Reviews with content warning for Racism - Cat Among the Pigeons

I found this to be quite an average Christie. It's one of those Poirot books where he isn't in most of the book and it was a little distracting because I kept wondering when he would appear. That turned out to be on page

249 of 352

and by then I still wasn't very invested in the mystery. There was a solid resolution but I finished it a few weeks ago and I've forgotten most of the details.

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jdcorley's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

People often dismiss Christie as formulaic - this is because she set out formulas that the rest of us are still catching up to - but books like this one show that she fervently experimented with the form of her mysteries, even in her most beloved series. Poirot does not come on stage until events are hopelessly tangled, quite late in the book.

Instead we have two intertwining stories about a spy plot in an "Eastern" country (Persian, by its description) and a prestigious private school for girls. Christie's negative judgments about English society are also on full display as the wealthy and influential are held up to be priggish buffoons, and the teachers she sympathizes with the most are hardworking, considerate and innovative, in their own way. We know a little more than the police do, so when the first murder happens we might think we've got the hang of it and the police don't, but Christie delights in piling up mysterious event on mysterious event until we're completely befuddled. Then Poirot comes in and the first thing he points out is that things are even more confusing than we thought. But he's here to get us through it. What a marvel.

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sunny_not's review against another edition

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2.75

As always racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and definitely of its time. I feel like her earlier works were mostly fun and after the war she became much much worse both at writing stories and in her ideologies. I hated Julia, the storyline with prince ali made little to no sense.

I didn't care about Ann and her being the murderer I'm just neutral about.

Poirot came at the last 100 pages so this didn't feel like a poirot mystery.

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selenesalavessa's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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dorsetreader's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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halfdracula's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

this is definitely one of the more racist ones so that impacts things. Plot up and down—lots of fun with

Julia going to Poirot, who I did not realize was in this book,

but god, Christie really did pack ‘em full of murders, didn’t she? Gets a bit full-on. This sentiment is responsible for my great Christie Hot Take, which is that I don’t care for And Then There Were None. It’s just like—the books aren’t that long! Slow your roll on the body count! You know who wrote a 500-page mystery novel set at a women’s school without killing anybody, and it was the greatest one anyone had ever done? Fuckin’ Dorothy L. Sayers, that’s who

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