31. Appointment with Death (1938)

Ah, Dame Agatha ~

This novel felt so different to me, at least in the first half.  You really spent that half of the novel in a psychological work-up of the victim that I did find fascinating.  Like Ratchett in Murder on the Orient Express, the "victim" was a despicable human being who, by most accounts deserved to die (although I agree with Poirot - that the despicableness of the person does not warrant our playing God and Judge on their life).

That first half - the psychological study, so to speak, of the Boynton family - is one of the three things I loved about this book.  To be more exact, I'm not really referring to the story so much as the devices I guess.

I love, dear Agatha, when you reference your other works / Poirot's other cases.  Maybe that's not something exclusive to you, but it reinforces this fictitious world as being ... well ... real.  It's like your characters believe (and it makes me grin every time) that *they* are the real world and not fictitious at all.  

Colonel Carbury:  "We might have known he'd be out of it. Being, as in detective stories, the most likely person..." 

   "You read the detective stories, yes?"

   "'Thousands of them,' said Colonel Carbury.  He added, and his tone was that of a wistful schoolboy: "I suppose you couldn't do the things the detective does in books? Write a list of significant facts - things that don't seem to mean anything but are really frightfully important - that sort of thing?"

"Ah, said Poirot kindly. "You like that kind of detective story? But certainly, I will do it for you with pleasure."

I like *that* kind of detective story, too.  * wink *  Also:

"Your position certainly seems impeccable," said Poirot with gravity. "In a work of fiction you would strongly be suspected on that account."

I love your sense of humor, Agatha. Those references to the detective stories make me chuckle, and the references to other cases - the ABC murders, the Orient Express, and Shiatana from Cards on the Table... I just love it.

I'm trying to read these few Christies quickly as I'm seeing And Then There Were None on stage in 9 days and I'm nearly to that book.  I *really* want to read it beforehand and in order.  I've only ever played the video game!  That said, time to get moving on the next...