Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night

By: Sophie Hannah, Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt

Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot – legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile – puts his little grey cells to work solving a baffling Christmas mystery.

CAN HERCULE POIROT SOLVE A BAFFLING MURDER MYSTERY IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS?

It’s 19 December 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are called to investigate the murder of a man in the apparent safe haven of a Norfolk hospital ward. Catchpool’s mother, the irrepressible Cynthia, insists that Poirot stays in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while Poirot solves the case. Cynthia’s friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why.

Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else – someone utterly ruthless – also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot …

©2023 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

‘Sophie Hannah's latest case for Agatha Christie's Belgian detective is a dark psychological thriller with an ingenious resolution and it certainly takes the kitsch out of Christmas.

—Daily Record

‘If you want a Christie for Christmas, you couldn't do better than this.’

—Alex Michaelides

'Close enough to Christie's own style that the reader could segue from Murder on the Orient Express into this without a stumble.'

—New York Journal of Books

‘Infused with such love and energy … Poirot is exactly as Christie created him, with a vitality that recalls her very best novels.’

—Daily Telegraph

“Perfect…a pure treat for Agatha Christie fans.”

—Tana French

‘A magnificently intricate puzzle for Poirot’s famous little grey cells.’

—Daily Mail

“What Sophie and Agatha have in common is a rare talent for fiendish unpredictability: they make you see how the impossible might be possible after all.”

— Sunday Telegraph

“The latest in Sophie Hannah’s series of mysteries featuring Agatha Christie’s beloved detective is a magnificently intricate puzzle for Poirot’s famous little grey cells.”

— Daily Mail

“I was thrilled to see Poirot in such very, very good hands.”

— Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of Gone Girl

“Does Sophie Hannah’s Poirot live up to our expectations? Yes, he does, and markedly so … Poirot is still Poirot. Poirot is back.”

— Alexander McCall Smith

“Sophie Hannah is genuinely Christie’s heir.”

— The Scotsman

A passable Poirot

With each book Sophie Hannah is getting better writing her "Poirot" and this book is definite improvement as well. The plot is not intriguing per se though this would have been mitigated if the resolution in the end would have been a brain twister or an unexpected one. And needless to say, the ending was just okay at best. Though, one thing needs to be said is that the characterisation of Catchpool's mother as a narcissistic egomaniacal monster was tedious at best and distracted from the plot more than it helped.
The narration however by Julian was a delight though and one of the main reasons I have been able to persevere through the "new version of Poirot" series from Sophie Hannah.

Not as clever as Agatha Christie’s original stories

The plot was weak and slow and the ending was just plain silly and not very clever. I hope they stop making those Poirot revivals - half of the time Poirot doesn’t even feel or sound like himself.

Not Christie but amusing

The narrator is excellent. The story would have been much shorter if not for infuriatingly unnecessary going round and round at the end about the murderer. Overall, I have a feeling that Hannah's own characters like Catchpool and his mother are much stronger and more authentic than her Poirot (and I read them all).

A Thoroughly Enjoyable Read

Preordered, began reading as soon as I received the book and took me two days to finish reading because life made some demands on my time. Sophie Hannah is an excellent writer,
The book feels comfortable and familiar, And yet - as in other New Poirot books - there is a new edge. Maybe by the 6th book I will be able to understand and put into words why the storyline feels modern when the time period or the social conventions remain as the original Poirot books.
So when is the next one in the series coming out?