Dear Mummy,
We had a murder last night. Miss Springer, the gym mistress. It happened in the middle of the night and the police came and this morning they're asking everybody questions. Miss Chadwick told us not to talk to anybody about it, but I thought you'd like to know
With love, Jennifer
Genre: Fiction, Crime, Detective, Mystery
Publisher: Fontana
Year: 1959
Rating: 4/5
Agatha Christie is one of those novelists that, it seems, everybody has read. I had an old auntie that was a big Christie fan, she had all of her novels in a hardcover set and I remember looking at them, lining her shelves, when I was a child. Being a fan of mystery novels, I decided to give an Agatha Christie novel a go and read Cat Among the Pigeons. I am glad I did. I enjoyed it a lot.
The setting for this novel is an exclusive English school for girls called Meadowbank. The school is run by Miss Bulstrode, a firm yet fair woman who started the schools many years ago in a joint partnership with the math mistress, Miss Chadwick.
Miss Bulstrode is nearing retirement and is agonising over who to appoint in her place as head mistress, when she leaves. That, however, is the least of her problems. Not long into term one, the gym teacher, Miss Springer, is shot in the new sports pavilion. No one can understand why Miss Springer was in the pavilion in the middle of the night, let alone why anyone would have a reason to shoot her.
The local police come to investigate but soon events spiral out of control and there is a second murder and a kidnapping. Parents start pulling their daughters out of Meadowbank, but one enterprising young girl, Julia, has her own ideas about what is behind these murders and upon an investigation of her own, comes up with some interesting evidence.
Unsure of what to do next, Julia visits a man who she had heard of through a friend of her mother, Hercule Poirot. Soon Agatha Christie's famous detective Poirot is heading the investigation at Meadowbank, uncovering the mystery.
This novel was a fun read. The perfect novel for a Sunday afternoon. It was short, at only 188 pages so it was a quick read.
I love a good murder mystery and this was no exception. This novel had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing and finished off with a nice, neat little ending. Christie sure knows how to wrap up her plot.
I enjoyed this enough that I am looking forward to reading another Agatha Christie novel.
Have you read any Agatha Christie before? What would you recommend I read next?
