Agatha Christie: Crooked house (1949, Dodd, Mead)
186 pages
English language
Published Aug. 6, 1949 by Dodd, Mead.
A large family living under the eye and protection of wealthy Aristide Leonides is thrown into turmoil when the patriarch dies under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly they all find themselves under suspicion, even the children.
I really enjoyed this book. It is well set up to make you suspect everyone in his/her turn except the actual murderer.
Great job Agatha Christie!
I watched the movie and enjoyed it so much that I immediately ordered the book. Definitely one of my favorite Christie novels.
I really wanted to like this one. For once, a Christie novel starts with people of flesh and bone, people one can like, relate to, identify with, etc. And then there is Christie's own statement that while other books may have been day-at-the-office affairs, this one was a labour of love.
Well... I really didn't like it. Whatever charm and promise the first couple of chapters had in terms of character depiction, soon vanished into ordinary Christie coolness, the plot never seemed real, the philosophical undercurrents - that one can always justify a Christie novel by: those semi-explicit considerations about what is truth, human nature, knowledge, good, etc. - this time were non-existent or just uninteresting. Oh, and the murderer was completely made-up, and for the first time, I had guessed it almost from the start, which is not a good sign, since I'm notoriously bad at guessing.
Was it …
I really wanted to like this one. For once, a Christie novel starts with people of flesh and bone, people one can like, relate to, identify with, etc. And then there is Christie's own statement that while other books may have been day-at-the-office affairs, this one was a labour of love.
Well... I really didn't like it. Whatever charm and promise the first couple of chapters had in terms of character depiction, soon vanished into ordinary Christie coolness, the plot never seemed real, the philosophical undercurrents - that one can always justify a Christie novel by: those semi-explicit considerations about what is truth, human nature, knowledge, good, etc. - this time were non-existent or just uninteresting. Oh, and the murderer was completely made-up, and for the first time, I had guessed it almost from the start, which is not a good sign, since I'm notoriously bad at guessing.
Was it a waste of time? Well, the first chapter was great.
“Writing Crooked House was pure pleasure and I feel justified in my belief that it is one of my best.” (Agatha Christie)
I agree with Christie here. "Crooked House" is one of her best. One thing that Christie always excelled at was portraying the interaction between members of a group, be it the Leonides family in "Crooked House," the "guests" in [b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391120695s/16299.jpg|3038872], or the tourists in [b:Evil Under the Sun|16305|Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot, #23)|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386922974s/16305.jpg|907837]. These aren't mindless stereotypes - they are people.
"Crooked House" is a non-series novel - no Poirot, Miss Marple or (thank heavens!) Tommy and Tuppence. The story is narrated by Charles Hayward, who is engaged to Sophia Leonides, granddaughter of Aristide Leonides, a Greek who came to England decades earlier and made a fortune. He married the daughter of an English squire and had …
“Writing Crooked House was pure pleasure and I feel justified in my belief that it is one of my best.” (Agatha Christie)
I agree with Christie here. "Crooked House" is one of her best. One thing that Christie always excelled at was portraying the interaction between members of a group, be it the Leonides family in "Crooked House," the "guests" in [b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391120695s/16299.jpg|3038872], or the tourists in [b:Evil Under the Sun|16305|Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot, #23)|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386922974s/16305.jpg|907837]. These aren't mindless stereotypes - they are people.
"Crooked House" is a non-series novel - no Poirot, Miss Marple or (thank heavens!) Tommy and Tuppence. The story is narrated by Charles Hayward, who is engaged to Sophia Leonides, granddaughter of Aristide Leonides, a Greek who came to England decades earlier and made a fortune. He married the daughter of an English squire and had eight children. At the time of the events in "Crooked House," only two sons - Roger and Philip are still live. In addition to Aristide, the residents of the household are his young second wife, Brenda; Edith de Haviland, his first wife's sister; Roger and his wife Clemency, a scientist; Philip, his wife Magda, an actress, and their three children - Sophia, Eustace, and Josephine; Laurence Brown, the children's tutor; and Nannie, nanny to the Aristide's children and now his grandchildren.
Sophia describes her grandfather to Charles: "He's rather a person, my grandfather. He's over eighty, about four foot ten, and everybody else looks rather dim beside him." Charles asks if she likes her grandfather. "Better than anyone in the world," said Sophia.
Aristide is devoted to his family and does everything he can for them. He places Roger at the head of the family business and settles money on him and Philip. The family members want for nothing - which is probably part of the problem. They have nothing to strive for. Consider Magda: "She's been able to pick and choose, and to go where she likes and occasionally to put up the money to finance a show where she's fancied a certain part - usually the last part in the world to suit her." She's not the only one. As for her husband Philip: "Writes books. Can't think why. Nobody wants to read them. All about obscure historical details." (Edith de Haviland, his aunt) Roger has no mind for business and has run the family business into ruin. His wife Clemency is jealous of Aristide's interference in their life and wants Roger all to herself.
When Aristide is killed, suspicion naturally falls upon his young wife Brenda, thirty-four to his eighty-five. She gave him his regular injections of insulin. It was the last injection that killed him - instead of insulin, it contained eserine, which came from his eye drops. Brenda also appears to be infatuated with Laurence Brown, the children's tutor, who is considerably closer in age to her. Of course, she's also the outsider in the family - much younger than her late husband, obviously married him for his money, and has never fit in. Like Sophia says, "...it won't matter - so long as the right person killed him." The right person meaning, of course, Brenda.
However, when Charles arrives at the family home, Three Gables, and actually meets Brenda, he does not believe she could kill anyone. He also does not think Laurence Brown, the tutor, whom Sophia describes as a "scared rabbit" is capable of such a thing. Charles begins his own investigation with the help of Chief Inspector Taverner and Detective Sergeant Lamb. Meanwhile, little Josephine Leonides, Sophia's younger sister, listens at doors, takes notes, and sees and hears a great deal more than she should.
The killer is not finished yet. There is another murder and an attempted murder - and then the stark, awful truth is revealed. I've read most of Christie's books, but "Crooked House" has the most chilling, shocking murderer of them all. This one will really stay in your mind.
Very recommended.
Better than I expected it to be -- haven't read an Agatha Christie since I was in junior high. It kept nagging at me that the police would never have let the narrator actually do what he's doing, so that detracted. Otherwise, crisply written, tightly plotted, and a good read.
As a writer, Christie isn’t my favourite, but as a storyteller she simply can’t be topped. This is a bit different from her other novels – it’s written in the first person, for one thing. But I think it’s one of her best.
