posted on 19 May 2024

Hercule Poirot's Silent Night: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah

I guess we’re all reluctant to give up on our favourite literary characters. When you’ve discovered a fictional character that stays with you through a whole series of books, accepting that the author has, for whatever reason, stopped giving you more of the same can be tough. Perhaps the most famous example of a reading public (and publishing firm) who felt that the end had come too soon is that of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. Doyle had come to see the whole Holmes industry as a monkey on his back but was lured into bringing him back – seemingly from the dead – to meet insatiable demand.

Of course, a resurrection like that of Holmes can only be achieved if the author is actually available to do the job. If they’ve had the temerity to die – and I don’t think anyone has yet mastered the art of spirit writing – then it’s all over, isn’t it? Well, perhaps not. In recent years we’ve see a rash of favourite literary characters reappearing courtesy of the pen of invited ‘guest’ authors. James Bond, Bertie Wooster & Jeeves, Philip Marlowe and Arthur Dent have all found themselves living again in one guise or another and to that list you can add Hercule Poirot who has found new life through Sophie Hannah.

I find myself conflicted about these literary characters finding a new owner. For a long time, I’ve avoided going anywhere near them because I find it hard to believe any good can come of it. These characters are imbued with the moving spirit of their original creators and I don’t think that essence can be captured by another author – even if they try to replicate their predecessor. But, I guess, the new author will argue that they are trying to do something other than duplication, that they are trying to add to the original or, at least, bring a new sensibility that is in tune with the original without slavishly aping what went before. Hmm…

I finally succumbed to the temptation to read one of these resurrection stories and I plumped for Sophie Hannah’s Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night (it was in the house and ready to be shuffled off to the charity shop following my wife’s Christmas reading clear-out). I really don’t want to detain you too long with plot issues and so lets just reproduce the book’s own blurb – which is succinct and sufficient:

“It’s 19 December 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are called to investigate the murder of a man in the apparent safe haven of a Norfolk hospital ward. Catchpool’s mother, the irrepressible Cynthia, insists that Poirot stays in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while Poirot solves the case. Cynthia’s friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why.

Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else – someone utterly ruthless – also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot . . “

The more pressing questions are:

Did you finish it?   No

Was that because it was badly written?  No

Did it retain the moving spirit of the original Poirot character?  No

Would you read another?   No

I have to say that despite the fact that Sophie Hannah is a more than serviceable writer and has an eye for a decent plot – this is the fifth in the series that she has done and my wife gobbles them down – I found the book strangely inert. I don’t count Agatha Christie as a great stylist but she sure knows how to handle a readable crime novel. Here, though, I found the need for constant exposition of backstory and plot by the characters more tiresome than revealing and, for me, Poirot was nothing but a shadow of the one Christie had planted in my mind.

I gave up on it but I know that this might be a very subjective assessment that won’t be shared by everyone (including my wife). So, if you want to find out for yourself whether Poirot has found his new muse in Sophie Hannah, copies of the book – and others in the series – can be found in paper and hardback for well under £10.

 

Terry Potter

May 2024