MYSTERIES in PARADISE

Review: DEATH COMES AS THE END, Agatha Christie

2012-02-09T13:15:00.000+10:30

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 414 KB
Publisher: HarperCollins; Masterpiece ed edition (October 14, 2010)
first published 1944
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B0046H95SQ
Source: I bought

Plot synopsis (from the Kindle edition)

A serial killer mystery laid in ancient Egypt 4000 years ago. Into the household of Imhotep, the Mortuary Priest, comes the beautiful Nofret.
The household, outwardly at peace, has at its core, in the words of the thoughtful scribe Hori, a rottenness that breeds from within.
With Nofret comes anger, jealousy, quarrels and finally death. Human passions were the same in 2000 BC as they are today. The fussy and pompous Imhotep, the timid Yahmose, the quarrelsome Sobek, and the malicious ‘poor relation’ Henet – all are types to be met with now in 2000 AD. Agatha Christie’s experiment is as ingenious and baffling as always, and ends with a climax which few will anticipate.

My take

I think I have rarely enjoyed a Christie title more than this one. But I don't remember ever reading it before and that may be the clue to why it felt so fresh.

I don't remember whether Christie ever gave a historical setting like this to any other novel.
She tells us in an "author's note" at the beginning where the plot and setting came from.

The action of this book takes place on the West bank of the Nile at Thebes in Egypt about 2000 BC. Both place and time are incidental to the story.

Any other place at any other time would have served as well: but it so happened that the inspiration of both characters and plot was derived from two or three Egyptian letters of the XI Dynasty, found about 20 years ago by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in a rock tomb opposite Luxor, and translated by Professor (then Mr) Battiscombe Gunn in the Museum’s Bulletin.When Imhotep returns to his family in Thebes with his new concubine Nofret he unleashes forces for evil within the family that have lain dormant for years.
As the scribe Hori says to Renisenb, recently returned to the family home after the death of her husband, and having been away for 8 years:

You do not understand, Renisenb. There is an evil that comes from outside, that attacks so that all the world can see, but there is another kind of rottenness that breeds from within–that shows no outward sign. It grows slowly, day by day, till at last the whole fruit is rotten–eaten away by disease.When Imhotep leaves again for three months, leaving Norfret behind, the forces are unleashed and the murders begin. One after another, family members whom the reader suspects of the first murder are themselves attacked or killed, until there are so few left to suspect. And then Christie plays her trump card.

I saw a fellow blogger comment the other day about how this was the best Agatha Christie title she had ever read, and I can understand why. The plot and whodunnit aspects are engrossing.

My rating: 4.7

Review: Some Agatha Christie short stories

2012-01-26T10:00:00.105+10:30

I recently discovered that Amazon had 14 Agatha Christie short stories available free here, so I "bought" them, but when I checked yesterday they had gone up to $6.14 each which is pretty pricey for 40 pages!

Then of course, when I checked them against the 131 stories I have listed at Agatha Christie Short Stories I discovered there were only 4 that I hadn't read, and even 1 of them was a re-written version of an earlier published story.
The four all feature Hercule Poirot, and in a sense each focusses on a murder committed in the name of love. In two at least there is a siren, a femme fatale.

Here they are:

The Dream
First published in October 1937.

Hercule Poirot is summoned to Northway House, residence of eccentric Benedict Farley who tells HP that he is worried by a recurrent dream in which he kills himself at a particular time in the afternoon. Poirot is disappointed - he thinks he is going to meet a great man but his impression is of a mountebank. A few weeks later Poirot is contacted by the police. It appears that Farley has indeed killed himself, at the the time his dream predicted, but on closer investigation, Poirot finds out he is the only one who knows about the dream.

The Mystery of the Spanish Chest
Originally published as the Mystery of the Baghdad Chest in 1932, and then expanded and republished as The Mystery of the Spanish Chest also in 1932.

What I really liked about this one was not the plot (in which the body of a superfluous husband is discovered in a wooden chest the morning after a supper party) but the description of Miss Lemon, Poirot's assistant.

But Miss Lemon he had never considered as a woman. She was a human machine - an instrument of precision. Her efficiency was terrific. She was forty-eighty years of age, and was fortunate enough to have no imagination whatever.

Poirot points out that it is Miss Lemon's job to deal with files, telephone calls, and letters while he deals not only with documents but human beings.

Triangle at Rhodes
Published in USA 1936, and then in UK later in 1936 as Poirot and the Triangle at Rhodes.

Hercule Poirot is holidaying on the island of Rhodes and is watching a woman, recently married for the fifth time to a rather taciturn naval type, work her charms on another's husband. When murder happens Poirot reveals he has had his eye on another eternal triangle all together.

Four-And-Twenty Blackbirds
First published in the USA in 1940 as Four and Twenty Blackbirds and then in the UK in 1941 as Poirot and the Regular Customer.

Although this was the shortest of all the stories, it also felt to me the most muddled, as if it really needed more text.
Hercule Poirot is dining with an old friend Henry Bonnington who trumpets that he prefers plain English food, "not a lot of made up messes". The conversation gets around to cases of accidental death in men over the age of sixty. Bonnington says he thinks Poirot is beginning to see crime where there is none, he is looking for it rather than waiting for crime to come to him.

The waitress is of the opinion that men nearly always choose the same item from a menu, whereas the ladies like variety. But then she points out the case of a customer nicknamed Old Father Time who always comes in on Tuesdays and Thursday nights and has the same food. But last week he came in on Monday and chose entirely different items from the menu.

Three weeks later Poirot and Bonnington meet by accident on the Underground (I found that rather strange, the idea of HP travelling by Tube) and Bonnington reports that Old Father Time has not been putting in an appearance at all. Of course it turns out that the old man has died and that's when the plot of this story very nearly unravels itself. I think Christie must have been struggling for a title, wanted to make the nursery rhyme connection work, but in my opinion Poirot and the Regular Customer was probably much better.

These four stories are all quite entertaining, and certainly quick, reads.
I haven't discovered yet whether they were published in collections or not.
I am maintaining a list of the stories I've read on Agatha Christie Short Stories
These four bring my count to 135.

Agatha Christie Blog Carnival January 2012

2012-01-24T11:03:00.000+10:30

The first Agatha Christie Blog Carnival for 2012 is now posted.
There are 10 contributions from 8 participants.

The Blog Carnival now has over 60 people signed up, some who have pledged themselves to reading titles in order of publication (as I do) and others reading books as they come to hand.

I recently discovered that Amazon had 14 Agatha Christie short stories available free here, so I "bought" them, but when I checked today they had gone up to $6.14 each which is pretty pricey for 40 pages!

Review: TOWARDS ZERO, Agatha Christie

2012-01-13T12:22:00.001+10:30

This edition part of the Hamlyn Agatha Christie Crime Collection
dedicated to Robert Graves
144 pages
first published in 1944
aka COME AND BE HANGED
Superintendent Battle

Synopsis (from Christie.com)

What is the connection between a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a tennis player? To the casual observer, apparently nothing. When a houseparty gathers at Gull's Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow, earlier events come to a dramatic head.
Robert Graves, author of I Claudius, was a neighbour of Agatha Christie’s in Devon during the Second World War and the two became friends. Christie dedicated this book to Graves.

