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Cover of Crooked House by Agatha Christie

Crooked House

  • 219 pages · about 4 hours
  • First published 1949
  • 115 editions

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1 About this book

Three generations of the Leonides family live together in a large, if somewhat crooked looking, house. Then the wealthy patriarch, Aristide, is murdered. Suspicion falls on the whole household, including Aristide's two sons, his widow – fifty years his junior – and even his three grandchildren. Could any member of this seemingly devoted family have had a hand in his death?

Can Charles Hayward, fiance of the late millionaire's granddaughter, help the police find the killer and clear his loved one's name? Christie always acknowledged this novel as one of her favourites. She said in an interview in The Sunday Times that she enjoyed best writing the Crooked House type novel, "which depends on a family and the interplay of their lives."

Good for readers who want: a mystery and a play.

  • Mystery
  • Women detectives
  • Murder
  • Mystery & detective, traditional
  • Jane Marple
  • Investigation
  • Drama
  • Family secrets

2 About Agatha Christie

1890–1976

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan, Lady Mallowan (née Miller, 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), usually known by her first married name, Agatha Christie, was an English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot (with the novel debut being The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1920), Tommy and Tuppence (with the novel debut being The Secret…

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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