Book Review: The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah (New Agatha Christie's Poirot Mystery)

 

Book: The Killings at Kingfisher Hill

Author: Sophie Hannah (New Agatha Christie's Poirot Mystery)

Pages: 352

Read: The Paperback edition pictured above 

Read in: 4-5 hours 

Plot Summary: Hercule Poirot is travelling by luxury passenger coach from London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate, where Richard Devonport has summoned him to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent of the murder of his brother, Frank. But there is a strange condition attached to this request: Poirot must conceal his true reason for being there.

 
The coach is forced to stop when a distressed woman demands to get off, insisting that if she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. Although the rest of the journey passes without anyone being harmed, Poirot’s curiosity is aroused, and his fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered with a macabre note attached…

Could this new murder and the peculiar incident on the coach be clues to solving the mystery of who killed Frank Devonport? And if Helen is innocent, can Poirot find the true culprit in time to save her from the gallows?

Things I Liked: 

1. This is a story about complex and dysfunctional family dynamics- a subject that I find endlessly fascinating! an overbearing father, a whiny, obedient mother, siblings that don't have any freedom or even a voice in their own home- all of it makes for wonderful drama, interesting family dynamics and a prefect backdrop for two murders. 

2. Without giving away any spoilers, I found the dissection of the motives for both murders very interesting in this book. It is not something simple or cut-and-dried, but it is human, complex and layered. It may also not be for everyone- more on this in the next section. 

3. This new Poirot's voice, has finally, started feeling like Christie's Poirot and I am so happy about that! 

4. The book is very atmospheric. You can almost feel the suffocating dysfunction of the Devonport household and the panic of the passenger in the bus, who thinks she is going to be murdered. There is an air of menace lurking through the book, which was very nicely done. 

Things I Didn't Like:

1. Like I have mentioned above,  the motive for committing both murders is not-the-best. It is unconventional and a little out-of-nowhere, but I didn't hate it, though I do think that many people might be let down by it. So, fair warning! 

2. A few aspects of the mystery were very obvious, especially, when it came to the real identity of the second victim and the motive behind her murder. 

Rating: 4/5