Hercule Poirot's efficient secretary Miss Lemon is upset and distracted, because there have been some strange thefts at the student hostel that her sister runs. Poirot agrees to investigate the petty thefts to help out Miss Lemon's sister, Mrs. Hubbard. At first it seems like random little things that have gone missing, but there are a few items that stand out from the list: a valuable doctor's stethoscope, a diamond ring, a rucksack that was slashed to pieces, and all the lightbulbs in the common rooms. Only Poirot can sift through the clues and find a connection between the missing items. He begins to find out more about the students who board at the hostel, wondering which of them could be thief, or perhaps... a murderer.

I really enjoyed this mystery! Poirot is one of my favorite fictional detectives, and I always love to see the methodical way that he approaches a mystery. In this story, he is assisted by Inspector Sharpe, and they have a deep respect for each other and very similar methods.

It was adorable to see Poirot sort of realizing for the first time that Miss Lemon has a family and a life outside of her work. She's just such an efficient machine at her job that it's difficult to imagine that she's a human person with a life. It's like when kids see their teacher outside of school, and they are astonished that their teacher is a person! Haha!

I had already seen the TV episode of this story with David Suchet as Poirot, so I thought that I remembered the answer to the mystery, but then as I was reading, I started to wonder if maybe I was misremembering. There are so many red herrings and plot twists, that I started to doubt my memory, thinking, "Well, it couldn't be that guy, because he has an alibi, but I thought I remembered that he was involved somehow, but I guess not." That's just how good Christie is at weaving a complex mystery! She really keeps you guessing!

At first, I wasn't seeing the connection between the title of the book and the story, other than the fact that the hostel is located on Hickory Rd. But the more I thought about it, the more I started to see some themes of childhood nursery rhymes. Hickory Dickory Dock could be a reference to being in the dock, like being on trial. Mrs. Hubbard is nicknamed "Ma" or "Ma Hubbard" by the students under her care, just like the nursery rhyme Old Mother Hubbard. That nursery rhyme also mentions a cupboard, which features at one point in the mystery. There are also a lot of references to various characters' childhoods, wondering if they had a bad childhood which might have caused them to have emotional issues that would make them steal. One character is described as "crying like a child", and another is described as saying "silly childish" things or having a childish attitude. Some of the thefts are referred to as childish pranks. So there is definitely an underlying theme that explains the title; it's just not obvious at first.

Although there are a lot of characters in this book, it's fairly easy to keep track of them all, because they are usually referred to by both their first and last name in the narrative. There is also a helpful Cast of Characters list at the beginning of the book.

It was really interesting to analyze all these different characters and their personalities. They are all young people, full of passion and energy, thrown together in this hostel where they share meals and a common room. Tempers flare. Attractions spring up. Everything they do ends up being dramatic, even if they are just drinking a cup of coffee. And Poirot observes it all, making his own conclusions.