"The Monogram Murders" by Sophie Hannah

 Can Hercule Poirot solve the three murders in a London hotel, linked (sorry!) by a monogrammed cuff-link in the mouth of each victim?

Clues and red herrings abound in this classic Poirot continuation novel, narrated by a more-than-usually-hopeless sidekick, Inspector Catchpole of Scotland Yard whose personal inadequacies make one question how he ever was appointed as a constable, let alone made it to his rank on the murder squad. But as usual, all the little impossibilities are solved by the man with the moustache though the final solution is possibly more far-fetched (farther-fetched?) than any of those proposed in the interim.

And what does it all have to do with evil happenings fifteen years ago in a village stuffed with more than its fair share of rustic weirdos?

Selected quotes:

"I try to be a good Christian , but I have my weaknesses, as we all do. Mine is the inability to forgive the inability to forgive." (Ch 10)

Sophie Hannah has had the blessing of the Agatha Christie estate to write this novel and its sequels:

1. The Monogram Murders (2014)
2. Closed Casket (2016)
3. The Mystery of Three Quarters (2018)
4. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (2020)
5. Hercule Poirot's Silent Night (2023)
6. The Last Death of the Year (2025)

May 2025; 373 pages

First published by HarperCollins in 2014

My paperback edition issued in 2015.

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God