The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

 Of the characters, Flora is cute, and Caroline has a nice presence. It feels like the prototypes of characters that would appear in Christie's later works can be seen here.

However, her character hasn't been fully established yet, and she's a little reserved. Caroline's character would probably be more aggressive in later works. But Caroline in this work has a bit of refinement. I feel like that would be good in its own way. And above all, Poirot is cool...no, scary! He shows a different side of us from previous works. The interactions between Poirot and Dr. Shepherd are calmer than those between Poirot and Hastings...or rather, they feel awkward. And this gives the story a more serious atmosphere. In fact, Poirot in this story is stern and scary. The final resolution is especially terrifying. It's horror. The scene where the culprit is identified makes your heart skip a beat, and then you break out into a cold sweat. You might even notice this more when re-reading the story. I think the way Poirot coldly exposes the lies of the characters and the criminal's fraudulent schemes is excellent.

The Murder on the Links

 Since it's not a famous work, I started reading it without high expectations, but it's quite good. Inspector Giraud appears as a rival detective. Well, he's a complete pushover, but the exchanges between Poirot and Giraud are interesting.

The exchanges between Poirot and Hastings are also good. I also like the scene where Hastings seems to side with Inspector Giraud instead of Poirot. As usual, Poirot focuses on something incomprehensible, but later it turns out to be important. I also like the kindness of Poirot trying to guide Hastings, who can't keep up with the understanding. After the result is revealed, you think the rest is just a matter of cleaning up, but then there's another twist, which was quite surprising. I was horrified when I found out who the real culprit was. There are also scenes like "Poirot vs. Hastings," so I liked the unexpected aspects. It's a good old-fashioned, culprit guessing quiz type novel. I read it without any expectations, but I thought, "It's more interesting than I thought. It's quite a gem."

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

I started reading it without much expectation, but it was interesting. It feels like a greedy set of all the good parts of a detective novel. There are many different ideas, such as a locked room, a code (?), body swaps, alibis, etc. And they are developed in a natural way.

Also, Hastings, who is at the mercy of Poirot's incomprehensible questions and actions, is interesting.

He used to be great, but I thought he must have become senile now... But then these things become intertwined with the truth of the case. Just when I thought Poirot was great after all, he starts saying strange things again... Hastings' opinion of Poirot changes all the time.

It feels like a typical relationship between a great detective and his assistant, such as Sherlock Holmes and Watson. It has the flavor of a model authentic detective novel.

As for the characters, Hastings is interesting. He is honest and kind, but he has a bit of a gap, which is great.

The other characters are also portrayed through Hastings's eyes, which makes them interesting, including his slight biases and preconceptions. The two women, Emily and Cynthia, are also good.

The culprit was an unexpected person. It was fun to watch the trick and how it fell apart. Small details of the mystery were revealed along the way, so I was able to read through it without getting bored.

It was wonderful how a casual remark from Hastings became the key to solving the case. I also liked the depiction of the moment the culprit was uncovered, although it's a classic.