Dead Man's Folly: A Hercule Poirot Mystery

Variance Oliver, a novelist, calls Poirot and wants him to go to Nasse House but doesn't tell him the reason.After he arrives, she tells him she is organizing Murder Hunt and he is to give away the prizes.

One of my favorite Hercule Poirots. That's probably why I can read it so fast.When I was 12, my mother tried to get me in the habit of reading a book before I went to bed. I'm not sure why. I've been a bookworm since I could read, so I certainly didn't need any encouragement. I enjoyed TV mysteries and Nancy Drew, so someone - I don't know who - suggested Agatha Christie. I got three omnibus volumes of Christie - one Poirot, one Miss Marple, and one mixed (including the dreadful Tommy and Tuppence - yuck!). In the Poirot volume was "Dead Man's Folly." I have loved it ever since.Hercule Poirot receives a phone call from his friend, Ariadne Oliver, a mystery novelist. Something is up, but she can't or won't explain. He just has to come down to Nasse House in Nassecombe. Worried that something serious is wrong, Poirot heads for Nassecombe, a picturesque English village. Nasse House was formerly home of the Foliots, but the family has died out and the house is now the property of the nouveau riche Sir George Stubbs and his apparently dim-witted, though beautiful, wife, Hattie.There is to be a fete (a type of festival or fair) and Mrs Oliver is in charge of planning the Murder Hunt - which is the problem. Mrs Oliver has the sense that someone is manipulating her somehow, though she is not sure who exactly is responsible. Poirot trusts Mrs Oliver's intuition.“And I know what you always say— or look— about intuition.” [Mrs Oliver]“One calls things by different names,” said Poirot. “I am quite ready to believe that you have noticed something, or heard something, that has definitely aroused in you anxiety. I think it is possible that you yourself may not even know just what it is that you have seen or noticed or heard. You are aware only of the result. If I may so put it, you do not know what it is that you know. You may label that intuition if you like.”Poirot stays on, ostensibly to hand out prizes, but in actuality to do some detecting. How can he detect a crime that hasn't been committed? While the everything appears to be going well and people are enjoying themselves, there is a murder - of the girl playing the victim in the Murder Hunt. Her death is not the first and it will not be the last.I love it when Christie sets her mysteries in English villages. She does a lovely job of bringing the world to life, even while it was actually dying out. Another good portrayal of this is in "The Body in the Library," where murder strikes close to Miss Marple's home.If you've never read a Christie, this is a good one to start with. It's fun, easy to read, and makes you want to reread it so you can see what you missed the first time through. That's unusual - I've read quite a few mysteries where I had no intention of ever rereading them. This is not one of those.Highly recommended.

Red herrings galore! Looked for them and still missed the perpetrator ... Well, at least the motive. One of her better twists, I think.

This was an ok Hercule Poirot mystery as it is set when he has gotten older and so is not involved in the investigation as he was in previous novels. I will admit I was not able to figure out who the murderer was and I am still trying to decide if the author gave all the clues I needed to figure it out. I listened to the audio book by David Suchet and he was a fantastic narrator. Overall I would recommended this novel but for first time Agatha Christie readers would advise you start with the early Hercule Poirot as those have him being more visible in the story

I was in the proper mood for an Agatha Christie mystery when I sat down to read "Dead Man's Folly." I was thrilled to note how skillfully she used dialog to rapidly sketch out characters. During the opening pages she clearly invents the concept of the murder-mystery party, which has been a popular entertainment for some decades since. All good.Poirot is swept aside as the police investigate the murder of a young girl. As this investigation continues to plot and feel to the story flattens. Pages turn and that sense of why I read Agatha Christie melts away. Yet I am patient as I read.At last Poirot re-enters the story. He is puzzled too, which is good because I wouldn’t want to it be too easy. At last the solution dawns on Poirot. In the final scene Poirot confronts not the culprits, but oddly enough one of the peripheral characters and lays out the truth. But the truth as he reveals the details could not possibly have been the result of the workings of the little grey cells. The resolution as it stands must have come from routine investigation and not of inspiration. When Poirot would have had time to do this investigation is the greater mystery. Somehow he just knows these things. As I read I turn the page and Voila! I am faced with a blank page and must conclude that the last words written were the last words of the story. Most unsatisfactory.Clearly this solution is not the result of Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation would not have been the most entertaining, but the solution provided strains believability. Not her best work.

"Dead Man's Folly" is a Hercule Poirot mystery. It is well-written with an interesting storyline and will hold your attention completely. Don't try to guess the murderer though! Not until you've read the last line can you go back and re-read certain passages and see the significance. "Oh, now I see what Mr/Mrs. X was really up." or "So he/she was lying then." Therein is the genius of Agatha Christie's novels. She gives you so many red herrings but none are ever a path to the murderer. It is the insignificant happenings, the careless words uttered by a person, that would point you in the right direction. But you never see that because you're so deep into the myriad of interesting/puzzling occurrences that the real clues fly by. "Dead Man's Folly" is a must-read for any mystery fan. The scenery, the language, the characters are all wonderfully drawn. And Hercule Poirot is a delight to follow with all his foibles and his intellect. Agatha Christie is the ace writer of mysteries. There is no other like her.

Muy flojillo, aunque Poirot y Ariadne Oliver siempre valen la pena 🤩

Für Agatha-Christie-Fans für die Sammlung.

Carino

Personally, one of my favorites from Agatha Christie with the fussy Belgian detective... The plot is great, the scenery very evocative, a good old murder in the pure Christie tradition... An excellent read!

Ariadne Olliver zieht Hercule Poirot zu Rate - der kann aber den Mord nicht verhindern. Kein Wunder bei der komplexen Geschichte, die nur zum kleineren Teil von der fiktiven Krimi-Autorin erdacht ist.