True to my word, after reading the biography of Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley, I dipped straight into the author’s back catalogue, starting with this first book featuring everyone’s favourite Belgian detective, Poirot. I really enjoyed the mystery, the cast of characters are set up with all of them being slightly suspicious, and the clues and twists are thrown at us until the answer is revealed. Very good.

It’s not clear whether this book is fact or fiction, it presents as a diary recovered from a German prisoner-of-war, as a factual record of his progress through the German navy and the first World War. But there’s not a lot known about it so it could be fabrication. Regardless, it does a great job of showing how human both sides of a war can be, people just doing their jobs, falling in love, missing home and doing their duty. A good, quick, read.