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Curtain: Poirot's Last Case Hardcover – May 4, 2016
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length240 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow & Company
- Publication dateMay 4, 2016
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-100062573349
- ISBN-13978-0062573346
- Lexile measure750L
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Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow & Company (May 4, 2016)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062573349
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062573346
- Lexile measure : 750L
- Item Weight : 14.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #558,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,513 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all but her closest friends.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers enjoyed the book and found the story fascinating. They appreciated the well-developed characters and writing style. Some felt the case was overly contrived and superficial, while others felt it was a great final adventure of the series.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book. They find it enjoyable, unpredictable, and a perfect Christie mystery experience. Readers appreciate the final adventure with Poirot, an affable, likeable character. The book is described as a wise novel by the clever author.
"...time for this unabridged audiobook is six hours and what a superb listening experience it is!..." Read more
"...Hastings does somehow manage to carry Curtain though,and is an affable, likeable, diligent character...." Read more
"The premise of the book is fantastic. My issues lies with the execution and the characters...." Read more
"...He earns it. They earn it, together. It is such a great book...." Read more
Customers enjoy the story. They find it a fascinating finale, a great Hercule Poirot mystery, and a fitting conclusion to the series. The story keeps readers guessing until the end and is a lovely nostalgic read.
"...is little else to say except to reiterate that this is a terrific Hercule Poirot mystery that all Christie fans will want to hear time and again." Read more
"...And a truly surprising and twist ending." Read more
"...Needless to say, the mystery is solved - it is all justifiable and made sense in the end - and, yes!,..." Read more
"This is not a bad story, but for avid Poirotphiles, it's just not Poirot...." Read more
Customers enjoy the character development in the book. They find the characters unique and praise the writing style of Agatha Christie. The setting is interesting, and readers describe the book as a must-read for Agatha Christie fans.
"...It had laid the groundwork for each character well...." Read more
"...manage to carry Curtain though,and is an affable, likeable, diligent character...." Read more
"Interesting premise for the end of poirot great character development intriguing search for the identity of x enjoyable read of one of the master..." Read more
"Christie is masterful. An interesting setting and characters. The psychology is captivating...." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find it readable and well-written, with enough detail to make each situation clear without being overly detailed. Readers appreciate the author's reading and rhythm.
"...His reading and rhythm are just top-notch, as it is with all the Christie works which he has taken on...." Read more
"This book both so like and dislike Agatha Christie's writing. It had laid the groundwork for each character well...." Read more
"...It was written in a remarkably clever manner, still detailing the usual pithy Christie characterisations and observations of all the people present..." Read more
"It was very difficult for me to read this book. I love Poirot... he is my favorite Agatha Cristie's character...." Read more
Customers enjoy the clever and well-intentioned detective in this book. They find the Belgian detective honest, amusing, and pompous. The ending makes sense to them.
"...Needless to say, the mystery is solved - it is all justifiable and made sense in the end - and, yes!,..." Read more
"...In the end, Poirot reveals all, in a very clever and satisfactory conclusion. (I'd say more, but I don't want to leave any spoilers!)..." Read more
"Another great Hercule Poirot story by the best mystery writer of all time. Great book. Had a hard time putting it down." Read more
"...attention at all times, I also recommend the film, which is truly faithful to the book and has the superb performance of David Suchet as Poirot." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's sadness. Some find it bittersweet and love it, while others dislike it. The ending for Poirot is a sad one for some readers.
"Bittersweet. Poirot, even in a diminished capacity, has plenty of tricks up his sleeve." Read more
"...This book left me sad, and I have to honestly say, I don't think I liked it. I know lots of reviewers did, but for me not so much...." Read more
"so sad, love the book" Read more
"...It was good like all are but sad when Poirot died. One of the better assets to the book is the essay about Agatha's Poirot series." Read more
Customers find the book dull and slow. They say the case isn't interesting, and the solution seems contrived. Readers also mention that the paper looks cheap and the text size is very small, making it difficult to read.
"...I found them all superficial. Poirot was condescending, arrogant, and aloof...." Read more
"...Did AC write this?! Many parts were boring, others unbelievable, and the ending was a huge disappointment. I'm sad and angry." Read more
"The paper looked cheap & the text was very small, this made it difficult to read. Really felt I had thrown my money away." Read more
"...Now I was curious and read it again. What a disappointment! Soooo dull!..." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2009Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings began their first renowned case together with The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot Mysteries (Audio)). And in their concluding encounter, Poirot's last case, the pair completes the circle, again teaming up at Styles Court (which is under new ownership) to ferret out a murderer.
The old mansion of Styles is now a renovated boarding house run by an elderly couple and Poirot calls upon his life-long friend and Man Friday, Captain Hastings, to abet him in his final and most compelling case. Hasting's modernistic and independent daughter is also on the premises and the Captain's unwelcome exertions in attempting to sort out her future provides an appetizing sub-plot.
