Appointment with Death centers on Poirot’s investigation of the death of an old, bitter woman. Mrs. Boynton, a rich widow, brings her family on a trip to Jerusalem. Her family lives in fear of Mrs. Boynton’s capricious cruelty. Poirot just happens to be vacationing in Jerusalem, too. Poirot overhears a conversation where one of the parties says, “You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?” And, sure enough, Mrs. Boynton ends up dead. The original assumption was that Mrs. Boynton died of heart failure. But Poirot suspects murder. This is the third and last of the summer Poirots on PBS Masterpiece Mystery. The book was published in 1937 and I consider it one of Christie’s best. Tomorrow night, I’ll be watching to see if this excellent mystery is as good in the TV version.
We agree on that, George. I’ve always remembered this as one of Christie’s best too.
I guess I’ll record this one (or perhaps watch it tomorrow).
Christie wrote most of her best books in the late 1930s and 1940s, Jeff. APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH is top-notch.
I’ll be watching MAD MEN!
I’ll probably record APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH and watch MAD MEN, too, Patti.
Thank God for DVRs.
We use our DVR constantly, Patti. We record anything with commercials and just zip through them. What a time saver!
Amen to that. And why is it that anything you want to watch is opposite at least one other thing you also want to see, while most of the week is a vast wasteland?
Mondays were like that, Jeff. HOUSE, 24, and a special episode of THE CLOSER stacked up like planes in a holding pattern.
We also have a conflicting show, and no DVR, so we’ll have to make a decision.
Time to stimulate the economy, Rick! You can buy a DVR for under $100. Then, no more decisions.
Yes, well we’re looking at a, um, slightly larger purchase, but I’m afraid of the debt load.
We’re debt adverse, Rick. If we don’t have the cash, we don’t buy it.
So… you’d pay cash for a house?
The guy who bought my Mom’s house paid cash, Rick. However, due to the attractive tax benefits of a mortgage, I’d probably exercise that option. That being said, I don’t recommend that retired people on fixed incomes take on serious debt.
Oh dear–I have to say I found this episode to be completely wrong in tone and so completely unlike the book that I had trouble making the connections. The child abuse angle was absolutely over-the-top (one of my children kept asking, “This isn’t in the book, is it?” and had nightmares about it last night), characters and plot points were changed, and again with the rosary! At least “Murder on the Orient Express” from a few weeks back was relatively faithful to the book’s plot if not the book’s tone, but “Appointment with Death” was just wrong from start to finish.
I had the same reaction, Deb. Too many changes to the original Christie classic! And the changes were WRONG! The DVD set, POIROT 5, is already out which includes MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, THE THIRD GIRL, and APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH. I won’t be buying it. A very disappointing summer of Poirot.