Review of The Seven Dials Mystery

Agatha Christie’s books never lack surprise ending. The Seven Dials Mystery is with them. It is mystery mixed with a bit of romance. Like all the other Christie’s books, the language of this one is clean and easy going. It makes yet another classic.

After reading so many Christie’s books, I thought I would not be taken by surprise again. Yet her wit won me again. However, I can see the drawback of this one. Compared to And Then There Were None, one of the later novels by Christie, the point of view of The Seven Dials Mystery is not that mature. I say that because, while And Then There Were None was skillfully manipulated to different point of views limited by the characters, The Seven Dials Mystery is barely third person omniscient. The problem of a third person omniscient (God’s view) is that it is very hard to control what to show and what not to show to the readers. Avoiding mentioning certain facts too obviously will feel like cheating. Christie didn’t skip the facts, but she “lied”. Characters can lie, but writer should not. Otherwise readers will feel like being cheated. And that’s the problem of The Seven Dials Mystery.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd handled it a bit better. It didn’t lie. It just avoided mentioning certain facts. Christie handled it well, making it not that obvious. Readers trust the description and thoughts of the characters presented to be true. It is OK not to mention it. But if it says it, readers believe it happened. That’s the rule of the novel. And that’s where The Seven Dials Mystery lost.

That being said, The Seven Dials Mystery is still a very good book. Christie kept the mystery till the end. And when she delivered the gamer changer, she gave a good explanation. The book is a page turner, a leisure, and it doesn’t disappoint readers’ expectation.