The Mystery of Three Quarters

Hercule Poirot has returned from an excellent lunch to be confronted by a very irate Sylvia Rule. In The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah, Ms. Rule is waving a letter in his face that accuses her of murdering Barnabas Pandy, claiming she doesn't know who Barnabas Pandy is.

A stumped Poirot cannot understand how this horrible mistake has occurred. When three other accuse him of the same "crime", M. Poirot uses his little gray cells to discover first, who sent the letters, second, who was murdered and third, who is the murderer.

But there is also trouble brewing at one of Poirot's favorite spots - Pleasant's Coffee House. Run by a young woman with the unlikely name of Euphemia Springs, or Fee, as she asked to be called. Poirot always enjoys her excellent coffee and delightful cake, but it seems someone has stolen the recipe for Church Window Cake, Fee's special family recipe.

Besides being tasked to discover who stole Fee's recipe, M. Poirot

also needs to find Barnabas Pandy and determine if he was murdered or not. At the coffee house, Poirot meets a young man named Hugo Dockerill, who it seems, also received a letter declaring him a murdered, but he, in fact, knows this Barnabas Pandy. He tells Poirot that Pandy was nearly one hundred years old and he drowned in his bathtub recently.

This leads M. Poirot on a merry chase to discover if a crime was committed. As it turns out, there was a crime committed, but not the one everyone is accused of.

Another exceptional novel by Agatha Christie - not really - but Sophie Hannah does a great impersonation of the Grand Dame.

Purchase link