Appointment with Death (Hercule Poirot Series) » (Unabridged, 5 CDs, 6 hours)

Agatha Christie is nearly synonymous with upper-class British mysteries, for good reason. She set the standard for the genre in over 60 novels and dozens of short stories, also creating two classic detectives: the fastidious Belgian, Hercule Poirot, and English spinster Jane Marple. No one could match Christie's knack for weaving clues into her stories, then turning the whole thing inside out -- shocking her readers every time.

The tyrannical, detestable matriarch Mrs. Boynton dies of heart failure and friends and family are only too happy to pass it off as natural. When Poirot sees a tiny puncture mark on her wrist, however, he only has 24 hours to solve the case before the suspects are released.

Library Journal

This 1938 Hercule Poirot mystery is not one of Christie's best, but Hugh Fraser's engaging reading makes the time pass pleasantly. Vacationing in Jerusalem, the Belgian detective encounters the Boyntons, a wealthy American family dominated by its tyrannical matriarch. When the old lady suddenly dies on an excursion to the ruins at Petra in Jordan, her children come under suspicion. As usual with Christie's tales, there are romantic complications among the tourists as well. Except for Dr. Girard, a famous French psychiatrist, the characters are rather bland, with the various Boyntons not that differentiated from one another. Christie also does surprisingly little with the Middle East setting. Fraser, best known as Captain Hastings in the televised versions of the Poirot stories, gives his usual sympathetic reading, making the protagonists seem to have greater depth. For Fraser's efforts alone, this is recommended for popular collections.-Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.