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Curtain: Poirot's Last Case: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition: 37 (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) Paperback – 25 Oct. 2011

by Agatha Christie (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,104 ratings
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In this exclusive authorized edition from the Queen of Mystery, the legendary detective saves his best for last as he races to apprehend a five-time killer before the final curtain descends - the last book Agatha Christie published before her death.

The crime-fighting careers of Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings have come full circle--they are back once again in the rambling country house in which they solved their first murder together.

Both Hercule Poirot and Great Styles have seen better days--but, despite being crippled with arthritis, there is nothing wrong with the great detective and his "little gray cells." However, when Poirot brands one of the seemingly harmless guests a five-time murderer, some people have their doubts. But Poirot alone knows he must prevent a sixth murder before the curtain falls.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0062074091
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0062074096
  3. Edition
    Reprint
  4. Publisher
    William Morrow & Company
  5. Publication date
    25 Oct. 2011
  6. Book 38 of 38
    Hercule Poirot
  7. Language
    English
  8. Dimensions
    13.49 x 1.37 x 20.32 cm
  9. Print length
    240 pages
  10. See all details
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Product description

Review

"First rate Christie: fast, complicated, wryly funny." -- Time magazine

"Gripping, cunning and devious, and a stunning climax." -- Sunday Express (London)

From the Inside Flap

The crime-fighting careers of Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings have come full circle--they are back once again in the rambling country house in which they solved their first murder together.

Both Poirot and Great Styles have seen better days--but, despite being crippled with arthritis, there is nothing wrong with the great detective and his "little gray cells." However, when Poirot brands one of the seemingly harmless guests a five-time murderer, some people have their doubts. But Poirot alone knows he must prevent a sixth murder beforethe curtain falls. . . .

--Sunday Express (London)

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow & Company; Reprint edition (25 Oct. 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062074091
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062074096
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.49 x 1.37 x 20.32 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,104 ratings

About the author

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Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

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Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all but her closest friends.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
2,104 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book an enjoyable read with a satisfying plot and unexpected twists. They find the story intriguing and thought-provoking, keeping them guessing until the end. Many consider it a good value for money. Opinions differ on the sadness level, with some finding it heartbreaking while others feel it lacks pathos or emotion.

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ReadabilityTwistsThought provokingValue for moneySadness
42 customers mention ‘Readability’42 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and enjoyable. They describe it as a well-written, engrossing mystery that you can't put down. Readers also mention that it's a Christie masterpiece.

"A must read for any die-hard Christie/Poirot fan. I read all the books in order and it was sad reading about his health declining...." Read more

"...It is well written with well drawn characters and the plot is as ever tightly constructed with plenty of clues as well as plenty of traps for the..." Read more

"...A terrific read, although I was left shaken for a couple of days when the reality of no more Poirot 'sunk-in'. try to be brave!! Ha x" Read more

"...For all you Poirot fans, this is one of the most beautifully books written...." Read more

39 customers mention ‘Twists’30 positive9 negative

Customers enjoy the twists in the story. They find the plot compelling and surprising, with a great ending. The book is described as an intriguing crime novel with a perfect conclusion for the partnership between Poirot and Captain Hastings.

"...It’s a good story, a good ending and of course very sad. As soon as I finished reading I watched the ITV version!" Read more

"...It is well written with well drawn characters and the plot is as ever tightly constructed with plenty of clues as well as plenty of traps for the..." Read more

"...The plot is as fulfilling as ever and Christie has once again captured Poirot's enigmatic performance...." Read more

"This book brings together everything and is the perfect ending for the partnership of Poirot and Captain Hastings...." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Thought provoking’7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and engrossing. They mention it keeps them guessing with plenty of clues and traps. The references to Othello are also mentioned as interesting.

"...drawn characters and the plot is as ever tightly constructed with plenty of clues as well as plenty of traps for the unwary...." Read more

"...The references to "Othello" are very thought provoking, though...." Read more

"...this sets the seal on Poirot's lifetime of detection with an interesting and original twist at the end...." Read more

"...It kept me guessing. A worthy exit of a great detective." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Value for money’4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's value for money. They find it different from other Agatha Christie books.