My take

The last time Superintendent Battle made an appearance was in 1939 in MURDER IS EASY (aka EASY TO KILL).

TOWARDS ZERO opens with a Prologue which introduces the concept of characters converging towards Zero Hour.

The book is broken up into sections, a feature that the reader barely notices.
'OPEN THE DOOR AND HERE ARE THE PEOPLE' introduces the cast of characters: Angus MacWhirter in hospital after attempting to throw himself off a cliff and failing; an unknown person plotting a murder; Superintendent Battle called to his daughter's school because she has admitted to pilfering, Nevile Strange, his wife Kay and his ex-wife Audrey; Lady Tressilian and Mary Aldin at Gull's Point which all the Stranges will visit for two weeks in September; Thomas Royde returning home to Gull's Point from Malaya; Mr Treves (whom we met in the Prologue) looking for somewhere to spend his holidays; and Ted Latimer, a friend of the Kay Strange.

The novel progresses, bringing the characters together at Salt Creek, closer and closer to Zero Hour.
And then two murders take place and Superintendent Battle staying with his nephew Jim Leach is pulled into the investigation.

Superintendent Battle comes over as a pretty stodgy sort of policeman who does things by the book. In fact I think Agatha Christie fans may well have been disappointed that the author didn't choose one of her other sleuths for the role. (The Agatha Christie site reveals that it was adapted for TV in 2007 with Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple.)
Battle's plodding methods and determination to get irrefutable evidence win the day and eventually the right person is apprehended.

For much of the book TOWARDS ZERO feels rather like a romance, with eternal triangles, jealousies, and thwarted desires. And then it gathers pace, with only twenty or so pages to go, and we hear a point made before, by Treves and then by Battle, who makes a statement worthy of Poirot himself:

When you read the account of a murder - or say, a fiction story based on murder, you usually begin with the murder itself. That's all wrong. The murder begins a long time beforehand. A murder is the culmination of a lot of different circumstances, all converging into it from different parts of the globe and unforeseen reasons..... The murder itself is the end of the story. It's Zero Hour.

And then Battle goes on to nail the murderer and prevent another murder. The plot of the book is quite a clever one, but there were a couple of things that hung: Angus MacWhirter's role for instance: it almost felt as if Christie wanted to include another element of romance. Mr Treves' story of a child who kills another with an bow and arrow is never fully explained which was frustrating. The murder that takes place at Gull's Point has a clumsy explanation depending on the difference in left and right hand swings and I had great difficulty in imagining the murder weapon.

This is the last novel in which Superintendent Battle makes an appearance. With Inspector Japp as a foil in many of the Poirot titles Superintendent Battle outlived his usefulness.

He appeared in

The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
The Seven Dials Mystery (1929 - including some of the same characters, notably Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent)
Cards on the Table (1936, with Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver and Colonel Race)
Murder is Easy (1939)
Towards Zero (1944)

My rating: 4.2

Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival, December 2011

2011-12-20T21:40:00.000+10:30

The final ACRC blog carnival for 2011 is now published.
Check here.

There are 10 bloggers and 23 items in the carnival this time ranging from Christmas items to posts by people just beginning their journey.

You can now join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge for 2012 too, so just click on the link and sign up. Read at your own pace, write a review on your blog, go to the Carnival collecting space and put in the URL, your details, and a comment about the post.

ACRC Update - final for 2011

2011-12-18T13:08:00.001+10:30

If you look at this blog page, you will note that I have created some additional pages to enable me to more easily maintain my updates.
You will see these pages:

As I read another book, I will update these pages.

I have managed to stay on target this year, reading 12 novels and one short story collection during the year, so that currently my count is 34 novels and 12 collections of short stories. My calculation is that there are 87 titles altogether so at 53% I am now a little over half way on my journey.

The short story collection page also lists the stories I've read in the order of publication: so far 131 of them. I have no real idea of how many there actually are. Many of the stories appear in more than one collection, which complicates the stats a bit.

Review: THE UNDER DOG, Agatha Christie

2011-12-18T12:16:00.001+10:30

this edition published by Dell April 1971
192 pages
source: kindly sent to me by Bev @ My Reader's Block.

Synopsis from the Christie website:

The Under Dog and Other Stories contains works from the early days of Christie's career, all featuring Hercule Poirot.
All the stories were published in British and American magazines between 1923 and 1926.
The title story appeared in book form in England for the first time in the 1960 collection, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.
The other stories were to appear again in 1974 in the British and American collections, Poirot's Early Cases.

Not published in the UK, this short story collection contains:
The Under Dog,
The Plymouth Express,
The Affair at the Victory Ball,
The Market Basing Mystery,
The King of Clubs,
The Submarine Plans,
The Adventure of the Clapham Cook,
The Cornish Mystery,
The LeMesurier Inheritance.

My take

Many of the stories in this collection were "new to me", or perhaps it was that I didn't remember them very well from previous readings.

The Under Dog, first published 1926
This one is almost a novella, being about 70 pages long and occupying about one third of the novel.
There is a discrepancy between the synopsis published on the Christie site which says Poirot is invited to dine with Sir Rueben Astwell who then becomes a murder victim, and the version I have in which Sir Rueben was murdered ten days before, and Poirot is summoned by his grieving widow.
It seems that there may be two versions of this story.
I also have a copy of THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING and the version of the story that appears in that printing does not coincide with the synopsis on the Christie site either.

The remaining 8 stories are all relatively short and include Captain Hastings, and sometimes Inspector Japp. Poirot's interest in the psychology of criminal activities is often flagged.
These 8 stories were first published in the US in the monthly Blue Book Magazine
They were also re-published in Poirot's Early Cases published in 1974.

The Plymouth Express, published 1924
This short story was also included in Poirot's Early Cases, and was later reworked to become THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN. The method of disposal of the body is a little clumsy (stuffed under a seat for another passenger to discover)
There is an interesting suggestion by the editors about 2 pages before the end that "the reader pause in his perusal of the story at this point, make his own solution to the mystery - and then see how close he comes to that of the author".

The Affair at the Victory Ball, published 1923
This story is set immediately after World War One and begins with Hastings reflecting on how Poirot came to England and what brought them together. It also creates an unforgettable image of a young generation that celebrates with lavish parties and cocaine taking, and a society in which the class barriers have already collapsed. In this one the editors also suggest the reader comes up with a solution and then compare it with Poirot's.

The Market Basing Mystery, published 1925
Hasting, Japp, and Poirot are having a weekend off, brought to an abrupt end when a local gentleman appears to have committed suicide. The holiday makers are drawn to the murder site like bees to honey, all thoughts of a weekend off gone.

The King of Clubs, published 1923
Poirot has been contacted by Prince Paul of Maurania to investigate a murder case connected to the dancer he is proposing to marry. Poirot discovers Valerie Saintclair has not been entirely truthful to the prince about her origins.The case very nearly defeats Poirot, except for a "lucky accident", and we see another characteristic of his - he has a soft spot for beautiful young ladies, and also a tendency to trim the truth for his audience.

