books read: 5 [1 DNF] [-44%]
average rating: 3.38 [-11%]
average speed: 8 days [=]
total pages: 1,109 [-55%]
yearly goal progress: 13/100 [13%]
best of the month: my name is why, lemn sissay
worst of the month: at night all blood is black, david diop
Also was anyone gonna tell me that "Three Blind Mice" is the same story as The Mousetrap or was I just supposed to expend mental energy connecting those dots myself?
first published: 2020
read: 18 february 2025 - 23 february 2025
pages: 256
format: e-book
genres: fiction; short stories; mystery; crime; detective
favourite character(s): poirot
least favourite character(s): parker pyne
first line(s): "it was a wild night. outside, the wind howled malevolently, and the rain beat against the windows in great gusts."
rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
thoughts: left this seasonal read rather too late into the season to be considered "midwinter" anymore, but i did enjoy midwinter murder as much as i did the previous short story collection in the series, autumn chills. again, there are hits and misses, though i think on the whole i found this one very slightly better all around than autumn chills.
of the twelve short stories, i most enjoyed the chocolate box, a christmas tragedy, the coming of mr quin, and the plymouth express. i'm really surprised that a harley quin mystery made it into one of my favourites, because i didn't enjoy his stories in the last collection at all (and to be honest, i didn't much care for the second one of his in this collection either). the mystery of his character and the subtle pulling of people's strings was really cool. parker pyne's mystery, and his character, was quite forgettable in comparison to all the others on offer. i didn't really love that one story that was mostly just about male fragility either lol (the manhood of edward robinson). poirot, again, i'm really enjoying getting to know his character as i have not read any of his full length stories. he's very different in character to miss marple, who is more unassuming and quietly brilliant than poirot - but both are amazing!
hoping that amazon discounts the spring instalment of the series so i can read that in the next few months; i'm enjoying these seasonal mysteries!
The last couple Christie mysteries I read weren't that great, so I was worried I peaked with Roger Ackroyd and it wasn't gonna get exciting again. But I just read "Three Blind Mice" and we are BACK bby. Did the reveal make sense? Yes and no. Definitely not as neatly told as Roger Ackroyd, and I was left with more questions than answers (as you will see below the cut), but it doesn't matter because I was GRIPPED y'all. It had my stomach in knots at one point bc suspense. The atmosphere was creepy, the characters were so interesting, it had me pacing around my room like
Good times. Anyway,
(spoilers below)
I have a problem with Inspector Tanner, where there's a possible explanation for everything he does, but I still find it confusing. Why go undercover? If you suspect Trotter*, why not test him or confront him and then make your arrest? Why give him THAT much rope to hang himself? Tanner was a shit detective and partially responsible for Mrs. Boyle's death.
I have a similar sort of problem with Mrs. Davis. I'm not fully willing to accept that her neuroticism and her bond with Christopher is because of her indirect connection to the Longridge Farm case and her first husband's death. Not saying that those things wouldn't eff you up in real life, but for the sake of this story, it was kinda flimsy. I'm a bit on the fence about this opinion, but I hope you get what I mean.
I am, however, willing to accept that Mr. Paravicini is just Like That so I don't have any questions about him even though I do. The moral of the story is that everyone is weird, so that explains it all.
Also, who is Christopher Wren and what does he have to "go through with" ? Will he marry me? So much to think about.
*The strange guy below you in rank who you didn't know would drop in on YOUR investigation who seems to know more about it than you? Yeah, he's probably the murderer. You can probably arrest him. You were alone in a room together, what were you even talking about? Did he talk to you as though he knew who you really were (also, DID he know? that's another tangent)? Because if he was a real sergeant working your case he should know you. Idk how police business works, but I'm making reasonable guesses that lead me to the conclusion that this man is a dumbass and nothing makes sense.
Okay I was writing a whole thing about "Three Blind Mice" but then I read "The Coming of Mr. Quin" which fucking slaps. I don't even know what to say. Wow. It was a bit boring to begin with, not too bad, but I had gotten halfway through and I wasn't all that invested. And then she went and turned it around on me. That ending was great on so many levels. And I love Mr. Satterthwaite as our point of view. Big fan.
Answered here! But because I like writing about books, I will tell you the thematic follow up: #200 was Murder at Melrose Court, a Christmas-set mystery, and book #201 was Midwinter Murder, by Agatha Christie: a collection of Christmas/winter themed short mystery stories. I'd read a lot of them before, but I do always like her short stories! And with one story that I had no recollection of, she managed to make me jump a little with the villain reveal, even though I was actively trying to guess who the villain was.
