An Ancient Curse, An English Town, An Unavoidable Death: Endless Night

When penniless Michael Rogers discovers the beautiful house at Gypsy’s Acre and then meets the heiress Ellie, it seems that all his dreams have come true at once. But he ignores an old woman’s warning of an ancient curse, and evil begins to stir in paradise. As Michael soon learns: Gypsy’s Acre is the place where fatal “accidents” happen.

Agatha Christie has always been a writing icon, whether it’s her Poirot stories or Miss Marple. But she wrote many standalones without any particular detective, and of those, Endless Night is one of my favourites (Ten Little Indians is her best). The protagonist, Michael seems to have it all when he moves to a small town, but soon everything starts going wrong….

SOME ARE BORN TO SWEET DELIGHT,

SOME ARE BORN TO ENDLESS NIGHT

This book has a mixture of everything, magical intrigue, the small town gossip, a writing style that gives you the creeps just reading it. Also, what makes this different from any other of her novels, is that the murder doesn’t happen till quite late in the book. Agatha Christie uses her signature style of narration, describing every character’s thoughts and actions in a way that makes you feel like you’re there with them, feeling it simultaneously. It may be a little slow in the beginning, quite characteristic of Christie’s writing, but when things begin to happen, it’s a roller coaster ride.

Did you know that almost every one of Agatha Christie’s detectives and most of her standalone stories have been made into either movies or television shows? They’re brilliantly done, although the stories have been changed in many of them. The portrayals are brilliant, especially David Suchet, who played Poirot for decades flawlessly. If you like Downton Abbey but crave murder, this is quite the closest thing you’ll get to it!