Top Ten Reviews of 2021

Here are the top ten most popular reviews on Copper Lantern – it was definitely a Poirot year.

1. 1. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
    
    In Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie, yet another of Poirot’s holidays is disrupted by murder, mystery, intrigue, jealousy and romance. This classic murder mystery detective story is set aboard a the Karnak steamer, exploring the darkness and beauty of the River Nile.
  2. Human Is by Philip K Dick
    
    Human Is, by Philip K Dick, is one of my favourite short stories. I re-read it recently as part of the Electric Dreams anthology, with prefaces by the writers who adapted various short stories for TV. It examines McCarthy style witch hunts, authoritarian states and what it means to be human.
  3. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
    
    A memoir of the past, retelling Eileen’s last week in a freezing, miserable Massachusetts town, in the 1960s. It also functions as a rich and disturbing character study.
  4. Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
    
    A coming of age novel following a nameless 18 year old Korean American woman working in a pizza place. Her life changes when a struggling stay at home mother called Jenny calls in to her work, looking for a pizza with pickles…
  5. How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger
    
    How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger charts the adventures of eccentric geologist Faith Wigglesworth, as she heads to London after an indiscretion, to find a werewolf husband.
  6. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
    
    In Agatha Christie’s first published mystery, and the first Hercule Poirot novel, a brisk older woman, Mrs Inglethorp, has been murdered in Essex. Hastings has been invalided out of the army and decides to visit his old friend, John Cavendish, her stepson, at their country estate.
  7. Blackfish City by Sam J Miller
    
    Blackfish City, by Sam J. Miller, tells of a flooded future world, where a mysterious woman arrives in the floating Arctic city of Qaanaaq. Accompanied by an orca and a polar bear, she is one of the elusive and hunted few who have nano-bonded with animals. Her arrival shakes a city already struggling under the weight of corruption, organised crime, and a mysterious disease called the breaks…
  8. Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
    
    Evil Under the Sun is another Poirot novel, published in 1941. Poirot attempts a pleasant summer holiday in Devon, and once again encounters love, lust and evil at a classic seaside resort hotel.
  9. Death in her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
    
    One day, an 72 year old widow named Vesta Gul is taking her daily walk in the forest with her dog, Charlie. And comes across a chilling note, weighed down with smooth black stones. It says “Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body”.
  10. The Big Four by Agatha Christie
    
    The Big Four by Agatha Christie is a Poirot with a spy twist. Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue and even encounters the mysterious Countess Vera Rossakoff. A tale of mystery, intrigue, explosions and lost love.