Peril at End House  (English, Paperback, Christie Agatha)

Peril At End House is Agatha Christie’s detective novel originally published in 1932, featuring the world-famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and involves a suspected murder that is about to occur at a Cornish resort.

Summary Of The Book

Detective Hercule Poirot and his friend, Captain Arthur Hastings, are enjoying a holiday at a Cornish resort, when they happen to meet an attractive young woman by the name of Magdala "Nick" Buckley. She lives in a house nearby known as End House.

Poirot’s suspicions are aroused when, in her conversation, she mentions about three recent instances of escaping her death. The first one occurred when her car brakes failed while she was driving on a dangerous hilly road. In the next instance, she was taking a walk along the coast, when a huge boulder fell down near her, missing her closely. Soon after, a painting hanging on the wall fell down, nearly crushing her, as she lay in her bed.

Poirot tries to warn her that her life is in danger and offers her his protection, but she does not believe him until when he draws her attention to a bullet-hole in her sun hat, making her realise that someone had attempted to shoot her, which she had mistakenly assumed to be a wasp flying over her head. Eventually, her gun is found to be missing, leaving everyone baffled.

As Poirot begins to to uncover the mystery of a crime not yet committed at End House, he focuses his attention on all those close to Nick, who might have a motive for wanting her dead. Poirot starts by short listing possible suspects including, Ellen, her housekeeper, George Challenger, who seems to be very fond of Nick, her closest friends Freddie Rice and Jim Lazarus, a distant cousin named Maggie, and another cousin, Charles Vyse, who is a lawyer making the arrangements for having End House re-mortgaged, so as to provide Nick with much needed funds. Amidst all this, a crime does eventually occur, adding a twist to the mystery at End House.

Peril At End House received literary praise for its ingenious plotline involving a cunning mystery, leading up to a befitting conclusion, in line with Agatha Christie’s true whodunit style. It was adapted for television, starring David Suchet as Poirot for a TV series.

About Agatha Christie

Hailed as ‘The Queen of Crime’ by her million fans, Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was a highly acclaimed British crime writer.

She has written numerous detective novels including, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, And Then There Were None, A Pocket Full of Rye, The Pale Horse, and Sleeping Murder.

Her trademark style involved writing whodunit murder mystery novels, with detailed and cunning plotlines involving the clever use of intricate clues and skills of deduction.

Born on 15 September 1890, in Devon, England, she was homeschooled, and grew very fond of books since a young age. Her novels featuring Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot are among the most widely published in the world, selling close to 4 billion copies. She also won critical acclaim for her plays, including The Mousetrap and Witness For The Prosecution. The Guinness Book of World Records has declared her the best-selling novelist of all time. Married twice, she passed away on 12 January 1976.