One of the numerous residents of Styles is a serial killer and the motive for this murderer's heinous crimes remains unclear for a time. The solution to this one is a real zinger and Christie fans will certainly not be let down.
This is a "Golden Age" classic British mystery in every sense, even though the book was published in 1975. The fact is that, doubting her own survival in the face of the endless World War Two conflagrations, Christie wrote this fine whodunnit in the early 1940s! The Poirot mystery which Christie last wrote (1972) was Elephants Can Remember (Hercule Poirot), and her final work (which featured Tommy and Tuppence Beresford) was Postern of Fate, published in 1973. Agatha Christie died in 1976.
Hugh Fraser reads this story from the first-person perspective of Captain Hastings. His reading and rhythm are just top-notch, as it is with all the Christie works which he has taken on. Prospective buyers should be aware that this title is also available with an alternative reader: Curtain: Complete & Unabridged: Poirot's Last Case. This edition is read by John Moffatt, another master of the art. Which one is best? I cannot say for anyone else but I prefer Fraser on this particular work but most folks will be pleased with either one.
I really like the packaging on my Harpercollins audiobook, which is notably different than the one pictured. My CDs are securely housed in a clear, heavy plastic, music-type container and all five CDs are "stacked" inside, a method which I find preferable to the typical cardboard "slip cases" where each CD slides into a slot. If this is an issue, you might contact the seller in advance to see which packaging format s/he is offering. In any event, the total time for this unabridged audiobook is six hours and what a superb listening experience it is!
There is little else to say except to reiterate that this is a terrific Hercule Poirot mystery that all Christie fans will want to hear time and again.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2025This book both so like and dislike Agatha Christie's writing. It had laid the groundwork for each character well. Gave an excellent depiction of the undertone of the Styles house, the evil it seemed to possess. How clever Hercule was throughout the telling of the reasoning for his being there and for George no longer being his valued attendent. And a truly surprising and twist ending.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2015Well !? I was miffed to have missed the David Suchet television representation of Poirot's last ever mystery, so I decided that i HAD to read the book - based on the buzz that had been created by the media surrounding the storyline.
I shall not spoil the plot and reveal all - that would be so unsportsmanlike (other contributors should take note!) - so I shall just say that as an Agatha Christie fan I was kind of putting off reading this, almost like saving the best for last, but also knowing that it would be 'strange' to go back to other Poirot novels knowing what happens to him in this final story.
The story is narrated by Hastings, his ever-faithful friend and co-sort. It was written in a remarkably clever manner, still detailing the usual pithy Christie characterisations and observations of all the people present (the list of suspects). So it was almost like reading any other Agatha Christie - it was an enjoyable read. The only thing that was disappointing was the lack of the man himself 'starring' in this book, as it really would have been a spectacle to have Poirot weave his eccentricities throughout, creating tensions, asking questions, motivating the energy, bringing out sub-plots and then - as always - gathering the crowd of maybe-murderers together at the end to do the 'big reveal'. In this book we find Poirot a very elderly and immobile figure, confined to a wheelchair, bound by his physical ailments and - for the most part in this book - locked away in his room at the hotel only surfacing occasionally to steer Capt Hastings back on track with the investigations.
Needless to say, the mystery is solved - it is all justifiable and made sense in the end - and, yes!, Poirot does a type of final performance/reveal at the end which wraps it all up nicely. However, I cannot help but feel that this was written almost in a cold, calculated, way by AC as necessity out of having to detail the end of Poirot, to wrap him up and close that chapter for herself, the publishers and the readers. There did not feel any real act of love for Hercule, which I was quite saddened by.
Hastings does somehow manage to carry Curtain though,and is an affable, likeable, diligent character. It is through his emotions, from his perspective, that we view the demise of the Great Belgian Detective. It just would have been nice to have felt it for myself.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2022The premise of the book is fantastic. My issues lies with the execution and the characters.
I didn’t warm up to or bond with any of the characters. I found them all superficial. Poirot was condescending, arrogant, and aloof. Hastings was the only one whose thoughts and feelings were well described.
As this was the last book with Poirot, in which he actually dies, I had expected a more well-rounded character portrayal with glimpses of him as a younger detective and maybe a reflection here and there about his life, his train of thought, his regrets, and maybe even some humanity with doubts and wishes for what his life could be like had he not been weakened and in failing health.
The plot is convoluted with too many small clues that nobody picks up on. This causes the reader to place their trust completely in Hastings as he is Poirot’s extension. As he tries to figure out X’s identity, he also has to deal with family issues regarding his daughter, who is also at Styles. It muddies the pool.
Hasting’s butterfly brain finds no rest in the book, not even at the end. There is no rest at the end for the reader either. For in the end, we only have Poirot’s high-and-mighty word for what really happened.
