I didn't think this would be very good, its dour themes of Christie's generation passing on and postwar scarcity (dairy, eggs) aren't sparkling and fun. Older people gripe about the government, the Golden Age conceit of murders in the manors is supplanted by killings in the cottages as the manors are sold off as too expensive for inheritors to live in and maintain. Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is a featured character, his role largely manifests in the last half of the book and he does solve the case. Going without dairy and eggs due to postwar austerity would make people understandably cranky, even Agatha Christie. I wonder if any passages were written in a brief moment of joy.