Carol S. (waucondacarol) reviewed on 3/30/2009 + 319 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

This is another short series by Christie although Superintendent Battle does I think appear in some of the Hercule Poirot books. I think this is one of the classic of Christie's mysteries where the plot twists and turns until the reader has no idea of the outcome until the last few pages. An ex-wife, her ex-husband and his new young wife, a few cousins, and a frail, elderly lady all are together at the old woman's home on the coast. Throw in the new wife's ex-boyfriend staying at the local hotel and there is tension aplenty. One night a retired judge, an old friend of the elderly lady comes for dinner and tells a story about one of his early cases. A young child shoots an arrow and kills another child. Everyone says it was an accident; but a man comes forth and says he saw the child practicing with the bow and arrow in the woods. Did the child commit murder deliberately and pre-planned it? The judge says the child's name was changed and he or she (he did not reveal the child's sex) was raised away from the area, but that he would recognize that child today because of a physical deformity. Later that night the judge dies in his hotel room, but was it natural or murder? Did someone at the dinner party know that the old judge had recognized him or her as a cold blooded murderer? This is the opening to another more brutal murder and a final attempted murder before Superintendent Battle collars the killer. This is a very tense, well-written story that kept me hanging in until the last page. It too has a surprise ending that I didn't expect.

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