Crooked House (Winterbrook Edition) - Books (Agatha Christie, Hardcover)

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Customer Reviews of Crooked House (Winterbrook Edition)

M
London, UK
22nd August 2008

This one was just too easy
Agatha Christie thought this was one of her best and said it had been a pleasure to write.
But for the first time ever, I guessed whodunnit ... and that took the edge off it! It's very readable, all the better for not being familiar from television - but I have a feeling that in our more cynical times the ending is not as shocking/unexpected as it would have been in 1949 when it was written. Still, it passed an afternoon very enjoyably.

SARA

13th November 2007

AGATHAS FAVOURITE
THIS NOVEL WAS ONE OF AGATHA CHRISTIES FAVOURITES.IT DOESNT FEATURE ANY OF THE REGULAR DETECTIVES BUT RATHER A YOUNG MAN NAMED CHARLES WHO NEEDS TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF A MURDER CONCERNING THE DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY OF HIS FIANCEE SOPHIE.THE STUDY OF THE CHARACTERS IS INTERESTING AND THE TWIST IN THE STORY UNEXPECTED.

I AM ME

6th September 2007

WOW!!!
This is an absolutely brilliant book and it is definitely one of her best. Though, this is definitely not her most complicated book, it doesn't matter because it is so good. The murderer will probably be a surprise to you if you haven't read many Christies, but it isn't too hard to guess who did it, if you have read a lot of her books. This is one of those books, that even if you guessed who did it, it doesn't matter, because the family it is based around is filled with characters that are really enjoyable to read about.

The story is about the Leonides family, and they are very close, but when Aristide Leonides ( the leader of the family ) gets murdered, they all begin to drift apart. Sophia Leonides was going to marry a man called Charles but they cancelled the engagement until they figured out who murdered Aristide ( Sophia's grandfather ). The obvious suspects are Brenda ( Aristides wife ), she is over 50 years younger than he is, and she is supposedly having an affair with a man called Laurence ( the other suspect ). Charles' father is put on the case and he allows Charles to help him.

There aren't too many clues in the book, but there are a few, such as, the choice of how to kill mr Leonides ( eserine poisoning ), a supposed secret affair between Laurence and Brenda, the attempt to kill Josephine ( Sophia's younger sister ) and the notes about finding out who the murderer is in her notepad, the second murder, and Aristide Leonides will.

I think that it would be hard not to enjoy this book and that almost anyone would like it, and if you like this one, then I think you should read A Pocket Full Of Rye, because they have some similarities.

Rich Milligan
Thatcham, Berkshire
18th October 2005

Crooked House
Apparently "Crooked House" was one of the few books that Agatha Christie herself was truly satisfied with upon its completion. Certainly it's an entertaining romp around the totally dysfunctional family of Aristide Leonides and there's many an amusing character to enjoy.

Charles Hayward is a young man making his way with a promising career with the foreign office. In a posting to Egypt he meets the beautiful Sophia Leonides and the two fall in love. Charles plans to marry Sophia but the couple decide to give themselves time to see if their feelings for each other are strong enough. After a gap Charles meets Sophia back in London but tragedy has struck the Leonides family as Sophia's grandfather and the family's patriarch Aristide has been found murdered in his house. Sophia feels that until the cloud of suspicion is lifted from the family she cannot marry Charles.

Charles's father is none other than the Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard and along with Chief Inspector Taverner he is sent to the family home in Swinly Dean to see if there are any clues to come to light whilst being "an insider". The family home is a curious building of three separate dwellings comprised into one building, giving it the nick name of "Crooked House". In one part lives Sophia's parents, her remote father Philip, her excitable and effected mother Magda and her sulky brother Eustace and sneaky sister Josephine. Upstairs lives Philip's brother the hearty but incompetent Roger and his wife the cold and calm Clemency.

As far as Sophia's immediate family are concerned the person most likely to have committed the crime is Aristide's second wife Brenda who was 50 years younger than her ex-husband. She is supposedly having an affair with the children's tutor the limp and insipid Lawrence, but to Charles Brenda strikes a very pathetic figure and he suspects the murderer is someone else.

The maze of clues and red herrings is as strong as ever and this book benefits with Charles "the detective" working alongside the police but also having unlimited access to the other family members via his relationship with Sophia. That said Sophia herself is a most unsympathetic and unlikeable character and I guess I won't be the first reader to suspect her of the crimes herself.

flipper
NYC
7th November 2004

a fine mystery, though too easy to solve to be her greatest
I would recommend this book for fellow Agatha Christie fans, if for no other reason then because Dame Agatha herself liked it. I must say, though, that after reading all those enthusiastic reviews, I expected a more complicated puzzle. Instead, the solution turned out a bit too obvious for an experienced mystery buff: All the clues are easy to spot and connect, and not only did I suspect who the murderer was long before I finished the book, but also there were a couple of clues that Lady Agatha dropped closer to the end of the novel that really drove the point home.

My personal favorites include (but are not limitied to) the ABC Murders, and Murder is Easy - but this may be solely due to the fact that they were among the first Christie books I've read. Perhaps I got too skilled for my own good in solving her puzzles after I read more of them.

Nonetheless, it's a fine book for classic mystery lovers.