- Paperback: 234 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (1994)
- ISBN-10: 0007659504
- ISBN-13: 978-0007659500
- ASIN: B000KVWI4A
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 159 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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First Sentence
Hercule Poirot looked with interest and appreciation at the young woman who was being ushered into the room. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Hercule Poirot looked with interest and appreciation at the young woman who was being ushered into the room. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved the book,
By
This review is from: Five Little Pigs: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hardcover)
I usually buy Agatha Christie's paper backs. This book is my favorite that's why I wanted hard cover. Good quality. I love all Agatha Christie books. I ordered this along with ABC murders and death on the Nile and received them earlier than the date promised in my email.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good Hercule Poirot mystery, but not the best.,
By
This review is from: Five Little Pigs: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hardcover)
This is one of the few books I was able to figure out. All the evidence were provided to readers before Poirot presented the truth. The plot is good and making clear sense.The reason I give it only 4 star is because it's not as complicated as most other Hercule Poirot mysteries.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A lesser entry in the Poirot canon,
By Joseph Boone - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Five Little Pigs: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hardcover)
Five Little Pigs follows Hercule Poirot as he tries to solve a murder from sixteen years in the past. A young woman comes to him and tells him the story of her parents. It seems that her mother was convicted of the murder of her father and died in prison a year later. The young lady was just a little girl at the time but she strongly believes that her mother was innocent and wants Poirot to prove it. Poirot then approaches the five key witnesses one at a time and interviews them about the events surrounding the murder to piece together what happened.In some respects, this is a very typical Poirot novel. The murder occurs at an estate, there are a relative handful of people who could have done it, etc. But Christies attempted a major change in structure by setting the murder sixteen years in the past. I wish I could say that this was more effective but there were some very negative ramifications of this choice. First, readers must read descriptions of the same events, almost word for word, several times over as Poirot hears from each witness in turn. These conversations and events are not sufficiently fascinating to make this enjoyable. Second, in many of these interviews, there is a definite detachment to the narrative due to the amount of time that has passed. Despite the tempestuous nature of the husband/wife relationship this makes for a story that has no real emotional core. Third, a lot of the natural interplay between characters is lost and the worst casualty in this regard in Poirot himself. I always love his little observations and interjections during a case. These often come in moments of high tension and his humor is all the more effective at those times. But in these formal interviews, most of the opportunities for his little asides are lost and what is here lacks the usual bite. Overall, I didn't find Five Little Pigs to be one of Agatha Christie's better efforts. The decision to place the murder sixteen years in the past was an interesting one but it robbed the story of a lot of its impact. This book also sports one of her weaker casts. The two most interesting characters (the victim and murderess) are present only in narrative provided by others and lose a great deal of their vitality in the process. Granted, this is not Christie's worst novel and it is still an adequate read. But I would recommend this book to true fans and not to first time readers. Hercule Poirot appeared in some truly great novels, but this is not one of them. 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poirot on the way to find out the inevitable (3.5 stars)...,
By Antonio Robert - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Five Little Pigs (Paperback)
... but it's almost guaranteed that, as always with Dame Agatha, you just can't see the inevitable soon enough but only in the last pages. The story is partly told in retrospect, in letters from those involved in the drama. The Great Detective is motivated to investigate a suspicious death of painter Amyas Crale, apparently a womanizer. At the beginning everything looks clear. But Amyas' daughter, although years have passed since the death of her father, is not so sure about the guilt of her mother, who was sentenced for the crime, and asks Poirot to help. This is one of the more psychologically-based Poirot novels, not too suspensful, but the ending is as surprising as ever and sheds a whole new light on the seemingly clear drama. And, as the title indicates, it's one of those Christie speciality novels where a murder takes place according to a nursery rhyme (And Then There Were None and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe are two other good examples of this).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good, but minimizes Poirot, and unsatisfying ending,
By Kurt A. Johnson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Five Little Pigs: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Paperback)
A young woman approaching him with a problem is nothing new to Monsieur Hercule Poirot, but what is new is that she wants him to investigate a murder that occurred 16 years ago. It seems that in a famous murder trial, her mother was found guilty of murdering her father, and the young woman wants the great detective to find out the truth of the case. It is a challenge most difficult, one that Poirot cannot refuse!Overall, I found this to be a pretty good book. It is a good, solid Hercule Poirot mystery. It does, sadly, have several rather debilitating problems. First of all, the author keeps Monsieur Poirot's interaction with the other characters to a minimum, allowing most of the evidence to be presented to him in written form. This does tend to limit the main character's ability to shine in the story. Secondly, I must confess that I found the ending rather anticlimactic and unfulfilling. Yes, I am sure that it was the most realistic way to have the story end, but that does not mean that it was the most interesting way to end it. As an Agatha Christie fan, I must say that I am glad to have read a Hercule Poirot story that I have never read before. But, I wasn't thrilled with it, and I doubt that I will ever read the story again. |
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