I am reading through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and writing a review on each one.
The Sittaford Mystery.
1931
Description
In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a small round table foe a seance.
Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message:
Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke?
The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan.
Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snow drifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot...
'Captain Trevelyan...dead...murder'
My Thoughts
This is the 14th book by Agatha Christie and the First to be what I would describe as a stand alone murder mystery.
It features none of Miss Christie's previous detectives or sleuths and none of the characters in this book are found in any of the later books she wrote.
This story is based in the countryside and in the depth of winter making travelling difficult and that is essential to the whole book.
There are a small cast of neighbours but of course our writer is not confined to just these few to weave her story but also takes us far away to see that others may have had some influence in it all.
I really enjoyed this story and do believe that this title is the better title for the book than the American one of "Murder at Hazelmoor". Yes the story is of a murder but definitely in this Christie novel it is the mystery that we need to solve.
Of course a detective/policeman is needed to solve the case but even that is not exactly as it seems at first and in my eyes this is another good example of the Christie use of Red Herrings.
A good read and a simple solution but just not simple until explained.
Here is a link to a list of her novels on Amazon
Books by Agatha Christie
