Curtain
Agatha Christie, 1975
★ 4.10 from 52.6k ratings on Goodreads
An ageing Poirot returns to Styles, the scene of his first case, to hunt a murderer who leaves no trace and seems always one step ahead. A quiet, sad return to Styles, slowed by age and memory, with Hastings's voice carrying nostalgia, grief and a steady undercurrent of dread.
Feels like melancholy, nostalgia and grief. About death, friendship and memory.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you have followed Poirot and Hastings over the years and want a reflective, farewell-minded mystery. Be prepared for a melancholy tone and for Poirot being unusually harsh toward Hastings, which some readers find hard.
Why read it
It gives you a late, intimate case for two old friends, and the pleasure of watching Poirot reason when his body can no longer keep pace.
A page from the book
The hardest defence to make is the one you make to yourself.
I have no more now to say. I do not know, Hastings, if what I have done is justified or not justified. No — I do not know. I do not believe that a man should take the law into his own hands... But on the other hand, I am the law! As a young man in the Belgian police force I shot down a desperate criminal who sat on a roof and fired at people below. In a state of emergency martial law is proclaimed. What readers say
Readers often describe the book as a moving, bittersweet farewell, with nostalgia and affection for Poirot and Hastings. Some also report shock, sadness, and frustration over the ending and Poirot’s harshness toward Hastings.
Agatha Christie.Christie trained as a pharmacist during the First World War, learning about poisons and medicines that would supply her plots for decades.
Books that feel like this
More by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie, 1934
One murdered passenger, a compartment locked from the inside, and a small Belgian who reads lies better than anyone. A closed-circle puzzle at its purest.
Death on the Nile
Agatha Christie, 1937
A Nile cruise, a honeymoon, and a murder among strangers who all have a reason. Poirot, on holiday, must untangle a knot of jealousy before the boat docks.
And Then There Were None
Agatha Christie, 1939
Ten strangers are invited to an island where a nursery rhyme starts coming true; Christie's most airtight trap, and her most human.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Curtain for me?
- You may like it if you have followed Poirot and Hastings over the years and want a reflective, farewell-minded mystery. Be prepared for a melancholy tone and for Poirot being unusually harsh toward Hastings, which some readers find hard.
- What is Curtain like?
- A quiet, sad return to Styles, slowed by age and memory, with Hastings's voice carrying nostalgia, grief and a steady undercurrent of dread. Feels like melancholy, nostalgia and grief. About death, friendship and memory.
- What should I read after Curtain?
- If you liked Curtain, try Bag of Bones (Stephen King), Smiley's People (John le Carré) and Bleachers (John Grisham).
A taste of the feed
The first rule of retirement, as preached by the people who never retire.
You remember the first rule of retirement, George? No moonlighting, no fooling with loose ends, no private enterprise, ever. You remember who preaches this rule, at Sarratt, in the corridors? George Smiley did. Quote, “When it’s over, it’s over. Pull down the shutters, go home,” unquote. We’re over, George. We’ve got no license. They don’t want us anymore.
Smiley's People · John le Carré
A town that builds more seats than it has people.
Ten thousand seats up in the bleachers, for a town with a population of eight thousand. The math had never worked. But they piled in from the county, from out in the sticks where there was nothing else to do on Friday night. They got their paychecks and bought their beer, and they came to town, to The Field where they clustered in one raucous pack at the north end of the stands and made more noise than the students, the band, and the townsfolk combined.
Bleachers · John Grisham
What contentment looks like when it includes the rats and the manure.
It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything.
Charlotte's Web · E. B. White
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