Book info

• Title The Seven Dials Mystery
• Author Agatha Christie
• Year 1929
• Genre Mystery

A healthy young man dies in his sleep, despite the ringing of eight separate alarm clocks... Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper; so the other house guests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight alarm clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6.30 a.m. But when morning arrived, one clock was missing and the prank had backfired with tragic consequences. For Jimmy Thesiger in particular, the words ‘Seven Dials’ were to take on a new and chilling significance...

Thoughts

This was more of a page-turning thriller than the more sedate whodunit’s I’m used to from Christie, but it was still quite interesting in its own way. The introduction suggested it was a satire, which did come across in the text, but I must admit most of what it was sending up went over my head - I guess that’s just a lack of knowledge of the period, really.

I quite liked the mystery, though, and our plucky heroine being brave and clever and thoughtful throughout. Twists and turns here and there, so that I really didn’t have a guess of what was going on by the time it was revealed. Fun and informal, but certainly not a favourite Christie work.

Rating: 3 / 5