MYSTERY MONDAYS REVIEW: Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

Well, I haven't seen anyone else devote Mondays to mysteries, but I also haven't been around long enough to have crossed paths will all the book blogs out there. At any rate, I'm choosing to start "Mystery Mondays" on my blog, and I'm kicking it off with a book review. Some Mondays I might ask questions and generate discussion or run a contest--I'm going to see where this takes me.

I don't know about y'all (showing my Southern origins there), but I LOVE to read mysteries. I have to confess that I've only just recently gotten better at figuring out "whodunnit," though. One of my favorite mystery authors is Agatha Christie. It had been YEARS since I picked up one of her books, but recently I've started collecting the hardcover reprints like the one pictured below--B&N almost always has some that are bargain-priced. Anyway, my favorite of Christie's detectives is Hercule Poirot, who we'll see in this book. So without further ado, here's my review!

Series: Hercule Poirot #21
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Pub Date: 2007 (Reprint), Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
Format: Hardcover, 271 pages
Source/FTC Disclosure: I purchased my copy of this book. I was in no way compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.

Beautiful, young Elinor Carlisle stands serenely in the dock accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard, her rival in love. The evidence is damning: only Elinor had the motive, the opportunity and the means to administer the fatal poison. Yet, inside the hostile courtroom, one man still presumes Elinor is innocent until proven guilty; Hercule Poirot is all that stands between Elinor and the gallows....

MY THOUGHTS

I enjoyed this mystery--for me, Agatha Christie is an easier read, but also enjoyable because of her portrayal of her characters, and most particularly her detectives. She also has a tendency to be very subtle when leaving her clues. I often find myself pausing over the most trivial bits of information, wondering if there's more to them than the first glance would suggest. And then you have the famous Hercule Poirot, of the egg-shaped head and abundant "little gray cells," who is always an amusing character. In this story, the evidence is so stacked against Elinor, that you really wonder how in the world Poirot will find anything that suggests she might indeed be innocent. Christie has a knack of making you feel that way in most of her mysteries--all the evidence will point towards one person and then before you know it Hercule Poirot discovers the truth! This was one of those mysteries where I actually did figure out who it was, but even then Christie manages to throw in a twist to the story.

If you're looking for a relatively quick read and an engaging mystery, this is a good one to pick up!