Agatha Christie "A Dead Man's Folly" (Clara Z)

“A Dead Man’s Folly” (Clara Z)

.

Published in 1956, “A Dead Man’s Folly” is a captivating fictive murder mystery. It was written by the well-known crime author, Agatha Christie. This novel has been adapted into a film twice: in 1986 and in 2013.   

   

 Hercule Poirot , a Belgian detective, is summoned to Nasse House by his friend, and crime writer, Adriane Oliver. She is organizing a fake murder hunt for Mr. and Mrs. Stubbs’s guests at the summer fête. At the last minute, Mrs. Oliver senses something sinister is going to happen and calls upon Poirot to find out what is happening before it is too late. The next day, a teenage girl is found dead during the fake murder hunt, which was scripted by Mrs. Oliver. It is now up to Poirot to lead the investigation. Beware, no one is who they seem. 

 

“A Dead Man’s Folly” is an exciting and suspenseful novel that will leave you hanging until the very last page. I personally really enjoyed the book; however, I still found it confusing at some points.

    I thought “A Dead Man’s Folly” was captivating and relatively easy to read. What I especially enjoyed was the setting and its description. The description of Nasse House and its surroundings is vivid and each character is thoroughly presented to us. Also, I thought the denouement was unexpected but well thought out, and logical. However, it took too long to be presented and was explained too quickly. I also thought there were too many characters and events going on at the same time, which was quite confusing. On top of that,  I was a little disappointed that Christie didn’t explain most of the book's red herrings. Overall, I really enjoyed the book though I was a little disappointed in the end.

 

To conclude, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a well-written and entertaining crime novel. If you are sensitive to blood and description of murder scenes, no need to worry, this book does not contain any disturbing scenes. A piece of advice: make yourself a little character sheet while reading to make the book less confusing. 

 Enjoy, and don’t forget: the murderer is never far away…