It is Christmas Eve. The Lee family reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture, followed by a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. But when Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the village with a friend for Christmas, offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man.
One of the best parts of this book, for me, is the diverse set of characters -- personality-wise, that is -- ethnicity & socioeconomic-wise, Christie tends to stick to her standard upper class British cast with a few hired help and questionable non-British thrown in for good measure, but that's a whole 'nother post (here, here, and here, for example). I'll eventually be picking up some other authors from the same time period (before 1960) and I'll be interested to see what classism, sexism, and racism appears there as compared to Christie's books.
Thanks for posting your review! I like this Christie holiday mystery. I've got this one added to your tally.
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