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Sad Cypress (2001)

Sad Cypress (2001)

Book Info

Rating
3.79 of 5 Votes: 1
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ISBN
0007120710 (ISBN13: 9780007120710)
Language
English
Publisher
harpercollins publishers

About book Sad Cypress (2001)

Come away, come away, death, And in sad cypress let me be laid; Fly away, fly away breath; I am slain by a fair cruel maid. My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, O, prepare it! My part of death, no one so true Did share it.(Act II, Scene IV of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night)Die Verlobten Elinor Carlisle und Roddy Welman (entfernte Cousins) erhalten einen anonymen Brief, in welchem sie gewarnt werden, dass jemand sich an ihre reiche Erbtante Laura Welman, ranmacht, um sie zu beerben. Elinor hat sofort Mary Gerrard, die Tochter des Pförtners im Verdacht, an der ihre Tante ein sehr großes Interesse hegt. Die beide beschließen daher, ihre Tante zu besuchen, die nach einem Schlaganfall ans Bett gefesselt ist. Mary besucht sie täglich und liest ihr vor. Nach einem zweiten Schlaganfall, der ihr auch die Sprachfähigkeit raubt, bittet Laura Welman, dass ihr Anwalt kommen soll, damit sie ihr Testament machen kann, in welchem sie Mary mit einer ausreichenden Summe ausstatten will, damit diese eine Ausbildung zur Krankenschwerster machen kann, doch sie stibt noch bevor der Anwalt eintrifft und Elinor erbt alles, was zu Spannungen zwischen ihr und ihrem Verlobten führt, der sich in Mary verliebt hat. Elinor gesteht Mary 7000 GBP zu, weil das ihre Tante gewollt hätte. Roddy geht nach Europa, um sich seiner Gefühle klar zu werden, und Mary wird kurz darauf auf, als sie bei Elinor zu Schnittchen eingeladen ist, vergiftet.Elinor wird verhaftet, wegen des Mordes an ihrer Tante (die ebenfalls vergiftet wurde, wie eine Exhumierung beweist) und Mary. Kann Poirot ihre Unschuld beweisen?Das fünfteilige Hörspiel wechselt mehrfach die Erzählperspektive. Zunächst wird die Geschichte aus Elinors und Marys Blickwinkel im Wechsel erzählt (bis zur Ermordung Marys). Danach übernimmt Poirots Perspektive jene von Mary und wechselt sich mit Elinors Erzählungen ab. Das ist im Hörspiel, wo es keinerlei Hilfestellungen oder Kennzeichnungen des Blickwinkels gibt, teilweise anstrengend, verwirrend und überraschend. In den ersten Folgen kommt Poirot zunächst gar nicht vor und plötzlich wird aus seiner Sicht erzählt und man fragt sich, ob das ein anderes Hörspiel ist, ob ein Teil fehlt, ich musste das Hörspiel zweimal hören, um die verschiedenen Perspektiven richtig zu ordnen, und in Zusammenhang zu bringen.Der Fall an sich war zumindest für mich sehr offensichtlich. Ich hatte die Schuldige fast sofort im Visier, für mich ging es nur noch um das warum und wie. Erneut werden Informationen zurückgehalten und dann aus dem Ärmel gezaubert. Man fragt sich schon, wie es damals so einfach sein konnte seine Namen und Identitäten einfach so zu wechseln, das dürfte heute deutlich schwieriger für die normalen Bürger sein, aber der erste Weltkrieg hat da sicherlich einige Möglichkeiten eröffnet, was mich störte war, dass nicht geklärt wird, wie sie zu dieser neuen Identität kam und warum.Auch die jazzige Interpretation des Shakespeare Zitates empfand ich als störend und unpassend. Das Lied ist zwar ein Ohrwurm und mang in das Jahr 1939 passen, aber es passt irgendwie nicht zum Stil der restlichen Hörspiele der Reihe.Erneut spricht John Moffatt Hercule Poirot, so wie in den meisten Hörspielen der Reihe. Auch die restlichen Sprecher sind allesamt sehr gut und an ihren Stimmen sehr gut zu unterscheiden. Der Fall ist in sich abgeschlossen und weist keine Bezüge zu älteren Fällen auf, er kann also einzeln gehört werden.

First I must say there are SOOOO many reasons why I love Agatha Christie. She totally deserves the title of best mystery writer of all time. And "Sad Cypress", although not on my top 5 list of Christie book, is for sure one of the better ones regardless.Here are some reasons why I love Agatha. Her settings are always vivid, mysterious, and cooped-up feeling. You literally feel trapped in the atmosphere she presents. I love that ALL of the characters seem guilty and all have heaps of secrets (even the ones that aren't invoilved in the murder!). Even the victims are often annoying and horrible (not in "Sad Cypress"' case though, well in my opinion anyways. She also weaves dramatic stories in between the murders that contain romance, revenge, love, and hate. Another big plus is she always provides enough clues that if the reader thinks about it enough they can solve the crime. I despise a mystery story that has such a bizarre twist ending that a person couldn't possibly have figured it out! Her stories are just....just fantastic!Ok, I don't want to say much about this story because the murder does not happen at the beginning and you just need to read "Sad Cypress" to experience it. But I will touch on it briefly.An old woman who is ill from a stroke seemed to plan to leave everything in her will to her niece and the (non blood related) cousin that she is assumed to married. But when her health declines she suddenly seems to have a change in heart and seems to want to make a provision to Mary, the young woman who cares for her. But soon the unexpected happens, a murder occurs, and lies and secrets are exposed. Enter the adorable detective Hercule Poirot to unravel the truth!I know i was vague in the description, but there are fun twists and red herrings...just read it! Also, a side note, I figured it out early on in guessing who the killer was. The more I read the more I was sure I was right. But I love that in this story like all of her others, as long as you think about it and put together the pieces you can solve it.Check it out!

