Third Girl (1966)
Blurb:
My review:
Although often attacked by the critics as a horribly unsuccessful
attempt to "modernise" her books, this is Christie's last decent
detective story. The plotting is rather diffuse, and the pace
slow, but the situation and solution are her best since The Pale Horse, ingeniously playing
on old themes (revisiting One, Two,
Buckle My Shoe, Evil under the Sun, "The Cretan Bull," and A Caribbean Mystery, and
anticipating Elephants Can Remember).
Poirot (who has become more and more like Miss Marple, with his
idiomatic English, whimsical 'my dear' attitude and long experience of
life) and Mrs. Oliver are somewhat out of their depth among the
drug-crazed students, but it is telling that the murder is committed by
the most respectable person for the most conventional motive, while the
females of the younger generation are treated with sympathy and
understanding.