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    Crooked House
    Crooked House
    Crooked House
    Audiobook5 hours

    Crooked House

    Written by Agatha Christie

    Narrated by Hugh Fraser

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    “Writing Crooked House was pure pleasure and I feel justified in my belief that it is one of my best.” --Agatha Christie

    Described by the queen of mystery herself as one of her favorites of her published work, Crooked House is a classic Agatha Christie thriller revolving around a devastating family mystery.

    The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection.

    Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire’s granddaughter.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 3, 2012
    ISBN9780062229625
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.

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    Reviews for Crooked House

    4/5

    1,440 ratings61 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was one of Agatha Christie's most "psychological" thrillers. The tension is palpable and never ending. I believe readers will have a hard time guessing who the killer is. And by telling the reason I would be fatally naming the killer... Highly recommend this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Read it. Just do it. Agatha once again fools all of us with the obvious suspects.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Not her best by any means but definitely an enjoyable listen.
    • 5/5
      Her finest book... and she thought so too. Just wonderful!
    • 5/5
      Maybe it's just me, but sometimes, I think that Christie's stand-alones are the absolute best.
    • 5/5
      good book to listen. would listen again . . .
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book. It's not my favorite Agatha Christie book, but it is still a fun read.
    • 4/5
      Well done! I enjoyed the reading very much thanks !
    • 3/5
      It was an okay book, Slow Burn. Not for me.
    • 5/5
      As always, Agatha never disappoints. This was a really captivating quick read. Not predictable at all!
    • 5/5
      My first Agatha Christie book did not disappoint. As an author, I thought she made effective use of dialogue. Almost the whole book is dialogue, without losing reader’s interest.
    • 3/5
      It was ok I think. A good book this one
    • 4/5
      Having read numerous Agatha Christie books, I can safely say Crooked House is one of my favorite top five among her books. The story is of one big happy family living together in grand mansion. The head of the family is 88-year-old Aristide Leonides, who is poisoned by one of the family member. Aristide’s granddaughter Sofia’s fiancé Charles put his head together with police to find out the identity of killer. Agatha Christie is just amazing as an author in this book. The family relations are analysed (the one thing I love best about her books), shocking revelations are made. It seems everyone has some secret hiding and all their secrets come out in open. There is greed, there is selfishness, and there is pride and vanity. Money seemed like a motive at times. At other times, freedom of living life without interference of loved ones seemed like a motive enough for murder. Relationships are tested and trust is shattered. Christie kept readers guessing about the identity of the killer until the end. When finally killer is revealed, one is left awed by the marvelousness of Christie’s grasp on the plot. The ending was chilling. However, it seemed very plausible. I simply loved this book.
    • 5/5
      Christie at her most convoluted. A real scorching page turner this is.
    • 3/5
      Solid mystery. It is so obvious why Dame Agatha has sold 2 billion books. Very satisfying story. Well told.
    • 4/5
      In this stand-alone mystery, Charles Hayward meets and falls in love with Sophia Leonides when both are employed in Egypt shortly after World War II. Charles has another posting that will separate him for Sophia for two more years, and he announces his intention to propose to her as soon as he returns to England. Two years later, he arrives back in England to find the Leonides family mourning the death of its head, Sophia's grandfather, Aristide Leonides. While most people would assume that a man of his age (nearly 90) had died of natural causes, this doesn't prove to be the case. He was murdered. Sophia will not agree to marry Charles until the murder is solved, refusing to attach him to the suspicion that will hover over the family with an unsolved murder. Charles has no choice but to go to the family's estate and gather enough information to solve the crime. He'll have no trouble getting information from the police since his father is Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard.This is a characteristic Christie country house mystery with a surprising twist at the end. I didn't see it coming. In the author's foreword, Christie admits that this book is one of her favorites. The characters include the murdered patriarch who controlled the purse strings, two sons and their wives, three grandchildren (the youngest of whom reminded me very much of Flavia de Luce), a very young second wife, a poor relative taken into the family fold, and the younger grandchildren's tutor. There are young lovers separated by suspicion and a missing will. I deducted points because no one really solves the mystery. They discover a letter that reveals the details of the crime that others were only beginning to suspect..”..Some people, I suspect, remain morally immature. They continue to be aware that murder is wrong, but they do not feel it. I don't think, in my experience, that any murderer has really felt remorse . . . And that, perhaps, is the mark of Cain. Murderers are set apart, they are 'different'--murder is wrong—but not for them--for them it is necessary—the victim has 'asked for it,' it was 'the only way.'”
    • 5/5
      I don’t normally read mystery novels; however, I needed a little distraction, and this fits the bill. I thought it was a great story, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite Agatha Christie stories. The reader was superb with just enough English accent to make it sound authentic but not so much that I couldn’t understand him. Really great story and production.
    • 5/5
      Just
      finished this book, very well read by Hugh Fraser. I loved it.
    • 5/5
      Agatha Christie has a great way of taking a nursery rhyme and giving it a sinister spin. She did a great job of that in this one and gave us a twisty and mysterious story. Who poisoned Grandpa? You may not believe when you find out.
    • 5/5
      So interesting and cunning. As with any AC novel, it’s never what it seems, it’s always juicy and thrilling from the middle to end. Another great one of hers and I didn’t see it coming! It’s slow at first but things pay off in the end. Agatha Christie is a magnificent, talented human being.
    • 4/5
      Murder by poison. Eye drops “ersine” substituted for “insulin” in an insulin vial. Aristide Leonides’ is dibetic and every evening his young wife filled a syringe from one of the many insulin vials kept in the house. The poison could have been substituted at any time or by anyone, the murderer knowing that eventually the poison would be injected. This is written as a novel BUT every page has me seeing it as a stage play. There are no stage directions or anything indicating it is a play other than the characters themselves. They are so vividly drawn you can see Magda flounce from the room, Sophia adjust a picture frame to keep Magda on script or Roger bumbling into a room screen and apologizing to it. The denouement is classic Christie, a little of the psychology of Poirot combined with the village wisdom of the elderly Jane Marple. I recommend this to anyone who has missed this Christie gem.51
    • 5/5
      The twists and surprises were excellent. It also provided so much knowledge about the human condition and consequences of cruelty. So good.
    • 4/5
      Solid. Entertaining. Agatha Christie never fails to keep the reader guessing.
    • 5/5
      When his fiancee’s grand-father is murdered, Charles Hayward determines to find out the truth, entering the unnerving, bitterly divided home shared by three generations of an Anglo-Greek family.

