As with last year's BBC adaptation of 'The ABC Murders' featuring John Malkovich shows, new interpretations of Christie's most famous character are controversial with die-hard fans. On the whole I enjoy Poirot's new leases of life while agreeing that Christie's originals are the most satisfying.

Out of the three Hannah interpretations of Poirot, this has been my favourite. The premise of four seemingly random strangers being picked to receive a letter accusing them of murder was compelling, and Poirot's propensity to comment in (poorly proof-read) French and references to his 'little grey cells of the mind' abound.

Some reviewers of this book complain that the plot is too straightforward; I didn't find this at all, and enjoyed the dénouement very much. As usual, I'm not the greatest fan of Inspector Catchpool (he just seems a bit surplus to requirements, isn't very quick, and has a reverence for Poirot which is a bit boring), but some of the other characters in this were great, although there were A LOT of them!

I'm happy to keep reading these as long as Hannah is happy to keep writing them!

I found this book quite slow and repetitive but this may be due to my reading it during the start of the Covid19 lockdown when it's hard to focus on things and I needed to read something that would distract me more effectively from world events than this book did.

The book is told in the voice of Inspector Edward Catchpool, a friend and occasional helper of Poirot. We are told this in chapter five but Catchpool doesn't actually feature in the story much himself. I found this style of writing somewhat stilted and had to keep reminding myself that he was the narrator.

The basic plot is that an older person, Barnabas Pandy, has died. Some time later four people get letters, supposedly from the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, accusing them of murdering Barnabas Pandy. There initially appears to be no connection between these people and all four approach Poirot full of indignation about receiving their letter as all claim to be innocent and some not even to know Barnabas Pandy. There is much talk about 'Church Window Cake' (Battenberg cake) throughout the book which becomes a metaphor for things that can be split in to four separate pieces or two sets of two or a three and a one. just gets tedious. Undoubtedly a plot device to Illustrate Poirot's quirkiness but I found it tedious at times.

I really enjoy Sophie Hannah's books but will not be in a hurry to read anymore of her ones based on Poirot.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction.for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

#TheMysteryOfThreeQuarters #NetGalley
Murder Mystery at its best. If you haven't read Sophie Hannah then what are you waiting for? Go and give this phenomenal author books a read.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot is back and this is the third book in the series after The Monogram Murders and Closed Casket.
Hercule Poirot finds an angry woman waiting outside his front door. She demands to know why Poirot has sent her a letter accusing her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met.
Along with that woman, the same letter is sent to three other people, all are accused of the murder of Pandy. Who's this? And what's the connection of these people with Pandy?
Read this amazingly written murder mystery which keeps you awake until morning.
Hercule Poirot is back but sometimes I missed his little gray cells, the author mentioned less in comparison to Agatha Christie. However the plot is great and so is the narration.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction for giving me an advanced copy of this phenomenal book.

The Mystery of the Three Quarters is by far my favourite of Sophie Hannah’s Hercule Poirot books – she really captures the tone and character of Agatha Christie’s sublime mystery stories here.

The time that he should be spending relaxing after a very pleasurable luncheon is spoiled for Hercule Poirot when he is accosted outside his home by a woman named Sylvia Rule, a woman who is demanding to know why he is accusing her of murder. Now, this is all news to Poirot, as he has never heard of the alleged victim – one Barnabas Pandy – and he has certainly not sent a letter accusing his visitor of murder. Things get even stranger when he managed to escape from the angry Mrs Rule and enter his home. There is another visitor waiting for him, a man named John McCrodden, who also wants to know why Poirot is accusing him of murdering Barnabas Pandy.

Of course, there’s no way that Hercule Poirot would let a mystery of this kind remain unsolved and so he sets out to track down Baranabas Pandy and, if the man is dead, to find out why someone would want to accuse various people of his murder and, perhaps more importantly, why that person would want to drag Poirot into it.

