Sophie Hannah has completely blown me away at her ability of bringing Agatha Christie's Poirot back to life. I loved this Christmas mystery with a perfect mix of clues and red herrings so you can try and solve the case along with Poirot. All the characters were fun and completely brought to life with different sets of personalities. This truly felt like reading a classic Poirot and is a perfect cosy mystery read for Christmas. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Poirot and Catchpool are back to celebrate a quiet Christmas together or so they thought until Catchpool’s mother arrives to hire them for a case and she won’t take no for an answer. They are suddenly whisked away to celebrate Christmas with her friends. Desperate to get away before Christmas Poirot uses all his powers of deduction to find a murderer and try to stop another from happening.

I had not read an Agatha Christie for ages, and this new Poirot by Sophie Hannah was perfectly entertaining and definitely in line with what I remember of the actual Poirots. The traditional clues were there to solve the case with sufficient red herrings and interesting locales. The narrator (Poirot's young Scotland Yard friend Inspector Edward Catchpool his new sidekick in these new Hannah's novels) does a good job with all the "material" and I rather enjoyed his discombobulated and funny relationship with his mother... in fact, the whole cast of characters is rather entertaining and a bit tongue-in-cheek, which is appropriate, I think, to the tone of a new rewrite. The case revolves around two buildings with a close set of characters - a mansion almost on the brink of being engulfed by the sea, and a hospital. There were some longueurs in the narration but overall a most entertaining, classic and comforting sort of whodunnit with a good dose of humour and improvable characters. M Poirot aka Mr Prarrow is definitely a most pernickety and fun detective.

Inspector Catchpool’s mother arrives and begs him and Poirot to travel with her to solve a murder and spend the Christmas season with her in Norfolk. They agree but must solve the mystery if they are to return to London to enjoy their Christmas Day there.

A really well written and well paced novel. You can easily imagine Poirot using his little grey cells in this well paced, intriguing novel.

Great characters, setting and plot line, enjoy.

Inspector Catchpool is looking forward to a quiet Christmas in London with his friend Hercule Poirot but an unexpected visit from his mother seems likely to disrupt this. She is staying with a family in a house on the Norfolk Coast, the father is terminally ill and due to enter a 'hospice' ain the new Year but a recent murder there has convinced his wide that he will be murdered if he goes. Poirot is intrigued but determined to solve the mystery before Christmas.
This is the lasted in Hannah's rebooted tribute to Christie and it serves up all the well-loved elements. It is a long time since I read a Poirot story but I really enjoyed this one. It is period perfect and the story is suitably twisty. I did guess fairly early on who was the guilty party but the why was the fun part.

You think, while I was on holiday to a warm climate, I would read warm, sunny reads. Nope. Of course not. You all have been following this blog and most of my social media outlets for how long now? I wanted for something cold, something Christmas, something murder.

And I had an itch to read one. So, imagine my surprise after attempting to read the prologue of Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night that I powered through, even though my brain was going “You should save this for Christmas…” and “You didn’t like the previous outings with Sophie Hannah’s take on Poirot. Why would this time be any different?”

Title and Author: Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah
Publisher: HarperCollins
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction
Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

It’s 19th December, and both Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are planning their Christmas together, when a woman bursts in and begs for their help. This turns out to be Inspector Catchpool’s mother and she insists Poirot and Catchpool come to a Norfolk mansion to solve a murder and prevent another. In the safe haven of a hospital, a well liked man was murdered - hit over the head with a heavy vase - and soon, Arnold Laurier will be going to the same hospital (to the private room next to the murder scene) and his wife is convinced he will be murdered too, though she can’t explain why.

Against both their wishes, Poirot and Catchpool go and, if they want to be home by Christmas, they will need to get their little grey cells working quickly to catch the killer and maybe prevent a second murder.


Like I said at the start of this post, I have read two other novels in the New Hercule Poirot series written by Sophie Hannah - The Mystery of the Three Quarters and The Killings at Kingfisher Hill - and while I did like them, I wasn’t exactly on board either stories. I found The Mystery of the Three Quarters trying too hard to be smart and being overly complex (though I did like the first half of the book) and the Killings at Kingfisher Hill, while better, again was trying too hard. Only this time, it was trying too hard to be an Agatha Christie story.

But I found myself really enjoying myself with Silent Night. It reminded me so much of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (which I will be reading/audiobooking over the Christmas period, me thinks). We have an awful family (especially to each other), a really depressing Christmas, a murder with a close-circle of suspect, a surprising amount of dark humour and Poirot stuck in the middle of a case he doesn’t really want to be involved in, with people he doesn’t want to be with in a place he doesn’t want to be in.

You would think that, after the events with the Lee family, he would be avoid working a case so close to Christmas.

I think one of the reasons I found myself enjoying this so is Catchpool’s growth as a character over the past few outings I have with him (he’s grown as a detective and, while not an equal to Poirot, he’s not as hapless as the lovely Hastings. Catchpool can hold his own and isn’t afraid to push back with Poirot over his thinkings). Plus, Catchpool’s relationship with his mother was a surprising treat. It’s exasperation and yet, surprisingly funny - these two rubbing each other the wrong way help lift the book, otherwise the story would have been quite dry.

