Book Review: After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

Man, it has been a long time since I posted any book reviews on here! That doesn't mean I haven't been reading, quite the opposite actually, I just haven't quite felt like the brain jog of sitting down and writing formal reviews. I'm always up to date on Goodreads if you're ever curious :) Anyway, on with the review!

As a thank you to the volunteers for World Book Night, we were allowed to pick 3 audiobooks from a list of select titles that were distributed this year (how nice is that?!). I was a little torn with the available choices, but my wild card ended up being After the Funeral by Agatha Christie.

Richard Abernathy dies suddenly, leaving his large estate divided between 6 family members, all of whom are siblings or nieces/nephews. After the funeral when Mr. Abernathy's lawyer sits the family down to reveal the contents of the will, Abernathy's sister, Cora (who is known for being innocently curt and clueless with what is appropriate in conversation), suddenly makes the statement, "Well he was murdered, wasn't he?", sparking a moment's interest from the others before they brush it off. Everyone else sits up to take notice, however, when the very next day Cora is violently killed in her sleep. The family lawyer becomes so worried that he calls in his old friend, Hercule Poirot, to question the other family members and investigate the case. There are quite a few twists to the plot, as should be expected, and a very big surprise in the end as to who done it and why.

I now, officially, know where all the stereotypes about mystery novels came from. This was my first ever experience with Agatha Christie, and overall it was entertaining, if a little cliché. It kept me involved enough in the story to not get bored. I will say I was a bit disappointed with how random the killer's motive was, but considering this is #29 in the Poirot books I guess I can understand that you would run out of reasonable reasons to kill someone, lol. The book was definitely well written and well researched - all of the clues made sense. I did enjoy having the little glimpse into life in England after WWII. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was a fun little read, though I don't really feel the need to delve into the genre again any time soon.