The Submarine Plans, published 1925
This one reflects English preoccupation with subterfuge, espionage, and state secrets. The plot to deceive an undercover agent almost backfires when the plans to Britain's latest submarine go missing. The story also affirms for us that Poirot is often consulted by heads of governments, and British Prime Ministers in particular are in his debt.

The Adventure of the Clapham Cook, published 1925
I must confess that the plot of this one, with a missing bank clerk who appears to have absconded with a small fortune in negotiable securities, and a cook who disappears on her day off and then sends for her trunk which has already been packed and roped up, becomes so intricate that I am still not sure whether I understood it all. It certainly defeated Hastings. It was a case that Poirot was originally disinclined to dismiss as a domestic incident and he says it became one of his most interesting cases.

The Cornish Mystery, published 1925
Mrs Pengelly has been told by her doctor that she has acute gastritis but she has noticed her husband has recently bought a can of weed-killer, and she suspects him of an affair with his dental assistant. Poirot decides to take on her case and to travel to Cornwall to visit but arrives too late. Poirot blames himself for her death.

The LeMesurier Inheritance., published 1925
The curse says that no LeMesurier first born son shall ever inherit. History shows that the curse has run to form for centuries, but can the curse continue in the twentieth century or has it run out? The current LeMesurier Hugo was the youngest of five sons, and he himself has two sons. Mrs Lemesurier consults Poirot when her eldest son seems to be prone to life threatening accidents. Poirot of course does not believe in the efficacy of curses.

I have a soft spot for Agatha Christie's short stories. These, in particular, flesh out the character of Hercule Poirot, highlighting characteristics that will be later focussed on in longer novels: his care of his appearance, his interest in the "psychological", his weakness for beautiful young women (although most of them don't respond in any emotional sense), his liking for the final denouement in which he assembles the characters and gives his verdict, Christie's little word pictures of a social structure that was really dealt a death blow by the the Great War, and much more,

Many thanks to Bev for sending this to me.
My rating: 4.4

Christie at Christmas

2011-12-12T08:35:00.001+10:30

I have chosen 4 Christie stories to highlight at this time of the year.
In general Christmas is not a time when Christie's sleuths were active and we must assume that they, like the general population of readers, celebrated Christmas without a lot of interruption by murder or theft.

As Christmas approaches we look forward to a season of happiness and festivity but the season is dampened when a death occurs.

THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY was actually first published (1931) in the US under the title of THE MURDER AT HAZELMOOR.

Christmas is approaching. Snow has fallen in England over the last four days and the landscape on the fringe of Dartmoor at Sittaford House is several feet deep in snow. To all intents and purposes the tiny village of Sittaford is almost completely cut off.
The winter tenants of Sittaford House, Mrs Willett and her daughter Violet, are entertaining the residents of the nearby estate cottages to afternoon tea. To pass the time the group tries a spot of table turning. When the table spells out the message "Captain Trevelyan ... dead... murder", one of the party, Trevelyan's lifelong friend Major Burnaby decides to make the six mile trek into the village on foot, just to check his friend's welfare.

All of the people who were in Sittaford House that afternoon have something to hide, and so the story is rather liberally sprinkled with red herrings, and with sub-plots, including a breakout from a nearby prison on Dartmoor which reminded me a bit of the plot from Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS. There is a basic assumption that the murderer had either to be from Sittaford House itself or from one of the cottages. Christie plays a little with the reader through the dual investigations, and it means that we don't actually have all of the facts at our disposal.

In HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS (1938) Simeon Lee gathers his family around him for Christmas, including his black sheep of a son Harry, whom everyone had assumed (or hoped) was either dead or in gaol somewhere. His granddaughter Pilar, whose mother had died the previous year, turns up as does the son of his old mining partner in South Africa.

On Christmas Eve Simeon Lee signs his death warrant by telling his collected family that he is about to change his will.

Your mother had the brains of a louse! And it seems to me that she transmitted those brains to her children!". He raised himself up suddenly.

A red spot appeared on each cheek. His voice came high and shrill. "You're not worth a penny piece, any of you! I'm sick of you all! You are not men! You're weaklings - a set of nanmby-pamby weaklings. Pilar's worth any two of you put together! I'll swear to heaven I've got a better son somewhere in the world than any of you, even if you are born on the right side of the blanket.

This is a locked room mystery. There are plenty of suspects. Simeon Lord is found with his throat cut on the other side of a door with the key on the inside.

The third story is a Miss Marple from THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS, a collection of short stories published in January 1930. The story is called A Christmas Tragedy.

While visiting Keston Spa Hydro, Miss Marple meets Mr and Mrs Sanders. Certain that Mr Sanders plans to kill his wife, Miss Marple does everything she can to protect the innocent woman. Despite Miss Marple’s best efforts poor Mrs Sanders is killed but her husband has an alibi – could the amateur sleuth have made a mistake? Could Miss Marple have prevented the murder?

The short story collection WHILE THE LIGHT LASTS contains a story, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, about a stolen ruby. This was published in a number of short story collections and was also titled A Christmas Adventure.

When a priceless ruby, belonging to a Far Eastern prince, is stolen from him whilst he is on a visit to England, Poirot is asked to make a quiet investigation. The ruby was destined for the prince’s bride-to-be and a scandal must be avoided.

Do you have a favourite Christie that you read at Christmas?

Have I missed any Christie stories related to Christmas?

November 2011 Agatha Christie Blog Carnival posted

2011-11-24T16:30:00.000+10:30

The ACRC for November 2011 is now available here.

We have 16 contributors, some of them new, and 27 items with great variety.

Take a look at great Vintage Christie covers, learn about John Curran's new book, catch up on some Christie biographies, get a list of Christie sleuths, and much more.

And in addition, some great book reviews.

Join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge

ACRC Update - 21 November 2011

2011-11-21T08:00:00.010+10:30

My intent in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is to read her books in order, so that I can get some idea of what she is doing, problems she is attempting to solve, and her development as a writer. If you look at some of my reviews you will see that I have been able to undertake some of this reflection.

Currently I am managing about a book a month. I've estimated there are 87 titles altogether to be read, so I am just over half-way on my journey.

I've read 34 novels and 11 collections of short stories.