      One of my utter favourite Christie books, filled with dynamic characters, a claustrophobic setting, and a truly startling denouement. I won’t go into much detail, because you should read this one unawares. Suffice it to say, Dame Agatha extensively planned this novel, a non-series excursion coming after Poirot’s heyday, and just before Miss Marple’s most prolific period. She remained proud of it throughout her life, and fairly so. "Crooked House" is a cruel, insightful tale of family drama, of the sadistic and jaded side of human nature, and of carefully-concealed murder. Any dialogue or atmospheric flaws can be forgiven, as – by this point – Christie was indisputably the ‘Queen of Crime’. She had been churning out murder mysteries for three decades (often more than one a year, as well as her short stories and plays), and – although there would be a gradual decline in quality over the coming decades – "Crooked House" is a highlight of Christie’s innovation within the formula.
    • 5/5
      Excellent detail and characters are so well written. Completely worth the read!
    • 5/5
      Another good mystery by Agatha Christi. Interesting characters and suspicion all around. A bit short for character development.
    • 4/5
      nicely done. crooked indeed. and her is a clue: MB sends her regards.
    • 5/5
      Another delightful Agatha Christie novel which keeps you guessing right until the end.
    • 3/5
      Meh. While the murder plot was clever (it wasn't until after the second murder that I had a good guess), the melodramatic style is of its time and not really to my taste.