November 27th, 2023

As readers may or may not know Sophie Hannah has been authorised by the Agatha Christie Estate to produce these new novels. As a Big Agatha fan as many in Harrogate are (due to her history here when she vanished without a trace to be found here at The Old Swan Hotel) I was curious to see how these new additions would fit into the established works. I am happy to report I was very pleasantly surprised and the side kick of Catchpool makes a nice replacement for Inspector Japp and Hastings. Harrogate thanks to its history and pleasant setting is home to the #Theakstons Old Peculior Crime Writing Festival enabling avid fans to step back in time to the Golden Age of Crime writing as well as see the modern take. However back to Open Casket - in true Agatha Style the reader is kept well in the dark until the big reveal, in this book its the sheer number of suspects keeps you guessing with pretty much all of the cast at the houseparty having a strong motive for murder both for money or personal reasons. I also indulged in the Audio book read by Julian Rhind-Tutt who inhabited the characters with style. All in all a good winter read.

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