Although sceptics might think a ''new Poirot mystery'' might be like waking the dead, or simply an attempt to cash in on the ''Poirot'' name, Sophie Hannah has made a fair fist of re-creating Christie's style, even if the nail-biting flair is a bit awry.
That's because The Monogram Murders takes a long time to get into its stride, and an even longer time to reach the denouement.
Be that as it may, all the ingredients are there for some satisfying reading: three bodies, two women and a man, found dead at a posh London hotel, all poisoned, and with a cufflink in their mouths.
Call in the local plods
led by Edward Catchpool, who does most of the narrating as Poirot lends his flair to help solve the mystery.
With the scene shifting between London and village in rural England, could it be that the suicide of the village's vicar and his wife some 15 years earlier had something to do with the murders?
Time will tell, and as mentioned above, it takes a long time.
Still, Ms Hannah has made a good fist of re-creating the central characters.
Poirot is as finicky and sharp-tongued as ever, Catchpole sweet-natured and slow on the uptake, while life in London and rural England in 1929, the mores and values of the middle/moneyed class of that era, and the accents of the servants and hired help are all re-produced with lingering nostalgia for the ''old days''.
• Ian Williams is a Dunedin writer and composer.
