All of Agatha: Sad Cypress [1940]

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

So we are squarely in the pre-war year of 1940 now with Sad Cypress. I didn't plan on reading any Agatha this month, but my library had a Large Print version and I did A LOT of sitting and waiting in the car this month (mostly at soccer practices) so I had time to finish it.

I had no memory of reading this ever before. It's a decent story, but not one I'll read again.

It's an Hercule Poirot but he doesn't appear until the second half.

The novel is written in three parts: in the first place an account, largely from the perspective of Elinor Carlisle of the death of her aunt, Laura Welman, and the subsequent death of Mary Gerrard; secondly Poirot's account of his investigation in conversation with Dr Lord; and, thirdly, a sequence in court, again mainly from Elinor's dazed perspective.

So we have the old rich aunt dying and then the young companion dying and then a court case. Because I've read so much of Agatha Christie now, you could kind of piece together what's going to happen and who did it from previous short stories and novels. The elements are there, just sort of rearranged.

Next up: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe which is another Hercule Poirot but my library doesn't have a copy so I am forced to read it online, which will be slow going.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I've just listened to a BBC Sounds version of this one. An okay story, but not the best.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, that was my assessment, too.

[kingstoken]

I remember enjoying Sad Cyprus mostly, but I was put off by the ending where the woman goes back to the guy she had basically dumped and was like "oh, I want you now, because you were all mean and violent that one time" and was all like "!???!", anyways that always left a bad taste in my mouth.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, unfortunately Agatha Christie often has the heroine see what we would call 'serious red flags' as something attractive. It can be rather off-putting. What she thinks of as compatibility, well, probably has a clinical pathological name in our books...