I’m on a mission to read all the Agatha Christie novels and I finished the 8th Poirot book, 6th novel – Peril At The End House.
What is the book about? Is it any good? All answers are in this spoiler-free book review of Peril At The End House. Let’s get started!
In Peril at the End House, Poirot is on another vacation, with Hastings. There he runs into the charming Ms. Nick Buckley who mentions some curious events that quickly persuade Poirot that somebody is out to kill Ms. Nick Buckley. But the problem is Nick is least bothered with it and doesn’t believe Poirot. Not only Poirot has to find out the killer before the actual murder but he also has to convince this young woman that her life is in danger. That’s what the story is about.
Agatha Christie’s books are great with the plot. She just manages to find curious and amazing ways murders can happen and then builds a nice mystery around it which only Poirot’s little grey cells can crack. This one is slightly different for the murder hasn’t happened yet but there’s still a big mystery behind who could want to kill Nick.
She has friends, a couple of lovers, and some things she doesn’t want to disclose. The plot of the book is actually quite impressive, but I wouldn’t call it Agatha’s best one. Why? Because, I have read books by Agatha Christie that is so amazing that you can’t guess the murderer or what traps she’s laying to confuse you as a reader until the very end, but this one… even though the whole mystery and plot is quite genius, it’s not as smoothly put as her other works.
This book has references to several of her books like Mysterious Affair at Styles, Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and The Mystery of The Blue Train, all of which I have reviewed on this channel. I’ll link those reviews down below in the description.
There are multiple characters in the books – Nick’s friend’s, her possible love interests, cousins, house help, and some tenants who are living in her property – End House. All of these are suspects like any other Agatha Christie, all of these may have some kind of motive and yet, all of these seem very innocent. Who’s trying to kill her then or is Poirot wrong this time?
The writing is as usual as Agatha Christie’s. I often discuss how as her novels are now classics, the writing may seem a bit weird for the beginners but once you read a couple of her books, you’ll realize how she chooses the easiest words and sentences to weave a fairly complicated and cozy mystery.
Overall, Peril At The End House is a good enough weekend read. Is it her best work? Definitely not. Is it in the top 5 of her works? Nope. But is it still good? Yes, it is. I wish the traps she lay weren’t that obvious. I wish I couldn’t just see what she was doing and where the story was going in about the middle of the book. I wish I felt better about this book but I don’t. I gave it 4/5 stars. It’s still a decent read if not a fantastic one!
Also Read: Book Review: Black Coffee
More About Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is the world’s best-selling novelist, having sold more than 2 billion copies of her books in 44 languages. She is known to many as the world’s greatest mystery writer.
Her stories, whodunits, have been adapted to plays, films, and television. Her stage play “The Mousetrap” holds the record as the longest-running show of any kind, ever.
Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was born in Torquay, Devon on September 15th, 1890.
She is the daughter of Clara Boehmer and Frederick Alvah Miller. Her father was an American export businessman. Her mother was the daughter of an English vicar, who had moved to India, where her father worked in the Indian Civil Service.
Agatha christie was a clever child and won a scholarship to the Girls’ Public Day School. She stayed there for two years before moving on to the Girls’ Higher Grade School, where she was again a bright pupil.
When Agatha Christie was twelve years old her father died of a heart attack. Agatha christie was sent to live with her grandmother, Elizabeth Miller, in Ashfield, Torquay. It is believed Agatha’s father died from alcoholism. Agatha christie was very close to her mother but was never very close to her father and always resented him for his drinking habits.
Agatha Christie started working when she was 15 years old. Her first job was looking after children; she got paid £2 a month. Once she had finished her schooling, Agatha christie started working as a nanny for another family in Torquay. This job paid £5 a month. Agatha christie was not happy with this job and so returned to working as a children’s nanny for a different family in London. After a year in this job, Agatha christie trained as a nurse. She was working at a hospital when World War One broke out, she then joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.) of the Red Cross and was sent to Torquay Hospital, serving as a nurse.
In 1916, Agatha christie joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and was sent to the dispensary where she worked as a nurse and pharmacist. After the war, Agatha christie returned to Torquay and started working as a dispenser at the local hospital.
During her time there, Agatha christie had two short stories published by the “Hutchinson” magazine.
Agatha Christie’s Writing Career
Agatha christie left her job as a dispenser in 1922. She was working on her first novel. She wrote the novel at home, usually after finishing all of her housework and cooking for the day. Agatha Christie’s mother died the same year she left Torquay Hospital Dispensary. Agatha Christie never spoke about her mother’s death to anyone, but her later novels show that she had a lot of feelings for her mother. Her first novel did not have much success at first, but her talent started to be noticed by publishers when she finally got a publisher for her second novel “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” in 1920.
Agatha Christie wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly the Hercule Poirot mysteries. Her other novels are “The Secret Adversary” (1922), “Murder on the Links” (1923), “The Man in the Brown Suit” (1924), “The Secret of Chimneys” (1925), “The Big Four” (1927), “Peril at End House” (1932), “The Hound of Death” (1933), “Murder in Mesopotamia” (1936), and “Death on the Nile” (1937). Agatha christie also wrote romantic novels under the pseudonyms of Mary Westmacott and Anthony Powell.
Agatha Christie is a well-known writer and she wrote many novels. She has inspired other authors to write great works as well. Her success shows that a writer can become great, even with all the hardships she has to face. Find out more about her on the website – AgathaChristie.com.
