The Rose and the Yew Tree

Title: The Rose and the Yew Tree
Author: Agatha Christie (writing as Mary Westmacott)
Format: Paperback
Genre: 'Romance'
Series: Mary Westmacott
Date read: March 2011
Verdict: 6 out of 10

Comments: Agatha Christie's Mary Westmacott novels are labelled as 'romance', which I think is the reason they're often overlooked. Granted, The Rose and the Yew Tree isn't the best of the six (I've only read three thus far, but both Unfinished Portrait and Absent in the Spring were better, in my opinion) but it is definitely worth a read. Rather than being overly 'romantic' in the usual definition, the novel deals with the complexities of human nature, similar to Christie's crime novels. The book takes place mostly in a small Cornish town called St Loo, and as ever Christie's skillful writing takes you there, to a seaside hideaway with an old draughty castle. There's a fantastic cast of characters; three shrewd old ladies guarding the beautiful but naive Isabella Charteris, John Gabriel, a rougish political candidate with a roving eye, and the narrator, the quick-minded Hugh Norreys, crippled in a car crash and destined to be a listening ear to everyone in town with a story. The main reason I only gave it 6 out of 10 is I felt there were too many loose ends left to be tied up, and the ending was a bit disappointing.