Analyzing Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case

Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, published in 1975, was the last book put out before Agatha Christie’s death. It was, in fact, written some thirty years prior, in the mid-1940s, intended to be published after her death.

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

It is probably because of this intentional gap between when it was written and published that the story feels a little superficial.

Reading it, you can hardly tell which twentieth century decade it is set, what the characters wear, which social class they belong to — everything a reader today demands to correctly place a story in context.

Agatha Christie could not have known in 1945 when she wrote this book what the world would look like at her death. So, she chose to skimp on details and scene creation to keep her story timeless and undateable. This leaves the story a little vague and me as a reader in 2021, unsatisfied.

Yet, despite my seemingly negative tone, I did enjoy the book and decided to break it down along four axes for the purposes to this analysis.

1. Plot and story development
2. Atmosphere and scene setting
3. Characters and character development
4. Readability and immersion

Plot and story development