A Masterpiece among Christie's Best
Rating:
5 / 5
I have listened to these BBC radio adaptations many times over the last 15 years and am always entertained by the quality of the stories, the actors, and the plots. "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is simply a brilliant mystery, one of Agatha's best, with a dozen legitimate suspects and a most ironic ending. This mystery takes place in a village Hercule had retired to to raise "vegetables" and was having a devil of a time at it. But, murder followed Poirot to the country and he did his best to confound the police, the suspects, and even the murderer. "Murder on the Links" is also a wonderful mystery with several suspects and two corpses not one. By the time Poirot and Hastings travel to France in response to a summons from a rich man who was concerned about his safety, the man has been brutally murdered. Captain "Arthur" Hastings plays an active role in this mystery, falling for one of the suspects in a big way. The John Moffatt's portrayal of Hercule Poirot, the Belgian wonder, is always classic and is so in both of these stories. I stongly recommend these BBC radio shows to all Agatha Christie fans, especially those that enjoy Hercule Poirot.
The Little Round Man with the Little Grey Cells
Rating:
5 / 5
Hercule Poirot was a short, fat, dapper detective who solved his cases by exercising his "little grey cells". "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was Christie's fourth Poirot novel, while "Murder on the Links" was her second. In both Christie adopts the motif of narrating the story from the point of view of someone who undertakes to assist Poirot in the solution of the mystery. Christie introduces the cast of suspects, gives each of them a dark secret and a motive to lie, and piles up the circumstances in such a way that the flying fickle finger of suspicion points to every one of them at some time or another. She compounds the confusion by supplying false leads and deliberatly glossing over hot clues. In each case Poirot holds his cards close to his vest, tantalizes the reader/listener with cryptic comments, and finds the most inconsequential-appearing facts to be highly significant. Eventually Poirot airs everyone's dirty laundry, explains his chain of deductive reasoning, reconstructs the crime in all its improbable complexity, and gets a confession. The stories are less mysteries than they are sliding block puzzles. Though extremely short on realism, they are long on entertainment value. Although the BBC radio play had excellent production values, audio cassette may not be the best way to enjoy a Poirot mystery. I listen to radio plays as I drive on business, and I find the Poirot plays hard to follow because of the large cast of characters and the complexities of plotting. Poirot could probably be enjoyed more readily in print. You could then read, re-read, take time out to mull over the complexities, and follow the story much better. Probably the best way to enjoy Poirot would be to read the story first, and then listen to the radio play.
The masterpieces among all her books!
Rating:
5 / 5
The mystery is beyond our imagination. The background and characters truly victorian, and above all the narrative very gripping! Oh! I am re-reading and every time I enjoy even though I know the mystery! Once again, Poirot at his best with his passion for order and method.
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