Agatha Christie
Audio CD | Pages: 244 pages Rating: 3.84 | 18267 Users | 861 Reviews
Declare Of Books Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #30)
| Title | : | Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #30) |
| Author | : | Agatha Christie |
| Book Format | : | Audio CD |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 244 pages |
| Published | : | April 12th 2007 by AudioGO (first published 1951) |
| Categories | : | Mystery. Fiction. Crime. Detective |
Explanation Toward Books Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #30)
Alas, Mrs. McGinty; we hardly knew you. Really. I mean that. She was a widow, a woman who cleaned houses and took in lodgers to make ends meet; had a niece whom she saw at holidays, and was perhaps a bit of a nosy parker; nothing extraordinary to fill the obituary. When Inspector Spence visits the retired Poirot, he shares his troubling concern that the man he arrested for murdering Mrs. McGinty, and who is now facing the death penalty, is not truly guilty. Yes, yes; the circumstantial evidence was damning, but James Bentley’s milquetoast personality seems so wrong for the deed. Could dear Poirot perhaps put his little grey cells to work? But the clues won’t be found in McGinty’s past; as Hercule Poirot points out “For, you see, Mon cher Spence, if Mrs. McGinty is just an ordinary charwoman–it is the murderer who must be extraordinary.” It is true; the murderer is a bit extraordinary. The plotting has an interesting premise, albeit perhaps hard to understand in the modern age. A second murder (because there always is one, isn’t there?) was unsurprising. Overall, the book reminded me more than a bit of A Murder Is Announced, so perhaps take a break between if you are on a Christie binge, or perhaps visit one of her more exotic locales in between. For once, Christie leads with Hercule instead of consulting him later, providing an enjoyable stroll down nostalgia lane. Poirot laments the loss of Hastings as a sounding board and audience, but since Poirot’s investigative strategy is to stir up the village, he ends up ‘confiding’ in a number of people. We are treated to Christie’s standard cast of the post-war English village: a penniless but connected couple with a shabby family manse, a overly dramatic woman who enjoys her own tales of woe, the dutiful but repressed daughter, a bold young woman emblematic of the new age, an insecure, unsmart woman attempting to climb the social ladder, a postmistress with a penchant for gossip. All standard in many Christies, along with the semi-invalid elderly woman and her playwright son, echoes of Marple’s nephew Raymond. “Mrs. Sweetiman imparted all this information with relish. She prided herself on being well informed. Mrs. Weatherby whose desire for knitting needles had perhaps been prompted by a desire to know what was going on, paid for her purchase.“ Tone seems on the playful side, which self-referential remarks on writing, appreciation and performance. When Mrs. Oliver and her apples make an appearance, it becomes quite clear that Christie is taking an authorial aside to muse on readers who obstinately prefer troublesome characters and playwrights who take license with an author’s characters. “‘How do I know?’ said Mrs. Oliver crossly. ‘How do I know why I ever thought of the revolting man? I must have been mad!… Why all the idiotic mannerisms he’s got? These things just happen. You try something–and people seem to like it–and then you go on–and before you know where you are, you’ve got someone like that maddening Sven Hjerson tied to you for life.” Poor Dame Christie. She seems to have had at least a gastronomic sort of revenge on Poirot at least, by boarding him at the worst guest-house possible: "I thought I would open a bottle of those raspberries I put up last summer. They seem to have a bit of mould on top but they say nowadays that that doesn't matter... --practically penicillin." If it is any post-humous consolation, in my old age, I prefer Miss Marple to the conceited Poirot, but I enjoy them both. Mrs. McGinty's Dead is one worth adding to the library. Three and a half self-referential stars.Details Books In Favor Of Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #30)
| Original Title: | Mrs. McGinty's Dead |
| ISBN: | 1572707313 (ISBN13: 9781572707313) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Hercule Poirot Mysteries #30, Ariadne Oliver #3 |
| Characters: | Ariadne Oliver, Hercule Poirot |
Rating Of Books Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #30)
Ratings: 3.84 From 18267 Users | 861 ReviewsAppraise Of Books Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #30)
Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot #30), Agatha ChristieMrs. McGinty's Dead is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1952 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 3 March the same year. An old woman apparently struck dead by her lodger for thirty pounds that she kept under a floorboard. When, however, he is asked by the investigating officer to take another look at the case to stop an innocent man going to the gallows,"Mrs. McGinty's dead. How did she die?Sticking her neck out, just like I."Dame Agatha's penchant to use children's rhymes as an underlying theme for mysteries, enhancing the creepy aspect of many of them, coming to the fore once again. (Really, I hope someone would do a monograph on this quirky aspect of her novels one day.)Mrs. McGinty was a charwoman - at the beginning of the story, she is dead, bludgeoned to death apparently by her lodger who has been convicted of the crime. But
This was only my second time reading this book - the first time I read it, I remember being extremely underwhelmed. Like other Christie's, this one improved the second time I read it. This makes me wonder if rereading Passenger to Frankfurt will somehow turn it into The ABC Murders (kidding, kidding). I attribute this to the fact that I'm less concerned with Christie's high-wire mystery act, and rather I allow myself to be absorbed into her world.Mrs. McGinty's dead has several wonderful side
Alas, Mrs. McGinty; we hardly knew you.Really. I mean that. She was a widow, a woman who cleaned houses and took in lodgers to make ends meet; had a niece whom she saw at holidays, and was perhaps a bit of a nosy parker; nothing extraordinary to fill the obituary. When Inspector Spence visits the retired Poirot, he shares his troubling concern that the man he arrested for murdering Mrs. McGinty, and who is now facing the death penalty, is not truly guilty. Yes, yes; the circumstantial evidence
Mind-blowing.
I read this book in my mother language (Portuguese). I was loving the story but for me the ending was unconvincing and implausible.
Mrs. McGinty's dead. How did she die?Sticking her neck out, just like I." Had Mrs. McGinty a drab life? (Poirot)Ghastly, I expect, said Mrs. Summerhayes vaguely. Always on your knees scrubbing. And then piles of other peoples washing-up waiting for you on the sink when you arrive in the morning. If I had to face that every day, Id be positively relieved to be murdered. I really would.After 2-3 books of literary pretension (Hercules Poirot as Hercules, on a quest for detective greatness!),
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