Read & reviewed so far

1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
1924, Poirot Investigates (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
1927, THE BIG FOUR
1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
1929, Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE
1932 The Thirteen Problems (thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple, also known as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US)
1933, LORD EDGEWARE DIES (aka THIRTEEN AT DINNER)
1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (aka MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH)
1934, WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
1991, Problem at Pollensa Bay publ. 1991 (Two of them feature Hercule Poirot, two Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin, and two Mr Parker Pyne.)
1935, THREE ACT TRAGEDY (aka MURDER IN THREE ACTS)- Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite.
1933, The Hound of Death - 12 short stories, UK only
1934, Parker Pyne Investigates - 12 stories introducing Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver
1934, The Listerdale Mystery - 12 short stories, UK only
1935, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (aka DEATH IN THE AIR) - Hercule Poirot
1936, THE A.B.C. MURDERS (aka THE ALPHABET MURDERS) - Hercule Poirot
1947, The Labours of Hercules - Hercule Poirot - 12 short stories
1966, THE THIRD GIRL - Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver
1997, Miss Marple: complete short stories - Miss Marple - 20 short stories
1997, While the Light Lasts - 9 short stories - incl. 2 Hercule Poirot
1936, MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA - Hercule Poirot
1936, CARDS ON THE TABLE - Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, Ariadne Oliver
1938, HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS (aka MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, aka A HOLIDAY FOR MURDER) - Hercule Poirot
1937, DUMB WITNESS (aka POIROT LOSES A CLIENT)
1937, DEATH ON THE NILE - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race
1938, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Carbury
1939, MURDER IS EASY (aka EASY TO KILL) - Superintendent Battle
1939, TEN LITTLE NIGGERS (aka AND THEN THERE WERE NONE; also TEN LITTLE INDIANS)
1940, SAD CYPRESS - Hercule Poirot
1940, ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE (aka AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH; also THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS) - Hercule Poirot
1941, EVIL UNDER THE SUN - Hercule Poirot
1941, N or M? - Tommy & Tuppence
1942, THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY - Miss Marple
1942, FIVE LITTLE PIGS (aka MURDER IN RETROSPECT) - Hercule Poirot
1942, THE MOVING FINGER (aka THE CASE OF THE MOVING FINGER) - Miss Marple

Reading schedule
1944, TOWARDS ZERO (aka COME AND BE HANGED)
1944, DEATH COMES AS THE END
1945, SPARKING CYANIDE (aka REMEMBERED DEATH)
1946, THE HOLLOW (aka MURDER AFTER HOURS)
1948, TAKEN AT THE FLOOD (aka THERE IS A TIDE...)
1949, CROOKED HOUSE

Check the opening blog post of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge here.
If you'd like to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge click here.

I am using the list at Wikipedia of novels and collections of short stories. I will interlace the short story collections into the list where I can, but may have to read them out of order. I have decided on a method for reporting on the short stories. Here is my latest short story update.

Please feel free to join in my challenge, comment on my reviews etc.

I have set up a block over in the right hand column called Agatha Christie Reading Challenge (with the same logo as this post) where I am listing the books I'm currently reading and those I've finished.
The challenge is called ACRC so each review will be preceded by those letters.

If you want to follow my progress through your RSS reader, then the RSS URL is
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Contribute your blog postings about any Agatha Christie novels to the monthly carnival. Make an agreement with yourself that whenever you complete reading an Aggie you will write a blog posting about it and then submit the posting to the carnival.
If you are participating in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge then write updates like this one and submit them to the Carnival. Let us know what progress you are making.

Review: THE MOVING FINGER, Agatha Christie

2011-11-12T10:18:00.002+10:30

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 327 KB
Print Length: 320 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0062073621
Publisher: Harper; Masterpiece ed edition (October 14, 2010)
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B0046H95SG
Source: I bought it
(aka THE CASE OF THE MOVING FINGER)

Publisher's Blurb (from Christie.com)

Lymstock is much like any other English village. Those that live there enjoy the peace of rural life until a series of poison pen letters destroy the safety they took for granted. When one villager commits suicide and another is murdered, the village is plunged into suspicion and terror. Once a village of trust, now all inhabitants are full of accusations. Who could be writing the letters and why? Perhaps Miss Marple might be of help...

Christie considered The Moving Finger to be one of her best novels. ‘It is a great test,’ she added, ‘to re-read what one has written some seventeen or eighteen years later. One’s view changes. Some do not stand the test of time, others do.’

We see events unfold from the view of Jerry Burton who is recuperating whilst recovering from an accident. Christie has been praised by critics for her believable male narrators and arguably Jerry is one of the best.

My take

THE MOVING FINGER was written in 1942 and considered by Agatha Christie to be in her top 10 novels.

The narrator is Jerry Burton, and while for some of the narration we feel as if the events are occurring simultaneously with the narration, much of the style is retrospective.
This allows Christie to create "hanging endings" to chapters or parts of chapters. This is really the first time I have noticed her attempts at this style.
Here is the end of Chapter 3.

'We have come down here,' I said sternly, 'for peace and quiet, and I mean to see we get it.'

But peace and quiet were the last things we were to have.

and a little later on, another example.

She paused lost in thought, her eyes screwed up. Then she said slowly, as one who solves a problem, 'Blind hatred... yes, blind hatred. But even a blind man may stab to the heart by pure chance... And what would happen then, Mr Burton?'

We were to know that before another day had passed.

The other thing that is interesting about THE MOVING FINGER is that Miss Marple almost plays only a cameo role. The main sleuths are Jerry and his sister Joanna. Miss Marple is invited to stay by the vicar's wife quite late in the novel (at 75% according to Kindle's numbering). Up until that point Jerry had been counting the vicar's wife among his suspects, because she is rather odd, and he isn't even really sure about Miss Marple when she arrives. She seems to him to take an inordinate, almost unseemly, interest in the murder.

The Dane Calthrops had a guest staying with them, an amiable elderly lady who was knitting something with white fleecy wool. We had very good hot scones for tea, the vicar came in, and beamed placidly on us whilst he pursued his gentle erudite conversation. It was very pleasant.

I don’t mean that we got away from the topic of the murder, because we didn’t. Miss Marple, the guest, was naturally thrilled by the subject. As she said apologetically: ‘We have so little to talk about in the country!’

She had made up her mind that the dead girl must have been just like her Edith.

In the long run it is of course Miss Marple who solves the crime, but she is gracious in saying that it was Jerry who made the various observations that led her to the right conclusions.

The climax of the novel is a very interesting one as it uses a honey trap but those who set it up, Miss Marple and the police, don't tell Jerry what they are doing, and he independently becomes convinced that the woman he wants to marry is in great danger.

A very satisfying read. My rating: 4.4

Agatha Christie Blog Carnival October 24

2011-10-25T07:20:00.001+10:30

This month's Agatha Christie Carnival is a bumper one with 31 items from 16 contributors, covering a big range of titles and topics.

Check it out here.

Can I point you also to Margot Kinberg's "In the Spotlight" for today -
Agatha Christie's HALLOWEEN PARTY

ACRC Update - 21 October 2011

2011-10-21T10:00:00.023+10:30

My intent in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is to read her books in order, so that I can get some idea of what she is doing, problems she is attempting to solve, and her development as a writer. If you look at some of my reviews you will see that I have been able to undertake some of this reflection.

Currently I am managing about a book a month.

I've read 33 novels and 11 collections of short stories.

