Crooked House is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 23 May of the same year. The action takes place in and near London in the autumn of 1947. Christie said this and Ordeal by Innocence were her favourites amongst her own works. Maurice Richardson, in the 29 May 1949 issue of The Observer, gave a positive review in comparison to his opinion of Taken at the Flood the previous year. When Charles Hayward decided he wanted to marry Sophia Leonides, he knew little about her except that she had told him that she and her extended family “all lived together in a little crooked house”. Charles and Sophia made no serious plans. Then, two years later they were reunited in London. It was at this point that Charles had the opportunity to get to know Sophia’s family because he was investigating the murder of her grandfather. Aristide had been poisoned with his eye drops, a substance all members of the family knew was lethal if taken internally. Someone had emptied an insulin bottle and refilled it with the eye drops. The investigation into the murder did not go well since there was not really much-condemning evidence against any family member who knew about the eye drops… Enjoy free online English audiobook “Crooked House”, a novel by Agatha Christie.
