Sad Cypress

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Mystery / Christie, Agatha	4-week checkout	Due 05-17-2024

An anonymous warning that their elderly aunt may cut them off sends Elinor and Roddy on a visit with deadly consequences. Elinor finds herself charged with murder and Hercule Poirot is hired to uncover the truth.

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Poirot in the Courtroom submitted by Meginator on August 1, 2022, 3:11pm Content Note: This book includes a couple of potentially antisemitic comments that have no bearing on the plot.

This novel is unusual within the Poirot series for its extensive look at the courtroom proceedings against the presumed murderer and the prologue, which establishes tension by implying to the reader that wrong person may be on trial for the as-yet-unseen crime at the center of the story. Indeed, Poirot is hired not to find the true killer but instead to prove a suspect’s innocence (if possible), and much of the book’s suspense comes from the fact that readers see all of the events surrounding the crime and are likely to draw the same conclusion as the prosecution and almost all of the other characters. The first half of the book shows the build-up to the central murder and even readers who know that the author operates on misdirection may find it difficult to pull apart all of the threads. Many of the pieces come together before Poirot makes everything plain, but the entire shape of the story remains a mystery until the very end, with everything fitting together just so for a satisfying and complex resolution. This particular Poirot adventure may not be especially memorable, but its variant structure keeps the series fresh after over twenty installments.

Guilty submitted by kathscot on August 4, 2023, 8:01am Elinor had motive opportunity and means. Instead of too many suspects there are too few. Interesting characters as always with Christie.