Easy to Kill by Agatha Christie (TSS)

Title: Easy to Kill, aka Murder is Easy
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication Year: 1938
Genre: Mystery
Count for Year: 26

How I discovered

I have joined Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise with her Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and this is part of that.

Synopsis

An elderly lady suspected of murder in the sleepy village of Wychwood dies–another victim of an unseen hand. Since too many accidents and unexplained deaths have occurred, even for a town with a history of witchcraft, policeman Luke Fitzwilliam vows to discover the reason–and finds a very cunning killer.

– from Barnes and Noble

Review

Luke Fitzwilliam has just retired from a police position in Asia and returned to London. He encounters a woman on a train who tells him about her village where people are being murdered off one by one in what seems like accidents to others. He suspects she might be a little off her rocker until later he learns of the woman ending up dead herself after being hit by a car. His natural curiosity takes him to the village where he can investigate for himself.

The suspects include a lord, his soon-to-be wife, a vicar, a lawyer, a spinster, a shopkeeper, a retired major and a doctor. Alas, no butler is suspected, making the task a little bit more difficult for the reader. However, since Christie has the reader pretty much ignoring the most obvious suspect until the end then he must be the one, right? At least, that’s what I thought, but was wrong.

My only criticism of this one was that while I liked the red herring, I didn’t like the red herring’s actions toward the end. It seemed too easy, but maybe that’s on what Christie was banking since after all it is “easy to kill.” All in all, though, another good romp from Dame Christie and well worth picking up from the library, and even owning a copy if you’re a devoted Christie fan (especially since it isn’t a Marple or Poirot).

My rating: a 4 out of 5, although if you get it from the library, that will be all right too.

5- Classic, must read
4- Worth owning a copy
3- Worth picking up at library
2- Worth skimming at the bookstore
1- Worth being a doorstop

Other reviews

• book-a-rama
• A library is a hospital for the mind…
  

If you have reviewed Easy to Kill and would like your review to be listed here, add your link in the comments and I will add here as well.

FTC Disclosure: I didn’t receive a copy of this book from the publisher, but took it out from my local library.