The opening chapter describes a middle aged couple, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, chatting together amicably. When I heard their names, a faint memory stirred in my head of a couple of young sleuths Agatha Christie had created early in her career. Sure enough this was the same couple many years later.
Overview: The Beresfords plan to pay their yearly visit to Tommy's Aunt Ada who is in a nursing home. They go out of a sense of duty since Aunt Ada is unappreciative of their attentions. While they are there, Tuppence meets another elderly resident, Mrs. Lancaster. Later, when she hears that this woman has disappeared, she is determined to find out why.
I loved so many things about this book: the delightful dialogue, the literary references from Shakespeare (the title), the Bible (a major clue), and a sprinkling of references to fairy tales and latin phrases. I loved the wonderful narrator (Alex Jennings) who got the voice inflections and inside jokes perfectly. Then there was the snoopy but lovable butler, the town busybody, the absent-minded cleric, and the friendly witch (to name just a few of Christie's great characters.)
As a pastor's daughter and a missionary I thoroughly enjoyed the references to Tuppence's upbringing as a vicar's daughter, jabs at modern translations of the Bible and Tuppence's declaration in Chapter 16 of "I'm glad I'm not a missionary!"
The identity of the killer took me completely by surprise. And the gruesomeness of their crimes seemed out of keeping with the light-heartedness of the rest of the novel. Still, I am smitten with this couple and plan to listen to the other books as soon as possible. (This was book 4 of 5.) I listened for free on YouTube.
Blessings,
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