I always love puzzles, that's one of the reasons I'm drawn to Christie's novels. Hickory Dickory Dock is my second novel of hers.
The story is mostly set in a student hostel, Hickory Road, London. This book has a hell of a lot of characters of varying ethnicity. Also peculiar characters. It followed the same drill as my first book 'Five Little Pigs'. A crime has been committed, and Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, tries to find the guilty.
Petty things like Evening Shoe, Bracelet, Diamond Ring, Powder Compact, Lipstick, Rucksack, Stethoscope, Electric Light bulbs, Silk Scarf, Boric Powder, and other things were stolen in the hostel. He steps up to find the kleptomaniac. He ignores all the negligible things and starts with the diamond ring.
He learns the students' characteristics from the matron of the hostel, Mrs.Hubbard. The hostel owner, Mrs.Nicoletis, is an unpleasant and temperamental person and makes fuss about anything and everything. He downplays it by giving them a speech in the hostel during his visit to the hickory road and suggests that Mrs.Hubbard to call the police in. Miss.Celia Austin, one of the students, confesses that she has done the stealing of a few items. After a few days, Celia has been murdered. The story progresses further to find who bumped her.
Christie's writing usually focuses on plot and dialogue. They are not procedural all the time, since they rarely focus on a professional police officer. Instead, the clues are compiled from conversations and plot twists. Clues are hidden in the conversation. However, this novel is procedural and realized most of the conversation happened between students and a police officer than Poirot.
I was highly surprised how the teenagers in the 1950's had been reckless and cunning during the interrogation. Her style with toxins in the plots is a plus. 'Five Little Pigs' is filled with home-brewed drugs and beverages, but 'Hickory Dickory Dock' is packed with drugs, especially end-of-life drugs. I enjoyed Poirot's funny remarks about teen love and his composure in his witty discoveries. It was unexpected that the most suspected student turned out to be accountable for all the things that happened. It was a short read for me to get out of the reading slump.
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