The Mystery of the Three Quarters involves an odd and nicely twisting case for Poirot to solve. And it’s good to see the great detective front and centre during the investigation, as Hannah’s previous two Poirot books centred much more on Inspector Catchpole. He even gets to spend some time in a country house – the ideal setting for a murder during the golden age of crime fiction – as he attempts to unravel the mystery of Barnabas Pandy.

I was initially really sceptical going into this, simply because I didn't know Sophie Hannah's writing style and I didn't know if it would quite compare to Agatha Christie's wonderful tale-telling abilities. However, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by The Mystery of Three Quarters! The story in itself was highly intriguing and I think Sophie Hannah did a great job of trying to capture Christie's knack for storytelling. 

I had so many different predictions as to who the true murderer was and literally none of them was right! Although some of the 'twists' were obvious and predictable, I didn't mind as much simply because the writing style was so fun to read and I was enjoying the story as a whole. The characters all appeared well-rounded and I was definitely able to pick out my favourites and least favourites!

One thing I do have to say is that Hannah's reincarnation of Poirot isn't quite up to scratch with Christie's in terms of the atmosphere. While Hannah does a good job of mimicking her style, it lacks a certain something that was ever-present in Christie's original works. Nonetheless, Hannah presents a respectable endeavour into the mysteries of Hercule Poirot and I am absolutely going to be reading more of her Poirot novels!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for this opportunity!

Absolutely delightful! Literally nothing else to say! Except......Sophie Hannah has done M. Poirot and Agatha Christie total justice. Love love LOVE!
5/5

Being a big Agatha Christie fan I was very keen to read Sophie Hannah's continuation of the tales of detective Poirot, with her having gained the rights from Agatha Christie's estate to do so. This is the third Poirot book Hannah has written. She very much keeps to the style of Christie, with characters living of a typical middle class English bourgeoisie of the time and Poirot is typically portrayed with his quirky mannerisms and elusive comments. The story begins when 4 characters receive letters, supposedly from Poirot himself, accusing them all of the murder of a Barnabas Pandy. It is from this that Poirot's investigation begins, alongside detective Catchpool, to find out who has sent these letters and why, and if Barnabas Pandy murdered at all. We are introduced to many characters as the story unfolds, with dialogue reflecting the class of the characters at this time. Whilst Hannah follows very much the style of Christie, the part that let this book down for me was the revelation at the end of the novel. The revelation forms that last 20% of the book, which for me felt slightly drawn out. I also did not feel that the final conclusion presented a surprise or twist for myself as the reader, and so felt also slightly let down that the murderer was easily someone I had suspected earlier in the novel. The end of Christie novels for me were all in the revelation at the end with some kind of twist or unexpected character being revealed as the murderer. This was overall an easy read, but didn't quite hold my intrigue the whole way through as I had hoped it would. My thanks go out to netgalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this.

Hercule Poirot is outraged to learn that someone has sent a letter - pertaining to be from him - to four individuals, accusing them of murder. Out of a sense of frustration with the scenario, Poirot begins to investigate.
An old man has been found drowned in his bath. Nobody thinks a murder has been committed until the appearance of the letters. The question is, how are these characters all linked and who stands to gain from this non-existent crime being looked into?
Poirot himself admits to not knowing the identity of the murderer until late on.
Although it’s Sophie Hannah writing in the style of Christie, this book felt of its time. It also felt quite slow in its execution, which meant it didn’t really interest me as I’d hoped it would.
I’m grateful to NetGalley, however, for offering me the opportunity to read this.

Many thanks to Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book to read.

This was one of my most anticipated reads, I felt so lucky when I was accepted to read this ARC. I love Sophie Hannah, I have read and enjoyed many of her books in the past. I also love Agatha Christie, so a mix of both together was something that made me so excited.

I did enjoy this book, but it didn't live up to my expectations with disappoints me. I am so sad writing this. It is not a terrible book and it is one that I would recommend. Maybe my expectations were slightly too high? Maybe I should have gone into this without them and then maybe I would have enjoyed this book a little bit more. Maybe, I should stop overusing the word maybe? Maybe?

