Five Little Pigs A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie

Sixteen years after Caroline Crale has been convicted of the murder of her husband, Amyas Crale, her daughter, Carla Lemarchant, approaches Poirot to investigate the case. Poirot embarks optimistically upon an unprecedented challenge, but soon fears that the case may be as cut and dried as it had first appeared.

When both All About Agatha and Shedunnit rank this Christie so highly, you have to finally read it. It definitely lived up to the praise. It's really tightly done, nothing is wasted. I loved that the crime was so long in the past. Poirot was so good here, doing what he does best. The ending was a bit underwhelming, but that's it.

Peppathon 2021: popular book, backlist, & fast-paced

This was okay and I definitely want to read more from Agatha Christie but I really did get bored at times and felt like it dragged on too long for what the book is. Considering this book is short as it is, that really isn't a positive.

Trigger warnings: racism, death, infidelity, murder, and suicidal thoughts

Frankly, I don't care what people say about Agatha Christie's writing. It works for me. :-D

I find it interesting that this is what she created from
“This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none,
And this little piggy cried “wee wee wee” all the way home.”
:-D

I also find it fascinating with all the cultural references in this book.

I like Caroline and Angela. I suppose Angela inspired the character of Delia Westholme in the Poirot tv series Appointment with Death. (The “real” lady Westholme wasn't an adventurous archaeologist :-D)

I dislike the Artists who think it's their prerogative to be a-holes, egotistical, temperamental, abusive, often unreliable and unfaithful. Passionate but heartless. I'm an artist, and I might be all this, but it's not something I take as a privilege and “expression of my artistic nature”, but as a character flaw which I am aware hurts people closest to me, and which I am very sorry for.

I'm not sure where to put this in my ranking of Agatha Christie novels but it's definitely a favorite. The characters are so vivid, and that's always what pulls me in with her writing, but I think this story relies on it in a way the others I've read don't. It reminds me of Wuthering Heights in a way, how the tragedy is all past and inescapable, the bittersweetness of the ending.... after it all, there is still possibility because there is still life, there is still youth....

and, of course, there's nothing I love as much as a misunderstood woman