Read & reviewed so far

1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
1924, Poirot Investigates (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
1927, THE BIG FOUR
1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
1929, Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE
1932 The Thirteen Problems (thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple, also known as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US)
1933, LORD EDGEWARE DIES (aka THIRTEEN AT DINNER)
1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (aka MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH)
1934, WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
1991, Problem at Pollensa Bay publ. 1991 (Two of them feature Hercule Poirot, two Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin, and two Mr Parker Pyne.)
1935, THREE ACT TRAGEDY (aka MURDER IN THREE ACTS)- Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite.
1933, The Hound of Death - 12 short stories, UK only
1934, Parker Pyne Investigates - 12 stories introducing Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver
1934, The Listerdale Mystery - 12 short stories, UK only
1935, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (aka DEATH IN THE AIR) - Hercule Poirot
1936, THE A.B.C. MURDERS (aka THE ALPHABET MURDERS) - Hercule Poirot
1947, The Labours of Hercules - Hercule Poirot - 12 short stories
1966, THE THIRD GIRL - Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver
1997, Miss Marple: complete short stories - Miss Marple - 20 short stories
1997, While the Light Lasts - 9 short stories - incl. 2 Hercule Poirot
1936, MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA - Hercule Poirot
1936, CARDS ON THE TABLE - Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, Ariadne Oliver
1938, HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS (aka MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, aka A HOLIDAY FOR MURDER) - Hercule Poirot
1937, DUMB WITNESS (aka POIROT LOSES A CLIENT)
1937, DEATH ON THE NILE - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race
1938, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Carbury
1939, MURDER IS EASY (aka EASY TO KILL) - Superintendent Battle
1939, TEN LITTLE NIGGERS (aka AND THEN THERE WERE NONE; also TEN LITTLE INDIANS)
1940, SAD CYPRESS - Hercule Poirot
1940, ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE (aka AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH; also THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS) - Hercule Poirot
1941, EVIL UNDER THE SUN - Hercule Poirot
1941, N or M? - Tommy & Tuppence
1942, THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY - Miss Marple
1942, FIVE LITTLE PIGS (aka MURDER IN RETROSPECT) - Hercule Poirot

Reading schedule
1942, THE MOVING FINGER (aka THE CASE OF THE MOVING FINGER)
1944, TOWARDS ZERO (aka COME AND BE HANGED)
1944, DEATH COMES AS THE END
1945, SPARKING CYANIDE (aka REMEMBERED DEATH)
1946, THE HOLLOW (aka MURDER AFTER HOURS)
1948, TAKEN AT THE FLOOD (aka THERE IS A TIDE...)
1949, CROOKED HOUSE

Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass: Pera Palace Hotel, Instanbul

2011-10-18T07:00:00.003+10:30

I am ending my trip for Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass in room 411 at the Pera Palace Hotel where Agatha Christie is thought to have written Murder on the Orient Express. I invite you to join me at the hotel by clicking on the picture or the link above.

She in fact stayed at the Pera Palace many times between 1926 and 1932, and is supposed to have lost a diary there.

Not far from the recently renovated and re-opened Pera Palace Hotel is the Istanbul Railway station, the departure point for the Orient Express that Hercule Poirot had to catch so urgently.

I wrote about it last year, as follows, after my trip to Turkey.

I didn't get a chance to venture inside - always seemed to be on a bus when we were passing it, which we did several times.

This is the Sirkeci Terminal on the European side of Istanbul (Constantinople) which was opened in 1890 as the terminus of the Orient Express. It was designed by a Prussian architect and our guides pointed it out as a good example of Germanic architectural influence.

You might remember that in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS by Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot has just arrived from Bagdad at the Istanbul terminal on the Anatolian side and meets his good friend the Wagon Lits controller. Poirot needs to get a berth on the Orient express but the train is full.

They cross to the other side of the Bosphorus (fortunately a short boat ride in view of HP's tendency to mal de mer) and go to the specially built Wagon Lits hotel, the Hotel Pera Palace, opened in 1892, to wait until it is closer to boarding time. Today the hotel has recently been refurbished. The tourist guides all take pride in mentioning Agatha Christie as one of its famous guests.

As you know the Orient Express recently became financially unviable and all that is left is a super expensive annual tourist train - the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
See Holiday on the Orient express

Review: FIVE LITTLE PIGS, Agatha Christie

2011-10-07T10:35:00.002+10:30

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 333 KB
Print Length: 240 pages
Publisher: Harper (October 14, 2010)
Originally published in 1942
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B0046RE5BS
Source: I bought it

aka MURDER IN RETROSPECT

Publisher's blurb (Christie.com):

Amyas Crale's passion for painting and women made him famous. His murder made him infamous. Sixteen years earlier his jealous wife was tried, convicted and sentenced to life for a notorious slaying. Now their daughter Carla, a young woman convinced her mother is innocent, has presented Hercule Poirot with a brilliant challenge: to clear her mother's name by returning to the scene of the murder and finding the fatal flaw in the perfect crime.

This was the first of five novels that Christie wrote concerning a murder in retrospect. The novel is dedicated to Professor Glanville, who persuaded the author to write Death Comes as the End. Christie adapted the novel for the stage in a play entitled Go Back for Murder. Hercule Poirot was eliminated as a character in the play. David Suchet starred in the ITV television adaptation in 2003.

My take

Many of the crime fiction novels we read these days deal with cold cases, but in the 1940s this type of scenario would have been unusual. Not only is the murder victim long dead, but the convicted murderer is dead too. However Poirot has no doubt that he can use his little grey cells to get to the truth.

Hercule Poirot always has a soft spot for a young lady in distress or peril. In his previous appearance in EVIL UNDER THE SUN he had great admiration for the female murderer. In FIVE LITTLE PIGS he has great sympathy with Carla Crale's belief in her mother's innocence.

It is Poirot himself who names this case:

A jingle ran through Poirot’s head. He repressed it. He must not always be thinking of nursery rhymes. It seemed an obsession with him lately. And yet the jingle persisted. ‘This little pig went to market, this little pig stayed at home…’

The structure of FIVE LITTLE PIGS is deceptively simple. In Book I there are ten chapters. In the first five Poirot interviews the officials involved in the court cases to see what they remember and what their impression was of Caroline Crale's guilt. In the next five chapters he interviews the five people who were present when the murder happened.

In Book II each of the latter five gives Poirot a written narrative of events and their own opinion of whether Caroline Crale was guilty of murder.

Book III also has five chapters. Poirot brings the five people together with Carla Crale and her fiance. He asks a question each of those who gave him a narrative and then reconstructs what happened as he sees it, pointing out that one of those present has lied, and some of the others are mistaken in their interpretation of what they saw and heard at the time.

For readers it is a most satisfying book because you have the same opportunities as Hercule Poirot to reinterpret the evidence and to look for the flaws in the narratives. I must admit to at first following the red herring that Christie so temptingly laid across my path. I always had an alternative reconstruction lurking in the back of my mind though, and that proved to be the correct one.

This was the last novel of an especially prolific phase of Christie's work on Poirot. She published thirteen Poirot novels between 1935 and 1942 out of a total of eighteen novels in that period. By contrast, she published only two Poirot novels in the next eight years, indicating the possibility that she was experiencing some frustration with her most popular character. (see more at Wikipedia about the novel)

My rating: 4.6

Review: THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY, Agatha Christie

2011-10-02T18:00:00.073+10:30

This edition published by Fontana Books 1970
originally published 1942
191 pages
source: my own collection

Synopsis (Christie.com)

“Those quiet ones are often the worst. Jane Marple says so.” Miss Wetherby.

