Crooked House is a standalone novel by Agatha Christie, published in 1949, which she famously claimed was one of her personal favorites. The story is narrated by Charles Hayward, whose engagement to the young, wealthy Sophia Leonides is complicated when her incredibly rich, Greek grandfather, Aristide Leonides, is poisoned in their "crooked" and sprawling family mansion. The novel focuses intensely on the dysfunctional, eccentric Leonides family, all of whom stand to inherit a fortune and all of whom are suspects. The book is a dark, character-driven mystery that brilliantly subverts the expectations of the traditional whodunit. It is renowned for its shocking, daring, and highly memorable conclusion, which relies not on cunning clues but on a profound psychological twist that even seasoned Christie readers rarely anticipate.
