Poirot’s super-efficient secretary, Miss Lemon, appears in the first chapter, startling Poirot by making mistakes in her letters. The book begins and ends with a couple of old characters whom we’ve met before. Its only relevance is just the fact that the name of the street where the students live is Hickory Road. For example, there’s no relevant mouse or clock involved in the story. It’s a great title but to be fair it’s lazily applied. I remember when I first read this book as a child that I guessed who had done it and was both chuffed to have got it right and disappointed not to enjoy a big surprise.Īs with many of her other books, the title is taken from a nursery rhyme or well-known quotation.

As far as the identity of the murderer is concerned, it’s curiously both obvious and completely obfuscated. It’s very difficult – if not impossible – for the reader to ascertain the reason for all the individual thefts and minor crimes that Poirot is initially consulted on – in fact, you don’t try, you just let Poirot’s intelligence wash all over you. The characterisations are good, and you really get a feel for how they behave individually. In many respects, it’s the classic Christie gripping read – a sequence of deaths occurring in a closed environment, and, although there’s no reason why the murderer should not be someone from outside, you really hope that it is one of the obvious suspects and not some unexpected external influence. I had been looking forward to re-reading Hickory Dickory Dock and for the most part it did not disappoint. The full book was first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club on 31 st October 1955, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in the following month. In the US, the novel was first serialised in the Collier’s Weekly in three abridged instalments between October and November 1955 under the title Hickory Dickory Death. Hickory Dickory Dock was first published in the UK in six abridged instalments in John Bull magazine, from May to July 1955. This is the first book to launch straight into the first chapter without any preamble since Sparkling Cyanide in 1945. However, even that book started with a foreword. This is the first book written by Christie to bear no dedication since Crooked House was published in 1949.

As usual, if you haven’t read the book yet, don’t worry, I promise not to reveal whodunit! But when the thefts turn into deaths, his job is to discover who is behind a series of very serious crimes and prevent more murders from taking place. In which Hercule Poirot is brought into make sense of some strange thefts and minor acts of vandalism at a students’ hostel managed by his secretary, Miss Lemon,’s sister, Mrs Hubbard.

Hickory dickory death