Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah

 

Do you prefer to read romance or mysteries during the holiday season?  I enjoy reading some of each genre.

Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah was the December pick for the Rogue Book Club.  Unfortunately, I may have been the only person who read it besides the hostess so there was not much discussion of the book.

Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night is set in the 1931 Christmas season.  Inspector Edward Catchpool and Hercule Poirot are besieged by Catchpool’s mother, Cynthia, to head to Norfolk to investigate the murder of a man in a hospital ward.  Catchpool and Poirot stay with Cynthia Catchpool at a friends’ Christmas house party in an crumbling estate by the sea.  The owners, Arnold and Vivienne Laurier, their two sons and their spouses, the in-laws of the sons, and a couple of houseguests are all in the mansion.  Vivienne is sure that the ailing Arnold will be murdered next if he goes to the Norfolk hospital.  Arnold wants to go to be a mole on the inside to help Poirot’s investigation.  Arnold, like the murdered man, is a man that is generally well liked with no enemies.  What could be the motive for the crime?  Will Poirot be able to uncover the murderer before they strike again?

Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night moved rather slow for me, and I had a hard time getting into it.  I thought Sophie Hannah captured the essence of Hercule Poirot the character and I enjoyed him.  I just thought the build-up of the story and characters took a lot longer than I am used to in an Agatha Christie novel.  I also didn’t really like Catchpool too much.  He seemed rather clueless for a Scotland Yard Inspector.  The ending seemed like an Agatha Christie novel, and I enjoyed it.  It was a good cozy mystery for the Christmas season.

This will probably be my December pick for #ReadChristie2023 as I’m not sure I’ll get to a book featuring strangulation before the end of the year.

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!