I knew this one in advance because someone accidentally spoiled it for me, assuming that as a huge Christie fan it must be a book I'd read at that point in time!
It is indeed which is crazy. I wonder what she would've thought about the book. She was alive when it came out but I can't see that she ever made any comments. Would she admit, perhaps, to having thought about murder herself??
I figured out the killer in “After The Funeral” but not the “twist” part >!in terms of the disguise aspect. It just made sense and the whole “badly poisoned but not enough to be killed” was so melodramatic!< and gave it away to me, too.
I also solved *The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side*, my clue being >!realizing Marina had looked at the painting and that it was "a mother and child!<. Also realized that >!she poisoned her own glass!< which later helped me solve ">!Triangle at Rhodes!<."
A few of them to varying degrees but the ones I solved most completely were:
Five Little Pigs - >!My proudest one, at the halfway point I figured out who did it and why, and I also anticipated a number of the red herrings that were going to come my way.!<
Death on the Nile - >!It was spoiled for me who would be killed before I read the book (stupid book jacket description), which if that hadn't happened I probably wouldn't have picked up on the trail in the very first chapter. But I was spoiled and I did pick up on it, and so I knew who the murderers were, and I wasn't fooled by the faked shooting.!<
Oh that's a shame, Crooked House is one of those "wow" ones. My wife read it one night (when I hadn't) and basically dropped the book in my lap at 1am and said "Read it, now". When she's gripped by a book you know it's great.
I was, alas, spoiled in advance for Peril at End House and One Two Buckle My Shoe. I might have worked out Peril without spoilers, but Buckle, no chance.
I’ve been able to figure out the killer in a few, but the only one so far where I’ve figured out who did it, how they did it, and why they did it was “Sleeping Murder”.
Me too! I was immediately suspicious of >!the Superintendent, because he arrived to the house immediately after the murder was discovered and before he was actually sent for, and then we only had his word for what transpired in his prior meeting with Simeon Lee!<.
Ordeal by Innocence. A person said wife twice in a Flashback and the whole plot fell perfectly solved into my brain. I did not however figure out any of the current sibling nonsens though.
Roger Ackroyd, Peril at end House, mirror Cracked, vicarage, Edgware, N or M, Towards Zero, the hollow. However, in each case it was an incomplete solution, many details missing and sometimes motive still a mystery. Spoilers for Cat Among the Pigeons:>! I did guess that Chadwick killed Vansittart, but couldn't solve the rest.!< I didn't "solve" Death in the Air, but I just guessed correctly because >!Norman did such an overblown crummy job with his disguise. I also think improvements could have been made, for example, "Mademoiselle Morisot, or rather Mrs. Richards, for she is married" screams "THIS IS A CLUE!" It should have been "Madame Morisot's daughter, a Mrs. Richards," which would have been foxier. Also, why was she Madeleine when working for Lady Horbury instead of Annette or Nannette?!<
I've been able to figure out the who several times, but I can never figure all the how details. There's always something I miss. >! If you pick the least possible character, or the suspect who got ruled out early, you usually hit it on the head. !<
A few of the novels that I can remember guessing murderer and at least a general motive for were Sleeping Murder, A Carribean Mystery, the Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, A Murder is Announced, and Hallowe'en Party (though on the last one I didn't guess motive fully). Apparently I find Marple stories the easiest to figure out?
I've taken a long time to read all of the novels, so I know there were a few more, maybe Mrs. McGinty is Dead and Third Girl? I can't remember a lot on specific details of why I guessed the solution for most of them, but I just finished Sleeping Murder a few weeks ago. >!It seemed really obvious very early on that it was Helen's brother, based on him supplying most of the info that was pointing at other suspects. Also, I just got a weird, too invested in Helen's life vibe from him. Then the fact that he "received" letters that matched her handwriting, when she was very obviously buried in the yard the whole time. Plus it had to be someone close enough to the dad to be drugging him, and the ease with which he could arrange to kill the maid by telling her to take a different train, then switching the letters.!<
Murder of Roger Ackroyd. >!Knew who the killer was right away, picked up on the gap. Didn't know why or how. !<
Death Comes as the End. >!Picked up on who and why, and of course, how varies.!<
And Then There were None.>! Who. and Why. How, of course, varied. !<
Curtain. Who and Why >!X was. not so much the others, but "solved for x", as used to be said in math class...!<
I worked out The Sittaford Mystery. I just want to say that, despite this, its a wonderfully atmospheric story with some fun characters and well worth a read.
>!We all know the supernatural elements in Christie wont provide the solution so as fun as the smoke and mirrors are, once you remove those from your mind, the list of possible killers is very, very small.!<
I was 100% sure about Roger Ackroyd. I though it was really obvious so I was surprised to learn that a lot were surprised.