Dolly Bantry wakes in her beautiful home in the quiet village of St Mary Mead; everything is perfect until the shocking discovery of a body in the library. Who is the murdered young girl and who could possibly have killed her? Suspicion falls on Dolly’s husband, a man with a reputation as a flirt, who swears he never met the young woman – but why was she found in his library?

Dolly calls on her friend, Miss Marple to help them in their time of need. Can she find the killer or is village gossip about Colonel Bantry true? Nothing seems certain, then another body is discovered…

My Take

THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY saw Miss Marple's third appearance (she had already appeared in THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE (1930) and THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS (1932) which was actually a collection of connected short stories).

Various characters apart from Dolly and Arthur Bantry also appear in other Marple titles including Sir Henry Clithering and Jane Marple already has a reputation of a puzzle solver. Her method is to compare situations to those that she has already encountered in village life and she is full of anecdotes. All those who first meet her see is that she is an old lady who merges into her background. Others like the Chief Constable know better. Dolly Bantry on the other hand is disappointed when Miss Marple can't solve the murder when she first sees the body in the library.

A couple of things struck me. First of all Christie is not very complImentary about the police force, from the way Police-Constable Palk answers the phone with his "Hallo, 'hallo, 'hallo", to the name of Inspector Slack.

THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY is full of people who aren't quite who or what they seem. Appearances are deceptive. People who don't look nice quite often are, and vice versa. This provides quite a bit of misdirection and a number of red herrings.

The other thing that struck me is that we the readers know what the police know and we know most of what Miss Marple knows. But she doesn't know all that the police know. She has only partial knowledge. But we rarely "see" what she is thinking. That makes it all the more puzzling when she eventually nods her head and tells Dolly that she knows who the murderer is.

A very satisfying read, part of my participation in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, my 10th Agatha Christie title for this year..

My rating: 4.4

You might also be interested in this post: did agatha christie change her mind about miss marple?

Here is Joan Hickson in THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY from YouTube

ACRC Update - 21 September 2011

2011-09-21T12:43:00.000+09:30

My intent in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is to read her books in order, so that I can get some idea of what she is doing, problems she is attempting to solve, and her development as a writer. If you look at some of my reviews you will see that I have been able to undertake some of this reflection.

Currently I am managing about a book a month.
.
I've read 31 books and 11 collections of short stories.

Read & reviewed so far

1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
1924, Poirot Investigates (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
1927, THE BIG FOUR
1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
1929, Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE
1932 The Thirteen Problems (thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple, also known as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US)
1933, LORD EDGEWARE DIES (aka THIRTEEN AT DINNER)
1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (aka MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH)
1934, WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
1991, Problem at Pollensa Bay publ. 1991 (Two of them feature Hercule Poirot, two Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin, and two Mr Parker Pyne.)
1935, THREE ACT TRAGEDY (aka MURDER IN THREE ACTS)- Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite.
1933, The Hound of Death - 12 short stories, UK only
1934, Parker Pyne Investigates - 12 stories introducing Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver
1934, The Listerdale Mystery - 12 short stories, UK only
1935, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (aka DEATH IN THE AIR) - Hercule Poirot
1936, THE A.B.C. MURDERS (aka THE ALPHABET MURDERS) - Hercule Poirot
1947, The Labours of Hercules - Hercule Poirot - 12 short stories
1966, THE THIRD GIRL - Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver
1997, Miss Marple: complete short stories - Miss Marple - 20 short stories
1997, While the Light Lasts - 9 short stories - incl. 2 Hercule Poirot
1936, MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA - Hercule Poirot
1936, CARDS ON THE TABLE - Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, Ariadne Oliver
1938, HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS (aka MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, aka A HOLIDAY FOR MURDER) - Hercule Poirot
1937, DUMB WITNESS (aka POIROT LOSES A CLIENT)
1937, DEATH ON THE NILE - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race
1938, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Carbury
1939, MURDER IS EASY (aka EASY TO KILL) - Superintendent Battle
1939, TEN LITTLE NIGGERS (aka AND THEN THERE WERE NONE; also TEN LITTLE INDIANS)
1940, SAD CYPRESS
1940, ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE (aka AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH; also THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS)
1941, EVIL UNDER THE SUN
1941, N or M?

Reading schedule
1942, THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY
1942, FIVE LITTLE PIGS (aka MURDER IN RETROSPECT)
1942, THE MOVING FINGER (aka THE CASE OF THE MOVING FINGER)
1944, TOWARDS ZERO (aka COME AND BE HANGED)
1944, DEATH COMES AS THE END
1945, SPARKING CYANIDE (aka REMEMBERED DEATH)
1946, THE HOLLOW (aka MURDER AFTER HOURS)
1948, TAKEN AT THE FLOOD (aka THERE IS A TIDE...)
1949, CROOKED HOUSE

Review: N or M? Agatha Christie

2011-09-21T11:15:00.106+09:30

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 372 KB
Print Length: 304 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0451201132
Publisher: HarperCollins; Masterpiece ed edition (October 14, 2010)
Originally published in 1941
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B0046A9MQ8
Source: I bought it

Synopsis (from the Christie site)

This atmospheric story, set during World War Two, finds Tommy and Tuppence doing what they do best – having an adventure. These unlikely Intelligence Service spies decide to help Queen and country by tracking down two ruthless traitors.
The only clue to the traitors’ identities is a government agent's dying words that lead them to the Sans Souci boarding house, where it’ll take some extremely subtle detection work to establish which of the guests are the treacherous N and M.

Published in 1941, the novel is one of two which Christie worked on simultaneously during the Second World War whilst living alone in London.

My take

It is 1940. England is at war. Blitzkrieg is about to begin. Tommy and Tuppence are being told they are too old for active war service. Their twin offspring Derek and Deborah are of course younger and are in the Air Force and nursing respectively.

A Mr Grant turns up at the Beresford flat to offer Tommy a clerical job in the wilds of Scotland. When Tuppence is called out to assist a friend Mr Grant tells Tommy that in fact what he is offering is a spy job hunting down some Fifth Columnist Nazi spies known as N and M. The previous agent on their trail is dead, run down by a lorry. Tuppence is to be kept in ignorance of this venture.

Tuppence of course adroitly outwits these attempts to exclude her and joins Tommy in Leahampton where they both attempt to track down N and M, but at the same time both under assumed names and definitely not married. But neither are as clever as they think.

This is #3 in the Tommy and Tuppence stories (see below).

#1, THE SECRET ADVERSARY, was not published until 1922 but was set mainly in 1919, when World War I was fresh in readers' minds. As I said in my review I thought Christie was probably reflecting contemporary paranoia with Bolshevism and secret agents and conspiracies, and showed a political awareness that we don't often give Christie credit for. THE SECRET ADVERSARY was also Agatha Christie's second published novel and had many signs of an author still coming to terms with her craft.