Whilst this read was interesting I feel like it lacked atmosphere and substance. Atmosphere and substance is my favourite thing about Agatha Christie books which is why I am disappointed. Nothing surprised me in this story, there did not seem to be any twists and it appeared to be far too straight forward. I seemed to guess all parts of the plot and there does not appear to be anything that took me by surprise.

This unfortunately did not live up to my expectations, however I still recommend that you give it a go. It may just be me and I could be in the minority.

There seems to be a real rise in these kind of poirot style books at the moment. This one was okay, just okay. I liked the first part of the story but lost interest when not a lot else happened. Did not finish.

"Hercule Poirot returns home after an agreeable luncheon to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met. She is furious to be so accused, and deeply shocked. Poirot is equally shocked, because he too has never heard of any Barnabas Pandy, and he certainly did not send the letter in question. He cannot convince Sylvia Rule of his innocence, however, and she marches away in a rage.

Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him -- a man called John McCrodden who also claims also to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy...

Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered? And can Poirot find out the answers without putting more lives in danger?"

I grew up in a house where my parents watched Miss Marple and Poirot, if they weren't watching the film adaptations then they were reading the books, as soon as I was old enough I started to read Christie's books. Around the age of 25 I found a treasure, one of Sophie Hannah's books and fell in love, you can imagine my excitement when she picked up where Christie had (sort of) left off. I have loved each of her Poirot books and was thrilled when netgalley gave me the chance for an ARC of this particular one.

I found it easy and cosy to read, the characters were believable albeit a bit cold. The plot line flowed and was easy to follow. I will definitely continue to read Sophie Hannah's books.. and would recommend this to anybody who loves a good old murder mystery

This is an entertaining and compelling story with a complicated mystery
It is a welcome addition to the series
It’s well written with a great plot. The pace of the book is good

This ARC was courtesy of netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased

I was sooo pleased to be able to read an advanced copy of this. I've read some of the author's books previously and never been disappointed. This also hits the spot

A real summer treat

Sophie Hannah is a worthy writer to give us more amazing Poirot stories, it's hard to put down as you pit your 'little grey cells' against Poirot to see if you can solve the mystery first. Twits and turns along the way make it almost impossible until all is revealed

Oh I do love Hercule and this did not disappoint.
Letters are arriving accusing innocent people and signed by Poirot himself. But who is doing this?
I started this series with trepidation but I can honestly say that Hannah has created her own version of the famous detective by cleverly using a different voice to tell the story.
Good

Sophie Hannah never ceases to deliver. This isn’t my first book by this author but it was my first Hercule Poirot book and I must say although simple I thoroughly enjoyed it. Set in 1930 in London, Poirot is visited one after the other by 4 people who have all been accused of murdering Barnabas Pandy in a letter signed from Poirot himself. Except he didn’t write the letters and Barnabas was an elderly man who drowned in his bath. Of course he soon gets involved along with the help of Edward Catchpool to solve the mystery. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for letting me review this delightful novel.

This was tremendous fun, beautifully capturing the essence of Poirot and spinning a page-turning mystery that I couldn't put down. It was everything I hoped for in a book like this, and had me chuckling away to myself at times while scratching my head at others.

Many thanks for the review copy!

Thoroughly enjoyed this one, great characterisation, well written and wonderful to have more Hercule Poirot to enjoy.

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

Hercule Poirot is caught on the back foot at the novel's opening; it seems he has accused four seemingly unconnected people of the murder of Barnabas Pandy of Cobbingham Hall, each recieving a letter from the Belgian sleuth himself. However, no letter were sent by our foreign friend.

I love a good whodunnit and Sophie Hannah definitely delivers in her 3rd instalment of Poirot investigations. You can't help but be pulled back in time by her descriptive prose whilst simultaneously intrigued as characters true identities unfold in an absorbing plotline.

If I had one criticism it would be the gut-wrenching slow reveal our protagonist takes joy in revealing in the final quarter but maybe this is the art of good writing.