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    The Mystery of Three Quarters: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery
    The Mystery of Three Quarters: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery
    The Mystery of Three Quarters: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Mystery of Three Quarters: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery

    Written by Sophie Hannah

    Narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt

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    About this audiobook

    The world’s most beloved detective, Hercule Poirot—the legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and most recently The Monogram Murders and Closed Casket—returns in a stylish, diabolically clever mystery set in the London of 1930.

    Returning home from a luncheon, Hercule Poirot is met at his door by an imperious woman who introduces herself as Sylvia Rule. ""How dare you? How dare you send me such a letter?"" Ignoring his denials, Mrs. Rule insists that she received a missive claiming he had proof she murdered a man named Barnabas Pandy and advising her to confess her crime to the police. Threatening the perplexed Poirot with a lawsuit, she leaves in a huff.

    Minutes later, a rather disheveled man named John McCrodden appears. ""I got your letter accusing me of the murder of Barnabas Pandy."" Calmly, Poirot again rebuts the charge. Each insisting they are victims of a conspiracy, Mrs. Rule and Mr. McCrodden deny knowing who Pandy is.

    The next day, two more strangers proclaim their innocence and provide illuminating details. Miss Annabel Treadway tells Poirot that Barnabas Pandy was her grandfather. But he was not murdered; his death was an accident. Hugo Dockerill also knows of Pandy, and he heard the old man fell asleep in his bath and drowned.

    Why did someone send letters in Poirot’s name accusing people of murder? If Pandy’s death was an accident, why charge foul play? It is precisely because he is the great Hercule Poirot that he would never knowingly accuse an innocent person of a crime. Someone is trying to make mischief, and the instigator wants Poirot involved.

    Engaging the help of Edward Catchpool, his Scotland Yard policeman friend, Poirot begins to dig into the investigation, exerting his little grey cells to solve an elaborate puzzle involving a tangled web of relationships, scandalous secrets, and past misdeeds.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 28, 2018
    ISBN9780062859167
    Author

    Sophie Hannah

    Sophie Hannah is that rare thing: an acclaimed and best-selling poet. Her first book was greeted with amazement. The Poetry Review declared, 'Shall I put it in capitals? SOPHIE HANNAH IS A GENIUS.' Each subsequent collection has been informally more inventive, thematically more complex, yet each has met with a similar welcome. Her latest book, 'First of the Last Chances', was published in 2003.

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    Reviews for The Mystery of Three Quarters

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    • 3/5
      In Sophie Hannah's "The Mystery of Three Quarters," master detective Hercules Poirot is startled to learn that four people have received letters signed by him, accusing them of having murdered ninety-four year old Barnabas Pandy. According to the police, however, Mr. Pandy's death was accidental. He drowned when he fell asleep while taking a bath. Poirot had never heard of Pandy before, and although he did not compose these letters, the recipients believe that he did. Two angrily confront him. The third and fourth are more puzzled than angry. Although Poirot would like to wash his hands of this irksome affair, his curiosity is piqued, and he decides to investigate the strange case with the help of Inspector Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard.

      It turns out that three of the four men and women accused of killing Pandy had a direct or indirect connection to him. Sylvia Rule's son, Freddie, attends the same school, Turville, as the deceased's grandson, Timothy Lavington. Pandy raised two granddaughters; one of them, Annabel Treadway, received a letter. The third recipient, Hugo Dockerill, is a housemaster at Turville. The anomaly is number four: John McCrodden. Since John has no obvious link to Pandy, why would anyone think that he drowned the old man? McCrodden is the unexplained "fourth quarter." Poirot's little gray cells receive a vigorous workout as he ponders this difficult puzzle, with little concrete evidence to guide him. Instead, he uses his keen understanding of human nature to make sense of what he learns.

