Peril At End House by Agatha Christie

 

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 22nd March 2018 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

Nick Buckley was an unusual name for a pretty young woman. But then she had led an unusual life. First, on a treacherous Cornish hillside, the brakes on her car failed. Then, on a coastal path, a falling boulder missed her by inches. Later, an oil painting fell and almost crushed her in bed.

Upon discovering a bullet-hole in Nick’s sun hat, Hercule Poirot decides the girl needs his protection. 

At the same time, he begins to unravel the mystery of a murder that hasn’t been committed. Yet...

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Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are holidaying at the Majestic Hotel, in the picturesque Cornish seaside town of St Loo, where they meet an attractive young woman called Magdala 'Nick' Buckley. When Nick tells Poirot of a series of curious accidents that have befallen her, he is suspicious that someone means her harm.

In short order, Poirot and Hastings involve themselves in Nick's set at nearby End House, which is rapidly going to rack and ruin, to cast their eye on her friends and relations. Poirot cannot easily see why anyone would have a motive to kill Nick, but he is convinced she is in danger - and when someone close to her is murdered in what appears to be a case of mistaken identity, he knows he is on to something. Can he find the murderer before their plan succeeds?

Peril at End House is one of those murky Christie mysteries which finds Poirot dabbling in solving a crime that no one seems to believe likely, even though he maintains he is now retired. Of course, Poirot's senses are correct and he soon discovers that there is a dastardly mind at work behind the scenes, but who can it be and what can they hope to gain? 

Nick's ne'er do well friends are a suspicious bunch; her rather stiff, lawyer cousin seems a bit off; and there is something decidedly dodgy about the 'Australian' neighbours living in the lodge house. Poirot gradually uncovers their little secrets with the help of stalwart Hastings' incorrect assumptions, and a guest appearance from Inspector Japp... but the truth behind who is the villain of the piece evades him for quite a long time in this mystery. The light eventually dawns once he unscrambles the odd goings on around the love life of a missing pilot, an unexpected legacy, and shenanigans in connection with duplicate boxes of chocolates - and in a delicious bit of manipulating the suspects for his own ends, he traps the guilty party with an impromptu seance starring the very bemused Captain Hastings. 

Christie explores some lovely themes in this book, highlighting addiction and the media storm around pioneers of the golden age of flight, but it is her talent for examining the darker side of human emotion that shines out - cold-hearted greed and red-hot jealousy rub nicely up against each other, fuelling deception on a grand scale, and Poirot is pitted against a foe that he really does not see coming. It is one of the Poirot books that is absolute gold when it comes dear old, upright Captain Hastings too!

As usual I alternated between the text and the audio book, which is beautifully narrated by Hugh Fraser, which is especially fitting given the big part Captain Hastings plays in the proceedings. 

Peril at End House is my November pick for #ReadChristie2023 exploring greed as a motive for murder.

Peril at End House is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.