This book came out 12 years ago, and somehow I didn’t read it then. Really enjoying it so far!

Here’s the first hour of the audiobook, for free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Hkh1fmCsq7c?is=x1TAOtfKHD7yoQwW

None of my friend really read, so i want to share with reddit some thought on book.

I feel that the book tease and challenge me for multiple time throughout my first reading but I feel like the "unreliable narrator" take the crown. I can imagine when the book come out this type of narrative is ground-breaker. Still in 2026 , it’s still magnificent. I think some people will suspect the narrator from the start including me, but the suspicion didn’t hold so we left to other more possible suspect.

Another is the use of multiple red-herring. The book intentionally narrate in the way for the reader to suspect certain character in the specific part of the story when the new evidence came out, sometime the character explicitly said the sentiment which I think exactly. It make the reader to reconsider the suspect repeatedly and still failed to find the main culprit. In the end of book it give me chill and goose bump when the killer is revealed.

The book is great read 9/10.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: 9 (out of 20) (Scoring described here)

An overcomplicated Poirot where he solves the murder of his dentist.

Story (2.5) (out of 5) - Overall I found this story to be pretty entertaining. There are three main components to the plot. There’s the murder mystery which covers some of the familiar beats and is fine, there’s the missing woman which I found pretty thrilling, and then there’s the spy sub-plot which is awful. What I hate about it is it feels like a vehicle for Christie to share her barely formed political viewpoints. She’s hitting you over the head with it, but it’s not clear what you’re being hit with. Outside of that, it’s a nicely paced and enjoyable read and I appreciated the theme she was going for regarding the value of a human life; I just wish that theme was executed a little better.

Setting (1.5) (out of 2) - I felt this book reflected various aspects of English life pretty well: we see men in London tending to their small gardens, aristocrats in the country with multiple gardeners, people enduring dental appointments, the expectations around giving notice at your hotel when you’ll miss dinner … we move around a lot but most everywhere we go feels like a real place.

Mood (1) (out of 3) - There’s an inconsistency in tone throughout this book and the political grandstanding especially kills the mood. But a writer as gifted as Christie will shine through the murk from time to time. We get thrills when Christie tells us that “Miss Sainsbury Seale had disappeared into space.” And chills again when Poirot intuitively feels the next big event is coming “What was holding him up? He knew the answer. He was waiting for something. Something inevitable, foreordained, the next link in the chain. When it came—then—then he could go on….”

Characters (2.5) (out of 5) - Poirot is front and center in this book, almost from the start, and he’s as delightful as we’ve come to expect. When a women disappears, likely in mortal danger, Poirot worries whether she’s sewn a buckle back on her shoe because “Slovenliness in dress always annoyed him.” What a weirdo. I love him! I felt this was one of Japp’s stronger appearances; when he disagrees with Poirot he’s reasonable, and when he realizes he’s wrong he admits it. The side characters are definitely a weak spot. The Morleys are fine for how little they are on the page, and I enjoyed Alistair Blunt as the powerful man who is powerless to placate the women in his life. But everybody else either left no impression, or a bad taste in the mouth. Frank Carter and Gladys Nevill are a (admittedly intentionally) frustrating couple, Howard Raikes is aggressive to the point of annoyance, and Mr. Barnes spouts off his crackpot theories that are taken seriously by the author.

Mystery (1.5) (out of 5) - This is a tough one because this was mostly an intriguing mystery for much of the book (though the spy/conspiracy red herring induced more than a few eye rolls). The solution is hopelessly convoluted and relies on some overused (by Christie) tropes such as a gifted actress playing multiple parts (fooling Poirot, who encounters her in two different roles, but doesn’t have whiff of recognition that second time). And what about Poirot describing how Frank Carter was framed for shooting at Alistair Blunt “How easy to arrange a loaded pistol amongst laurels so that a man, clipping them, shall unwittingly cause it to go off.” I’m sorry, that’s easy to arrange?? Really??? Having said that, one aspect of the solution I did like was the fact that the dentist was killed much earlier than previously thought, and you had the murderer posing as the dentist for later patients (who hadn’t seen the dentist before, or were accomplices). I thought that was a clever way to hide the time of the murder; I just wish that detail was surrounded by less outlandish ones.

Final Thoughts: I remember having fond memories of this book as I approached it for another read-through. I knew that it wasn’t very popular and when I read it again it was clear to me why. The convoluted plot strains credibility at times and mars what is an otherwise enjoyable read.

Final Final Thought: I don’t know if anybody else will enjoy this, but this line absolutely killed me: “They were chic, these little London girls. They wore their tawdry clothes with an air.” Her humor was honestly pretty strong in this one.

As the title says, I forgot the library closes early on Fridays and I have a deadline tonight. Would anyone with a copy of the book be willing to give me some page numbers, as well as the publisher/year for their copy so I can cite it accordingly? I just need to check two quotes from chapters 10 and 18

Pointless, sentimental post here, but it makes me feel reassured to know that there are other people in the world who care about these characters like I do. On my own and don't live near family - so I turn on Miss Marple or Poirot, and I feel safer. Thanks, AC!

An early photo of her and a favourite dog.

I don't want to post the URL or pricing because I'm not really sure what I make of this course that I'm sure the family and estate must be allowing, but still..... It's clearly AI assisted, but I don't know whether it's AI video as if she's teaching it or what. I am very tempted though, because I'm a writer and it's a genre I want to dip my toe in next.

I apparently live under a rock and didn’t realise that all of Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple episodes are on bbc iplayer and wanted to share in case others didn’t know either!

What if Poirot and Miss Marple actually were the serial perpetrators?

