In the Mood for a Lark? Check out "Cat Among the Pigeons"

"No sign, so far, of anything sinister, but I live in hope."

- Agatha Christie - Cat Among the Pigeons

Not a cat lover? Don't worry, the only cats in this retro 1959 Agatha Christie mystery are psycho killers (or a killer) out to ambush a bunch of kids living in dorms at a boarding school. Not that it's boring, to say the least. Whereas it may not be Christie's most famous work, this fun and hooking book that lacks in suspense kicks up interest from the slow building of characterization before the first gruesome murder. By the time it happens, you feel something for the characters and find yourself pumping fists while rooting for their well-being.

Popular school girl Julia Upjohn (yep, funny name) somehow was born a ball-busting sleuth and knows that this nicknamed cat killer who gifted them the body of a detested 'boss' mistress had a bigger agenda to be taken seriously. The comfy world at her British boarding school quickly turns to flack when the hated headmistress is murdered just before naming her successor before retiring.

So what's the catch? Whereas Christie does a fantastic job of setting up clues that readers actually have a chance of solving if they have half a brain, the dreamy detective Hercule Poirot doesn't show up until the end of the book.

What? A detective mystery where the detective only pops in at the end to save the day? Leave it to Christie to make this work. If you've never read one of her novels and carry a flame for 1950's vintage clandestine tales, check out this catchy title!

"If she'd been born in a African tribe, she might have been a witch doctor." Agatha Christie