#2 in the Tommy & Tuppence series, PARTNERS IN CRIME, published in 1929, was set mainly in 1925. Tommy now has a desk job with the British Secret Service, and Tuppence, much to her displeasure is at home, though when the Chief of British Intelligence asks them to take over the International Detective Agency, both jump at the chance of new adventures. The fifteen stories contain parodies of fictional detectives who were well-known to readers of the 1920s. In each story Tommy and Tuppence assume the mannerisms and methods of a different detective or detective team, including Sherlock Holmes. The stories are bound together with an overall theme of a rather vague Russian plot. Again Christie appears to be reflecting popular paranoia.

So World War II is the perfect opportunity for Christie to add to the Tommy & Tuppence series (and you may want to reflect whether they would have made another appearance without the war) but now Christie is a well established and successful novelist with 30 novels to her credit, so she doesn't wait for the war to end, but publishes N or M? while the issues it reflects are still topical.
Once you recognise that, you realise that Christie is reflecting a lot of contemporary thinking. It certainly must have made the average English reader look carefully at those around him. It is a very patriotic novel.

Christie introduces the idea of a "wooden horse", Fifth Columnists, people who are very attracted by Hitler's ideas, a network that has infiltrated English society and infrastructure.

N or M, you see, is a term we have heard before. It refers to two of the most important and trusted German agents. We have come across their activities in other countries and we know just a little about them. It is their mission to organise a Fifth Column in foreign countries and to act as liaison officer between the country in question and Germany. N, we know, is a man. M is a woman. All we know about them is that these two are Hitler’s most highly trusted agents.

‘But there are those for whom we’ve neither respect nor liking–and those are the traitors within our own ranks–the men who are willing to betray their country and accept office and promotion from the foreigner who has conquered it.’

‘We know The Day is fixed. We know, or think we know, roughly, where…(But we may be wrong there.) We’re as ready as we can be. But it’s the old story of the siege of Troy. They knew, as we know, all about the forces without. It’s the forces within we want to know about. The men in the Wooden Horse! For they are the men who can deliver up the keys of the fortress. A dozen men in high places, in command, in vital spots, by issuing conflicting orders, can throw the country into just that state of confusion necessary for the German plan to succeed. We’ve got to have inside information in time.’

Our Leader does not intend to conquer this country in the sense that you all think. He aims at creating a new Britain–a Britain strong in its own power–ruled over, not by Germans, but by Englishmen. And the best type of Englishmen–Englishmen with brains and breeding and courage. A brave new world, as Shakespeare puts it.

There are some interesting little cameos too. I was very taken with little Betty Sprot, not yet 3 years old, but exploring language and relationships in a very engaging way.

I think it is a very powerful novel in which Christie pins her own colours to the mast so to speak. If there is a weak part, it is the final roundup of information, where Christie ensures that no stone is left unturned for the reader.

My rating: 4.4

Tommy & Tuppence stories

Of course I read this as part of my participation in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, in which I am reading the books in order of publication. This is the 31st novel, the 41st title published (including short stories)

Happy Birthday Agatha Christie, September 15

2011-09-15T07:30:00.005+09:30

Today we celebrate Agatha Christie's 121st birthday.

I thought I'd point you to the "official" Christie site and talk a little about why you should visit there.

The "new", more interactive, site was launched earlier this year and really is an excellent place to go to browse titles, look for events, join communities, and even to play online games and crosswords.

The fun begins with the site header. Hover your mouse across the header and you get to choose which TV actor you see for Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.

There are other games on the site too: Book Club and discussions, games such as Quizzes, Crosswords and Word Searches, and an interactive map where you can see the locations mentioned in individual stories.

If you are looking for recommendations of what to read, here is Christie's own list of "favourites":

Here is a list of books in order of publication, and here a recommended reading order.

Many crime fiction addicts like myself can lay the blame for our start in reading murder mysteries squarely at the door of Agatha Christie.

So join me in raising a glass to the Dame on the 121st anniversary of her birth!

If you'd like to see how others are observing the day (and to add your blog post link to the Mr Linky there) visit the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge blog today.

Of course, if you are lucky enough to be there, there is plenty going on this week on the English Riviera.

ACRC Carnival 2011 #7 - August 24, 2011

2011-08-24T08:21:00.000+09:30

The Agatha Christie Blog Carnival for August is now available with 20 great sites to visit, posted by 13 contributors.
There are book reviews, alerts of coming events, and some interesting recent discoveries.

Among the coming events are celebrations for Christie week on the English Riviera and our own celebrations of Agatha Christie's birthday on September 15.

Find out more about the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and the accompanying Blog Carnival here.

Crime Fiction on a EuroPass: Belgium: Hercule Poirot

2011-08-23T08:00:00.008+09:30

How could I pass up the opportunity to talk about that most famous detective, the fastidious Belgian with the egg-shaped head?

According to Wikipedia he appeared in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era

There are a number of sites devoted to Hercule Poirot.

Some time ago I discovered a Chronology of Hercule Poirot.
Here is just the beginning (which I've modified a bit)

1864 Hercule Poirot and his twin brother Achille are born
1864 The Holmes Family on their second continental tour visit the Poirots
Circa 1893 Poirot Joins either the French or Belgian Secret Service
Mid Dec 1987 Sherlock Holmes meets Poirot who is posing as the Chef of a French Diplomat.
1904 Hercule Poirot joins the Belgian Police and immediately becomes involved in the Abercrombie Case with Inspector Japp.
1909 "The Chocolate Box" ( in early version of this adventure Poirot makes reference to a younger sister Yvette, Poirot also refers to this case as taking place in 1893)
1914 Poirot has completed his mission in the Belgian police and is "due to retire" when Germany invades neutral Belgium. Poirot joins the resistance and is at one point saved by a French General.
1916 Poirot leaves Belgium and becomes a refugee in England.

Hercule Poirot makes his first appearance in a novel in 1920 in THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES.
This account of the Styles Case is penned by Captain Hastings, a war hero invalided home from the Front. He is invited down to Styles Court by his friend John Cavendish to spend some of his convalescent leave. In the village Hastings runs across his old friend Hercules Poirot, an elderly Belgian, once one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police, but now a refugee assisted by John Cavendish's mother Mrs Inglethorpe. While Hastings is staying at Styles, Mrs Inglethorpe dies in suspicious circumstances, in a seemingly locked room. Through Hastings Poirot becomes involved in the case, and the "little grey cells" are put to work in England for the very first time.

Wikipedia has a list of novels and short stories in which Hercule Poirot makes an appearance. And of course the official Agatha Christie site does too.
They point out that
Poirot would be the first to call himself a great man - he has never been known for his modesty - but with such success in his career he is quite justified in his opinion! He finishes each case with a dramatic dénouement, satisfying his own ego and confirming to all, that he is truly “the greatest mind in Europe.” His love of elegance, beauty, and precision, as well as his eccentric mannerisms are often ridiculed by the local bumbling policemen, but it is always Poirot who has the last word!

