After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

 

After the Funeral was the March selection for the #ReadChristie2022 challenge.  This book met the prompt, “book Agatha wrote abroad.” I seem to be running about a month behind on this challenge and read After the Funeral in April.  I just finish the April book, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?  at the start of May and will post a review soon.

Richard Abernethie has recently passed away and his large family has gathered for his funeral.  Where did he leave his fortune?  After his younger sister Cora states that she believe he had been murdered, she is abruptly murdered.  “’It’s all very odd, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘There was Cora, after the funeral, suddenly coming out with “He was murdered!” and then, the very next day, she goes and gets herself murdered?’” Richard Abernethie’s solicitor Mr. Entwhistle is on the case at first, but then brings in Hercule Poirot to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed this one.  There were a lot of different paths the story could have taken for the ultimate resolution.  I didn’t quite have it figured out as I suspected everyone.  I liked Mr. Entwhistle and thought he was making a fine detective.  Poirot didn’t enter the scene until well into the book.    I always find it interesting when a rich person in murdered and there are so many people in his family who could have committed the crime for one reason or another.  I liked the characters.

Favorite Quotes:

“On a foundation of Coral Cornplasters there had arisen this neo-Gothic palace, its acres of gardens, and the money that had paid out an income to seven sons and daughters and had allowed Richard Abernethie to die three days ago a very rich man.”

“The value of money is always relative,” said Mr. Entwhistle. “It is the need that counts.”

“What any woman saw in some particular man was beyond the comprehension of the average intelligent male. It just was so. A woman who could be intelligent about everything else in the world could be a complete fool when it came to some particular man.”

“Should murder make sense? Mr. Entwhistle wondered. Academically the answer was yes. But many pointless crimes were on record. It depended, Mr. Entwhistle reflected, on the mentality of the murderer.”

Overall, After the Funeral was another enjoyable Agatha Christie mystery.

Book Source:  Purchased as a Kindle book from Amazon.com.