Crooked House by Agatha Christie * * *

I read Crooked House (1949) as part of my 2025 Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, and I listened to it as an audiobook narrated by Hugh Fraser. That, oddly enough, turned out to be part of the problem for me. Fraser usually narrates Poirot novels, and since this is not a Poirot book, I kept mentally casting the narrator as Hastings.

The story is told in the first person by Charles Hayward, and even knowing his name, the narration still felt oddly anonymous at times. Because Fraser’s voice is so closely tied to the Poirot series in my mind, it created a strange overlap that affected how I experienced the book.

What surprised me was how familiar the story felt. I was convinced I remembered it as a Poirot case, even though it isn’t one. I’ve never seen the Crooked House film adaptation, so I’m still not entirely sure why certain scenes felt so vivid to me. It may be because the structure of the story would easily allow Poirot to be inserted into it, and perhaps that’s how my memory reshaped it over time.

My biggest issue with the book was its structure. Even in Poirot novels, which are often built around conversations rather than action, there is usually a sense of movement. We go from house to house, from character to character. Crooked House largely stays in one place. Most of the novel takes place inside the Crooked House itself, and the plot advances almost entirely through repeated interviews with the same group of people. We talk to one character, something seems off, then we talk to another, and then we return to the first. That cycle repeats often enough that I found it a bit tedious.

That said, I did finish it, and the ending is genuinely strong. It’s surprising, unsettling, and emotionally heavier than many Christie finales. There is a sadness to it that lingers, and I do think the ending ultimately justifies the story. Interestingly, while much of the middle blurred together for me, the conclusion stayed sharp in my memory, which says a lot about its impact.

I suspect this book might work better in another format. As an audiobook, especially with a single narrator, it felt repetitive. I kept thinking it might shine more as a dramatised production, or even as a stage play. Christie was an accomplished playwright, and Crooked House feels very theatrical. I remember seeing it advertised as a play in my country, which makes perfect sense now. Confined space, strong dialogue, a closed cast of characters, and a powerful final reveal all lend themselves well to the stage.

Overall, I feel conflicted about Crooked House. There were parts I genuinely liked and parts I struggled with. Among Christie’s non Poirot novels, I think it is one of the stronger ones, even if it wasn’t entirely to my taste. It’s a book I admire more than I enjoyed, but I can still see why it’s often singled out as one of her darker and more daring works.