Murder Is Easy is a standalone novel by Agatha Christie, first published in 1939, which famously does not feature either Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. The story is centered on Luke Fitzwilliam, a former police officer returning to England from a foreign posting. On a train, he encounters an elderly woman, Miss Pinkerton, who tells him she is on her way to Scotland Yard to report a shocking truth: a recent string of accidental deaths in her quiet, seemingly peaceful village of Wychwood is actually the work of a single, highly effective serial killer. When Miss Pinkerton herself dies in a subsequent accident, Fitzwilliam decides to travel to the village to investigate, posing as a writer. The book is a chilling study of a seemingly harmless, enclosed community where a killer operates with chilling impunity, exploring themes of hidden evil and the difficulty of proving murder when the killer’s methods appear natural.
