Publisher: Collins Crime Club
Country: UK
Publication Date: 1933
Page Count: 256
Alternate title: Thirteen at Dinner
Sure, actress Jane Wilkinson wants out of a miserable marriage, but is she guilty of stabbing her way out of it? She claims she's innocent. Hercule Poirot wonders if she's giving the performance of a lifetime.
My thought
There is more than one person who might murder Lord Edgeware, but one has a watertight alibi - the wife, an actress of yore famed for beauty and style, who was at a very well attended dinner - and the other, a young man, was at late night show of film which no one can corroborate. Both had entered the house at the relevant time, and either could be the murderer.
Then there is another actress, a minor one who resembles the Lady Edgeware, found dead. Did she do it, using the name of the better known actress, and if so why?
The plot and the suspects were good and definitely not too good for a story. The clues and questions fit in well with the actual murder. Agatha Christie is no doubt a wonderful story teller.The sudden changes and twists in the story are good and thrilling.
The best thing about Agatha Christie books is that you never know until the end who did the crime. You are kept in the dark and continue to read to figure out what really happened. I believe this is the first book featuring Poirot as the private investigator when he solves two related murders in high society London.
I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a crime mystery.
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