And while the case and resolution is quite smart, I’m not totally convinced over one or two elements of it, but I feel more satisfied with this compared to my previous outings with new Poirot.

But yes, I did like this outing with Poirot and I think it will scratch that itch for those who want a Christmas murder

This is a great read!

I love a Christmas mystery and this does not disappoint.
I have read a few of Agatha Christie’s Poirot books, but am by no means a ‘super fan’. Sophie Hannah has done a great job of getting the feel and characterisation of Poirot.
I loved Edward Cathpool - his relationship and exasperation with his mother really made me chuckle as did the use of decorating Christmas Trees as a method of interrogation.

The twist at the end was great, had me guessing right to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins and Sophie Hannah for the copy in exchange for my honest review.

For me, this novel went on for too long. However, it reads as a Christie mystery and Sophie Hannah always nails the brief. Poirot and Catchpool are asked to solve a mystery at a house in Norfolk. Catchpool's mother thinks Poirot is the right man for this task. A man has been murdered in a hospital ward and Vivienne Laurier thinks her husband is the next victim.
So many twists and turns and I thought so many other characters were the murderer but I was wrong.
Lots of strong characters in this novel and definitely worth a read. It kept me guessing until the end.

As usual in my reviews I will not spoil things by rehashing the plot (there are plenty of other reviews like that out there already!); instead I recommend that you read the book for yourselves!

I've read several of Sophie Hannah's "New Hercule Poirot Mysteries" series, and thoroughly enjoyed them. The author cleverley weaves many of the idiosyncracies of Poirot's character into new and original stories - this latest being just as enjoyable as the last!

As the title suggests, this novel is set around Christmas time - this was an intriguing plot with some interesting characters, some quite disagreeable! I do miss the Hastings character - Catchpool is a good egg, but I don't feel he's always quite up to the task!

I didn't guess the identity of the murderer (though the person was on my list of suspects!), and when revealed, I was puzzled by their motivation (as I felt sure there could have been an alternative!) That said, this was definitely an enjoyable read!

I'm already looking forward to the next in the series.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

What's not to like about this book. It contains that perfect combination of Hercule Poirot, Christmas and an impossible murder.

Sophie Hannah does another fine job of bringing our favourite Belgian detective to life and using his little grey cells to solve the puzzling murder of Stanley Niven.

This novel is narrated by Inspector Catchpool who is Poitot's latest sidekick. Although he is no Captain Hastings you will enjoy his story telling and his ways of decorating Christmas trees.

Would recommend to all fans of Agatha Christie and other cosy mysteries.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Sophie Hannah for the ARC.

I was always concerned about reading these books. As an avid Agatha Christie’s reader, I did not want to set up for fail or that my own expectations would tarnish a book that would actually be good.
When “Silent Night” cover was revealed, something attracted me to it and I had to read it. I am glad I did.
Sophie Hannah is not Agatha Christie but she did an extraordinary job and this book is absolutely brilliant and a testament to Hannah’s talent as a storyteller.
It really has drawn my attention and I couldn’t put it down. There are so many elements that remind me of Christie’s style but at the same time are all Hannah’s. A rollercoaster with so many mysteries and so intrinsicate. I felt quite a fool for not having picked up one of these before.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC.

A clever ,twisty Christmas mystery which I really enjoyed! Once again. Sophie Hannah manages to continue the atmosphere and the spirit of the original Poirot stories with a tale set in 1931 which has all the hallmarks of a true Agatha Christie crime. There are feuding families with dark secrets ,additional guests in the form of a curate and a doctor and all are housed together in a crumbling house at Christmas time. The relationship between Catchpool (Poirot's detective sidekick) and his mother does feel more modern than and personal than I would have expected but that did not detract from my overall enjoyment.

This is a reasonable yarn, although not to my mind as enjoyable as other Poirot novels from this author. I found the repetition at times frustrating, and the final reveal somewhat lacking/ implausible, with so much information concealed the charm of reading a 'whodunit' was lost.

Thank you to netgalley, publisher and author for the oppurtunity to read this for an honest review.

Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah
This is the fifth outing for Sophie Hannah’s version of Hercule Poirot and I have read all of them. If however this is a new series for you it does not matter where you begin reading as each book reads as a standalone. Each novel is involved in solving a separate mystery. In this novel Catchpool is looking forward to a Christmas without his mother. Poirot and Catchpool then have a visit from Catchpool’s mother telling them they have to travel to a house in Norfolk (which is falling into the sea) to solve a mystery for her friend Vivienne Laurier.
The family at the house are a strange collection of people two brothers married to two sisters who have fallen out irrevocably and their parents. The owners of the house are Vivienne and Arnold Laurier and the daughter in laws parents are working as the cook and gardener. Stanley Niven, has been murdered in hospital in the room next door to the one which terminally ill Arnold Laurier is to be moved after Christmas. He is desperate to solve the mystery of Stanley’s murder but Vivienne is terrified that Arnold himself will be the murderer’s next victim.

