''COME AWAY COME AWAY DEATH ; AND IN 'SAD CYPRESS' LET ME BE LAID''

Rounak Ghosh

 After positively hating Murder Is Easy, I was prepared to like almost anything that Christie could throw at me in this novel, and that’s precisely what happened. I thought the story was actually pretty good, and liked how we got to see the murder take place “on stage” so to speak, instead of occurring behind closed doors like it usually does in Christie’s works.Elinor Carlisle was a sympathetic character, so it was easy for me to root for her. Of course there’s never a doubt about Poirot getting to the bottom of any mystery he’s presented with, so once I realized he was on the scene and was working to prove Elinor’s innocence, I was sure that her name would be cleared.I have to admit that I didn’t figure out who the real murderer was before Poirot did. I got thrown off track very early on and didn’t pick up on all the clues that pointed to the actual killer.Overall, I thought Sad Cypress was a pretty good read. It’s not the best Poirot title and is usually not even mentioned as one of Christie’s most famous works, but I think it’s worth a look anyway.. The resolution is clever and, at least by me, unexpected. The final portion of the book took readers back to the courtroom where the case for the defense is laid out and we see what Poirot made of all the odd little facts he has accumulated with his seemingly random conversations with all the players in the drama. I did find the ending a bit drawn out with several unnecessary repetitions of key information.I’m struck once again by the themes that recur in Christie’s work including her observations of how different classes of English society rub along together and her depiction of the damage that old family secrets can do. Although I sometimes find her characterisations a bit dated and stereotypical here she does an above average job of depicting interesting and believable people and Poirot seemed to be at his best: egotistical but not over the top.

Tommy_A_Jones

Have you read Endless Night or Passenger To Frankfurt Both are much worse than Murde Is Easy and Murder In Mesopotamia and They Came To Baghdad and Destination Unknown and Death Comes As The End

MissQuin

No doubt- one of my favourite Poirot books. SPOILERS!!!

I find Elinor Carlisle fascinating. She hides  her  feelings and remains on the surface calm and impassive. At the beginning of the book, she initially appears rather shallow. She complains about lack of money for trivial things. Yet when she inherits money, she loses the thing that means so much more to her- Roddy Welman.

 Elinor's feelings for Roddy are the same as Jacqueline De Bellefort's in Death On The Nile, towards Simon. Yet wheras Jackie is openly passionate, Elinor keeps all her emotions repressed and hidden. That must have made the pain of losing Roddy to another woman more unbearable. Yet he was completely wrong for her.

There is some debate over Mary- was she less innocent than she seemed. Did she encourage Roddy in anyway? I personally don't think she did. If so that makes her murder more tragic. Normally murder victims in Christie are pretty obnoxious. But Mary seems to have been more blameless.

I admire Elinor's strength of character, prison would have been an ordeal. 

 

I don't know why this book isn't more liked. 

When I re-read the book, the clues there and so open! Yet I just didn't see them. That's why Christie is the true Queen of Crime. She could put her clues in plain sight and people don't always see them.

katherine.edman.9

Sad Cypress is probably my favorite AC, and I don't understand why it isn't more popular.  I love the twist with the medicine label.  Then again, I am a chemist!

Elinor is fascinating, and Roddy is such a drip!  

WELL DONE!!!

 

You have found the second little soldier boy!  Give yourself a pat on the back!

 

Hopefully you’re enjoying this game!  Are you aware that this is not the first time that And Then There Were None has inspired a game?  There are two board games based on And Then There Were None.  There’s a 2014 Spanish-language version, Diez Negritos, where players make the characters form alliances and investigate the island in the hopes of finding the killer– though the villain may have an accomplice!  Then, there’s a 1968 version, where one player draws the murderer card, and the other players have to figure out the guilty party before the murderer determines what cards the others are holding.  For more information, see: (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150138/10-negritos, https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11387/and-then-there-were-none-ten-little-indians)

 

Not only that, but And Then There Were None became a computer game in 2005.  The player takes the role of Patrick Narracott, the brother of the book’s ferryman, who becomes stranded on the island himself and is then compelled to investigate the murders.  The rhyme describes the fates of “sailor boys,” and the locale is Shipwreck Island.  To solve the crimes, the player must solve puzzles, interview suspects, and explore the island.  Interestingly, there are four endings.  In the “sad” ending, all the characters except Patrick are killed and the innocent Patrick must flee to prevent being tried for the murders.  In each of the two “mildly happy” endings, Patrick saves the life of one of the last two characters.  And in the “most happy” ending, Patrick saves the lives of both of the two remaining characters.  The endings depend on choices the player makes late in the game.  Also, the true identity of U.N. Owen is different from the book, so as to provide more of a challenge for players’ sleuthing skills.  However, after the game ends, players figure out one last puzzle to see a dramatization of the book’s original ending.

 

 

Oh look…  This soldier boy figurine has a word scribbled on the base in pencil, too.  “Landor.”  Curiouser and curiouser! 

lachy.a.w

I will agree that Sad Cypress doesn't receive the attention it deserves. The thing I found is it doesn't quite have the same suspense or brilliance as Christie's most famous novels like And Then There Were None or even Death on the Nile.

The clues Christie puts are always there but it is very uncommon for people to notice them when they read the books for the first time - that's what makes her such an excellent crime writer. 

Tommy_A_Jones

It hasn't got the WOW factor that other books have and although I didn't guess the Murderer's Identity SPOILER! It is obvious that Elinor isn't the Murderer or why else would Poirot be there, I think it would be better if it wasn't a Poirot, perhaps with Tommy and Tuppence or Anne Beddingfield, she could be a friend of Tuppence or Anne or maybe the Doctor could go to Miss Marple, (He could be a Godson). It is an Average book IMHO like Hickory Dickory Dock, Five Little Pigs, Three-Act Tragedy and Cat Among The Pigeons, but this is all subjective, what is average to somebody might be Great or Awful for someone else.