Book Club

Poirot Stories

Poirot is Agatha Christie's most famous and popular detective.  No doubt he would agree that he deserves that accolade!

Here is the place to discuss all of his stories in detail with other fans.  The most insightful comments will be added to the Stories pages.  But remember to beware spoilers!

If you can't find your favourite Poirot story here, don't worry - we'll be adding them all soon.

Warning: These discussions may contain spoilers!

Hercule Poirot's Christmas

Moderator1 09 Nov 09 at 9:04 a.m. GMT

Christie wrote this story specially for her brother-in-law James who wanted a 'good violent murder with lots of blood' and she certainly delivered that with this tale of the death of Simeon Lee.  Found in a locked room with his throat slashed it first appears that it was suicide.  However when Hercule Poirot is brought in to help with the investigation he finds that any member of the assembled family and guests would have had good reason to kill a tyrant.

Is the character of Simeon Lee just so awful that you find yourself on the side of the murderer!?  Is this one of Christie's plots where you have to suspend belief somewhat when Poirot uncovers the murderer?  Why did no-one else realise the indentity?

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38 replies

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bhar1234 28 Nov 09 at 9:25 a.m. GMT

Simeon Lee mudered and i always suspected Harry Lee,then moving to George Lee and Magdelene.then i got a spur of suspicion with Lydia lee and then Pilar Estravados.but never suspected Sudgeon!!!

Christie's talent is that she can lead her readers to the completely WRONG track!then the real culprit is so unexpected that you admire Christie all the more!!

Attica76 03 Jan 10 at 2:41 p.m. GMT

I have long given up trying who the murderer is in Christie's stories and I'm always misled by the red herrings (and I would have never guessed the motive wasn't monetary gain, too). So I enjoyed this book immensely although it's so macabre.

But I must say that in my view, Simeon Lee didn't  deserve to die, unlike, say, the victim in Murder on the Orient Express.

Nofret 07 Jan 10 at 11:01 a.m. GMT

One of my top 5 Christies! As well as having a totally unexpected ending, the characters are so lively and well-drawn, especially Lydia, MP George and his tarty wife, and David and Hylda.

It's a shame that the IMO excellent TV production of this book entirely omitted the latter couple. But in its dramatisation of Simeon Lee's back history it showed that he certainly deserved to be murdered, Attica! My only quibble is why someone hadn't done for the blighter long ago!

Attica76 07 Jan 10 at 3:28 p.m. GMT

Nofret, do you mean the Suchet version? (I'm not sure if there are any others though). I liked it in general, although I must say they toned it down a bit - I mean, the atmosphere in the house wasn't as tense and hostile as it's in the book.

Interestingly, while the book pays practically no attention to Sudgeon's mother (only mentioning that Simeon must have paid her a neat sum to turn over a new leaf with the baby and a new man), placing the responsibility for the murder on Sudgeon's shoulders because he inherited Simeon's revengeful spirit. But in the film, there's the mother who was the driving force behind the revenge, probably poisoning his mind for years. What kind of mother does that to her own child? If she wanted Simeon dead she could have done it herself. (But we wouldn't have the excellent plot then ).

I still believe that even if (and it's a big if) Simeon deserved to be murdered, he didn't deserve to be murdered by his own son. 

Inspector_Kelly 08 Jan 10 at 11:37 a.m. GMT

This is one of the best of her stories, and one of my favourites. The most clever thing about it, is who the murderer is. You would never guess.

Fishcake16 09 Jan 10 at 7:13 p.m. GMT

I thought that this story was really cleverly written. I mean the way the string was tied round the furniture and then was pulled from outside the window to make it look like there was a struggle before Simeon Lee's throat was cut! One of Agatha's best I think! I love the way you can't tell who the murderer is! I just love the story line and plot behind it! By the way I think David Suchet plays Poirot the best no one else quite compares to him!

christie_greece 10 Jan 10 at 11:22 a.m. GMT

From the first moment that simeon lee was dead, I believed tha Sudgeon was guilty.For a moment I suspected Pilar, but in the end I was absolutely sure tha Sudgeon was the murderer.However, I had NO IDEA about his motive.

3rdGirl 10 Jan 10 at 11:15 p.m. GMT

Oh this is the ONLY AC book where I actually guessed the murderer! So now I'm feeling very clever indeed!

I definitely picked up on the butler feeling like he was seeing things and the same person over and over.

I also loved that Simeon Lee was so horrible. I do enjoy her books when I love to hate the victim! He was awful.

