Sad Cypress

Sad Cypress was first published in 1940 and so sits as one of the earlier Hercule Poirot stories. 

The plot centres on the trial of Elinor Carlisle for the murder of Mary Gerrard. It is therefore the first courtroom drama which features Poirot. The evidence against Elinor seems overhwhelming and as the story unfolds it becomes clear that Elinor had come close to actually poisoning the fish paste sandwiches that may have been responsible for the death BUT Hercule Poirot triumphs and is able to prove that the murder was actually comitted by someone else entirely and they were responsible for another death in the story which everyone had taken as a natural death at the time.

This was a book written at the height of Agatha Christie's powers and there are red herrings aplenty together with some great plot twists and turns.

It is curiously detached from any specific time period with the exception of one reference to the engagement of Princess Elizabeth. There are some references to the War which given the publication date would be the First World War. But to all intensts and purposes life appears to have changed little for generations and there are the familiar gripes about the shortcomings of servants. Characters also reveal how the class system kept people in their place at the time with a strong message that people should not try and be better than they ought to be.

To see what other people though of the book, please click here.