Title: After the Funeral
By: Agatha Christie
Pages: 287
Publication Date: March 1953
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 5/5
Hercule Poirot is called on to investigate the murder of a brother and sister in this classic from the Queen of Mystery.
When Cora Lansquenet is savagely murdered, the odd remark she made the day before at her brother’s funeral becomes chillingly important: “It’s been hushed up very nicely, hasn’t it. . . . But he was murdered, wasn’t he?”
Desperate to learn more about both deaths, the family solicitor turns to detective extraordinaire Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery. . . .
This was such an engrossing family saga mystery that was so well done. It’s Agatha Christie so of course it was so good, but I really loved how well put together this mystery was. The book starts off at a funeral of the richest member of the family and his brother, sister, cousins and I think a niece are all in attendance. From there the story really takes off and kept me guessing the whole time who the killer was. Everyone is a suspect and all have motive to kill.
A lot of the book is told through other people other than Hercule Poirot so I felt more connected to the characters and I enjoyed how shady all of them were. The characters all felt so real to me and even though this book was set like a hundred years ago I was able to visualize the story so well. One of my favorite parts of the story was reading (“watching”) Poirot unravel the mystery. All these little clues, some I picked up on and some I completely missed, are all put so masterfully into the story by Christie.
I have only read two Hercule Poirot novels so I obviously have my work cut out for me in reading them all but that is definitely a life goal of mine. Well, to read all of Agatha Christie’s novels would be the ultimate goal. I have been reading more thriller books lately but my first love is a really good mystery. Also, if you are a fan of Agatha Christie and/or Hercule Poirot then I highly recommend Sue Grafton’s alphabet series. Sadly, she passed away last December and the series ends off at Y but the 25 books in the series are my absolute favorite mystery series. I will reread those books for the rest of my life and Kinsey Millhone (and Sue Grafton) forever lives in my heart.
~Cassie
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