Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night
The New Hercule Poirot Mystery
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- €11.99
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- €11.99
Publisher Description
The world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot – legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and A Haunting in Venice – puts his little grey cells to work solving a baffling Christmas mystery.
CAN HERCULE POIROT SOLVE A BAFFLING MURDER MYSTERY IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS?
It’s 19 December 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are called to investigate the murder of a man in the apparent safe haven of a Norfolk hospital ward. Catchpool’s mother, the irrepressible Cynthia, insists that Poirot stays in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while Poirot solves the case. 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.
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 . . .
Reviews
‘Sophie Hannah's latest case for Agatha Christie's Belgian detective is a dark psychological thriller with an ingenious resolution and it certainly takes the kitsch out of Christmas.
—Daily Record
‘If you want a Christie for Christmas, you coundlt do bvetter than this.’
—Alex Michaelides
‘Infused with such love and energy … Poirot is exactly as Christie created him, with a vitality that recalls her very best novels.’
—Daily Telegraph
“Perfect…a pure treat for Agatha Christie fans.”
—Tana French
‘A magnificently intricate puzzle for Poirot’s famous little grey cells.’
—Daily Mail
“What Sophie and Agatha have in common is a rare talent for fiendish unpredictability: they make you see how the impossible might be possible after all.”
— Sunday Telegraph
“The latest in Sophie Hannah’s series of mysteries featuring Agatha Christie’s beloved detective is a magnificently intricate puzzle for Poirot’s famous little grey cells.”
— Daily Mail
“I was thrilled to see Poirot in such very, very good hands.”
— Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of Gone Girl
“Does Sophie Hannah’s Poirot live up to our expectations? Yes, he does, and markedly so … Poirot is still Poirot. Poirot is back.”
— Alexander McCall Smith
“Sophie Hannah is genuinely Christie’s heir.”
— The Scotsman
About the author
Sophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling crime fiction writer. Her crime novels have been translated into 34 languages and published in 51 countries. Her psychological thriller The Carrier won the Specsavers National Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year in 2013. In 2014 Sophie began writing new Hercule Poirot mysteries with The Monogram Murders, which was an international bestseller. Sophie is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in more than a hundred foreign languages. Her phenomenal career spanned six decades, until her death in 1976.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Sophie Hannah’s continuations of Agatha Christie’s classic whodunnits are proving her a worthy successor. Her pastiches are so loving and skilful, they could be penned by the Queen of Crime herself. Her fifth case for Hercule Poirot finds the famed Belgian detective and his Scotland Yard sidekick Inspector Catchpool summoned to a crumbling Norfolk coastal mansion at Christmas 1931. Their mission? To solve a popular patient’s murder in what should surely be the safe haven of the local hospital ward—and to prevent another killing, which their hosts are convinced will happen by New Year. Can the duo crack the crime and get home in time for Christmas? An atmospheric country house mystery unfolds, full of family dysfunction and eccentric characters and with a twinkling festive twist (several pivotal conversations take place while decorating Christmas trees). As unexpectedly dark secrets emerge, Poirot even finds his own life at risk. Pacy, quirky and intricately plotted with twists you won’t predict, no matter how much you exercise your “little grey cells”.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hannah's stellar fifth whodunit featuring Agatha Christie's iconic sleuth (after 2020's The Killings at Kingfisher Hall) extends her reign as a master of mystery pastiche. In early December 1931, Poirot is preparing for a quiet Christmas alone when Cynthia Catchpool, the mother of Scotland Yard inspector Edward Catchpool, summons both men to solve one murder and prevent another in the small Norfolk town of Munby-on-Sea. Someone has bashed in the head of universally beloved postmaster Stanley Niven during his recent hospital stay. Vivienne Laurier, a friend of Cynthia's, is convinced that her husband, Arnold, has put a target on his own back by dedicating himself to tracking down Stanley's killer, and her anxiety spikes when Arthur prepares to go to the same hospital where Stanley was killed. Cynthia insists that Poirot stay with her and Edward through the holiday, and the pair launches a winding investigation that eventually puts their own lives at risk. Hannah does a superior job of presenting Poirot's quirky brilliance without overdoing it, and in making Catchpool a fully fleshed sidekick with psychological depth. Golden age mystery fans will be hungry for more.
