“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.