      Poirot and Catchpool conduct interviews to find out what various individuals know and to uncover carefully hidden secrets that may be relevant to the investigation. Eventually, Poirot comes up with a possible solution, and he summons all concerned to a large gathering, where he intends to unveil who did what to whom and why. Hannah uses Christie's traditional conventions to fine effect. There are colorful characters, each of whom has a well-defined personality, and numerous red herrings to throw us off the scent. Poirot keeps mum as he studies every aspect of the inquiry, and eventually makes surprising inferences that lead him to the identity of the culprit. The author's dialogue, descriptive writing, and settings work well, but the story culminates in a fanciful conclusion that is not particularly convincing. Hannah's central theme is that stubbornly clinging to old grudges is not just futile, but may also end in tragedy. "The Mystery of Three Quarters" is amusing, subtle, and intriguing, but the far-fetched finale weakens the novel's overall impact.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I find Ms. Hannah quite a good writer. Her plots are complicated and, sometimes, very surprising.
    • 3/5
      Written in the style of Agatha Christie, Hannah has captured the style and attraction of Christie--and also the flaws. The plot is delightfully simple, and yet complex and confusing, and is tied up nicely in the end. But, like Christie, a lot of the details are childishly (ignorantly?) innacurate. The tale satisfies as a light interlude between reading more 'meaty' tomes--but is not recommended for nit-pickers.
    • 5/5
      classic, flawless, intriguing, full of human foibles, mistakes, and forgiveness. Agatha would be proud. Narrated to exquisite perfection, enough to satisfy even H. Poirot.
    • 2/5
      A convoluted mess of a mystery. Long, drawn out, dribble. I made it to chapter 15, then moved forward to Chapter 35.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I can't find fault with it. It is very much in the vein of the original Hercule Poirot books, and it even had a few funny moments.
      Still, Hercule Poirot isn't really my cup of tea, as was confirmed again, and so I won't go on with this new series.