Top reviews from other countries
- MargaretReviewed in Canada on April 18, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars It’s an Agatha Christie book!!!
All of her books are amazing. I am collector of history books and not typically what I would read. Tried “And ThenThere Were None I couldn’t wait to read another Agatha book I have about twenty now.
- OlivesReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Goodbye Poirot!
A must read for any die-hard Christie/Poirot fan. I read all the books in order and it was sad reading about his health declining.
It’s a good story, a good ending and of course very sad. As soon as I finished reading I watched the ITV version!
- Atulya SinhaReviewed in India on May 28, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars A ‘CURTAIN’ STORED IN A BANK VAULT
Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is one of the bestselling authors of all time, whose books have sold about 2 billion copies in many different languages. Her most famous creation is M. Hercule Poirot, a Belgian refugee who works as a private detective in England. Poirot’s first appearance was in 1920 and his last appearance is in this book published in 1975!
‘Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case’ offers an ensemble cast of characters gathered at Styles Court, where Poirot had stayed when he first reached England. Captain Hastings, the brave but obtuse narrator, receives an unexpected invitation from Poirot to join him at Styles Court, which is now being run as a guest house by Colonel Luttrell and his wife. One of the guests is Dr Franklin, who employs the narrator’s daughter Judith for assisting his research into physostigmines extracted from West African Calabar beans – the details appear to be quite authentic, as Christie had famously acquired a detailed knowledge of poisons while working as a nurse during the First World War.
Poirot seems brilliant and egoistic as ever, but “crippled with arthiritis, he propelled himself about in a wheeled chair.” He informs Hastings that there is a dangerous murderer amongst the guests, whom he does not name but simply calls ‘X’. Hastings is assigned the seemingly impossible task of observing the activities of X, whose identity is still unknown to him. To add to his woes, Hastings finds that Judith flirting with another guest whom he considers a “rotter”…
Christie often relies on literature and art to convey hints and shades of meaning. The name ‘Judith’ comes from the Old Testament, where a girl by that name killed Holofernes, the general of an army which had besieged her hometown. In this book, some suspicion falls on Dr Franklin and Judith after the hypochondriacal Mrs Franklin dies by ingesting the very substance that was being researched by them. Apart from the Biblical allusion, Judith had declared herself in favour of ending “unfit lives, useless lives.” Dr Franklin, too, expresses similar views. “Since death comes anyway, what does it matter if it comes early or late? There’s so little difference.”
‘Curtain’ was actually written in 1939-40, in the midst of Christie’s most productive period. As Lucy Worsely says in her recent biography of Christie, “She also pushed ahead with two more books, ‘Sleeping Murder’ and ‘Curtain’. One featuring Miss Marple and the other the death of Hercule Poirot, these two were not to be published immediately, but stockpiled for the future. They were stored in a bank vault, insured against destruction, and given by deed of gift to Rosalind and Max,” referring to her daughter and husband respectively.
It appears that Christie never tried to update this book to suit the changing times and hence it appears quite anachronistic. While ‘Curtain’ does not explicitly mention when the events take place, from the context it appears that it is set in the late 1940s or early 1950s, since there are frequent references to the Second World War and erstwhile colonial administrators are still in the prime of life. In contrast, there are several Poirot novels – e.g. ‘Third Girl’ and ‘Halloween Party’ – which are clearly set in the 1960s.
The plot of this book is superlative, even by Christie’s standards. Without giving away the plot, I think that this book redefines the boundaries of detective stories, even as ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ had done when it had been published nearly fifty years earlier.
Note: Just as connoisseurs of music might prefer the authenticity of LPs compared to the soulless perfection of digital sound, those who love old books will appreciate the hard-bound facsimile of the first edition.
- SimpliciusReviewed in Germany on January 20, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Agatha Christies most moving novels
Masterly! And it's a good thing that Agatha Christie wrote this last book in her Hercule Poirot series long before her mental decline began which - alas! - marred so many of her later books, "Curtain" to be issued only after her death. To tell anything about the contents would spoil all the fun, so I prefer to abstain from it. But if I say "fun", I must confess that this is only partially true, because "Curtain" is also a very sad book about aging and death. But Dame Agatha pulls it of so brilliantly that the reader closes the book maybe with a tear in his eye but also with a loving smile on his face.
Note: I strongly advise you not to miss the TV production of "Curtain" which is easily available on DVD. David Suchets portrayal of the nearly derelict Poirot is definitely one of the best in his long series of Poirot TV films.
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Cliente AmazonReviewed in Spain on December 7, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars LECTURA IMPRESCINDIBLE
Cualquiera que guste de leer novelas sobre crímenes no debe dejar de leer esta obra maestra. Buena para practicar inglés.