The Last Death of the Year: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery
Sophie Hannah. Morrow, $30 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-342451-7
Hannah crafts a devilish puzzle for detective Hercule Poirot in her sixth Agatha Christie pastiche (after Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night). In 1932, Poirot and his friend, Scotland Yard inspector Edward Catchpool, arrive on the small Greek island of Lamperos to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Lamperos is home to the House of Perpetual Welcome, a quasi-religious community dedicated to the belief that everything can, and should, be forgiven. Poirot and Catchpool join its members in a New Year’s game in which participants read a list of resolutions and try to guess who wrote each one. The festivities come to an abrupt end when Catchpool unfolds a piece of paper with a quatrain whose writer threatens to murder a man named Matthew Fair and make his death “at once the last and first... of the year.” Despite Poirot and Catchpool’s precautions, someone dies, and Poirot reveals to Catchpool that he knows of a credible threat on another resident’s life. Once again, Hannah proves both a quick study and an inventive thinker, delivering a whodunit that honors Poirot’s history without feeling like a mere retread. Golden age mystery fans are in for a treat. (Oct.)
Details
Reviewed on: 07/21/2025
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Compact Disc - 979-8-228-48156-5
MP3 CD - 979-8-228-48157-2
Other - 320 pages - 978-0-06-342453-1
Paperback - 480 pages - 978-0-06-345579-5