Curtain: Poirot's Last Case: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition (Hercule Poirot Mysteries, 37)

Love her books

So sad to read Periot is aging. The perpetrator was hidden well. The plot was spectacular. Great story to the end.

Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings began their first renowned case together with  The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot Mysteries (Audio)) . And in their concluding encounter, Poirot's last case, the pair completes the circle, again teaming up at Styles Court (which is under new ownership) to ferret out a murderer.The old mansion of Styles is now a renovated boarding house run by an elderly couple and Poirot calls upon his life-long friend and Man Friday, Captain Hastings, to abet him in his final and most compelling case. Hasting's modernistic and independent daughter is also on the premises and the Captain's unwelcome exertions in attempting to sort out her future provides an appetizing sub-plot.One of the numerous residents of Styles is a serial killer and the motive for this murderer's heinous crimes remains unclear for a time. The solution to this one is a real zinger and Christie fans will certainly not be let down.This is a "Golden Age" classic British mystery in every sense, even though the book was published in 1975. The fact is that, doubting her own survival in the face of the endless World War Two conflagrations, Christie wrote this fine whodunnit in the early 1940s! The Poirot mystery which Christie last wrote (1972) was  Elephants Can Remember (Hercule Poirot) , and her final work (which featured Tommy and Tuppence Beresford) was  Postern of Fate , published in 1973. Agatha Christie died in 1976.Hugh Fraser reads this story from the first-person perspective of Captain Hastings. His reading and rhythm are just top-notch, as it is with all the Christie works which he has taken on. Prospective buyers should be aware that this title is also available with an alternative reader:  Curtain: Complete & Unabridged: Poirot's Last Case . This edition is read by John Moffatt, another master of the art. Which one is best? I cannot say for anyone else but I prefer Fraser on this particular work but most folks will be pleased with either one.I really like the packaging on my Harpercollins audiobook, which is notably different than the one pictured. My CDs are securely housed in a clear, heavy plastic, music-type container and all five CDs are "stacked" inside, a method which I find preferable to the typical cardboard "slip cases" where each CD slides into a slot. If this is an issue, you might contact the seller in advance to see which packaging format s/he is offering. In any event, the total time for this unabridged audiobook is six hours and what a superb listening experience it is!There is little else to say except to reiterate that this is a terrific Hercule Poirot mystery that all Christie fans will want to hear time and again.

Well !? I was miffed to have missed the David Suchet television representation of Poirot's last ever mystery, so I decided that i HAD to read the book - based on the buzz that had been created by the media surrounding the storyline.I shall not spoil the plot and reveal all - that would be so unsportsmanlike (other contributors should take note!) - so I shall just say that as an Agatha Christie fan I was kind of putting off reading this, almost like saving the best for last, but also knowing that it would be 'strange' to go back to other Poirot novels knowing what happens to him in this final story.The story is narrated by Hastings, his ever-faithful friend and co-sort. It was written in a remarkably clever manner, still detailing the usual pithy Christie characterisations and observations of all the people present (the list of suspects). So it was almost like reading any other Agatha Christie - it was an enjoyable read. The only thing that was disappointing was the lack of the man himself 'starring' in this book, as it really would have been a spectacle to have Poirot weave his eccentricities throughout, creating tensions, asking questions, motivating the energy, bringing out sub-plots and then - as always - gathering the crowd of maybe-murderers together at the end to do the 'big reveal'. In this book we find Poirot a very elderly and immobile figure, confined to a wheelchair, bound by his physical ailments and - for the most part in this book - locked away in his room at the hotel only surfacing occasionally to steer Capt Hastings back on track with the investigations.Needless to say, the mystery is solved - it is all justifiable and made sense in the end - and, yes!, Poirot does a type of final performance/reveal at the end which wraps it all up nicely. However, I cannot help but feel that this was written almost in a cold, calculated, way by AC as necessity out of having to detail the end of Poirot, to wrap him up and close that chapter for herself, the publishers and the readers. There did not feel any real act of love for Hercule, which I was quite saddened by.Hastings does somehow manage to carry Curtain though,and is an affable, likeable, diligent character. It is through his emotions, from his perspective, that we view the demise of the Great Belgian Detective. It just would have been nice to have felt it for myself.

The premise of the book is fantastic. My issues lies with the execution and the characters.I didn’t warm up to or bond with any of the characters. I found them all superficial. Poirot was condescending, arrogant, and aloof. Hastings was the only one whose thoughts and feelings were well described.As this was the last book with Poirot, in which he actually dies, I had expected a more well-rounded character portrayal with glimpses of him as a younger detective and maybe a reflection here and there about his life, his train of thought, his regrets, and maybe even some humanity with doubts and wishes for what his life could be like had he not been weakened and in failing health.The plot is convoluted with too many small clues that nobody picks up on. This causes the reader to place their trust completely in Hastings as he is Poirot’s extension. As he tries to figure out X’s identity, he also has to deal with family issues regarding his daughter, who is also at Styles. It muddies the pool.Hasting’s butterfly brain finds no rest in the book, not even at the end. There is no rest at the end for the reader either. For in the end, we only have Poirot’s high-and-mighty word for what really happened.

No la encontré en castellano y la compre en inglés. Tenía un buen recuerdo de cuando la leí en su día, pero la novela no ha resistido bien el paso del tiempo. La trama se ve insulsa y se descubre a mitad de la novela.

Pretty good book. Sums up nicely Poirot's ability to solve a crime.

I loved it indeed. It was the best of the best in my book. Would never had thought who the murderer was of the last victim. Blew me away.

Esplendido broche final para este personaje tan carismático de Agatha Christie, aunque a los amantes de este personaje les puede dejar un mal sabor de boca este fin.

Cualquiera que guste de leer novelas sobre crímenes no debe dejar de leer esta obra maestra. Buena para practicar inglés.