Sophie Hannah has used the elements of Agatha Christie’s writing to make these feel authentically like an original Poirot mystery. There is an interesting relationship developing between Poirot and Catchpool and the latter almost seems to be in love with Poirot. An interesting addition to the series and one which I will definitely be recommending to others. Many thanks to the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the novel in return for an honest review.

Sophie Hannah continues to bring a joie de vivre to our favourite detective without changing the personality that Christie crafted. Her novels are a wonderful extension to the cannon, with her own style shining though the expected tropes of the genre.

I loved Poirot's barely hidden contempt for the cold, the bad food and the sneaky plans of his friend’s mother until the mystery gets a hold of his little grey cells.

A joy from beginning to end.

In "Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night," Sophie Hannah expertly steps into the literary shoes of Agatha Christie, delivering a festive mystery that pays homage to the beloved Hercule Poirot. Set against the backdrop of Christmas in 1931, the novel plunges readers into a puzzling murder investigation that puts Poirot's legendary little grey cells to the test.

The narrative unfolds with the classic elements of a Christie novel: a seemingly idyllic setting, a murder in an unexpected place, and an ensemble of intriguing characters. The addition of Inspector Edward Catchpool and the irrepressible Cynthia inject a fresh dynamic into the story, providing a modern touch while remaining true to the essence of Christie's world.

The murder mystery at the heart of the novel is intricately crafted, with layers of suspense and clues that keep readers guessing. Hannah captures the essence of Poirot's deductive prowess, allowing fans of the iconic detective to revel in the familiar intricacies of his thought process. The plot unfolds at a steady pace, balancing the urgency of solving the crime with the festive atmosphere of the holiday season.

The choice of a crumbling mansion by the coast as the setting adds a delightful touch of atmospheric charm. The reader is transported to a bygone era, where Poirot's meticulous investigation is juxtaposed against the backdrop of Christmas preparations and the looming threat of more murders.

Hannah successfully captures Poirot's distinct voice and mannerisms, making the character feel like a seamless continuation of Christie's legacy. The narrative is peppered with clever dialogue and moments of wit, staying true to the charm that fans of Hercule Poirot have come to love.

As the mystery unfolds, the tension builds, and Hannah introduces an additional layer of intrigue with a character who is utterly ruthless and determined to influence Poirot's fate. This subplot adds an extra dimension to the story, keeping readers engaged until the very end.

While Hannah pays homage to Christie's style, there are moments when the complexity of the plot may feel slightly convoluted. However, the resolution ties up the loose ends neatly, offering a satisfying conclusion that aligns with the spirit of classic Poirot mysteries.

In conclusion, "Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night" is a delightful addition to the Poirot canon, skilfully blending the old-world charm of Agatha Christie with Sophie Hannah's contemporary touch. Fans of classic mysteries and Hercule Poirot enthusiasts will appreciate this festive tale that keeps the essence of the iconic detective alive while offering a fresh and engaging narrative. A perfect read for the holiday season and a fitting tribute to the master of mystery, Agatha Christie.

This is the latest instalment in Sophie Hannah’s Hercule Poirot mysteries. I’ve embraced the previous books in this series as I didn’t expect them to be similar to the original Agatha Christie’s novels. I simply accepted them as stories in their own right and didn’t compare - just enjoyed reading them. However, this 5th book fell short for me. I didn’t find it exciting or suspenseful in any way, the characters were almost grotesque, lacking the charm of previous renditions, and the reveal seemed too implausible. I think I’ll stick to the author’s stand alone novels in the future.

A thoroughly satisfying thriller set in in Norfolk with Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool. Hannah transports us back to the 1930s in the atmospheric crumbling house by the sea just before Christmas. A murder takes place in the local hospital and another one is anticipated. Well crafted and written in true Agatha Christie style.

As an avid Christie fan I thought I would try this book. I couldn't read it as a genuine Poirot book but it was an enjoyable stand alone book though a little long winded.

In Hercule Poirot's Silent Night, Poirot and his friend inspector Catchpool are summoned to Norfolk just before Christmas to solve the murder of Stanley Niven. Whilst they investigate the murder, they are staying with the Laurier family at Frellingsloe house and soon discover that Vivienne Laurier suspects her husband will be the murderer's next victim despite there seemingly being no connection between the two men.

I had very high hopes for this book as I am a huge Agatha Christie however I found it extremely disappointing. The characters all felt very bland and the portrayal of Poirot was lacking. It almost felt like the author kept throwing in his catchphrases to try and convince us that he is the same Poirot as Christie's Poirot which became very annoying. Poirot's sidekick, Catchpool, added very little to the story and the two characters didn't seem to bounce off each other in the same way that Christie's Poirot did with Hastings. Part of the appeal of traditional Poirot novels is that they get straight into the mystery and there are plenty of plot twists however this book was very slow to get going and I found myself getting bored throughout. The ending felt very random and most of the vital information required to reach the conclusion was concealed from the reader which was frustrating having just struggled through the rest of the book.

Overall, I felt very let down by this book. If you pick up a book with both Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot's name on the cover, you have certain expectations for the characters and the plot which this book didn't live up to by a long shot.