Chris Diggins

32. Cat Among the Pigeons: This is basically a spy novel masquerading as a Poirot mystery. He doesn't even show up until the last quarter! It's also Christie clearly doing her best to not be racist, which is nice of her, but, uh, she's not entirely successful. Still, the mystery itself is intriguing

If you care about tradition so much then get your asses to Avignon and crown an Antipope you cowards!

31. Dead Man’s Folly: The solution is the most wildly implausible since Murder in Mesopotamia, and the ending is pretty abrupt. I feel like I have one or two unanswered questions too, which is surprisingly atypical for her. I think the Poirot weariness had really set in by now, and it suffers for it

30. Hickory Dickory Dock: Christie trying to write non-white characters is not great. At least she'd moved past the crude stereotypes of earlier to making them actual people, albeit with stereotypical traits. The mystery itself is quite good though, and a better balance of Poirot and non-Poirot

29. After the Funeral: The classic funeral and will-reading opening, used for the first time! The story itself shifts perspectives rather haphazardly though, starting with the family lawyer then cycling through Poirot and various family members. It makes it feel rather aimless until a limp end

has a stubborn belief in the interests and politics of her class but she's too committed to psychological realism to let her sympathies entirely cloud out the reality. It's kind of fascinating and I wonder if there's any scholarship on it (3/3)

prejudiced, or all three. Similarly, whenever there's a left-wing character, they're obnoxious and self-serious and vindictive. Yet these characters are never the criminals, while stodgy conservative men frequently murder or embezzle or any number of other crimes in her books. It's like she (2/3)

There's an interesting tension in the work of Agatha Christie between her obvious Tory politics and her understanding of human psychology. Upper class characters often spout right-wing opinions she's obviously sympathetic to, and yet those characters are often mean-spirited, ignorant, (1/3)

28. Mrs. McGinty's Dead: Apparently this is the name of a children's game in the UK, and okay Mrs. Christie. I'll give you this one.

The return of Christie's self-insert Ariadne Oliver is fun, and in general it's a return to some of the playfulness of early Poirot. Pretty good entry overall

27. The Underdog: This was the lead story in a short story collection, but since every other story in it is part of the later collection Poirot's Early Cases, I decided to save those for that book.

Anyway, this is a solid mystery that ends just a bit too abruptly. I could have used more denouement

26. Taken at the Flood: There’s something vaguely dissatisfying about this one that I can’t quite put my finger on. The mystery is clever, but I think the characterization of the various suspects is a little off. They just don’t quite feel real in the way Christie’s characters usually do

This feels like Cocomelon, both in the waxy unreality of the people and in the camera’s complete inability to stay still or hold a shot for longer than three seconds

I think this is a particularly good episode of the pod, helped by the fact that Mercy is an especially bizarre and terrible movie

25. The Labours of Hercules: Theming a collection of short stories around the classical labors of Hercules is pretty fun, as tenuous as some of the connections might be. The mysteries themselves are a little more varied than usual, not always a case of murder, so that adds some intrigue as well

Knowing you will put figures given to you as a joke on your desk at work is a terrible power I should not have

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs. The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

24. The Hollow: This isn’t really her most complex or interesting mystery, but I think it is the most compelling human drama Christie has written in one of these books so far. The characters are vividly drawn and I found myself emotionally affected by the conclusion, which isn’t typical for these

23. Five Little Pigs: Look Mrs. Christie, we all loved And Then There Were None, but you have to stop with the nursery rhymes. They barely make sense most of the time!

That being said, this one is especially good. The different perspectives on a crime from the past make it distinct and interesting

I can't put into words the feeling of watching our government, a hive of evil antisocial filth, the absolute worst humanity has to offer, colliding with the best. Ordinary people trying to help each other, risking everything to stand up for what's plainly, unambiguously fair and right. It's unreal

Like Zagreus, she was raised away from most of the other Greek gods and thus doesn’t realize Horny is her natural state of being

“You suck really bad and you haven’t changed at all and you actively try to kill me but I also think you’re hot, let’s have sex”

“Fuck you for trying to manipulate me into being nice, but also yes I will fuck you literally. Also I’ll still try to kill you”

Most realistic romance in the series

If it seems like I’m really tearing through these Poirot novels, I need to emphasize A) I have a lot of time on my hands, and 2) they really are incredibly readable. The stringing along of clues, revelations, and deductions is perfectly timed to keep you engaged. Christie was a master of her craft

22. Evil Under the Sun: Kind of a reworking of a short story from Murder in the Mews, but different enough in solution and execution that I don’t mind. The vacation ones are really fun, and this one is no exception, with a colorful cast of characters and a complex plot behind the murder

The idea of what "an Oscar movie" is has changed more in the last 10 years than at any point in the Academy's history. The only comparable period is really in the late '60s/early '70s.

21. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: Insane name for this book. She was clearly running out of nursery rhymes. Still, it’s nice to have one that follows Poirot from the beginning after a string of “Half a book of set-up, then Poirot shows up” novels. Shame about her politics, but could be worse I suppose

You ever decide not to engage with something and then, when you see how it’s turning out, you’re surprised by how right your decision was? That’s how I feel about everything I hear about Fallout season 2

Taking this quote out of context to start implying to people you’re watching Hazbin Hotel

20. Sad Cypress: *sighs and replaces the zero back on the “__ Novels Since Christie Said Something Vaguely Anti-Semitic” counter*

The ending to this one feels kind of rushed, and is also one of the more outlandish solutions, but the main suspect is a well-drawn portrait of a lovesick, forlorn girl

we're getting all the downsides of cyberpunk (social alienation, ruthless hyper capitalism, digital mass surveillance state) but none of the promised upsides (cheap street food, cool jackets, super drugs that make you really fast and strong before they kill you)

well you see you had to explain at the company dinner that you were sexually frustrated because of your chaste fictional partner