163. Graphic Novel Agatha Christie's Cards on the Table

Agatha Christie: Cards on the Table by Frank LeClercq (Canada)
The Agatha Christie Adventures

Pages: 46
Ages: 12+
Finished: Aug. 16, 2010
First Published: 2009 France (July 27, 2010 English Edition)
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Genre: Graphic novel, mystery, YA
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

If it isn't Hercule Poirot!

Acquired: Received a Review Copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: I loved my first read of these graphic novels and am now a big fan.

This is a tour-de-force classic Christie where Poirot gathers together at a dinner party with some of his regular friends. Here we have Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race and Ariadne Oliver joining Poirot all at the same table! Poirot has been invited to a strange little dinner where his host has bragged of collecting criminals who have gotten away with the perfect crimes. Although reluctant Poirot accepts the invitation but is not surprised when the evening ends in a murder. This is very similar to the "locked room" mystery that Christie was so clever with as we have five people in a room together where one of them kills another. While Poirot has his famous friends at the questioning table with him it really only takes his own little grey cells to put the clues together. The outcome is a fantastic twisting mystery with a last minute shocker of 'whodunit'.

I love holding these large oversized graphic novels in my hands; they feel so decadent and make me want to take the story in slowly. This one is quite a full story as the plot does get complicated with lots of twists and turns so there is a large amount of text bubbles and narrators. But that doesn't stop the artist from making use of the odd wordless frame and occasional larger sized frame to include the atmosphere of the story. I like this artist's rendition of Poirot very much; he has stuck with a "David Suchet" like portrayal though somewhat younger and with more hair. I really enjoyed this one, even better than my first read in the series a few days ago.