Reviewed by Jeanne
Luke Fitzwilliam is happy to be back in England after working
as a policeman in the Mayang Straits, and happier still to be on a train to
London… that is, until the elderly lady in his carriage decides to strike up a
conversation. Having several elderly
aunts, Luke expected this to happen but he did not expect to hear that she was
on her way to Scotland Yard to report a series of murders. He tries to humor
the old dear, listening to her rambling on about who has died and that she
expects the doctor to be next.
Luke hopes that the man on duty at the Yard will let her down
gently, even though she is definitely a bubble off plumb.
It’s a bit of a shock when he reads in paper that the old lady
was run over by a motor car and killed before she even reached the Yard.
It’s even more of a shock a few days later when Luke reads
that the doctor she mentioned as the next victim dies suddenly.
Is it possible that the old lady was right and there’s a
murderer running amok in a quaint little English village?
Luke enlists the aid of an old friend in order to go
undercover and investigate.
I read quite a lot of Agatha Christie’s books in high school,
but back then I was really only interested in the series titles with Hercule
Poirot or (my favorite) Miss Marple so this one was new to me. Christie wrote a number of standalone books
like this one, which came out in 1939.
While it definitely reflects the era in which it was written, the strong
plot and good characterizations had me turning pages quickly to find the
solution. As with most of Christie’s
books, there’s a possible romance—unless, of course, the lovely young woman who
has caught Luke’s eye is the murderer in question. Luke himself is a likeable young man, but it
must be said he doesn’t have Hercule’s “little grey cells.” In fact, another character catches on more
quickly that he does. Nonetheless, he
does solve it out in the end—and just in time, too.
As usual, I had some things figured out but not others. There’s a reason Agatha Christie’s work is
still read, and I certainly enjoyed this one.
Note: The book was also
published under the title Easy to Kill.
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