Agatha CHRISTIE : Elephants can remember (Hercule Poirot #40)

Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. For here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident – the broken body of a woman was discovered on the rocks at the foot of the cliff. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. But who had killed whom ? Was it a suicide pact ? A crime of passion ? Or cold-blooded murder ? Poirot delves back into a crime committed 15 years earlier and discovers that, when there is a distinct lack of physical evidence, it’s just as well that ‘old sins leave long shadows.'

This story is part of Agatha Christie’s murder in retrospect series, a collection of stories which look at a crime several years after the fact, piecing together testimonials and witness reports to finally uncover the truth. This time we see Mrs Oliver’s goddaughter, attempting to find out the truth about her deceased parents – who killed whom ?

And once again, an audiobook narrated by the excellent Hugh Fraser, nothing wrong on his behalf. I also want to say that I have read all the Agatha Christie novels when I was a teenager, so I'm not planning on being surprised as to who murdered who ! I just felt like re-reading her books for fun and reading those under the pen name of Mary Westmacott (I've only read one).

I truly enjoyed the beginning of the book, I love Ariadne Oliver as a character, she is such fun ! I love the usual Poirot/Hastings relationship but I also enjoyed the Oliver/her secretary relationship, how intent she is to get her out of her way. I think I prefer Ariadne Oliver to Poirot or Miss Marple - and I like them a lot.

My only problem with this book is that it is one of her latest, I remembered that I didn't find them as good as the firsts, but mostly I found it repetitive. The different characters were very good but they kept saying more or less the same thing with a few nuances. And I found irritating that Poirot kept repeating that sometimes, it's best to let sleeping dogs lie - I don't agree, even if I can understand his point of view.

But all in all, I enjoyed listening to it, it felt like meeting an old friend again, even if it's not one of your favourites.