Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are hoping to celebrate the Christmas holiday in London until Edward’s mother makes an unexpected visit. Cynthia Catchpool insists the men accompany her to Norfolk to solve the murder of a well-liked man in HERCULE POIROT’S SILENT NIGHT.
Poirot and Catchpool travel to Frellingsloe House, a crumbling mansion by the sea, where the Laurier family resides. Vivienne Laurier is afraid for her husband, Arnold, who is scheduled to move to St. Walstan’s Cottage Hospital in the New Year. Stanley Niven has just been murdered at the hospital, occurring on the same day the Laurier family was visiting Arnold’s future room. Vivienne is distraught and believes that if Arnold moves to the cottage hospital, he will become the next victim. Poirot soon learns that Stanley Niven was a former postmaster and a well-liked gentleman. Stanley was hit in the head with a vase, and another patient witnessed the attack from his room across the courtyard. Unfortunately, the man can only utter “hurt-his-head” as a clue. As Poirot and Catchpool start their investigation, they reside at Frellingsloe, where the food is inedible, and the Lauriers bicker and argue day and night. Catchpool secretly observes the family as he decorates Christmas trees and Poirot accompanies the local fumbling Inspector Mackle, who has zeroed in on the wrong suspect. As Poirot pieces together the clues, a second murder occurs, and it looks like Poirot and Catchpool are in for a miserable Christmas in Norfolk unless they unveil the killer quickly.
HERCULE POIROT’S SILENT NIGHT is the fifth novel in the New Hercule Poirot Mysteries and Sophia Hannah does an excellent job providing a traditional mystery with eccentric characters who are as quirky as they are intelligent. Catchpool is the perfect sidekick to Hercule Poirot and there are many instances in the mystery where the humor had me laughing out loud. The clues are logical and the crumbling mansion by the sea with the bickering family sets up an intriguing mystery. Poirot deals with many personalities in his straightforward get-to-the-truth manner, and Catchpool learns important clues while conducting passive activities such as tree-trimming. The men combine to make a formidable crime-solving duo, and the ending, where all the suspects are rounded up, and the evidence presented, provides a satisfying conclusion. Overall, this mystery was an absolute pleasure to read and Sophia Hannah expertly captures the essence of Agatha Christie’s Poirot in this spirited holiday mystery.
The world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot—legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile—puts his little grey cells to work solving a baffling Christmas mystery.
It’s December 19, 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are looking forward to a much-needed, restful Christmas holiday, when they are called upon to investigate the murder of a man in a Norfolk hospital ward. Cynthia Catchpool, Edward’s mother, insists that Poirot stay with her in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while he solves the case.
As Poirot digs into the mystery, he discovers that the murdered man was a retired post office master, and by all accounts very well-liked. The local constabulary’s investigation failed to uncover how someone could have entered a hospital room and killed him under the noses of the staff. Cynthia’s friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital, and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why.
With no obvious motive or suspect, Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else—someone utterly ruthless—also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot…
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