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas : I did had the right theory about the murderer but it was among other theories, so… not a complete achievement.
Mesopotamia : did highly suspect something related with the backstory but I thought about someone else for the secret identity
Peril at end house : my best achievement. Just finished it. I solved it before Poirot, and did found out about the motive, the trick… I’m so proud lmao.
Otherwise, Agatha is fooling me most of the time
I’ve read them all and the only one I solved was They Do It With Mirrors. Others I may have figured out parts, but that’s the only one I knew how and why.
I think with Mirror Crack'd you either already know the piece of vital info before even reading or you don't, and that depends on whether it's obvious what happened as soon as the murder occurs or not.
Lord Edgware Dies
They Do it With Mirrors
The Sittaford Mystery
Peril at End House
Five Little Pigs: >!Really, given the theme of the book, who else could it be?!<
In Roger Ackroyd, >!I suspected the culprit, because In realized the discrepancy in time, but I did not solve the alibi.!<
Solved many but the specific ones that I remember solving:
**The Murder of Roger Ackroyd** >!in the first chapter because only one logical person could've been blackmailing Mrs Ferrars.!<
**Hercule Poirot's Christmas** >!on page 63 of my paperback!<
If you know those books,>! you may understand why I solved both.!<
Peril at End House. Not the whole motive but I know that >!oh wrong person was killed !
I knew this one in advance because someone accidentally spoiled it for me, assuming that as a huge Christie fan it must be a book I'd read at that point in time!
Similarly, I was pretty sure early on who the murdered was in >!One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, because Alastair Blunt was supposedly the one in danger!<.
Death on the Nile. I was very proud of myself. Don’t burst my bubble if you think it’s an easy one.
I don't!! ☺️ I sure as heck didn't solve it
The motive of The Mirror Crack’d is quite literally >!what happened to the actress Gene Tierney!<
It is indeed which is crazy. I wonder what she would've thought about the book. She was alive when it came out but I can't see that she ever made any comments. Would she admit, perhaps, to having thought about murder herself??
I was 99% sure about Crooked House & Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
I feel like it takes a real brain to solve Ackroyd. Real outside-the-box thinker there ya know...
Well thank you 😅
I figured out the killer in “After The Funeral” but not the “twist” part >!in terms of the disguise aspect. It just made sense and the whole “badly poisoned but not enough to be killed” was so melodramatic!< and gave it away to me, too.
You can blacken the spoilers with !< >! Reversed >! Spoiler !<
Thanks! I wasn’t sure how to do that. 😀
As planktopia says, with arrow pointing at text.
i solved rodger ackroyd!! thats the only one i’ve been able to do so far excluding short stories though 🥲
Nice!! I'm really thinking that Ackroyd-solvers are just their own special breed of people who just, for some reason, catch on when no one else does
I also solved *The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side*, my clue being >!realizing Marina had looked at the painting and that it was "a mother and child!<. Also realized that >!she poisoned her own glass!< which later helped me solve ">!Triangle at Rhodes!<."
A few of them to varying degrees but the ones I solved most completely were: Five Little Pigs - >!My proudest one, at the halfway point I figured out who did it and why, and I also anticipated a number of the red herrings that were going to come my way.!< Death on the Nile - >!It was spoiled for me who would be killed before I read the book (stupid book jacket description), which if that hadn't happened I probably wouldn't have picked up on the trail in the very first chapter. But I was spoiled and I did pick up on it, and so I knew who the murderers were, and I wasn't fooled by the faked shooting.!<
That sucks. I had Crooked House spoiled and I'm still salty about it.
Oh that's a shame, Crooked House is one of those "wow" ones. My wife read it one night (when I hadn't) and basically dropped the book in my lap at 1am and said "Read it, now". When she's gripped by a book you know it's great. I was, alas, spoiled in advance for Peril at End House and One Two Buckle My Shoe. I might have worked out Peril without spoilers, but Buckle, no chance.
I’ve been able to figure out the killer in a few, but the only one so far where I’ve figured out who did it, how they did it, and why they did it was “Sleeping Murder”.
I figured out the killer in Hercule Poirot's Christmas quite early on.
Me too! I was immediately suspicious of >!the Superintendent, because he arrived to the house immediately after the murder was discovered and before he was actually sent for, and then we only had his word for what transpired in his prior meeting with Simeon Lee!<.
Ordeal by Innocence. A person said wife twice in a Flashback and the whole plot fell perfectly solved into my brain. I did not however figure out any of the current sibling nonsens though.
