Review by Nick Fuller
3/5
The juxtaposition between the sordid reality of murder and a light-hearted game is the central theme of this early Christie novel, for the first murder interrupts a game of golf, sending the corpse's discoverer, young Bobby Jones, and his sweetheart, Frankie, on a most entertaining wild goose chase. The usual plot elements of the time (impersonation to secure inheritances, lunatic asylums, morphine addiction and criminal gangs) abound, but the plot is not complicated, with few red herrings, and those that are present, not easy to swallow: the emphasis is on the Wodehousian detection lark and Derwent do of the young people (and what very good fun it is, too!). There is some muddling at the end, for the criminal has his finger in too many pies at one time, and criminal gangs are rather unfortunately brought in.
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After having not read any Agatha Christie, save for a handful of short stories, in well over twenty years, I read this one during the past few days and enjoyed it immensely. It's the first non-series novel of Christie's I've read outside of And Then There Were None, and it's as much a thriller as it is a fairly-clued detective story. Many—too many?—of the Hercule Poirot novels include chapter after chapter of interrogations, which can make for tedious reading. The Boomerang Clue shuns this approach and races along at a delightfully brisk pace, shifting between the viewpoints of Bobby Jones and Lady Frances ("Frankie") Derwent. It struck me, however odd it might seem, as the British equivalent of The Thin Man films and some of Craig Rice's screwball comic mysteries, especially those featuring John J. Malone and Jake and Helene Justus.
Not likely to ever be regarded as a Christie classic, it's nonetheless a breezy, entertaining read.
—Barry Ergang, June 20, 2007
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