Classic, Yet Different

Towards Zero:  Superintendent Battle #5 by Agatha Christie

Classic Mystery

Inspector Battle isn't nearly a favorite Christie detective of mine.  I have a soft spot in my heart for the little Belgian, Hercule Poirot, and that grand dame of country life, Jane Marple.  Battle is, however, starting to rise in my esteem and estimation.

In this book, a murder of a family matriarch throws the local constabulary into a quandary until one of the officers calls his uncle, Inspector Battle, who isn't all that sad at leaving an uncomfortable family situation to help out.  What I really loved about this book was the incredible backstory, which we don't often seen with Christie.  Usually, the murder occurs fairly quickly and the detective on-hand gets to sleuthing right away.  In this story, we are introduced to all the red-herring and guilty players right away and have to figure out from their motives which one of them might have made the masterful kill.  There are a lot of little side stories that are tidily tied up at the end.  Christie, true genius!

This is probably one of my favorite Christie books, and certainly my favorite Inspector Battle.  I loved the side stories and backstories of all the characters.  Each of them was so interesting and it had me guessing until the very last page.  These aren't books you necessarily have to read in order so, if you're a bit tired of the typical Christie mystery, you might want to give this a read.  A jolly good yarn!