Taken at the flood by Agatha Christie

"Taken at the flood", a murder mystery by Agatha Christie. A classic whodunit. This is a Hercule Poirot mystery.

Gordon Clod, a rich man supports families of all his brother, sisters and cousins. He marries a young widow (Rosylene) while travelling from South America to England thereby automatically nullifying his previous will, that benifited his relatives. He dies in bombing (war) before making new will, so all money goes to his new wife.

A person appears claiming that 1st husband of  Rosylene is alive. He is murdered. Another person commits suicide. Hercule Poirot thinks that everything is wrong in this case. Then Rosylene is found dead. Is it murder or suicide? Whats wrong? Who has been murdered? Whodunit? Can Poirot find the murderer? There are a number of relatives, 2nd wife, her brother but nobody seems to have motive for all the deaths.

The clues were there scattered all over the book. I even found one clue but could not make the link. I thought, I was able to recognize the culprit (though using different logic than Hercule) untill the last chapter but there is a big twist in the last chapter and Agatha defeats the readers once again.

As always this is a meticulously written book with a lot of details. You need time and patience to read Agatha Christie mystries.

A good mystery. Read if you like Agatha.

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

"Towards Zero", a murder mystery by Agatha Christie. 

This is one of the rare Agatha Christi novels where neither Hercule Poirot nor Miss Marple appear. The detective is Superintendent Battle.

A man visiting a widow at her estate dies and the widow is murdered. A number of guests, relatives and accomplices are in the house and everyone seems to be a murderer. Story goes through ups and downs, twists and turns and reaches climax to reveal the killer.

As typical of Agatha, a number of small clues scattered around the book like bread crumbs converge in the climax. A classic whodunit.

This story has a lot of characters; as is usual for Agatha novels. You have to concentrate hard in the beginning till all the characters are introduced and their relations to others are established.

Although the name has modest relevance to story, it has all the characteristics of usual Agatha mystery and keeps you interested till the end.

Although '10 little Indians' or 'Murder on orient express' are better, recommend reading this one.

The man in the brown suit by Agatha Christie

"The man in the brown suit", by Agatha Christie.

Anne Beddingfeld, a beautiful young lady, is orphaned and comes to London to look for a job. She sees a frightened man die accidentally by stepping on railway track. A man in brown suit approaches him, posing as doctor, and declares him dead. He also removes an important document from his pocket.

Anne decides to find out the truth. She also finds that a women is murdered. To solve the mystery she decides to take a voyage on a ship to South Africa, spending all her savings. There she meets a number of people but does not know their intentions.

Can she find the murderer? Can she find the man in the brown suit? Are they one and the same? What is the mystery?

The story is slow. Characters appear to be shallow. The novel does not end, for a long time, even after mystery is revealed.

Unlike other Agatha novels, this novel is drab. Agatha Christie hallmarks are missing and suspense is not enticing.

Give a miss to this one.