Poirot: Mrs McGinty's Dead

Agatha Christie is one of the most amazing authors of all time. The book Mrs McGinty's Dead was first published in 1952. The novel features the characters Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. 


In the plot James Bentley is arrested for the murder of old Mrs McGinty. The man is easy convicted and set to be sent to the gallows but Superintendent Spence who helped convict him is not convinced of his guilt and in his uneasiness at sending an innocent man to his death he turns to Poirot for help. Poirot with the help of his writer friend Ariadne Oliver set out to find the real killer in this whodunnit.


The Poirot TV version from 2008 stars David Suchet. He plays such an intriguing character. Reminds me of The Penguin from Batman and in fact I'm sure that the actor David Suchet would of played a brilliant villain Penguin if ever had been given the opportunity. He gives the character a distinctive waddle. 


The actor portraying James Bentley, Joe Absolom on death row is familiar from the Doc Martin TV series.
I good witty part in the movie has Poirot ringing up Police Superintendent Spence excitedly telling him that someone has attempted to kill him and he is so happy about the fact when he tells him.

David Suchet Poirot wears a charming broach on his jacket in one scene and the clothing, room props, locations and scenery in the movie is warm and gorgeous.
There interesting is a comment to Poirot about him living in one of those "Modenist' places.

The treasure in the Tower: The Hardy Boys Series

I listened to the Audio book version as I have taken up listening audio books whilst at the gym.

This is the first book in The Hardy Boys Series and a well developed start to the series. The books are written under a psydonum name of which was a part of the Stratmeyers group. The author of the first Hardy Boys book stated that he made a conscious decision to spend time developing The Hardy Boy characters during writing this book. This was not always done by authors as the writers did not receive royalties for the book sales only a one off payment. This situation often encouraged writers to stick strictly to the outline they were given by Stratemeyser and churn out the book as quickly as possible in order to receive their payment and start on the next book outline they were sent.

Frank and Joe Hardy were developed as popular boys who played baseball and dated girls at their high school (with the boys having favorite dates.) Joe comes across as more impulsive and excitable than Frank. The boys had a sound family life with their father having the exciting work of working as a detective.The story evolves with Frank and Joe working on the same case as their father in order to help a school friend and collect a substantial financial reward. I enjoyed this story, a great start to a great series.