As some of you may know, I’ve been slowly reading my way through all of the Poirot book. This was my most recent read in that series and it’s the fourth book from the end. After reading a string of Poirot books that left me feeling disappointed, I’m happy to say that I quite enjoyed this one. 

What I liked most about Third Girl is that Poirot was at the center of the story. In the last few Poirot books I’ve read, Poirot was more of a secondary character who only popped up near the end of the book. As a fan of Hercule Poirot and his quirks and his use of his little grey cells, it was nice to see him front and center in the story. 

I also enjoyed that this mystery had quite a few moving parts. I enjoyed reading about Poirot trying to put all of the pieces together and trying to figure out how it would all come together at the end. There were a few clues that stood out to me as important, so I enjoyed seeing how Poirot used them to solve the entire case. 

I thought the premise of Third Girl was kind of unique. Usually these books have a clear crime that has been committed and Poirot is trying to solve it. In this book, a girl shows up at Poirot’s home and tells him she thinks she committed a murder and then disappears. This led to a lot of questions that made this mystery fun and unique. 

I also loved that Ariadne Oliver is a character in Third Girl. While I prefer Poirot books that feature Arthur Hastings, Ariadne Oliver is always a fun addition to the story. I was especially amused by the descriptions of her hair in this book. 

There were a few things that felt a bit too convenient, but they didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the mystery. 

Overall, I don’t think Third Girl will end up in my list of Top 10 Poirot books, but it was more of the more enjoyable Poirot books I’ve read recently.