Fishcake16 11 Jan 10 at 4:07 p.m. GMT

I thought that Sudgeon was guilty but I didn't know his motive. I thought the murder itself was cleverly done. And I agree that Simeon Lee was horrible and I felt sorry for the woman who he spent the night with and then fled I felt so sorry for her...

cristina86 11 Jan 10 at 11:08 p.m. GMT

I read it again in English this Christmas (had read it over and over again in italian in the past) and it was really the perfect holiday mystery. I remembered most of it well enough, though I did pay more attentions to details that I had never noticed in the translated narrative, such as the times Sudgeon was shown to throw his head back and laugh just like Harry, Stephen and the late Simeon Lee.

3rdGirl 12 Jan 10 at 2:52 a.m. GMT

I read it this Christmas too cristina86! The perfect Christmas Eve/Day book for our extremely hot Christmas here in Australia! I found it very bleak and gruesome and really enjoyed that Simeon Lee's family were slowly coming to terms with the fact that it must have been 'one of them' and they couldn't leave.

originality_querido 14 Jan 10 at 2:06 a.m. GMT

In Hercule Poirot's Christmas I tought it was Lydia, but, it turned out to be the policeman. Oh man, that was sick. I really got disappointed with that end, I would have change it. Cause, it's kind of unfair, with us readers, to present us the guilty without giving us the opportunity first to distrust of him. So, what did you think about that end?But, no offence. I love her books. Actually it's the only thing I read almost :p

go_leafs_nation 14 Jan 10 at 1:06 p.m. GMT

I never did understand why people consider this book 'unfair'. The hints are all there, and practically scream at the reader upon re-reading. Police officers are people also- they have emotions, too. But mystery readers tend to forget that and the inspector is practically always dismissed as 'the fool who will focus on the wrong end of the stick'. Agatha Christie took advantage of readers' preconception of "the police officer investigating the crime" and made an ingenious twist. To paraphrase Dorothy L. Sayers when she defended The Murder of Roger Acrkoyd: It's the reader's business to suspect everyone.

sjoerdbol 15 Jan 10 at 12:50 p.m. GMT

You're right , everyone around should be considered as a possible murderer, except Poirot because you know he's the one solving it.   But if a police officer is so close to the murder scene, and well aquainted with the victim and the family, you should consider the possibility that he might have done it. I watched the Suchet version on christmas day :)

Tommy_A_Jones 15 Jan 10 at 1:38 p.m. GMT

The Writer should give the reader a fair chance to solver it and if the Murderer is someone who is assisting the sleuth the reader isn't playing fair, Go_leaf you say you don't understand why the book is considered 'unfair', Although I haven't read it I have seen it on Television many times although I first heard it on Radio 4. and I can't see why it shouldn't along with The Murder of Roger Ackroyed be considered 'unfair' btw  originality queerido you should have used spoilers.  

go_leafs_nation 15 Jan 10 at 2:34 p.m. GMT

Playing fair means presenting all the clues, and not just one time in passing- they are preferably emphasized. It does not mean making the killer a person who cannot have played such-and-such a role or did this-and-that. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd did this, as did Hercule Poirot's Christmas. I see no reason why, because 9 out of 10 readers are fooled by their own preconceptions into never suspecting the killer, the book should be thought of as 'unfair'. Such a conclusion strikes me as banal. Rather, it is a sign of pure ingenuity. It isn't as though AC, coming to the end, flipped a coin and the killer turned out to be X. A chain of clues found throughout the story collectively point to the killer.

Tommy_A_Jones 15 Jan 10 at 3:13 p.m. GMT

go_leafs, you and I obviously have different ideas as to what is 'unfair' I think when the Murderer is the Narrator or someone assisting the Sleuth IMHO it shows a lack of imagination, Fortunately AC only had this glitch very Occasdionally, furthermore to use the word banal the way you did is insulting to say the least, ACs work is at its best when the Murderer is not A) assisting the sleuth, B) Not a Narrator, C) Not the Owner or where the Murder Takes place. 

HeiseiHolmes 15 Jan 10 at 4:03 p.m. GMT

The book is perfectly fair, I managed to get the killer myself.

Tommy_A_Jones 15 Jan 10 at 4:24 p.m. GMT

Perhaps that is why you think it is fair detective conan

go_leafs_nation 15 Jan 10 at 4:31 p.m. GMT

Fair play is a concept that has to do with the clues and how fairly they're presented and how reasonable it is for a reader to deduce it all, not who the killer was. Limiting the amount of twists is rather redundant- "I want to be surprised by the end, but out of A, B, C, and D, A and B can't be killers because they spent more than 20 pages trailing D, and C is Poirot's friend so he can't be the killer."