"This book is good value for money but a bit different to other Agatha Christie novels...." Read more

"super story and very good read would recomend to anyone very good value for money and couldnt put it down" Read more

"good price and excellent service" Read more

"Good value" Read more

7 customers mention ‘Sadness’4 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's ending. Some find it heartbreaking and sad to read about Poirot's health decline, while others feel tinged with sadness at the demise of the character. However, some readers feel there is not enough pathos or emotion regarding the end.

"...I read all the books in order and it was sad reading about his health declining. It’s a good story, a good ending and of course very sad...." Read more

"...It makes the reader feel tinged with sadness at the demise of Hercule Poirot throughout; even though it has all the usual twists and turns." Read more

"...I love to read Agatha Christie and I found this one very sad but enjoyable, in fact I am just starting to read it for the 2nd time." Read more

"Curtain did not disappoint. A excellent story . I found the death of Poirot very sad...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Olives
    5.0 out of 5 stars Goodbye Poirot!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2024
    Verified Purchase
    A must read for any die-hard Christie/Poirot fan. I read all the books in order and it was sad reading about his health declining.

    It’s a good story, a good ending and of course very sad. As soon as I finished reading I watched the ITV version!
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  • Soos
    4.0 out of 5 stars a good read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 December 2013
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    I love Poirot and Agatha Christie in general. However I was a bit disappointed with this one - hard to say why but it just seemed to lack the usual magic. Perhaps it was because I had already seen the tv version and knew the ending, but, it has to be read if you are a fan.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Damaskcat
    5.0 out of 5 stars Curtain
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 November 2014
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    Poirot and Hastings are back at Styles - the scene of their first case together. It is now a guest house run by Colonel and Mrs Lutterell. Hastings' daughter, Judith, is there too working for a Dr Franklin whose hypochondriac wife is also a guest. Hastings is shocked to see how frail his old friend has become and he fears for his life. Poirot is more sanguine about and knows this will be his last case. He tells Hastings that there will be murder committed and that the murderer has killed before and got away with it.

    This is a poignant story because it is Poirot's last case and because of the ending. It raises some interesting questions about justice and morality for the reader as well as the characters. Hastings is totally puzzled as to who 'X' the murderer might be - just as the reader is.

    I found this a fascinating story and I never did work out who X was anymore than Hastings did. It is well written with well drawn characters and the plot is as ever tightly constructed with plenty of clues as well as plenty of traps for the unwary. The Poirot stories can be read in any order and even though this is the last one and there are plenty of others I have not yet read I do not feel reading the last one has spoilt my enjoyment of the others.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • candice randall
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and yet heart-breaking
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 March 2013
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    As an avid Poirot fan since my childhood, I have read many of Agatha Christie's novels. When I bought this I, with some niavity, didn't really think that Poirot's last case would result in his death! In hind-sight, it was the only fitting way for such a genius to end his illustrious career.

    The plot is as fulfilling as ever and Christie has once again captured Poirot's enigmatic performance.

    A terrific read, although I was left shaken for a couple of days when the reality of no more Poirot 'sunk-in'. try to be brave!! Ha x
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  • Sazza
    5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect ending
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 August 2013
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    This book brings together everything and is the perfect ending for the partnership of Poirot and Captain Hastings. For all you Poirot fans, this is one of the most beautifully books written. Although with the Poirot books, you don't need to read them in any order, it is advisable that before reading this one, that you read 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' - Poirot's first case with the brilliant Hastings. Agatha Christie has truly outdone herself this time and no other ending would have been better for the most loveable belgium detective
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jessica
    3.0 out of 5 stars Clever plot but lacking in character development
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2011
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    I agree with a previous reviewer that Poirot and Hastings both behave in ways that are not quite believable, or true to their characters in the previous books, in this last Poirot novel. I think this is a creation by an author who was thoroughly fed up with her hero and wanted to get rid of him. I found it sad, because I love Poirot as a character - and I was also very disappointed at the way both Hastings and Poirot behaved (again, if you've read the book you'll know what I mean). Quite simply, I thought it was not quite credible. The plot is very clever but extremely unlikely. Of course, many of Dame Agatha's plots are unlikely, but I found this one slightly ridiculous. The references to "Othello" are very thought provoking, though. The book seems to have been a bit rushed - I know Agatha Christie is renowned for developing her characters only so far as she needs to, but I think a lot more could have been done with many of the characters in this book to make it more vivid and intriguing. It isn't a patch on "Death on the Nile" or "Five Little Pigs", for instance. Still, I enjoyed it and it made me read the plot of "Othello", if not the whole play!

