Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: I'm partial to the Miss Marple mysteries, however, I wanted to try the Hercule Poirot character. This story was somewhat interesting and the end was somewhat of a surprise, but mostly this book is strictly average.
Rating: 
Summary: A solid detective story
Review: Miss Lemon, Hercule Poirot's "perfect machine", receives a telephone call from Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, the famous detective writer. Ariadne is busy organizing a murder hunt as part of a big charity event being held on the grounds at Nasse House. It seems that she is not completely in charge of the script of the murder, because people are constantly giving suggestions and hints on where and how to plan this fake murder. Ariadne truly fears that she is being used to hide a real crime that is about to take place and calls upon her old friend Hercule Poirot to sort things out. The famous detective finds all of this a load of silliness, but nevertheless starts to get a little curious.Dead Man's Folly is a typical Agatha Christie mystery. The setting feels familiar, the characters are most of the time trying to deal with their past and the crime is as mysterious and complex as you can get. A generation conflict between the old folks and the teenagers is added to spice things up. As an extra bonus the reader is treated on a denouement is far from realistic, but is fair enough seen the number of hints you get throughout the story. The only problem that stops the reader from finding it out for himself is the enormous number of red herrings. Noteworthy is that Nasse House is based upon Agatha Christie's favorite residence: Greenway house, the Devonshire home Christie occupied during most of her married life. The character of Ariadne is a caricature of Agatha Christie herself. All in all, this book gives the reader a solid example of a good detective story.
Rating:
Summary: Well Written, Clever, and featuring Ariadne Oliver
Review: Mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver has been enticed into devising a "murder hunt game" for a village fundraiser--but as the event approaches she feels increasingly uneasy, as if some one among those in charge of the event is manipulating her game to their own sinister purpose. She accordingly puts through a call to old friend Hercule Poirot, who drops in on the proceedings to discover that some one has turned the game into reality. DEAD MAN'S FOLLY is not among Christie's better known works, and in truth it does not rank among her great classics. Even so, it has its charms, particularly in the form of Ariadne Oliver, a somewhat frazzled, absent-minded, and eccentric character clearly intended as a parody of mystery novelists in general and Christie herself in particular. The novel itself is nicely written and offers Christie's usual clever twist at the end. An enjoyable read for fans of the genre!
Rating: 
Summary: A stunning book from Dame Christie
Review: Oh, man, I was impressed by this one! I was completely giving up on Agatha Christie until I ordered this from Amazon and I was just blown away!! I thought I might of had a fix on the killer but she turned me around completely at the end! I recommend this HIGHLY. You will love this if you like mysteries and even if you don't you will love it,too. There was so much suspense--this is just a work of genius!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: good but not the best
Review: This book I thought was pretty good. The plot was alright, but it kind of dragged on. The ending was great, but if you want to read some really good books by Agatha Christie, definately pick up And then there were none, and Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Rating:
Summary: Medium Well Done Christie
Review: This is one of the later Hercule Poirot mysteries (1957), but the setting and characters are vintage pre World War II. This is all to the good because Dame Agatha is the master of the country house with endless servants hovering about doing tiny tasks. Her one nod to modern times is a shortage of gardeners. Crime writer Ariadne Oliver calls upon her friend, Hercule Poirot. She has been hired to provide a Mystery Hunt at Sir George Stubbs' annual Fete. She has a "hunch" that all is not well. Ms. Oliver is prescient; her mock "victim" turns into a real one. There is no shortage of suspects, but Poirot and the authorities are baffled. Ms. Christie rains clues as big as rocks along with her usual red herrings. The problem for the astute reader is not who (though Ms. Christie conceals the murderer with her usual adroitness), but how and why. "Dead Man's Folly" is a very busy book, and the scattered presence of Ariadne Oliver (one of my least favorite continuing characters) is perhaps one distraction too many. Subtract one star for overdone motivation, and another one-half for Ms. Oliver's constant dithering. Rating: 3-1/2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Medium Well Done Christie
Review: This is one of the later Hercule Poirot mysteries (1957), but the setting and characters are vintage pre World War II. This is all to the good because Dame Agatha is the master of the country house with endless servants hovering about doing tiny tasks. Her one nod to modern times is a shortage of gardeners. Crime writer Ariadne Oliver calls upon her friend, Hercule Poirot. She has been hired to provide a Mystery Hunt at Sir George Stubbs' annual Fete. She has a "hunch" that all is not well. Ms. Oliver is prescient; her mock "victim" turns into a real one. There is no shortage of suspects, but Poirot and the authorities are baffled. Ms. Christie rains clues as big as rocks along with her usual red herrings. The problem for the astute reader is not who (though Ms. Christie conceals the murderer with her usual adroitness), but how and why. "Dead Man's Folly" is a very busy book, and the scattered presence of Ariadne Oliver (one of my least favorite continuing characters) is perhaps one distraction too many. Subtract one star for overdone motivation, and another one-half for Ms. Oliver's constant dithering. Rating: 3-1/2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Some people take games far too seriously....
Review: which can really be a problem during a murder mystery game. Mystery novelist (and Christie alter ego) Ariadne Oliver has been hired to devise a murder mystery game for a village fete. While she is on the scene setting up the clues she begins to feel uneasy about the whole thing, as she explains to her friend, Hercule Poirot she fears that her pretend murder may be replaced by a real one! Alas, even with two sleuths a murder does occur during the party. Poirot rises to the challenge and uncovers the culprit in the end of course. Along the way he deals with the various classes of village society, as well as a youth hostel full of foreign students and even a visiting long lost cousin. As always with Christie the clues are all fairly laid out for the reader to find, hidden among all the red herrings. Her characters are consistent, and the solution is clever. We are also treated to a delightful opening scene with Miss Lemon as an added bonus. This is one of Christie's later works (1956) and while she did try to keep up with the changing times she didn't have the same feel for the post war world as she did for the '20's and 30's. Even so one of Christie's lesser works is still better than most writers can ever hope to achieve.
Rating:
Summary: Some people take games far too seriously....
Review: which can really be a problem during a murder mystery game. Mystery novelist (and Christie alter ego) Ariadne Oliver has been hired to devise a murder mystery game for a village fete. While she is on the scene setting up the clues she begins to feel uneasy about the whole thing, as she explains to her friend, Hercule Poirot she fears that her pretend murder may be replaced by a real one! Alas, even with two sleuths a murder does occur during the party. Poirot rises to the challenge and uncovers the culprit in the end of course. Along the way he deals with the various classes of village society, as well as a youth hostel full of foreign students and even a visiting long lost cousin. As always with Christie the clues are all fairly laid out for the reader to find, hidden among all the red herrings. Her characters are consistent, and the solution is clever. We are also treated to a delightful opening scene with Miss Lemon as an added bonus. This is one of Christie's later works (1956) and while she did try to keep up with the changing times she didn't have the same feel for the post war world as she did for the '20's and 30's. Even so one of Christie's lesser works is still better than most writers can ever hope to achieve.
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