 Dust-jacket illustration of the US (true first) edition. See Publication history (below) for UK first edition jacket image. | |
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Not known |
| Language | English |
| Series | Hercule Poirot |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Dodd, Mead and Company |
Publication date | February 1932 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 270 (first edition, hardcover) |
| Preceded by | The Mystery of the Blue Train |
| Followed by | Lord Edgware Dies |
Peril at End House is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by the Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1932[1] and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March of the same year.[2] The US edition retailed at $2.00[1] and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).[2]
The book features Christie's private detective Hercule Poirot, as well as Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp, and is the sixth novel featuring Poirot. Poirot and Hastings vacation in Cornwall, meeting young Magdala "Nick" Buckley and her friends. He is persuaded that someone is out to kill her. They meet all of her friends at her home called End House. Though he aims to protect Nick, a murder happens that provokes Poirot to mount a serious investigation.
The novel was well received when first published, with the plot remarked as unusually ingenious and diabolically clever by reviewers. Writing in 1990, Robert Barnard found it cunning, but not one of Christie's very best. It has been adapted to stage, radio, film, television, graphic novel, and a computer game, and translated to many other languages as a book.
- ^ a b Marcum, J.S. (May 2007). "The Classic Years 1930 - 1934". An American Tribute to Agatha Christie. J S Marcum. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
- ^ a b Peers, Chris; Spurrier, Ralph; Sturgeon, Jamie (March 1999). Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions (Second ed.). Dragonby Press. p. 14.