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Title: Tedious Christie
Review: This Christie novel doesn't quite deliver the goods. It's the usual savoir faire: a crumbling family's patriarch is murdered, and his significantly-younger trophy wife is thought to be his killer. The dysfunctional Leonides family thinks the victim's wife might be carrying-on an affair with the live-in tutor. There's plenty of police talk and not nearly enough character development. In fact, one wishes the characters weren't so "Christie," i.e., familar, predictable, etc. Despite a mildly intriguing denouement (which, also, was somewhat predictable), Crooked House lacks fresh characters and gripping dialogue, which makes it a tedious read.
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