Elephants Can Remember - Read Christie 2024 Review

Goodreads: Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie

Rating: Liked It (3 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. For here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident – the broken body of a woman was discovered on the rocks at the foot of the cliff. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder? Poirot delves back into a crime committed 15 years earlier and discovers that, when there is a distinct lack of physical evidence, it’s just as well that ‘old sins leave long shadows.'

This story is part of Agatha Christie’s murder in retrospect series, a collection of stories which look at a crime several years after the fact, piecing together testimonials and witness reports to finally uncover the truth. This time we see Mrs Oliver’s goddaughter, attempting to find out the truth about her deceased parents – who killed whom?

Genre: Mystery - Classic

Why I Picked This Book:  This was the December pick for the Read Christie Challenge

My Impression: This is one of Christie's last books and while it is not terrible it is definitely not as clean as I expect from an Agatha Christie mystery.   I think I would like this book considerably less if Mrs. Oliver didn't have such a big role as I always love when she has page time.  The mystery concerns someone from Mrs. Oliver's past and I loved her focus on finding "elephants" as it caused quite a bit of hilarity and confusion.  

My issue with this book is the same issue I have with another later book, Postern of Fate, and that is that the timeline never fully makes sense.  This pulled me out of the story quite a bit and kept me from being able to get invested in the story.  The crime happened about fifteen years prior but at times it came across as occurring much farther in the past.  The wife's age is at one point listed as 35 but then is later described as elderly but at the same time has small children.  I never could work out what another character was supposed to be involved with as everyone had heard a different rumor, and no one seemed to know anything.  As well, the focus on wigs got a bit tedious and it felt a bit like a copy of another Christie novel that I've read recently.

I love Poirot and Oliver together and thoroughly enjoyed their page time in this book.  The mystery itself had an interesting premise with an interesting solution but getting from start to finish was a little shaky.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Of course!  I'm already looking forward to the Read Christie 2025 Challenge!

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you're a Christie fan then this is an interesting read but if you've never read Christie before this is not the book I'd start with.