Crooked House

Agatha Christie / Chen JieNew Star Press · ChinaNov 2014

Rating 4.4
Word count
107K words
Chapters
30
ISBN
9787513314602

Tags

Mystery and Suspense Suspense ThrillerCold FamilyFamily SuspicionLove EntanglementsPoisoning CaseComplex HumanityDetective FictionPostwar Setting

Summary

The young diplomat Charles falls in love with the beautiful Sophia, and the two agree to marry once the Second World War is over. After the war Charles returns to England, and the first news he hears is that Sophia's grandfather, the wealthy businessman Leonides, has been poisoned to death in his own home. Charles tries to find the murderer among the eleven people living in that strange house, but his fiancée tells him: "We are a strange extended family, and everyone is cold and ruthless—though that ruthlessness takes different forms. That is the trouble: it makes the truth impossible to see..."

Editor's review

Written in 1949, Crooked House is a late case for Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot. On Douban, it consistently holds a rating above 8.0, a testament to its enduring appeal. The story centers on the Leonides family, seemingly harmonious but seething beneath the surface, who live in a London house of peculiar layout—the "crooked house." When the wealthy patriarch, old Mr. Leonides, dies under mysterious circumstances, Poirot is invited to investigate. The novel's brilliance lies in Christie's focus not on an elaborate murder method but on human nature and family relations. She constructs a family tree in which nearly every member has motive and suspicion, weaving together greed, jealousy, repressed love, and twisted possessiveness. The enclosed house becomes a testing ground for human nature, with blood ties and hidden hostility in sharp tension. Christie displays her mastery of group portraiture; every character is vivid and convincing. For seasoned mystery fans, Crooked House may lack the astonishing trickery of Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None, but its exploration of criminal psychology—especially evil bred within the family—is deeper and more thought-provoking. It reads more like a family tragedy in detective-novel clothing; the surprise ending and emotional impact often leave readers with lingering sighs and reflection.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. While reading, try drawing a family tree of the Leonides; it helps clarify the complex relationships and potential motives
  2. Don't rush to guess the killer; instead savor Christie's exquisite portrayal of each family member's personality, circumstances, and subtext—this is a key pleasure of the book
  3. After finishing, look back at the passages about family, love, and control, and consider where the roots of the tragedy truly lie

About the publisher

New Star Press China · Founded in 1989

New Star Press focuses on classic works, mystery and detective fiction, science fiction, history, foreign literature and art, and its 602 titles in the library show a balance between popular reading and humanistic depth. Representative books include The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Illustrated Collector's Edition, And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, The Player of Games, Local Government in Qing China, A Good Man Is Hard to Find and A Collection of Fine Ukiyo-e Prints, spanning classic literature, detective fiction, science fiction, local history and visual art. Its authors and contributors include William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie and Iain M. Banks, as well as translators such as Zhu Shenghao and Su Fuzhong and illustrators such as John Gilbert and George Cruikshank. Known for the detective series Midnight Library and for social-science and humanities titles, the press emphasizes edition design and reading experience; public information is limited, so this profile highlights the publishing features reflected in the library's books.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 阿加莎·克里斯蒂 侦探作品年表
  3. 出版前言
  4. 致中国读者
  5. 第一章
  6. 第二章
  7. 第三章
  8. 第四章
  9. 第五章
  10. 第六章
  11. 第七章
  12. 第八章
  13. 第九章
  14. 第十章
  15. 第十一章
  16. 第十二章
  17. 第十三章
  18. 第十四章
  19. 第十五章
  20. 第十六章
  21. 第十七章
  22. 第十八章
  23. 第十九章
  24. 第二十章
  25. 第二十一章
  26. 第二十二章
  27. 第二十三章
  28. 第二十四章
  29. 第二十五章
  30. 第二十六章

FAQ

Where does Crooked House stand in Agatha Christie's body of work? Crooked House belongs to Christie's mature period and is a later case in the Poirot series. Critics often regard it as one of her representative works for its greater psychological depth and family-tragedy focus. Though the trick is not her most dazzling, its excavation of human nature and family relations is especially profound, showing the author's literary ambition beyond genre conventions.
Is the mystery hard to solve? The deduction here focuses more on psychological motive and the logic of relationships than on physical locked-room or alibi tricks. The killer's identity is hidden within complex emotional entanglements, requiring sensitivity to characters' words and details. It may challenge readers used to pure logical deduction, but the core clues are fairly presented.
Can I read this without having read other Poirot stories? Almost no impact. Crooked House is a completely standalone case, and background on Poirot is woven into the narrative. Here Poirot is more subdued, good at listening, and focused on observing human nature; even first-time readers of the great detective can readily understand his investigative style.

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About the author

Agatha Christie Author · United Kingdom · 1890–1976

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was a British detective novelist, widely known as the "Queen of Crime." Over her lifetime she wrote more than eighty detective novels, generally classified as foreign literature and suspense or mystery fiction, and is noted for tightly constructed plots, steadily mounting suspense, and unexpected endings. She created two contrasting detectives: the Belgian investigator Poirot, who relies on deduction and his "little grey cells," and the elderly village spinster Miss Marple, who sees through appearances by drawing on everyday human nature and close observation. Her representative works include And Then There Were None, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Murder on the Orient Express; the first is admired for its closed-circle structure of a nursery rhyme killing on an isolated island, while the second is often praised for its narrative technique. Her books have been translated into many languages and have had a lasting influence on later mystery writing, and they have long attracted a wide readership in the Chinese-speaking world as well.

Chen Jie Author · China · 1983

Chen Jie was born in Hangzhou in 1983. He holds a master's degree in Sino-Japanese exchange history from Zhejiang University and currently works in the research department of a museum in Hangzhou, where he is engaged in curation and writing on Japanese history and culture. Public information about him is limited, so little more can be confirmed about his personal background. His works and common categories nonetheless show interests spanning several fields: he has written on Japanese history and culture, including a trilogy on the history of Japan's Warring States period, the Meiji Restoration and the shogunate era, as well as works on postwar Japan and the world of the Shosoin, and has also touched on medicine, foreign literature, mystery and detective fiction, and social novels. His writing is known for its careful use of historical sources and cultural interpretation, aimed at general readers and seeking a balance between expertise and readability.