The first of it's kind or not ?!

My first step into the world of detective novels started with 'The Secret Seven' .Though it all looks silly now, at the time it was most enjoyable.


Nostalgia aside,however, I had now progressed into the world of the Holmes', Marples' and Poirots'.


Until I had read 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', Holmes had always been the top notch detective novel, in my opinion*. This opinion did not suffer many changes,not until today at least !


I had picked up 'The Valley of Fear',the only Holmes left unread in my cabinet,more so because of that evil known as procrastination, that seems to affect our judgement (or the lack of it!) just before the final exams** and was enjoying the same along with a few 'Mint Humbugs' (Courtesy :- My sister's overflowing cabinet of chocolates!) when I began to smell something fishy***........


The climax of both the books were similar ! And considering that Conan Doyle's 'Valley of fear' (September 1914) was written much before Agatha Christie's Poirot (June 1926)**** , it seemed to me that, what I had considered to be Agatha Christie's most original work was actually not so original ! Granted, that most of her work on Poirot was influenced by Holmes,directly or indiectly....But,still Ackroyd was something different,or so I thought !


And hence this blog.What are your views on the matter?


Of course,it would be a grave injustice on my part to reveal what exactly the climax is,so go read the book.However, once you've done so don't forget to share your views in the comments section below.



*Which I'm not sure holds any weight.Come to think of it !

**Which start this Saturday ! Yikes !

***Not the chocolates of course. They were quite enjoyable.

****Dates courtesy Wikipedia. Gotta love that thing.