I really enjoyed this book which I was surprised about as I prefer the Books where Poirot stays in England although I did like Murder On The Orient Express I bought the DVD bafter reading this one. It would have beden nice though if the Murderers past crime had been totally explained.

I love this book!! I love the atmosphere, the setting (I so want to go to Petra!) and (most of) the characters. It's Poirot at his most precise, working from personal statements not his own personal experience. The way he sifts through all the differing information to find the truth is fabulous. It's very similar to Five Little Pigs in that respect, and I love that too.

One stightly jarring note is AC representation of Ginny. I know she herself had personal experience of breakdown, but I find it rather superficial, almost as if she was afraid to show mental problems in any more detail. Perhaps I'm being harsh; I read Christie for escapism and a fantastic story and don't expect gritty realism. 

I agree, tommy, I would love to know what had happened in the past!

Puffinjill, That is exactly why I read Christie, for nthe escapism, If I want gritty realism there is alot to choose from both on TV and in Books although I don't read those books, I read Authors that vare just as Cozy as Christie but most are Modern Authos; Hazel Hoilt, Betty Rowlands, etc. If this book has a down side I would have loved to have had the Female Doctor and the Male Psychiatrist working together as the sleuths and have the book without Poirot like The Moving Finger didn't need Miss Marple but that is just a very minor point and as the book is it produced the question of how the Doctor knew about the solution to Murder On The Orient Excpress (Have you read the interesting blog about it?)  

No, I haven't read that. Is it on this site?

I quite agree about The Moving Finger not nesseccarily needing Miss Marple (as I think Jerry Burton May have got there in the end...possibly!) but I think Appointment with Death needs Poirot. I love the style of the book, the way Poirot uses his knowledge of people and psychology to piece together the strands of evidence. As much as I love the characters of Sarah King and Dr Gerrard, I don't think it would have worked as well having them do this.

Cosy is good and so is realism. Different things for different moods or stages in ones life. I was ill for a few years and solely read and reread all my Christies as I found them comfortable and reliable. Now, I enjoy something with a little more bite at times (huge Ian Rankin fan too) but still find an awful lot of enjoyment and engagement with my Christies. Its like coming home...

Yes The Blog is on the site also is an interesting piece by someone talking about the 'Poirot and 'Marple' series's making really good suggestions of what the Makers should do, I should take a look.

I haven't read the Ian Rankin Books although my brother gave me a book with some in for christmas 1 year but I do watch 'Rebus'

I thought Jerry Burton is a Great Character although I dissagree with you about Sarah King and Dr Gerrard (Thankyou for reminding me of his name) AC obviously thought they were up to it as Poirot is not in the Play.

I am sorry you were ill I hope you are fully recovered now. Afew years ago My Mum read to me The Mysterious Mr Quinn (except for the Final Chapter ) and a Simon Brett Book when I was in Hospital

I went away from AC for a while and read Betty Rowlands, Dorothy Simpson and Simon Brett Books but like you came back To AC now I alternate between AC and others. 

I tend to do that too. But I always return to AC time and again.

I absolutley loved this book. It's one of my favourites and I thought that Lady Westholme was absolutely vile.  She was a  villain that you loved to hate and were really happy was murdered. Isn't that terrible? Petra was the other 'character' here and AC really made the most of the exotic locale and isolation of everyone. Pure escapeism.

Terrible but very human, 3rdGirl!! And with fiction we can all wish those sort of characters dead and cheer if it happens. Aren't we lovely!!

Yes, you are right. Petra was the extra character in the novel. Placing all these people in such an alien landscape adds to the tension and provides a wonderful contrast between the beauty of the surroundings and the hate festering away. I simply think it's a wonderful book.

I usually dislike it when the victims are too unlikable, but I liked Appointment with Death. Actually, my main motivation for reading more was wanting to know what will happen to the Boynton family, not the identity of the murderer.  

If Mrs Boynton had been an unlikeable character terrorizing and unlikeable character, then I doubt ANYONE would care who did it or why. But because the rest of the Boyntons are so sympathetically written, their plight makes the reader want to know. So it was the same for me, Lone Wolf, although I thought Mrs Boynton got her just desserts, I was really didn't want to find another Boynton guilty.

I loved this story! I just reread it for the second time (the first time I was a teenager and I will just say it was quite a while ago when I read it). This is a good story. I will say I agree with Tommy that it was disappointing that you didn't find out about the person's previous crimes.

Personally, I thought this one was a bit off compared to other AC books. Not to say I didn't like it--I did. I wish the culprit's (trying to avoid spoilers) other crime had been more explained, as has been said before, but I do partiuclarly love the ending. Poirot was brilliant throughout theentire thing, exacting and precise and using the little grey cells to unravel the liiiees...

Ginny's mentality adding an interesting element. As has also been said before, I read AC for an escape, for the mystery--but I can't complain, because I think this added even more to it.