Death In The Clouds
Ratings79
Average rating3.9
It had been far too long, so I had to throw in another Hercule Poirot. This is number 12 in the series.
This mystery starts with a murder on an airplane. An old money lender is seemingly struck with a poison dart and dies instantaneously, not being discovered until the end of the flight. M. Poirot, who does not do well in planes, was trying to sleep through the indigestion.
This wasn't my favorite, I'll be honest. It technically happens on a flight from France to England, and yet the people involved keep running into each other even though some of them aren't even from the same country? It just seemed to fit together too neatly for me. After the inquest they were all allowed to go wherever they pleased and yet it kept happening?
Poirot is up to his usual antics, which is of course why I read these, but it did feel like she simply made up the ending. The clues and hints were simply not there for me. I like being surprised, and I like twists, but I do prefer when the information presented at least COULD point to what is true. And I felt as if it didn't. For me that's mostly what was lacking.
Personally still a 3/5* for me. I look forward to number 13, as it's the ABC Murders...
variation of the themes. No-one sees the servants. Girls fall in love with murderers. Hercule Poirot is everyone's grandpa. I don't care about the one killed.
Bravo Mrs. Christie, kept me guessing right till the end. A delightful array of red herrings, as to be expected, and plenty of secrets to be exposed. A zippy little tale with Monsieur Poirot stuck right in the middle - can he prove his innocence and catch the killer? Well, what do you think...
Hercule Poirot is always such a comfort read, especially due to Christies superb writing style. I always find my mind wandering to London or another (mostly british) town when reading one of her novels.
So I was pretty sure I figured out the murderer early on. And then I realized I had fallen into Dame Agatha's trap because I was completely wrong.The murder takes place on a plane. We're given the seating arrangements of the passengers in the cabin in a nice diagram. However, unlike the seemingly similar [b:Murder on the Orient Express 16364 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1248645147s/16364.jpg 2285570], the passengers disembark and are questioned later. I preferred the train mystery more since part of it's charm was taking place entirely on a train. The plane ride had some historical relevance since I've never flown on a plane in the '30s, and it's a lot different than the flights I go on. Let's just say this murder wouldn't have happened with the current TSA regulations.The reasons behind and the method of the murder are a bit far-fetched, especially compared to other Christie books. This mystery had a lot of layers to try to figure out, and that's where I was tricked myself. Also, despite the murder being very very intricate, nothing actually went wrong except that Poirot did notice something odd. That's about all I can say about the plot without spoilers. Not my favorite Christie book, but it was worth the read.