Peril At End House : Agatha Christie

BOOK TITLE:  Peril At The End House 

AUTHOR: Agatha Christie 

PUBLISHED: February, 1932

PAGE COUNT: 270 (First Edition, Hardcover)

    PUBLISHER: Dodd, Mead & Co.

GENER: Novel, Mystery, Crime Fiction

                                                          

SUMMARY:

Poirot is on holiday in Cornwall and boasting of his modesty to Captain Hastings, who is the narrator of this story. In his own words he is happy to be in retirement:But when he meets Nick Buckley who tells of her “accidental brushes with death” he just cannot resist investigating who is her would-be killer... Poirot suspects someone in Nick's inner circle. Nick's nearest living relative is a lawyer cousin, Charles Vyse, who arranged the re-mortgaging on End House for her to supply desperately needed funds.

Nick treats it all as a joke but Poirot is convinced that she is in grave danger. Indeed it seems as though he is right, especially when her cousin Maggie, wearing Nick’s shawl is shot.
But why would someone want to kill Nick? She lives at End House, badly in need of repair and “mortgaged up to the hilt”. Could it be Ellen, the housekeeper, or one of her friends – the languid, affected and mysterious Frederica is known as Freddie, or her cousin Charles, who will inherit the house if she dies? Or maybe it’s the Australian couple renting the lodge house from Nick, who knew her father when he was in Australia. And what is the significance of the secret panel in the house – if it really exists?
There is plenty of twists and turns as usual with an Agatha Christie plot and not everyone is who they seem to be – identity plays a large role in this complicated mystery. I enjoyed it very much, not least because of Captain Hasting’s comments on Poirot’s outrageous vanity.

CHARACTER SKETCH:

Hercule Poirot mystery, narrated by his friend Captain Hastings. The two encounter Miss Nick Barkley, owner of End House and recent survivor of several strange accidents. Poirot Puts the pieces together, convinces Nick that someone is trying to kill her, and sets to work to prevent the murder, investigating all the people around Nick.

Christie in the classical style, with a big cast of suspects, frequent misdirection and redirection, A final confrontation scene bringing all the suspects together and, of course, a final twist that I must admit I didn’t see coming. I’m going to have to try this one again one day, and watch how the clues fit together now that I know the ending!

Poirot was a lot of fun in this one, dramatic without becoming farcical. He swings from Supreme self-confidence to the depths of despair and frustration, which perhaps stops me from being annoyed by the arrogance. Captain Hastings, on the other hand, is rather a nil item. I didn’t dislike him but I didn’t think headed anything as a character—and while I haven’t read enough stories with him to get fond of him, I have read enough to be tired of the repeated joke about his(erroneous) confidence in his instinct and deductive abilities. He’s an obvious Watson parallel, but somehow I just like Watson better!

REVIEW:

According to me, PERIL AT END HOUSE is an amazing work of detective fiction by writer Agatha Christie. It’s a fantastic example of Poirot and Hastings’ relationship, and of the kind of twisting plot Christie so expertly built. The relationship between Poirot and Hastings has always been the high point of this novel.

They obviously look after one another, but Hastings is not afraid to call out Poirot on his moments of egotism, often using sarcasm which goes completely missed by Poirot, who is very brilliant, but not a very humble man. This interplay makes for some quite funny dialogue and enjoyable banter between the two of them. It’s especially gratifying considering Poirot’s exacting and quirky character, and the sheer normalcy of Hastings. It’s not quite a Watson/Holmes relationship but it’s quite similar, and a joy to read.

You then have the addition of the somewhat typical English country house that is the centre of the majority of the other Poirot novels, and together you have almost the ultimate Christie setting. The characters are also fairly typical of Christie – interesting, and full of secrets. In fact, the only thing that I felt was a bit of a let-down in this novel was the actual perpetrator and mastermind of the crimes. While it is fascinating and twisted, it was a bit too convoluted for my tastes; it almost was too complicated to be believable.

CONCLUSION:

I feel a classic Hercule Poirot novel, and definitely, one that captures the spirit of Poirot!
Read for your fix of classic crime fiction. I would still recommend PERIL AT END HOUSE as a great classic Christie read. It combines so many of the stylistic elements that make the Poirot novels my favourite Christie series, that it cannot be missed!

BOOK RECOMMENDATION - 4.0 / 5