Retro Book Review: Sad Cypress

Sad Cypress is another Poirot mystery novel by Agatha Christie. It was recommended to me as part of the Read Christie 2023 challenge, for the jealousy prompt.

The story begins with Elinor Carlisle and Rodney Welwyn, who are cousins and friends. They plan to marry and jointly inherit their aunt’s fortune. They don’t seem to be terribly in love, and this engagement has more to do with keeping them both afloat and keeping the family money in the family than any real romance. Rodney happens to see Mary Gerrard, a village girl who’s been caring for his aunt, and falls almost instantly in love with her. The inheritance drama shifts when Mary dies under mysterious, awkward circumstances, and Elinor is accused of poisoning her romantic rival.

Fortunately, Hercule Poirot appears and doesn’t quite buy the story. He sets out to prove Elinor’s innocence, made more difficult because Elinor is depressed and won’t really say anything in her own defense.

I had a lot of eyerolls at the romance. I often do, there’s something so cringy about Poirot generalizing about all these young girls and their emotions. Some of the dated gender attitudes, and British ideas about continental views, simply did not age well. Then again, I don’t really go for insta-love in modern romance novels either, so some of it’s just me.

Still, I think this is a good mystery because I spent the whole book trying to figure out how anyone could have committed the crime. This is the opposite of some of the Christie inheritance mysteries with so many possible suspects running around. Here, I felt like no one else had any motive or any opportunity! Actually, I wasn’t even sure that Elinor had motive and opportunity, she didn’t seem terribly into Rodney and it would be incredibly risky to poison food she was also eating. Plus, the whole investigation feels extra tense because Elinor has already been accused.

In general, the wild explanation of how the murder happened and then the convoluted explanation of why win out over the eye-rolling romantic plot.

I found a quote from Kay Irvin in the The New York Times Book Review in 1940 that perfectly sums up my reaction: “Sad Cypress is not the best of the Christie achievements, but it is better than the average thriller on every count.” That’s exactly how I feel 80 years later, it’s not my favorite Christie mystery, but it’s still a very good mystery.