The mongram murders – Sophie Hannah

Book Summary
A new Hercule Poirot authorised by the family of Agatha Christie.
Poirot plunges into a mystery set in 1920s London, a diabolically clever puzzle that can only be solved by the talented Belgian detective and his little grey cells. Hercule Poirot’s quiet supper in a London coffee house is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified, but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim.

Comments
Our group struggled with this book.  The majority of our readers found this a very difficult read, with many not able to finish the book.  Those who had read Agatha Christie before, and in particular, Hercule Poirot were disappointed.

Poirot was patronising and condescending towards his fellow detective, Catchpool.  And Catchpool bordered on incompetent.  We felt as though they had underestimated the intelligence of the reader with the plot of the story getting lost in all the theories and detours.  That, instead of throwing us off course, only seemed to frustrate them more.  Many of us felt we knew “who did it” long before the story ended, causing the story to drag a little towards the end

Rating – 5/10
Read by – Cultcha Club Book Club