A big fat puking spoiler coming this way. Beware. 
 I am furious and sad every time I write bad reviews. However, it is really important for me to find believable, attractive plot and characters (especially in a detective book). Agatha Christie's fabulous mysteries have plots that are tricky yet comprehensible. Her mysteries shine with grand simplicity. Sadly I didn't find any in "The Monogram Murders". This book is written by Sophie Hannah, who was inspired by Agatha Christie. The strangest thing is that S. Hannah got a permission to write this book and this book was approved by the Christie estate. 
 I'm not familiar with Sophie Hannah's other books. I just read that she writes crime fiction and she likes Agatha Christie a lot. This book is a labyrinth with crimes, secrets and murders, but instead of catching interest and engaging, it was a trouble for me to get out of it. Maybe the trouble is in me. I just couldn't find the real personality of Christie's famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, or her basic storytelling features 
 So let's start from the beginning. Poirot meets a mysterious woman in a coffee house, who fears for her life. She talks strange stuff before disappearing into the night. It's a good start except, for the real Christie fans, it's obvious that Poirot enjoys sipping herbal tea, hot chocolate, creme de menthe or sirop de cassis, he has traveled a lot, he likes convenience and luxury, moreover he dislikes English food. And I found him sipping coffee and eating a beef chop and vermicelli souffle in a coffee house in a not wealthy part of London. It's not all. Poirot is staying at a lodging house to rest from his work, he takes buses and he walks aimlessly. This is a really odd way to present Christie's Poirot. Hannah's Poirot has only Christie's Poirot appearance. 
 Poirot is not the only one strange character. Scotland Yard policeman Catchpool, the most dull, miserable, glum and incompetent detective I've ever read. He is afraid of dead bodies, that is why he left the murder victims in the hotel unwatched for all the evening and night. Moreover he is the only one officer in the police, investigating the Monogram Murders. A shame for all Scotland Yard descriptions. He is dumb and definitely a dreary fellow. Oh, Captain Hastings, how I missed you! Hastings was not always understanding, but his relationship with Poirot was always charming, affectionate and friendly. 
 Poirot and Catchpool made an odd and not attractive pair of detectives. They seem not to like each other. Catchpool tries to match Hastings with his "magically" strange and incoherent remarks. The Poirot-Catchpool situation looks like a teacher tries to teach a hopeless student. It was nice with Hastings, but hopeless and quite irritating with Catchpool. Poirot even understates Catchpool. 
 There isn't any clear and attractive description of the places, it never came alive to me, while reading (or torturing myself in other words. In case you didn't know: Yes, I'm the masochistic type!) I felt like examining an unfinished painting. If there were no years mentioned, I wouldn't guess that this book was meant to show the Poirot times. The biggest part of the explanations is extremely unlikely. Definitely no clarity or conviction. No Agatha Christie. It's sad but for me the most interesting characters in the book were the three murder victims. There are clues of a kind in this book that seem inspired by Agatha Christie, but they are not carried off with the flamboyant confidence of style or manner, that I enjoyed reading AC mysteries. Maybe I'm narrow-minded due to the Christie stuff. But I like it so and I like Poirot in Christie's style 
 I know that there will be another book about Poirot by Sophie Hannah and I really hope it to be one I really can enjoy reading.