The Monogram Murders (Hercule Poirot Series)

by Sophie Hannah, Agatha Christie

Overview

"Equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home" -Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

Since the publication of her first novel in 1920, more than two billion copies of Agatha Christie’s books have been sold around the globe. Now, for the first time ever, the guardians of her legacy have approved a brand new novel featuring Dame Agatha’s most beloved creation, Hercule Poirot.

‘I’m a dead woman, or I shall be soon…’

Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered.  She is terrified – but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done.

Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062297235
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/09/2014
Series:	Hercule Poirot Series
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	43,267
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

SOPHIE HANNAH is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous psychological thrillers, which have been published in 51 countries and adapted for television, as well as The Monogram Murders, the first Hercule Poirot novel authorized by the estate of Agatha Christie, and its sequels Closed Casket, The Mystery of Three Quarters, and The Killings at Kingfisher Hill. Sophie is also the author of a self-help book, How to Hold a Grudge, and hosts the podcast of the same name. She lives in Cambridge, UK.

Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.

What People are Saying About This

Matthew Pritchard

“Sophie Hannah’s idea for a plot line was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother’s work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written.”--Matthew Pritchard

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/01/2014
Hercule Poirot requires a rest for his "little grey cells" and anonymously rents a comfortable room not too far from his well-known address. The Belgian detective settles into his vacance with a new Thursday night routine—a light meal and two cups of Pleasant's Coffee House superb namesake. On one such evening, Poirot's rituals are disturbed by a terrified young woman entering the café as if all of hell is behind her. Thus begins a search for a macabre triple murderer who lines up the dead and places monogrammed cuff links between their lips. Edward Catchpool, Poirot's fellow boarder as well as a Scotland Yard policeman, begrudgingly allows the detective to lead the case. VERDICT Almost 40 years after Agatha Christie's final Hercule Poirot mystery, Hannah (The Orphan Choir), with the authorization of the Christie estate, has re-created the sleuth's voice and character as true to the original as anyone could. The egotistical little Belgian, interested in his "order and methods" and employing the "little grey cells" is back. Edward Catchpool is no replacement for the well-intended and captivating Capt. Arthur Hastings, yet fans of all formats of Agatha Christie and Poirot (the BBC TV series as well as original books, plays, etc) will delight in this new foray into the Christie canon. [See Prepub Alert, 3/3/14; see also Hannah's essay on p. 78.]—Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL

Library Journal

Does Sophie Hannah's Poirot live up to our expectations? Yes, he does, and markedly so…The Monogram Murders is both faithful to the character and an entirely worthy addition to the canon…The plot is as tricky as anything written by Agatha Christie. Nothing is obvious or predictable in this very difficult Sudoku of a novel. The Monogram Murders has a life and freshness of its own. Poirot is still Poirot. Poirot is back.

The New York Times Book Review - Alexander McCall Smith

Sophie Hannah does an egoless, silky job of reviving Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgian detective Hercule Poirot...enough so to hope that Hannah turns to Miss Marple next.” — USA Today

“Christie herself, some might say, could do no better.... Enough twists, turns, revelations and suspects to cook up a most satisfying red-herring stew. Literary magic.” — Washington Post

“Does Sophie Hannah’s Poirot live up to our expectations? Yes, he does, and markedly so.... As tricky as anything written by Agatha Christie. The Monogram Murders has a life and freshness of its own. Poirot is still Poirot. Poirot is back.” — Alexander McCall Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

“Perfect...a pure treat.” — Tana French, New York Times-bestselling author of The Secret Place

“Terrific.... uncanny. As Hercule Poirot himself would say, ‘Bravo, Madame Hannah. Bravo.’ ” — Boston Globe

“Sophie Hannah is a prodigious talent. I can’t wait to see what she does next.” — Laura Lippman

“Sophie Hannah’s idea for a plot line was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother’s work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written.” — Mathew Prichard, grandson of Agatha Christie

“Sharply written and rigorously plotted, this Poirot mystery rivals many of Christie’s own.” — NPR

“Equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging…I was thrilled to see Poirot in such very, very good hands. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home.” — Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

“Sophie Hannah’s The Monogram Murders does Christie proud. Our favorite detective is back and in impeccable form!” — Charles Todd, New York Times bestselling author of An Unwilling Accomplice

From the Publisher

Sophie Hannah does an egoless, silky job of reviving Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgian detective Hercule Poirot...enough so to hope that Hannah turns to Miss Marple next.

USA Today

Sharply written and rigorously plotted, this Poirot mystery rivals many of Christie’s own.

NPR

Sophie Hannah is a prodigious talent. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Laura Lippman

Sophie Hannah’s The Monogram Murders does Christie proud. Our favorite detective is back and in impeccable form!