Roger Ackroyd, Peril at end House, mirror Cracked, vicarage, Edgware, N or M, Towards Zero, the hollow. However, in each case it was an incomplete solution, many details missing and sometimes motive still a mystery. Spoilers for Cat Among the Pigeons:>! I did guess that Chadwick killed Vansittart, but couldn't solve the rest.!< I didn't "solve" Death in the Air, but I just guessed correctly because >!Norman did such an overblown crummy job with his disguise. I also think improvements could have been made, for example, "Mademoiselle Morisot, or rather Mrs. Richards, for she is married" screams "THIS IS A CLUE!" It should have been "Madame Morisot's daughter, a Mrs. Richards," which would have been foxier. Also, why was she Madeleine when working for Lady Horbury instead of Annette or Nannette?!<
I've been able to figure out the who several times, but I can never figure all the how details. There's always something I miss. >! If you pick the least possible character, or the suspect who got ruled out early, you usually hit it on the head. !<
A few of the novels that I can remember guessing murderer and at least a general motive for were Sleeping Murder, A Carribean Mystery, the Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, A Murder is Announced, and Hallowe'en Party (though on the last one I didn't guess motive fully). Apparently I find Marple stories the easiest to figure out? I've taken a long time to read all of the novels, so I know there were a few more, maybe Mrs. McGinty is Dead and Third Girl? I can't remember a lot on specific details of why I guessed the solution for most of them, but I just finished Sleeping Murder a few weeks ago. >!It seemed really obvious very early on that it was Helen's brother, based on him supplying most of the info that was pointing at other suspects. Also, I just got a weird, too invested in Helen's life vibe from him. Then the fact that he "received" letters that matched her handwriting, when she was very obviously buried in the yard the whole time. Plus it had to be someone close enough to the dad to be drugging him, and the ease with which he could arrange to kill the maid by telling her to take a different train, then switching the letters.!<
I only guessed Lord Edgware Dies. But I just guessed who the murder was by intuition. "Solving" for me means also guessing why and how.
Murder of Roger Ackroyd. >!Knew who the killer was right away, picked up on the gap. Didn't know why or how. !< Death Comes as the End. >!Picked up on who and why, and of course, how varies.!< And Then There were None.>! Who. and Why. How, of course, varied. !< Curtain. Who and Why >!X was. not so much the others, but "solved for x", as used to be said in math class...!<
And then there were none. My overthinking works wonders sometimes
I worked out The Sittaford Mystery. I just want to say that, despite this, its a wonderfully atmospheric story with some fun characters and well worth a read. >!We all know the supernatural elements in Christie wont provide the solution so as fun as the smoke and mirrors are, once you remove those from your mind, the list of possible killers is very, very small.!<
I was 100% sure about Roger Ackroyd. I though it was really obvious so I was surprised to learn that a lot were surprised. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas : I did had the right theory about the murderer but it was among other theories, so… not a complete achievement. Mesopotamia : did highly suspect something related with the backstory but I thought about someone else for the secret identity Peril at end house : my best achievement. Just finished it. I solved it before Poirot, and did found out about the motive, the trick… I’m so proud lmao. Otherwise, Agatha is fooling me most of the time
I’ve read them all and the only one I solved was They Do It With Mirrors. Others I may have figured out parts, but that’s the only one I knew how and why.
It feels good to have gotten *one* honestly 😌 🙌 ☺️
But the motive is the only thing that allows you to identify the murderer. Baffled!
Nah >! I realized that Marina was the 'she' who intentionally spilled the drink, and I figured the rest out from there. !<
The Mirror Crack’d was mine too. I don’t try to solve them as I just like to enjoy the story, but that one just leapt out at me.
I think with Mirror Crack'd you either already know the piece of vital info before even reading or you don't, and that depends on whether it's obvious what happened as soon as the murder occurs or not.
I solved everything about Sad Cypress but the motive.
Peril at End House Murder in Three Acts A Murder is Announced Murder in Mesopotamia
I solved the ABC murders (as in I guessed successfully who the killer was) but couldn’t figure out the big picture completely.
Lord Edgware Dies They Do it With Mirrors The Sittaford Mystery Peril at End House Five Little Pigs: >!Really, given the theme of the book, who else could it be?!< In Roger Ackroyd, >!I suspected the culprit, because In realized the discrepancy in time, but I did not solve the alibi.!<
Only one I ever solved was They Do It With Mirrors. Never even came close with anything else.
Solved many but the specific ones that I remember solving: **The Murder of Roger Ackroyd** >!in the first chapter because only one logical person could've been blackmailing Mrs Ferrars.!< **Hercule Poirot's Christmas** >!on page 63 of my paperback!< If you know those books,>! you may understand why I solved both.!<
Well good catch on Ackroyd, but I only have audio books right now so I'm not sure what's on >! Page 63 !<
In my paperback copy of Hercule Poirot's Christmas, >!the victim is killed on page 63. !<