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Jun 09, 2015writermike rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
In the forward to her 1949 stand-alone mystery “Crooked House,” Agatha Christie calls it one of her “special favourites,” and writes in her autobiography that it is one of the two that “satisfy me best.” This is interesting because the novel does not feature Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, or any of her other series detectives. In fact, the classic detective is largely absent from this mystery, as the reader is left along with narrator Charles Hayward to try to solve this exceptionally cunning mystery. Christie is always scrupulously fair about the mystery, and lays a trail of clues for those who have the eyes to see. The climax to “Crooked House” features a classic Christie turnabout of the “I-never-saw-this-coming” variety. And you’re led to believe that in fact no one has “solved” the crime at all…until you read the last sentence of the novel. You can see why this was one of her favourites.