Each week Times writers recommend a good read. Alyson Rudd has worked her way through almost every Hercule Poirot detective story.
I was addicted to Agatha Christie in my childhood — or, more specifically, to her books featuring Hercule Poirot. The devotion was such that I could not bear Miss Marple. I had never read a novel in which she featured, but it seemed to me to be incredibly treacherous that Christie should have wanted to an alternative to the Belgian detective with the egg-shaped head. My youngest son has inherited the fascination and the bias. There are 33 Poirot novels, and although we are close to the end of the list and will soon be back to non-fiction bedtime stories, we will not stray into Marple territory.
I have just started reading The Big Four to him. One of the joys of Poirot to an 11-year-old is that major incidents often happen early on. In this case, an emaciated stranger, covered with mud and dust, appears in Poirot’s flat, suffering from severe exhaustion and obsessed by the number four.
I am under orders to “do the voice”, which is based upon David Suchet, who plays Poirot on television. We have all of those on DVD as well. Curiously, my son does not laugh at my dodgy foreign accent, but at my efforts at posh voices for the many upper-class characters.
Christie was sometimes slapdash with her with writing style, but she sure churned out mesmerising mysteries dotted with complex, juicy murders that only one man could solve. And in our house we are very loyal to him.
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Buy The Big Four by Agatha Christie for £5.99 plus free p&p (RRP £6.99) or the complete set of 39 Poirot titles for £150 with free courier delivery (RRP £272.90) by calling 0845 2712134 or visit thetimes.co.uk/bookshop.