Agatha Christie published The Third Girl in 1966. Many think the late Christies are inferior books. Others think Christie’s late novels were affected by Christie’s alleged Alzheimer’s. I found The Third Girl uneven, but the solution is clever (Christie stumped me). A young girl shows up at Poirot’s doorstep and says, “I may have committed a murder.” Then, she disappears. Mystery novelist Mrs. Oliver, Christie’s surrogate, shows up and gets bashed on the head. Tonight PBS Masterpiece Mystery broadcasts the TV version of The Third Girl. I’ll be watching.
It’s been a long time since I read this one (early 1970s) but I read it in a period when I was reading whatever Christies I could get my hands on in whatever order I found them, and by the standards of her better books this one seemed pretty bad. But, as I said, I don’t remember any details other than that I didn’t think much of it and Poirot seemed old and tired.
Poirot admits he’s getting old in The Third Girl, Jeff. Compared to her great mysteries, The Third Girl is a minor work. But, still, Christie fooled me at the end.
Me, too. In fact, it was one of the first Christie’s I read.
I read The Third Girl for the first time this week, Patti. I read most of Christie’s great mysteries decades ago, but I’m catching up on her minor books just before PBS broadcasts them.
I must say, I enjoyed this program much more than I liked last week’s “Murder on the Orient Express.” Perhaps that’s because “The Third Girl” doesn’t come with all the previous pop-culture baggage that “Express” does. Also, I thought Poirot was allowed to be Poirot in this one, as opposed to last week’s “Express,” where Poirot was doing such uncharacteristic things as carrying a rosary in his pocket and having a crisis of conscience. Please let us continue to have Poirot the way Christie wrote him!
Yes, THE THIRD GIRL was better than Suchet’s lame MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, Deb! But the writers meddled with Christie’s plot. In the book version of THE THIRD GIRL, the young artist is murdered. In the TV version, he lives to get the girl.