Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

La lettura è stata scorrevole, la vittima è intuibile sin da subito, nonostante l’effettivo omicidio non avvenga nelle prime pagine; mi sono divertita nel prendere appunti per cercare di scoprire il colpevole, anche se si è rivelato totalmente inutile, dato che l’assassino era un personaggio che non avevo minimamente considerato tra i possibili sospettati.

Sir Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) et Agatha Christie sont des auteurs assez simple pour s'habituer à lire en anglais. Les intrigues sont prenantes, l'anglais littéraire reste assez simple, après la lecture de livres bilingues je suis passé à cette version et je ne suis pas déçu. Ils m'apparaissent comme une bonne façon de débuter dans la littérature anglaise. Et puis quitte à lire des auteurs anglais autant les lire en version originale...

Another perfect read for Christmas Holiday. The story is set in a part of Britain. Mr Simeon Lee was an old rich well-known person. He made a lot of money during his business days in South Africa where he worked with his other partner. Mr Lee decides to re unite his family members for Christmas, so sends letter to all of his dear ones. His son Alfred Lee and daughter in law Lydia Lee lives with him. Rest of his sons Harry Lee, George Lee and his wife, David Lee and his wife and Mr Lee's grand daughter Pilar. Surprisingly, Simeon's old partner's son came to that house without any prior information. On the day of Christmas Eve after the supper when all the guests were busy in their own work, suddenly a chaotic noise of upturning furniture's and a deadly cry was heard. Those noise came from Simeon's room. Every member rushed to his room but the door was closed from inside, so they had to break it. Mr Lee was found lying dead in pool of blood with his thriat slitted from war to ear and all the heavy furnitures were thrown in an haphazard fashion. Seeing this ghastly scene, they called the Police officer and luckily Hercule Poirot was there at that time. It was found that Mr Lee's uncut ten thousand pound worth diamonds were missing. Now, who killed this man and who took the diamond and why? What's the motive? Well, there could be different motives for all the members since the relation of Mr Lee with his sons were not good. I'm saying again that Christie never fails to astonish me. Similarly, this time I was tremendously surprised when I came to know about the murderer. It's simple yet ingenious. Once when the mystery was solved the puzzle pieces fall into perfect positions and gave the clear picture.

“Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” was published in 1938 with Agatha Christie having her brother-in-law, James, in mind. He had earlier complained her murders were getting too refined and anaemic, and that he yearned for a “good violent murder with lots of blood”. Christie obliged and even quoted Macbeth at the start for good measure: “Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?” “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” is classic Christie territory. Narrated in the third-person, this story is set during the Yuletide season but there is no semblance of peace and goodwill here. Instead, it is a story of hate and resentment within the Lee family caused by Simeon Lee, its reprobate, old patriarch who is malicious and tyrannical. At its heart “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” is a classic locked-room murder mystery. Simeon Lee is found dead in his room, his throat slit by an unknown assailant. And there is a lot of blood everywhere! The door is locked and no one could have entered through the windows. What can explain Simeon Lee’s murder? Is it a diamond theft gone awry? Or is it the release of long pent-up hate (after all, the Lee family members can hold a grudge for a long time)? “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” certainly has many red herrings and tortuous turns to confuse armchair sleuths. There is no shortage of suspects. All members of the Lee family have possible motives to do the old man in. There are Alfred (the devoted son) and his wife, Lydia; Harry (the prodigal son), David (the estranged son) and his wife, Hilda; the parsimonious son (George) and his wife, Magdalene. Adding to the intrigue are outsiders comprising Pilar Estravados (a beautiful and sultry young lady who claims to be Simeon’s granddaughter), Sydney Horbury (Simeon’s shady valet-attendant), and Stephen Farr (who claims to be the son of Simeon’s former business partner). The Lee family members are decently fleshed out and their internecine squabbles are done well. However, the story lacks “airiness” as it is mostly limited to the confines of Gorston Hall, Simeon’s home. Much of what we learn is through the characters’ dialogue, and readers are given very little insight into Poirot’s thinking process until right before the denouement. The story unfolds across seven days — 22nd Dec to 28th Dec — but beyond the dates there is little in the setting to suggests that it is Christmas. There is no festive atmosphere. There are no mentions of Christmas trees, Christmas carols, glittering decorations, Christmas puddings or even Yuletide logs. There are some nice quotations in the book though: • “I believe the present matters — not the past! The past must go. If we seek to keep the past alive, we end, I think, by distorting it. We see it in exaggerated terms — a false perspective.” • “The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.” • There is at Christmas a great deal of hypocrisy, honourable hypocrisy, hypocrisy undertaken pour le bon motif, c’est entendu, but nevertheless hypocrisy.” The revelation of the murderer’s identity comes as a huge surprise but this fact alone is insufficient to raise this book to the level of greatness. The plot is sufficiently complicated but there are some dubious points and inconsistencies (see spoiler section below). The setting for the tale is serviceable but not remarkable. Overall, ‘Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” scores a 3.5/5 for this reviewer. Lastly, “Three Act Tragedy” should preferably be read before this one because the killer there is mentioned in this book. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD *** *** *** The murderer’s plan works well only if there are many people in Simeon’s home to divert suspicion away from him/her. But how could the murderer have known in advance that Simeon had called, out of the blue, for a large family reunion during Christmas? Both Harry and David have not returned home in years (and Hilda, David’s wife, has never set foot there before). Only George and Magdalene can reasonably be expected to be present at Gorston Hall during Christmas, and even this is not guaranteed. The murderer also cannot know in advance that Pilar Estravados and Stephen Farr will be present. The murderer’s plan also requires some familiarity with Simeon’s room and the fact that the door can be locked from the outside using a special device. There is an additional point: It is highly unlikely for three members of the Lee family to inherit similar gestures, personality traits, and physical features. Furthermore, they all have different mothers. And what are the chances that they should all be at the same place at the same time? Hercule Poirot says, he is “always prepared to admit one coincidence,” but here there are simply too many coincidences. There are two inconsistencies. Firstly, when Hercule Poirot explicated the murder case at the end, he mentioned that Stephen arrived at Gorston Hall the following day after Harry. In fact, Harry and Stephen arrived on the same day (23rd December)! Secondly, at the start of Part 2, the narrative indicates that Tressilian (the butler) had received Harry three years ago. However, we know that Harry was last at Gorston Hall some 20 years ago.

Ein echter Weihnachtskrimi, alles, was zu einem klassischen Christie gehört. Ein alter Familientyrann wird auf seinem verschneiten Landsitz ermordet. Welcher Verwadter war es und wer ist die geheimnisvolle schöne junge Spanierin, die plötzlich auftaucht. Zum Glück verbingt Hercule Poirot die Feiertage in der Nähe... Christie-Fans werden nicht enttäuscht sein, einer ihrer besten!