    Another thing I felt was that I didn't "recognise" Styles from "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" - it was like a different place completely. Of course, it was probably very different by then in the book's terms, having been made into a hotel - but I felt that perhaps more could have been done in description to make the reader feel that the action was really taking place in the same house as the original murder did - because all the way through I kept forgetting that the venue was supposed to be Styles...

    On a different note, there are some errors in the layout on the Kindle - for instance, sometimes in dialogue, there is no new paragraph when a different person is speaking, as there should be, which made me confused a couple of times about which character was speaking. I didn't notice any spelling errors, though.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • A. J. Gauld
    4.0 out of 5 stars A classic Poirot yarn.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 September 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Just after I bought this they showed the story on TV with David Suchet. It was a pretty faithful rendition so if you watched the TV show you might not get much more out of the book. But ignoring that aspect its a classic Agatha Christie Poirot and if your a fan you will enjoy it.
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  • Sam Kates
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks for the pleasure
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 February 2014
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    I have been putting off reading this book for years. Monsieur Poirot and his leetle grey cells have been entertaining me since I was a teenager, both in book and on TV. After a shaky start, David Suchet has been superb at playing the strange little Belgian detective. But now he's done as they have filmed and broadcast Curtain. I have had it sitting on my Sky Plus hard-drive for months, taking up space. It's time to watch it, but I had to make myself read the book first. So I have and I'm giving it 5 stars, not for the quality of the story (it was good, though not great like, say, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) but to recognise the sheer reading pleasure the Poirot books have provided me for over more than thirty years.

    Au revoir, Herecule - I'll miss you.
    9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Margaret
    5.0 out of 5 stars It’s an Agatha Christie book!!!
    Reviewed in Canada on 18 April 2024
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    All of her books are amazing. I am collector of history books and not typically what I would read. Tried “And ThenThere Were None I couldn’t wait to read another Agatha book I have about twenty now.
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  • Atulya Sinha
    5.0 out of 5 stars A ‘CURTAIN’ STORED IN A BANK VAULT
    Reviewed in India on 28 May 2024
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    Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is one of the bestselling authors of all time, whose books have sold about 2 billion copies in many different languages. Her most famous creation is M. Hercule Poirot, a Belgian refugee who works as a private detective in England. Poirot’s first appearance was in 1920 and his last appearance is in this book published in 1975!

    ‘Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case’ offers an ensemble cast of characters gathered at Styles Court, where Poirot had stayed when he first reached England. Captain Hastings, the brave but obtuse narrator, receives an unexpected invitation from Poirot to join him at Styles Court, which is now being run as a guest house by Colonel Luttrell and his wife. One of the guests is Dr Franklin, who employs the narrator’s daughter Judith for assisting his research into physostigmines extracted from West African Calabar beans – the details appear to be quite authentic, as Christie had famously acquired a detailed knowledge of poisons while working as a nurse during the First World War.

    Poirot seems brilliant and egoistic as ever, but “crippled with arthiritis, he propelled himself about in a wheeled chair.” He informs Hastings that there is a dangerous murderer amongst the guests, whom he does not name but simply calls ‘X’. Hastings is assigned the seemingly impossible task of observing the activities of X, whose identity is still unknown to him. To add to his woes, Hastings finds that Judith flirting with another guest whom he considers a “rotter”…

    Christie often relies on literature and art to convey hints and shades of meaning. The name ‘Judith’ comes from the Old Testament, where a girl by that name killed Holofernes, the general of an army which had besieged her hometown. In this book, some suspicion falls on Dr Franklin and Judith after the hypochondriacal Mrs Franklin dies by ingesting the very substance that was being researched by them. Apart from the Biblical allusion, Judith had declared herself in favour of ending “unfit lives, useless lives.” Dr Franklin, too, expresses similar views. “Since death comes anyway, what does it matter if it comes early or late? There’s so little difference.”

    ‘Curtain’ was actually written in 1939-40, in the midst of Christie’s most productive period. As Lucy Worsely says in her recent biography of Christie, “She also pushed ahead with two more books, ‘Sleeping Murder’ and ‘Curtain’. One featuring Miss Marple and the other the death of Hercule Poirot, these two were not to be published immediately, but stockpiled for the future. They were stored in a bank vault, insured against destruction, and given by deed of gift to Rosalind and Max,” referring to her daughter and husband respectively.

