Five Little Pigs Book Review

Book title: Five Little Pigs

Author: Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is a stout, little Belgian man — though he may not look like much based on his physical attributes, his mind is his greatest strength. With it, he has been able to solve many crimes and is renowned as one of the greatest detectives.

However, his newest case seems to be destined to stump him. After all, the crime happened over 16 years ago.

Poirot is approached by a young woman, Carla Lemarchant, whose father, Amyas Crale, was killed under mysterious circumstances. During the time of the murder, evidence overwhelmingly pointed to Carla’s mother, Caroline, as being the perpetrator. However, Carla adamantly refuses to believe this based on a letter her mother sent to her when she was in jail, professing her innocence.

Poirot takes up the intriguing case, compiling his evidence using old police reports, talking to the officers who were once on the case, and even interviewing those who may have been involved in the death of Amyas, a well-known painter at the time. Unfortunately, his task is made even harder: not only does time fog the memory of those involved with Amyas, but the real murderer (someone close to Amyas) is lying to Poirot and doing everything they can to not be found out.

As Poirot gathers everyone’s account of the murder, he begins to cobble together the shocking truth behind Amyas’s death.

Verdict: Five Little Pigs is one of the best mystery books I’ve ever read. Obviously, since Christie was the “Queen of Crime”, I expected the plot to be difficult to figure out (in a good way!) and Christie did not disappoint. She kept me hanging onto every word of hers. Christie weaves together the story very well, never leaving any plot holes and surprising me with the murderer’s identity. Sit down with this book in a comfy chair and get ready to ride a rollercoaster of murder and mystery!

Reviewed by: Siri Palreddy'20