Thibault Busschots's Reviews > Moord onder vuurwerk

Hercule Poirot and captain Hastings are on vacation in Cornwall. Poirot receives a letter, asking him to come out of retirement for a really important case. But Poirot refuses. Even should a bullet strike the wall by his head, he would not investigate the matter. He is retired and wants to stay retired. Then they meet a young girl called Magdala 'Nick' Buckley, who says she’s had quite a few accidental brushes with death in the last couple of days as she swats away a wasp. Poirot quickly realizes she’s telling the truth. But that they might not have been accidental. Because the wasp was not a wasp at all, but a bullet. And it went right through her hat, barely missing her skull. Right in front of Poirot himself! Poirot might be retired, but he’s not about to let a girl die when he has the chance to save her.


The mystery plot itself is without a shred of a doubt the highlight of this book. It’s simply put a mystery plot with a really strong beginning and a very satisfying ending that doesn’t dip in quality in the middle. It’s gripping, fast-paced and has more than a few cool twists. The setting is pretty cool too, with Nick’s old house being a very prominent location in the story.


The characters, apart from Poirot and Hastings, serve their purpose. But they’re not very memorable. The dynamic between Poirot and Hastings is mostly on point. And I quite like that their friendship works so well together with murder mystery plot, though maybe it could have been a bit more refined. For example, there’s one scene where Poirot wants to seclude himself to think and solve the mystery. But Hastings wants to help out too. So they sit down together and Hastings immediately falls asleep. When Hastings wakes up, Poirot has pretty much solved half the case. Now Hastings doesn’t have to feel inferior, because he was included in the sleuthing process, despite not attributing all that much to the case. And both Hastings and us readers don’t know how all the puzzle pieces fit together, which makes us all even more curious and has us hanging on Poirot’s every word until the story comes to a finish.


Another thing to really appreciate is Poirot’s vanity. When he introduces himself to Nick, she doesn’t recognize his name. He immediately turns to his friend Hastings, because he doesn’t want to toot his own horn. He wants to appear modest, even though he is anything but. Hastings explains that Poirot used to be a great detective. Poirot is not amused, saying that he is not “just" a great detective. He is the greatest detective that ever lived! Basically throwing modesty out of the window at the beginning of the book. It’s a silly little detail, but it makes his character really stand out.


Overall, a solid Poirot book with a really strong mystery.