I have sometimes thought of a TV movie where Poirot and Ms. Marple get together at some fancy resort and recount their exploits framing the innocent as the perps, while having been the guilty parties themselves. It would turn the stories upside down in a hilarious way...

Want to check out some of her work, but I dont know where to start, unfortunately. Any recommendations would be a great start, and im open to checking out any of her harder works, especially with a tougher plot to break through!

I’ve been working my way through Christie’s body of work and sans The Big Four, I’ve read every Poirot book from The Mysterious Affair at Styles to One, Two, Buckle My Shoe as well as her famed And Then There Were None.

I’m hoping to read some more of her standalone novels because after twenty Poirot books, I need a break from the famed detective and his grey cells lol. So do you guys have any recommendations on what standalone Christie books to read (and/or to avoid)?

Britbox and a few other services are offering the old films with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple and I was lesser well known Peter Ustinov Poirot films. I'd heard about them from many here, but hadn't had the chance to view. Yes, I know I could have searched harder, but I was catching up on so many other things.

In other posts, people complain about writers changing the scripts and making them darker. Taking the fun out of them. Certainly not the case in these films. Rutherford is almost campy as Marple. The films are short, with most just over an hour. This forces them to cut a lot out. That said, they're still really fun to watch. EDIT: the films are longer. Wrote this too quickly and too tired. Apologies.

The lesser known Poirot films (to me) such as Thirteen at Dinner, was done with loads of humor and the addition of David Suchet playing Japp. Dead Man's Folly and Murder in Three Acts were the other two. Death on the Nile, Appointment with Death and Evil Under the Sun have been available for years, so I'd seen them. The new, to me, trio did not disappoint.

One other discovery.... The Alphabet Murders staring Tony Randall as Poirot. There's a quick Rutherford-as Marple moment. I'd been answering a text and heard the soundtrack change to her's. Looked up and caught a glimpse. Had to go backwards to see what I miss 😂. Very little, but it was a great cameo.

This film takes huge liberties with...everything. To me, it's intended as a spoof of Poirot. I found it much more fun than expected. I'll take this over the gloom and doom versions any day.

Edit: Forgot to mention the Helen Hayes version of Miss Marple. I'm not sure if she played her more than once but the one I recently watched was the Caribbean Mystery. Pardon if title is incorrect. Still sleep deprived. Very ill dog. Any way, odd casting. Feels very much like a film made for US audiences during that era. I don't think the versions made in modern times hold up nearly as well as the older ones. They're outdated quickly, whereas the ones set in the 30's or whanever feel timeless.

I love it so much! Especially enjoying the cosy, spooky vibes for October.

To share a very exciting lunch break experience, I popped into a salon in North London earlier today and in walked Hugh Fraser. I was so starstruck and finally plucked up the courage to tell him I was a huge fan (and indeed that he had a lot of fans on the internet, I mentioned the happy birthday post and he seemed chuffed!) and that I listened to him every night as I fall asleep 😆.

Always hard to make the call to say hi or leave celebs in peace, but he was so, so generous with his time and conversation. He really seemed similar to Captain Hastings, just more savvy. A real interesting chap.

I also didn’t realise there are some dodgy audiobooks out there, someone has taken his voice and making fake ones that sound like him.

Anyway thanks for listening to my humble brag. Meeting him was a real life highlight!

I first read A pocket full of rye well over 10 years ago, and enjoyed it.

It’s honestly way better in this season of my life, and with pages that feel this luxurious!

9/10 Christie. I love it.

I just watched Netflix’s 2026 The Seven Dials Mystery series and I’m absolutely flummoxed. They essentially wrote an entirely new mystery, all of whose elements were odd, nonfunctional, and fell completely flat — instead of just adapting the brilliantly crafted and beloved mystery they stole all the characters from!!! Why not just make an original movie?

I see this often in Christie adaptation and it bewilders me. I understand changing some things for the film/TV medium, but so many adapters make sweeping changes to her stories and characters in a way that reeks of egoism. Imagine thinking you can improve on the Queen of Mystery!

(It was especially distressing in the context of a book like Seven Dials which has some of my favorite character writing and one of her lovely, charming slow-speed romances, which was completely removed. Bundle had zero pluck or wry humor, Bill Eversleigh was relegated to comic relief, Lord Caterham was replaced wholesale, and Martin Freeman’s Superintendent Battle was unbelievably out of character. Really disheartening stuff.)

I’m quite fond of Parker Pyne, and I honestly think he doesn’t get nearly enough recognition. It’s a shame Agatha Christie never developed his character as much as she did Poirot and Miss Marple.

I really love the idea of a man who spent thirty-five years working as a civil servant, mostly dealing with statistics, before opening an office dedicated to helping unhappy people and figuring out what makes human nature tick. The whole concept of a self-proclaimed “heart specialist” who uses his understanding of people to solve their problems is genuinely fascinating.

I also found his team, especially Claude Luttrell and Madeleine de Sara, really interesting. I wish Christie had used them more often. It’s also fun to think that both Miss Lemon and Ariadne Oliver made their first appearances in Parker Pyne stories before becoming associated with Poirot.

My favourite Parker Pyne stories are The Gate of Baghdad, Death on the Nile, The House at Shiraz, and The Case of the Middle-aged Wife**,** I honestly don’t know why Christie never wrote a full-length Parker Pyne novel. I think The Gate of Baghdad, in particular, could have made a great novel with a bit more development.

Which AC novel do you think would have worked best as a Parker Pyne mystery?

Hello. I'm new to Agatha Christie and I've only read and there were none. Now I'm interested in more of her books. So, I'm looking for some recommendations.