the non-paywalled first paragraph at least addresses that: "Hercule Poirot and Tom Ripley. At first sight, the retired Belgian detective and the gentleman psyc

the non-paywalled first paragraph at least addresses that: "Hercule Poirot and Tom Ripley. At first sight, the retired Belgian detective and the gentleman psychopath have little in common: Poirot solves crimes, Ripley commits them. Their creators, too, stand at opposite ends of the crime-writing spectrum — Agatha Christie, still the world’s bestselling author, is regarded as the writer of comfort-read whodunnits, while in Patricia Highsmith’s universe morality is turned on its head and the reader actively rejoices with Ripley as he gets away with murder."