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tanjajdm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
fushigimini's review against another edition
I was bored AF and hated the characters.
kathrynkao's review against another edition
1.0
So disappointing. Mediocre writing, the only PoC characters are low income and speak in broken English (and described as speaking such), and the actual plot doesn't draw from Agatha Christie as I had hoped. Made it halfway before deciding it was a waste of time.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
3.0
Written for fans of cosy styled, more light-hearted mystery stories, THE AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOK CLUB will ring many bells in any readers who are also dedicated Agatha Christie readers. Set in Sydney, the ACBC is formed by Alicia Finlay when she finally has to throw in the towel on a more formal (aka stuffy) literature based book club (personal note - if you TRIED to hold off the wine and cheese at our book club meetings you'd be laughed out the door!).
Those dedicated fans of Agatha Christie will recognise many of the scenarios, clues and hints dotted throughout this mystery. To the point where you may find yourself shouting at the book club members, who for fans, seem to have missed quite a few of the books / much of Christie's personal story, and therefore a whole heap of "well duh" moments. Much of THE AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOK CLUB is based on entertainment, rather than hard core mystery / crime fiction - right down to the almost mandatory requirement of the victim being a pretty nasty character. With plenty of people that might want him dead.
Leading the charge, Alicia Finlay is ably assisted by her cooking up a storm sister, and members of the bookclub who all take various investigation threads. There are a few lightly poached red herrings dotted around, and a bit of business with some direct links to Ms Christie's own disappearance. The police are there, possibly less than motivated when the crime is only the disappearance of a middle aged woman, not so laid back when the crime turns to murder.
Needless to say this is definitely on the lighter than air side of crime fiction. There's a hefty dose of romantic longing, quite a lot of gossiping, some fashion, a lot of chatter about home decor, and some "revelations" which you will probably see coming pages and pages earlier. Of course it makes no pretence of being anything else, and if you are a fan of the lighter side than it's well worth a look. As long as you can let the obvious clues go by. Fans of Ms Christie's writing might find the bookclub's inability to recognise some of those, especially when they stand up and scream "I'm an important clue for goodness sake", a tad frustrating.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-agatha-christie-book-club-ca-larmer
Those dedicated fans of Agatha Christie will recognise many of the scenarios, clues and hints dotted throughout this mystery. To the point where you may find yourself shouting at the book club members, who for fans, seem to have missed quite a few of the books / much of Christie's personal story, and therefore a whole heap of "well duh" moments. Much of THE AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOK CLUB is based on entertainment, rather than hard core mystery / crime fiction - right down to the almost mandatory requirement of the victim being a pretty nasty character. With plenty of people that might want him dead.
Leading the charge, Alicia Finlay is ably assisted by her cooking up a storm sister, and members of the bookclub who all take various investigation threads. There are a few lightly poached red herrings dotted around, and a bit of business with some direct links to Ms Christie's own disappearance. The police are there, possibly less than motivated when the crime is only the disappearance of a middle aged woman, not so laid back when the crime turns to murder.
Needless to say this is definitely on the lighter than air side of crime fiction. There's a hefty dose of romantic longing, quite a lot of gossiping, some fashion, a lot of chatter about home decor, and some "revelations" which you will probably see coming pages and pages earlier. Of course it makes no pretence of being anything else, and if you are a fan of the lighter side than it's well worth a look. As long as you can let the obvious clues go by. Fans of Ms Christie's writing might find the bookclub's inability to recognise some of those, especially when they stand up and scream "I'm an important clue for goodness sake", a tad frustrating.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-agatha-christie-book-club-ca-larmer
merry_portenseigne's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Si seulement ce livre avait été écrit sans racisme, classisme et homophobie.
pn_hinton's review
2.0
I am an Agatha Christie fan, which is why this book intrigued me when I bought it months ago. I recently got around to reading it because I was in the mood for a good mystery and it seemed it would fit the bill.
The premise of this book was promising and it did start off that way as well. However, early on, it became very jumbled. Part of this was due to the multiple ‘mysteries’ introduced. Another factor was the constant changes in the points of views. This was not a seamless change, sometimes occurring in the very same paragraph. So in some spots it was hard to keep up. The writing style also seemed to change in the middle of the book, to the point of almost being corny or juvenile. These were all adults but after about 25%, it read like it was for a younger reading age.
There were also red herrings galore, which is to be expected in a mystery. But even Christie didn’t have as many as this novel did in any of her novels. While I know this was done to make the mysteries more intriguing it came across as annoying after a while. The characters were all stereotypical archetypes. This made it hard to get to know or really like them. What few pieces of insight into their character that were shown seemed out of place when they were revealed and came across as trying to be filler. I am not inclined to read the rest of the series to see if these get further developed.
I’ve read far worse mysteries, but consequently I’ve read better. This was also a bit of a "meh" book for me. The big reveal at the end wasn’t that surprising all things considered especially with all the indicators throughout the novel. This is a book that I likely will not read again.
The premise of this book was promising and it did start off that way as well. However, early on, it became very jumbled. Part of this was due to the multiple ‘mysteries’ introduced. Another factor was the constant changes in the points of views. This was not a seamless change, sometimes occurring in the very same paragraph. So in some spots it was hard to keep up. The writing style also seemed to change in the middle of the book, to the point of almost being corny or juvenile. These were all adults but after about 25%, it read like it was for a younger reading age.
There were also red herrings galore, which is to be expected in a mystery. But even Christie didn’t have as many as this novel did in any of her novels. While I know this was done to make the mysteries more intriguing it came across as annoying after a while. The characters were all stereotypical archetypes. This made it hard to get to know or really like them. What few pieces of insight into their character that were shown seemed out of place when they were revealed and came across as trying to be filler. I am not inclined to read the rest of the series to see if these get further developed.
I’ve read far worse mysteries, but consequently I’ve read better. This was also a bit of a "meh" book for me. The big reveal at the end wasn’t that surprising all things considered especially with all the indicators throughout the novel. This is a book that I likely will not read again.
danabaran06's review
3.0
This was a fine cozy mystery. Unfortunately I figured out the mystery really quickly, so I just spent the rest of the book confirming my theories. But if you’re an Agatha Christie fan you would definitely find lots here to like. Note: it’s set in Australia, so it has some different slang than I was used to (different from British, which is what I thought the setting was at first).