Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167870 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Synopsis
There's more than petty theft going on in a London youth hostel...An outbreak of kleptomania at a student hostel was not normally the sort of crime that aroused Hercule Poirot's interest. But when he saw the list of stolen and vandalized items -- including a stethoscope, some old flannel trousers, a box of chocolates, a slashed rucksack and a diamond ring found in a bowl of soup -- he congratulated the warden, Mrs Hubbard, on a 'unique and beautiful problem'. The list made absolutely no sense at all. But, reasoned Poirot, if this was merely a petty thief at work, why was everyone at the hostel so frightened?

Customer Reviews

A Good Read for any Poirot lover
This book was a very well set mystery which starts slowly and develops into a cleverly plotted story. Although the characters are numerous one gets familiar with them towards the end of the book. The story presents some very different characters who each play an important role. The most interesting aspect of this story was that it seemed as if two independant mysteries were taking place simultaneously whereas as we later find out there was but one complete mystery.
Nevertheless I felt Poirot's role was minimal and Agatha Christie has paid more attention to developing each character than to Hercule's resoning processes which we all love to read.
Overall the book was a great read and the ending was rather unpredictable.

Poirot at his best!
A series of petty thefts led to a confession from a kleptomaniac. The next day she was dead.

Poirot was at his best to give pattern to lots of small and seemingly unrelated clues. Lots of confusion to lead you astray but when the truth surfaced, you'd blame yourself for not seeing it through in the first place.

A point to note is that the killer was one of the most cold-blooded in Christie's story... Scary.

Nice work
A good novel, a good plot, well written. Even though it isn't anything to remember for the rest of your life.