Charles Todd

Sophie Hannah’s idea for a plot line was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother’s work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written.

Mathew Prichard

Equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging…I was thrilled to see Poirot in such very, very good hands. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home.

Gillian Flynn

Christie herself, some might say, could do no better.... Enough twists, turns, revelations and suspects to cook up a most satisfying red-herring stew. Literary magic.

Washington Post

Perfect...a pure treat.

Tana French

Does Sophie Hannah’s Poirot live up to our expectations? Yes, he does, and markedly so.... As tricky as anything written by Agatha Christie. The Monogram Murders has a life and freshness of its own. Poirot is still Poirot. Poirot is back.

Alexander McCall Smith

Terrific.... uncanny. As Hercule Poirot himself would say, ‘Bravo, Madame Hannah. Bravo.’

Boston Globe

Sophie Hannah does an egoless, silky job of reviving Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgian detective Hercule Poirot...enough so to hope that Hannah turns to Miss Marple next.

USA Today

Christie herself, some might say, could do no better.... Enough twists, turns, revelations and suspects to cook up a most satisfying red-herring stew. Literary magic.

Washington Post

This is the first Hercule Poirot mystery approved by Agatha Christie's family since the author’s death, and narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt does a splendid job with Hannah's creation. Rhind-Tutt is a marvelous Poirot—his accent, French phrases, and confident personality are all present. But the story itself is repetitious, quite the opposite of Christie's style. Still, listeners will remain engaged because of Rhind-Tutt's abilities as a storyteller. When three people are murdered in the Bloxham Hotel, each victim found with a monogrammed cufflink in the mouth, hapless Scotland Yard Detective Catchpool accepts Poirot's guidance in solving the crime. Most enjoyable is Rhind-Tutt’s portrayal of Lucca Lazzari, the hotel manager who repeatedly proclaims the innocence of his staff in an Italian accent. The denouement is rendered Christie style as Catchpool—and listeners—hear the murderer identified. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2014 - AudioFile

This is the first Hercule Poirot mystery approved by Agatha Christie's family since the author’s death, and narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt does a splendid job with Hannah's creation. Rhind-Tutt is a marvelous Poirot—his accent, French phrases, and confident personality are all present. But the story itself is repetitious, quite the opposite of Christie's style. Still, listeners will remain engaged because of Rhind-Tutt's abilities as a storyteller. When three people are murdered in the Bloxham Hotel, each victim found with a monogrammed cufflink in the mouth, hapless Scotland Yard Detective Catchpool accepts Poirot's guidance in solving the crime. Most enjoyable is Rhind-Tutt’s portrayal of Lucca Lazzari, the hotel manager who repeatedly proclaims the innocence of his staff in an Italian accent. The denouement is rendered Christie style as Catchpool—and listeners—hear the murderer identified. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2014 - AudioFile

2014-09-09
Hercule Poirot, last spotted in Charles Osborne's novelization Black Coffee (1998), returns from retirement to investigate a triple poisoning in 1929 London. It doesn't take long for Poirot to realize why the woman he encounters in Pleasant's Coffee House is all in a dither. She's afraid that she's about to be killed, and she can't bring herself to run from her killer, since death is no more than she deserves. She flees before he can pin her down to specifics, but he soon links her to three deaths at the nearby Bloxham Hotel. Each of the guests—retired lawyer Richard Negus, his former fiancee, Ida Gransbury, and their old friend Harriet Sippel—arrived separately the day before; each was poisoned with cyanide, then neatly laid out on the floor; and each is found with a monogrammed cufflink in his or her mouth shortly after someone turns in a note to the Bloxham's front desk with their three room numbers and the epitaph, "MAY THEY NEVER REST IN PEACE." Clearly this triple homicide has roots too deep for Poirot's temporary housemate, Detective Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard, to fathom. So Poirot attaches himself to the case, uncovering evidence about the victims' shared past in a village scandal 16 years ago, alternately lecturing and hectoring Catchpool, and sounding very little like Agatha Christie's legendary sleuth except for the obligatory French tags. Hannah, a specialist in psychological suspense (The Orphan Choir, 2014, etc.), would seem an odd choice for the job of resurrecting Poirot. The main strengths she brings to her task are a formidable ingenuity and a boundless appetite for reviewing the same evidence over and over again. The herrings-within-herrings denouement, which goes on for 100 pages, hovers between tour de force and unintentional farce. Despite the names and dates, this authorized sequel will remind you less of Christie, whose strengths are very different from Hannah's, than of the dozens of other pastiches of golden age detective fiction among which it takes its place.

Kirkus Reviews