“Peril at End House” by Agatha Christie – Death’s Persistence

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie (Book cover)
It seems that Agatha Christie has made a theme out of Hercule Poirot not being able to take a vacation if his life depended on it, with that being the case once again in what is perhaps one of her lesser known novels, Peril at End House.

In it, the world’s most notorious Belgian detective tries to take a holiday on the Cornish Riviera, but his plans soon come to an end as he meets Nicky Buckley, a woman who had far too many seemingly accidental brushes with death recently.

Poirot, being a gentleman and loving murder mysteries, sets out to do something he hasn't really done before: not solve a murder, but prevent one from happening.

I find it quite unfortunate that Peril at End House is one of those Agatha Christie novels only her fans will ever get to read, mainly because it takes a somewhat different direction than the rest of her books, and rest assured, she pulls it off as well as you would expect a writer of her caliber to.

It’s very interesting to see how Poirot performs when taken out of what is arguably his comfort zone, having to work with an incredibly minimal amount of clues in order to find the would-be murderer.

As is usually the case, Agatha invites the reader to try and solve the mystery alongside the detective, playing fair by giving you just enough clues for you to be able to piece it all together… you even arguably get more than Poirot does.

Those who like to be challenged by these kinds of books will certainly find a worthy opponent in this one; as with any unusual case, there is an unusual (and somewhat convoluted) answer.

If there is one thing which bothered me about this book though, it’s the way in which Poirot was portrayed. Not that he was exactly out of character, but he was a bit more demeaning than usual, and at some point I found myself wondering how much longer Hastings would be able to take such verbal abuse.

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie (Book cover)
However, on the other hand, one can interpret that as Poirot’s reaction to something which he probably has rarely or never experienced before: being stumped.

All in all, I see this book as being a quick and entertaining read for Agatha Christie fans, a good introduction to her type of writing for people who want to discover her, and a fairly reasonable challenge to fans of solving murder mysteries.


Agatha Christie (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976)

Agatha Christie
(15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976)


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Agatha Christie is thought of by many as being the grandmother of murder mysteries. Throughout her novels, which include the classics And Then There Were None and Death on the Nile, Christie developed many groundbreaking techniques for her time, most of which are being used in one way or another by modern murder mystery writers.

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