The Monogram Murders in the latest of Agatha Christie’s Poirot stories. It is written by Sophie Hannah, an acclaimed crime author and poet, and follows Hercule Poirot and his lodging partner policeman Edward Catchpool. At the start of the book, an anxious woman called Jenny confides in Poirot that she fears that she is going to be murdered but that she does not want her killer to be caught. Meanwhile, Catchpool is on a case where three seemingly unrelated people are murdered at the expensive Bloxham Hotel. All the bodies are laid out in a perfect straight line and each have a cufflink in their mouths with the initials ‘PIJ’. Although Catchpool dismisses the idea, Poirot tries to find out how the murders and Jenny are linked and discovers a devious plot.
The Monogram Murders is full of twists and turns and unpredictable scenes. The book is mainly set in 1929’s London at the Bloxham Hotel although Catchpool has to visit the small country village of Great Holling where it is discovered that all three murder victims originated from. Both of these settings are described spectacularly by Sophie Hannah, as are the people who live there. Poirot is described as a quick-thinking, slightly OCD character who needs everything to be perfect. Catchpool, on the other hand, does not think about things as much as Poirot and eventually realised that Poirot was in charge of his case, not Catchpool.
I thoroughly enjoyed all twenty-five chapters of The Monogram Murders and thought Sophie Hannah used Agatha Christie’s original character well. I thought, however, she could’ve included some reocurring characters in the original novels such as Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp. I still think, though, that The Monogram Murders was a brilliant book and well worth reading for both avid Agatha Christie fans and people just looking for a good read. This is a great murder-mystery which I would personally recommend. For anyone interested in learning a bit more, you can visit the official website for the book and watch some scenes from the story. Out of ten I would give this eight, just because two of the most famous characters in Poirot do not feature in this book.
8/10.
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The Story Critic 