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After The Funeral

Author: Agatha Christie

Lead Character: Hercule M. Poirot

Genre: Fiction, Crime Thriller, Murder Mystery

Q) What happens when a rich man dies with no proper heir to his property?
Ans)Bequeathing of property and some crime associated with it.

Think of it and atleast a dozen bollywood movies and few Hollywood movies flash in front of your eyes. This is my first Agatha Christie Novel and above description is exactly what I went through after learning about the plot- Hollywood bollywood movies flashing away. But then I was in for a surprise.This book was written even before the ideas of these movies had had their inception in the minds of the people who made them and is defintely much better than most of the movies based on this premise.

Agatha Christie takes this posthumous family drama plot of rich man and brews a wonderful crime story around it. The characterization of the family, their relationship with the dead man, their appearances and their nature has been very well sketched in the book.

It all begins with a comment made by Aunt Cora at Uncle Richard Abernethie’s funeral. Richard has no heir to his property and thus everyone in relation wants to stake his/her claim. Aunt Cora comments that her brother Richard was murdered for his property. No one gives second thoughts to her comments as she has the fame of being demented. But things stir when she is murdered with Hatchet.

It is now that our gentlemanly and chivalrous Hercule M. Poirot is involved in the case. The book has some interesting top notch twists and turns and as one of my friend has put it “And really, After the Funeral (refers to the book) is a mystery that latches onto you a few paragraphs in from the first page. Latches on and refuses to let go.”

You will find yourself immersed in the book and will enjoy reading it. Although Agatha Christie has her usual biases in selecting the murderer and sometimes she goes very detail in the descriptive, the plot and the end of the trail make up for it. But then, that’s the style of Agatha Christie right? So if you love her writes and if you love detective stories, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.

Trivia:

There is a movie based on this novel. It is directed by Maurice Phillips with David Suchet portraying Hercule M.Poirot . More details @IMDB. Click Here for more details.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi, Thanks for the review.. I am glad that some one posted the review of Agatha Christie books.
I heard from many of my friends that Agatha writes good detective storys..
I will definitely pick up some of Agatha's books in near future (because right now I have lots of books in Queue :) )..
12/8/10
MuddassirShah said…
:) Sure Sayed.
That is the the problem, we have too many books to read and too less of time.
sometimes i wonder how good it would be if we had 4 8 hours a day , only for reading books ;)
12/8/10
varsha said…
Thanks Muddassir for reviving the memory.When I was a young girl,TV was a yawn and I much prefferred hiding the atmospheric mysteries Of Dame Agatha-hidden inside textbooks.
Good writing!
13/8/10
MuddassirShah said…
:) I know,
I learnt about agatha because my friend hates her. His mom used to read so much of agatha christie that hehad advised me to refrain from agatha christie and that advice made me pick up agatha's books.
I felt it would be right to bring this to light, all deserve to read her works. One or two more reviews of Poirot may follow soon
13/8/10
Ron said…
Agatha Christie is one of the best writers of all time.
14/8/10
MuddassirShah said…
Definitely Ron.
People of all ages like Christie's works.
I loved your gardening site :)
it is cool
14/8/10
ben said…
a big fan of agatha cristie :) keep up with you reviews. If you looking for short story, visit http://fyippl.com look for entertainment, english story. :)
17/9/10
MuddassirShah said…
Thanks ben.
i loved your site too
17/9/10
Maddie said…
Well, all of Agatha Christie books are gems. I am such a die hard fan. Try Holiday for Muder, 4:50 from Paddington, Murder Roger Ackroyd, Muder is Announced.. I can go on and on.
10/10/10
MuddassirShah said…
yeah Maddie,
that book is already on my list:)
10/10/10
Sadiya Merchant said…
Agatha Christie takes me wayyy back into school....no reason y, but there was this whole phase where Agatha and Nancy Drew was the onlyyy thing we read!....but i felt 10 books down n u strt to get d idea of how d plot wrks....in a majority of them dat is.....hav u read sherlock holmes? remains my fevretesttt detective series!
17/10/10
MuddassirShah said…
Yes By far,
Sherlock Holmes is the best ever.
Nothing can beat it :):)
nancy drew reminds me of school days as well and as u said, it is easy to work out the plot in Christie's works if you know where to hint for the clues in the story :D
17/10/10
lawn embroidered suits 2021 said…
Agatha Christie takes this posthumous family drama plot of rich man and brews a wonderful crime story around it. The characterization of the family, their relationship with the dead man, their appearances and their nature has been very well sketched in the book. black salwar kameez ladies , ladies black salwar kameez ,
20/9/21
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