The Big Four

The Big Four
Agatha Christie, 1927

Hastings narrates a rather weird Poirot mystery. I am beginning to wonder why Hastings hung out with Poirot at all, since Poirot treats Hastings arrogantly at times.

Cover of The Big Four

This is my least favorite Agatha Christie book so far. It seems like four or five short stories pasted together. I found it a slog, not very enjoyable. I found the ending, where the villain’s lair gets blown up, to be over the top. Since Number Four isn’t specifically identified among the dead, I assume Christie is setting him up to make a comeback as the mystery villain in a sequel.

I listened to The Big Four episode of The Labors of Hercule podcast before finishing the book. Since I haven’t seen The Big Four episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot TV series, and the book and TV show are so different, I don’t think I lost anything. I did learn that The Big Four is the favorite Agatha Christie book of Adam, one of the podcast’s voices.

I do look forward to seeing the TV show episode. David Suchet is so distinctive, I even hear his voice when I read Poirot books.