed in the plot. It is dated and it is hard to believe that such an unattractive selection of characters could have lived together for so long, but somehow none of that mattered. I had my suspicions about the murderer, but still the book produced a sudden and unexpected twist at the end. I enjoyed it, it is a good holiday read and it has made me want to revisit my old friend Hercule Poirot so I am now reading Five Little Pigs.