Rating: 
Summary: Don't Miss this Mystery!
Review: Of all Christie's mysteries, this one is probably my absolute favorite. This is one of the mysteries in which Christie really deals with the psychology of her characters, particularly Elinor Carlisle (who finds herself charged with murder) and the development is well done. The mystery is well-constructed, and weaves an interesting picture of life in the small-town English countryside. The solution is quite well-done and I find the end very touching.
Rating:
Summary: You just can't stop reading
Review: One of the most exciting novels I've ever read, you won't be able to finish a chapter without inmediately thinking what's going to happen, so amazing that you won't stop 'till the end. The love story, the mystery, Hercule Poirot, c'est magnifique.
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Summary: Absolutely loved this audio
Review: Sad Cypress 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.The words above are sung on the tape, giving it an eerie old fashion feel. It also had an actor for each part, along with sound effects. It begins with Elinor and Roddy receiving an anonymous letter telling them another person has moved in on their aunt's affections and they could lose their inheritance if they don't come visit soon. First auntie comes up dead while they are visiting. And later another person is murdered when Elinor comes to visit a second time. Elinor is charged with murder. And Hercule Poirt is hired to find out the truth. With a little investigating and even some courtroom drama, Hercule solves the case of whodunit. I have always enjoyed how Poirt explains the solved mystery at the end. It has helped me as a reader to pay more attention when reading a mystery. The BBC is known for their ability to produce a good audio mystery. I would recommend any you should come across as entertaining. They can break the monotony of those long walks or drives.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Done
Review: Sad Cypress is a Hercule Poirot story that even many Christie fans don't remember which is a pity because it contains two unusual features. First, you have a woman who loves so intently that it's unhealthy. Second, you have a victim who is perfectly blameless and is far more loveable than Poirot's client. Christie turns this into a psychological drama full of passion, envy, sadness. Poirot steps into the scene almost in mid book but it works. He's the laser sharp light that clears up the mess Elinor, Roddy and the killer have made. Seek this one out.
Rating:
Summary: One of Agatha Christie's Best
Review: Something Christie did with this book makes it different from any of her others. It has been said (and rightly said) that she cared little about imagery and in-depth description of people and places, unless it was pertinent to the murders. The characters in Sad Cypress, however, are amazingly 3-D. In the right mood, one could actually cry over the injustice of Mary's death. Elinor's jealousy is another aspect that Christie captured perfectly. I was almost jealous FOR her! Besides stimulating the emotions, however, this book also works on the brain. That's probably what most Christie readers look for in her novels, so don't worry: 'it's' there. There's also something else, there, though, that isn't usually abundant in Christie's other stories. This time,prepare to feel AND think.
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Summary: Decidedly a neglected classic; amongst Christie's best.
Review: Sure, there is always Ten Little Indians (also the best!!!) and Cards on the Table. But this one is very neatly plotted that - as it was with every other Christie - you can never expect what will surface just as soon as you thought you had it all figured out. Here, although the great Dame herself claimed would not revert to using Freudian complexes, she used a few here, perhaps unintentionally. And when the end of book one, you can't help but thinking that only one person can commit the murder under those given circumstances. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: entertaining ditty
Review: The outcome of the whodunit pales next to the very well drawn characters although it's best to remember that everyone Poirot interviews is, in their own way, lying to him. Christie writes nicely during the court room sequences and the story moves briskly, but Poirot is almost an after thought here. He's not in a great chunk of the plot. Admire for the people dotting the landscape. Agatha has had much better resolutions in her long career. I was hoping for a much different ending.
Rating:
Summary: A poisoned love triangle
Review: This 1939 novel has been compared to the 1930 STRONG POISON by Dorothy Sayers. Both novels begin with the courtroom observations of a young woman accused of murder by poisoning. Both young women are befriended by a young man who sets out to clear her of the crime and fall in love with her in the process. Christie's rescuer is named Peter Lord while Sayers' is, of course, Lord Peter. Even with these similarities the two stories, although both excellent, are vastly different. Elinor Carlisle had an understanding with her cousin-by-marriage Roderick Welman, that one day they would wed, live happily in their mutual Aunt Laura's country house with her considerable fortune somehow split between them. The plan suited them all, Elinor, Roddy and Aunt Laura. Aunt Laura was now in failing health and was being cared for by nurses, her servants, a doctor and Mary, a young woman who had grown up on the estate and of whom Aunt Laura had always been quite fond...perhaps too fond for Elinor and Roddy's own good. Aunt Laura died, not to anyone's surprise but had left no will, much to everyone's surprise. As her only living blood relative Elinor inherited everything - lucky Elinor! Except Mary was so lovely, and Roddy so smitten with her that the engagement was called off. Then Mary died, of poison and Elinor was the only one of could have committed the crime. Dr. Lord made an impassioned plea to Hercule Poirot to prove Elinor innocent - if she was in fact innocent. Poirot reluctantly agrees and begins to sort through motives, love affairs and long buried secrets to arrive at the truth. The opening is dramatic altough it causes the problem of making the most sympathetic character, Mary, known to the read as the victim. The questions remain, however, of who did it, why, and how for the reader to try to puzzle through before Poirot reveals all.
Rating:
Summary: A poisoned love triangle
Review: This 1939 novel has been compared to the 1930 STRONG POISON by Dorothy Sayers. Both novels begin with the courtroom observations of a young woman accused of murder by poisoning. Both young women are befriended by a young man who sets out to clear her of the crime and fall in love with her in the process. Christie's rescuer is named Peter Lord while Sayers' is, of course, Lord Peter. Even with these similarities the two stories, although both excellent, are vastly different. Elinor Carlisle had an understanding with her cousin-by-marriage Roderick Welman, that one day they would wed, live happily in their mutual Aunt Laura's country house with her considerable fortune somehow split between them. The plan suited them all, Elinor, Roddy and Aunt Laura. Aunt Laura was now in failing health and was being cared for by nurses, her servants, a doctor and Mary, a young woman who had grown up on the estate and of whom Aunt Laura had always been quite fond...perhaps too fond for Elinor and Roddy's own good. Aunt Laura died, not to anyone's surprise but had left no will, much to everyone's surprise. As her only living blood relative Elinor inherited everything - lucky Elinor! Except Mary was so lovely, and Roddy so smitten with her that the engagement was called off. Then Mary died, of poison and Elinor was the only one of could have committed the crime. Dr. Lord made an impassioned plea to Hercule Poirot to prove Elinor innocent - if she was in fact innocent. Poirot reluctantly agrees and begins to sort through motives, love affairs and long buried secrets to arrive at the truth. The opening is dramatic altough it causes the problem of making the most sympathetic character, Mary, known to the read as the victim. The questions remain, however, of who did it, why, and how for the reader to try to puzzle through before Poirot reveals all.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Known Christie Classic!
Review: This book is one of Christie's less well-known ones. I know that I had not read it until now, and I thought I had gotten through all of Agatha Christie's Poirot books. But it is a wonderful mystery story, and written in the true Christie fashion. There are more twists and turns in a seemingly simple murder case than a small country road. This book starts with the premise that only one person could possibly have killed the young girl, and Hercule Poirot is brought in to at the very least, not have the murderer's sentence extend to capital punishment. But in true Hercule Poirot fashion, he finds out that even though it looks like only one person could have done it, there were in fact more options than that. As I reread some of the Agatha Christie classics, I am overwhelmed by her craftsmanship. She is the true queen of crime, and no one has taken over that mantel yet.
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