Friday, December 23, 2011

A Christmas Murder Mystery

Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Agatha Christie

Who said this is the time of peace on Earth, goodwill towards men? Not in the Lee family, certainly.

Agatha Christie spins a tale of a crotchety old man, Simeon Lee, who calls his offspring to him to celebrate Christmas. Only Mr. Lee's idea of fun is to threaten to rewrite his will, reduce his children's allowances, and insult their wives. Since he can no longer leave the house to cheat on his long-dead, long-suffering wife, get into business feuds over South African diamonds, or otherwise traipse around getting people to hate him, he'll just bring the drama to his house. Awesome!

So, of course, he winds up dead. There are no shortage of suspects, between his family and a house full of servants. But no matter! Hercule Poirot, armchair sleuth extraordinaire, happens to be visiting the area and will solve this case in no time at all.

This was a fun read, and when I'm feeling the stress of family overload this weekend, I'll remember that we haven't actually  killed each other - so far.

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