    It appears that Christie never tried to update this book to suit the changing times and hence it appears quite anachronistic. While ‘Curtain’ does not explicitly mention when the events take place, from the context it appears that it is set in the late 1940s or early 1950s, since there are frequent references to the Second World War and erstwhile colonial administrators are still in the prime of life. In contrast, there are several Poirot novels – e.g. ‘Third Girl’ and ‘Halloween Party’ – which are clearly set in the 1960s.

    The plot of this book is superlative, even by Christie’s standards. Without giving away the plot, I think that this book redefines the boundaries of detective stories, even as ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ had done when it had been published nearly fifty years earlier.

    Note: Just as connoisseurs of music might prefer the authenticity of LPs compared to the soulless perfection of digital sound, those who love old books will appreciate the hard-bound facsimile of the first edition.
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  • Simplicius
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of Agatha Christies most moving novels
    Reviewed in Germany on 20 January 2020
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    Masterly! And it's a good thing that Agatha Christie wrote this last book in her Hercule Poirot series long before her mental decline began which - alas! - marred so many of her later books, "Curtain" to be issued only after her death. To tell anything about the contents would spoil all the fun, so I prefer to abstain from it. But if I say "fun", I must confess that this is only partially true, because "Curtain" is also a very sad book about aging and death. But Dame Agatha pulls it of so brilliantly that the reader closes the book maybe with a tear in his eye but also with a loving smile on his face.
    Note: I strongly advise you not to miss the TV production of "Curtain" which is easily available on DVD. David Suchets portrayal of the nearly derelict Poirot is definitely one of the best in his long series of Poirot TV films.
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  • Cliente Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars LECTURA IMPRESCINDIBLE
    Reviewed in Spain on 7 December 2017
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    Cualquiera que guste de leer novelas sobre crímenes no debe dejar de leer esta obra maestra. Buena para practicar inglés.
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  • Patrick W. Crabtree
    5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect mystery, perfect reader, perfect packaging (details)
    Reviewed in the United States on 25 August 2009
    Verified Purchase
    Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings began their first renowned case together with The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot Mysteries (Audio)). And in their concluding encounter, Poirot's last case, the pair completes the circle, again teaming up at Styles Court (which is under new ownership) to ferret out a murderer.

    The old mansion of Styles is now a renovated boarding house run by an elderly couple and Poirot calls upon his life-long friend and Man Friday, Captain Hastings, to abet him in his final and most compelling case. Hasting's modernistic and independent daughter is also on the premises and the Captain's unwelcome exertions in attempting to sort out her future provides an appetizing sub-plot.

    One of the numerous residents of Styles is a serial killer and the motive for this murderer's heinous crimes remains unclear for a time. The solution to this one is a real zinger and Christie fans will certainly not be let down.

    This is a "Golden Age" classic British mystery in every sense, even though the book was published in 1975. The fact is that, doubting her own survival in the face of the endless World War Two conflagrations, Christie wrote this fine whodunnit in the early 1940s! The Poirot mystery which Christie last wrote (1972) was Elephants Can Remember (Hercule Poirot), and her final work (which featured Tommy and Tuppence Beresford) was Postern of Fate, published in 1973. Agatha Christie died in 1976.

    Hugh Fraser reads this story from the first-person perspective of Captain Hastings. His reading and rhythm are just top-notch, as it is with all the Christie works which he has taken on. Prospective buyers should be aware that this title is also available with an alternative reader: Curtain: Complete & Unabridged: Poirot's Last Case. This edition is read by John Moffatt, another master of the art. Which one is best? I cannot say for anyone else but I prefer Fraser on this particular work but most folks will be pleased with either one.

    I really like the packaging on my Harpercollins audiobook, which is notably different than the one pictured. My CDs are securely housed in a clear, heavy plastic, music-type container and all five CDs are "stacked" inside, a method which I find preferable to the typical cardboard "slip cases" where each CD slides into a slot. If this is an issue, you might contact the seller in advance to see which packaging format s/he is offering. In any event, the total time for this unabridged audiobook is six hours and what a superb listening experience it is!

    There is little else to say except to reiterate that this is a terrific Hercule Poirot mystery that all Christie fans will want to hear time and again.
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