Do You like book Sad Cypress (2001)?

Published in 1940, this is one of Poirot’s most intriguing cases. Elinor Carlisle stands accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard and the first part of this book looks at her looking back at the events which led her there. It begins with Elinor receiving an anonymous letter, warning her that someone has been trying to take her place in her Aunt Laura’s affections. Her aunt is an invalid, having had a stroke, and is cared for at her house by two nurses and Dr Peter Lord. Mary Gerrard is the daughter of servants, but Elinor’s aunt has always taken an interest in the girl and paid for her education and the young girl acts almost as a companion to the older woman in return. Elinor comes across as a slightly cold and controlled young woman, but she is passionately in love with Roddy Welman, who she has known since they were young children and who are both related to Aunt Laura. The couple plan to marry and expect that Aunt Laura will leave one or the other of them the house and money in her will. However, Elinor’s future is suddenly changed forever, when Roddy falls head over heels in love with Mary. Before long, Aunt Laura has died and her lack of a will means that Elinor inherits. However, when Mary is poisoned, Elinor’s is accused of killing her out of jealousy.This is an unusual Poirot novel, in that there is a possible miscarriage of justice, which is something hardly ever suggested in an Agatha Christie book. The evidence all seems to point to Elinor as the murderer, but Poirot is never wrong – as he himself assures us - and he promises to get to the truth. With interesting characters, a complex plot and some great courtroom scenes, this is a wonderful mystery. It is said most murders happen because of love or money and this has greed, jealousy and repressed emotions in abundance.
—Susan

I just finished re-reading Sad Cypress & I loved it as much as I remembered. Agatha Christie is one of the few authors I can generally count on for that : what I loved at 16, I still love at....well, my current age.Sad Cypress begin with the elegant, frosty Elinor Carlisle on trial for the murder of the gardener's daughter, Mary Gerrard, one of Christie's fey heroines, "she was like a flower." Both blonde, both beautiful, both beloved by Elinor's aunt, the wealthy owner of the estate both girls grew up on, Elinor's engagement to Rodney is called off after Elinor's aunt died leaving her wealth and land.Is it because Rodney is uncomfortable living off of Elinor's newly acquired wealth? Or is it because he glimpsed a golden goddess in the woods, a gardener's girl?And as cliched as this sounds and is, Christie once again pulls off her magic.This is one of my favorites of the Christie oeuvre, for the characters and relationships and descriptions. It has the feel of a fairy tale and is one of the more magical Christie books.I love all her Poirot but in truth Poirot's role in this is surprisingly marginal-critical of course in the unveiling of the full truth of what happened at a lethal luncheon but minor from the perspectives of relationships and point of view.I strongly recommend this mystery for Christie lovers and grown-ups who love fairy tales cum mysteries.
—Ellie

Save for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, there is no mystery writer that I love more than Dame Agatha Christie. When I picked up Sad Cypress it was like going back to an old friend. It had been years since I last read a Christie story. For those of you that read my The Sherlockian review, it should come as no surprise that I’m very fond of Hercule Poirot. Like Sherlock Holmes, Poirot is a marvelous character. His idiosyncrasies are both charming and insulting. Mentally superior to the majority of people and not afraid to say so, it’s a thrill to watch the detective work. But it’s that same superiority that makes me cringe in empathy when someone his put in their place by either Poirot or Holmes. I was excited to see him at work again when I picked up this book. Unfortunately, he was slow to appear. I’d have to go back and re-read another few stories to be sure but I think I had forgotten how Christie writes her Poirot stories. The first part doesn’t include the detective at all. She introduces the players in this mystery, focusing on character development and spinning the intricate web that Poirot is to entangle. In this case it had to do with an elderly lady, the nurses taking care of her, her niece, a young lady she’s supporting and a whole host of other minor, or seemingly minor, characters. The old and the young lady both die and, eventually, Poirot is brought in. But he’s not brought in to find the guilty person but rather prove the seemingly irrefutably guilty niece is innocent. That’s where the second part of the story starts.Poirot goes through the cast of characters and interviews them all, counting on them to all lie. They don’t disappoint. They all lie for different reasons and in a particularly poetic thought, Poirot says that lying can tell you as much about the reality of the situation as the truth can. It was little gems like that that save the story. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the story. The characters were rich, but not really that interesting to me. Christie proves once again her grand prowess with dialog. The book is short and the dialog heavy pages make the read especially quick. But dialog is a tricky skill. I speak from experience when I say it’s incredibly hard to write dialog that remains both true to the characters and doesn’t come across as stiff and more suited for the page than the spoken word. That’s perhaps the saving grace of this story. It isn’t a particularly strong story but the back-and-forth between Poirot and the characters and the summary of facts that he gives one of them at the denouement gives you enough spark to keep you from getting bored.
—Brad McKenna

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