      The narrator was great.
    • 4/5
      Impeccable but for several typos and French errors—spend some money on proofreading, HarperCollins!
    • 3/5
      Agatha Christie writes and entertains with her mysteries, Sophie Hannah attempts to create a mystery similar to Agatha Christie, but Hannah utilizes too much dialogue. I enjoy learning of all the facets of a character, and dialogue does not give a psychological background. Hannah’s story involves multiple characters, and a list would have provided needed clarification. Sophie Hannah gave an outline of the story in the form of the chapter listing and subtopics which gave a nice background. The character of Hercule Poirot seemed too trite with his constant mention of little gray cells. The story centers on the supposed murder of a Barnabas Pandy, a 94-year-old man and letters sent to four people accused of Pandy’s murder. Along the path to solving the mystery, Inspector Edward Catchpool, narrates the story in the same manner as Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes’ mysteries. Of course, Dr. Watson does a better job. The backgrounds of the characters leak into the story meagerly. An interesting but superficial story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      When you read the book you will understand why I have included an image of a Battenberg cake in my blog post. It is a motif that Poirot uses with great effect in the novel, as he speculates about the relationship between the squares in the cake. Why were there 4 letters sent to people accusing them of murdering Barnabas Pandy when they did not know each other? Or is there some other connection?And is one of those four a murderer or not, or just waiting in the wings, ready to commit a murder? Poirot works with Scotland Yard's Inspector Catchpoole to work out the motive behind the letters.There were times when I thought the plot was unnecessarily devious and long winded but the audio production is excellent.
    • 4/5
      The latest Hercule Poirot mystery is The Mystery of Three Quarters. Sophie Hannah is now penning this iconic series, with the blessing and permission of Agatha Christie's estate. And this reader thinks she does a good job of it,London, England 1930. After a pleasant lunch out, Hercule returns home to find not one, but two angry people. They're angry about the letter Poirot has sent them, accusing them of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Neither of the visitors knows Pandy. The trouble is - either does Poirot. And he most certainly did not send any letters.Those familiar with Poirot will recognize his habits, mannerisms, speech, deduction process (beware the typewriter with the faulty 'e') and more. What missing for me is Captain Hastings. He has been replaced with Scotland Yard detective Edward Catchpool, whom we met in previous Sophie Hannah Poirot books. I've been on the fence about him. He serves as the obligatory sidekick and foil for Poirot, but has a lesser role in this book than the previous. Who I am quite taken with is Fee, the waitress at Poirot's favorite bakery. I hope this character continues to grow in future books.I really enjoy the 'old style' of solving mysteries - the deductions, reasoning, following the clues, interviews and that seemingly innocuous clue tucked into a paragraph along the way. Christie - and Hannah - force the reader to pay attention. And I always enjoy that final 'reveal', uncovering the whodunit and how Poirot got there. Those looking for a book written as Agatha Christie won't find it in Closed Casket. But those looking for a classic mystery written in the style of Christie will enjoy this book. I did.
    • 3/5
      Three people approach Hercule Poirot saying they have received a letter from him saying that he knows they murdered Barnabas Pandy. They deny it and threaten Poirot with legal action. Poirot decides he must investigate and contacts his friend, Inspector Catchpool. It's a complicated investigation hingeing on finding a typewriter with a broken "e" character. The suspects all have alibis but Poirot gathers them together for the final reveal.
    • 4/5
      This is a worthy addition to Ms. Hannah's Hercule Poirot stories. She has faithfully portrayed Poirot and done a good job of creating creating a complex mystery story. There's actually a question of whether there has been a murder. A good read.
    • 3/5
      Entertaining. The author avoids the repetitive idiosyncrasies that marred some of Christie's later Poirot stories. But also does not capture the complete Poirot character, too generic. I find the author's non-series novels to be more memorable.
    • 4/5
      Someone purporting to be world-famous detective Hercule Poirot has sent letters to four people accusing them of murder. An elderly gentlemen, Barnabas Pandy, had drowned in his bath but the death has been officially declared an accident. One of the recipients was Pandy’s granddaughter and she swears that no one in the household could have possibly murdered her grandfather. With the aid of his ‘little grey cells’ and inspector Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard, Poirot sets out to find out who sent the letters and what really happened to Pandy.The plot of The Mystery of Three Quarters by author Sophie Hannah is an entertaining and well-written historical mystery full of twists and turns and even a nice touch of humour. This is the first of Hannah’s Poirot novels I have read and I was pleased to note that Sophie’s Poirot is close enough to the original with his many eccentricities without being a carbon copy and Catchpool, who stands in for both Hastings and Japp as well as acting as narrator, makes a fine sidekick. My one quibble with the book is the denouement – one of the things I love best about Christie’s writing was her ability to create a complex puzzler full of misdirections and red herrings and then sum it all up in a very few pages, explaining everything, leaving no loose strings. Here, the denouement just seemed to go on much too long. Still, overall, I found this a most satisfying read, enough that I intend to go back and read the other entries in the series.Thanks to Edelweiss+ and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
    • 4/5
      The Mystery of Three Quarters is Sophie Hannah’s latest in her successful series of Poirot-inspired mysteries. More of an homage than imitation, Hannah’s version would satisfy ardent protectors of Agatha Christie’s legacy, as well as a more contemporary audience reluctant to select anything older than themselves. The novel manages to somehow preserve the wit and charm of the classics, without the antiquated references and assumptions of social structure integral to the Christie era. In this installment, narrated by Inspector Edward Catchpool, Poirot is confronted by four individuals who insist that they have received libelous letters from Poirot. Each of the receivers have been accused in their letters of murdering a man that some of them claim to be completely unacquainted with. Poirot and Catchpool are tasked with discovering who sent the letters and if a crime has truly occurred. As is typical of these intricate detective mysteries, discovery of the truth and the hidden inter-connections between characters is the plot’s driving force rather than nonstop action. Enjoyable, entertaining, funny and light, Hannah’s The Mystery of Three Quarters is a refreshing entry in a genre that currently seems burdened by an excess of violence and brutality. Recommended as a good summer read and a nostalgic nod to the innovative cleverness of Christie’s work.