One of the issues that exercises "my little grey cells" from time to time is Poirot's age. In most of the novels and short stories he is described as "old". He is due to retire in 1914 at about the age of 50, so by 1975, when he makes his last appearance, he is as old as Methusaleh. His age allows him to take an interest in young women in particular, because we can't believe the interest is romantic or sexual.

Just recently I read EVIL UNDER THE SUN. It was published in 1941, so according to the chronology HP would be 75.

Several of the holiday makers recognise Hercule Poirot. (who wouldn't?)

resplendent in a white duck suit, with a panama hat tilted over his eyes, his moustaches magnificently befurled, lay back in an improved type of deck-chair and surveyed the bathing beach.

and go as far as to ask if he is there on "business". He replies:

let me assure you, Madame, that I am here simply in the same way that you are here yourselves—to enjoy myself—to spend the holiday. I do not think of crime even.

Some even privately express a belief (a murderer amongst them) that if a crime does occur Poirot is probably "past it".

He’s Hercule Poirot. You must have heard of him.’ Mr Blatt said: ‘Didn’t catch his name properly. Oh yes, I’ve heard of him. But I thought he was dead. Dash it, he ought to be dead. What’s he after down here?’

......

‘He’s pretty old. Probably more or less ga ga.’

You might like to look at this post.
Just how old was Hercule Poirot?
There are some more great images of him in it.

You might also enjoy a vignette I wrote some time back about a train journey from Dover to London where I sat next to Poirot and was lucky enough to be able to interview him.

Check up on what others participating in Crime Fiction on a EuroPass have highlighted this week.

ACRC Update - 20 August 2011

2011-08-20T10:40:00.001+09:30

My intent in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is to read her books in order, so that I can get some idea of what she is doing, problems she is attempting to solve, and her development as a writer. If you look at some of my reviews you will see that I have been able to undertake some of this reflection.

Currently I am managing about a book a month.
.
I've read 30 books and 11 collections of short stories.

Read & reviewed so far

1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
1924, Poirot Investigates (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
1927, THE BIG FOUR
1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
1929, Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE
1932 The Thirteen Problems (thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple, also known as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US)
1933, LORD EDGEWARE DIES (aka THIRTEEN AT DINNER)
1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (aka MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH)
1934, WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
1991, Problem at Pollensa Bay publ. 1991 (Two of them feature Hercule Poirot, two Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin, and two Mr Parker Pyne.)
1935, THREE ACT TRAGEDY (aka MURDER IN THREE ACTS)- Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite.
1933, The Hound of Death - 12 short stories, UK only
1934, Parker Pyne Investigates - 12 stories introducing Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver
1934, The Listerdale Mystery - 12 short stories, UK only
1935, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (aka DEATH IN THE AIR) - Hercule Poirot
1936, THE A.B.C. MURDERS (aka THE ALPHABET MURDERS) - Hercule Poirot
1947, The Labours of Hercules - Hercule Poirot - 12 short stories
1966, THE THIRD GIRL - Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver
1997, Miss Marple: complete short stories - Miss Marple - 20 short stories
1997, While the Light Lasts - 9 short stories - incl. 2 Hercule Poirot
1936, MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA - Hercule Poirot
1936, CARDS ON THE TABLE - Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, Ariadne Oliver
1938, HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS (aka MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, aka A HOLIDAY FOR MURDER) - Hercule Poirot
1937, DUMB WITNESS (aka POIROT LOSES A CLIENT)
1937, DEATH ON THE NILE - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race
1938, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH - Hercule Poirot, Colonel Carbury
1939, MURDER IS EASY (aka EASY TO KILL) - Superintendent Battle
1939, TEN LITTLE NIGGERS (aka AND THEN THERE WERE NONE; also TEN LITTLE INDIANS)
1940, SAD CYPRESS
1940, ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE (aka AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH; also THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS)
1941, EVIL UNDER THE SUN

Reading schedule
1941, N or M?
1942, THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY
1942, FIVE LITTLE PIGS (aka MURDER IN RETROSPECT)
1942, THE MOVING FINGER (aka THE CASE OF THE MOVING FINGER)
1944, TOWARDS ZERO
1944, DEATH COMES AS THE END

Review: EVIL UNDER THE SUN, Agatha Christie

2011-08-03T09:54:00.001+09:30

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 416 KB
Print Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper; Masterpiece ed edition (October 14, 2010) Originally published 1941
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B0046H95QS
Source: I bought it

Publisher's blurb (Amazon)

Agatha Christie’s exotic seaside mystery thriller.
It was not unusual to find the beautiful bronzed body of the sun-loving Arlena Stuart stretched out on a beach, face down. Only, on this occasion, there was no sun… she had been strangled.
Ever since Arlena’s arrival at the resort, Hercule Poirot had detected sexual tension in the seaside air. But could this apparent ‘crime of passion’ have been something more evil and premeditated altogether?

My take

Is EVIL UNDER THE SUN the perfect holiday read? Or will it make you look askance as your fellow holiday makers? Certainly the Jolly Roger Hotel, Smugglers’ Island, Leathercombe Bay sounds attractive and the setting exudes a feeling of summer.

Captain Roger Angmering had only one great love, the sea. So he built his house—a sturdy house too, as it needed to be, on the little windswept gull-haunted promontory—cut off from land at each high tide.

The sturdy house was added to and embellished. A concrete causeway was laid down from the mainland to the island. ‘Walks’ and ‘Nooks’ were cut and devised all round the island. There were two tennis courts, sun-terraces leading down to a little bay embellished with rafts and diving boards. The Jolly Roger Hotel, Smugglers’ Island, Leathercombe Bay, came triumphantly into being. And from June till September (with a short season at Easter) the Jolly Roger Hotel was usually packed to the attics. It was enlarged and improved in 1934 by the addition of a cocktail bar, a bigger dining-room and some extra bathrooms. The prices went up. People said: ‘Ever been to Leathercombe Bay? Awfully jolly hotel there, on a sort of island. Very comfortable and no trippers or charabancs. Good cooking and all that. You ought to go.’ And people did go.

Several of the holiday makers recognise Hercule Poirot. (who wouldn't?)

resplendent in a white duck suit, with a panama hat tilted over his eyes, his moustaches magnificently befurled, lay back in an improved type of deck-chair and surveyed the bathing beach.

and go as far as to ask if he is there on "business". He replies:

let me assure you, Madame, that I am here simply in the same way that you are here yourselves—to enjoy myself—to spend the holiday. I do not think of crime even.

There is some discussion about whether crime could ever happen in such an idyllic spot:

‘No, I don’t believe even Mrs Gardener would have believed in a crime staged here. This isn’t the sort of place you’d get a body!’

Hercule Poirot stirred a little in his chair. He protested. He said: ‘But why not, Mademoiselle? Why should there not be what you call a “body” here on Smugglers’ Island?’

Emily Brewster said: ‘I don’t know. I suppose some places are more unlikely than others. This isn’t the kind of spot—’ She broke off, finding it difficult to explain her meaning.

‘It is romantic, yes,’ agreed Hercule Poirot. ‘It is peaceful. The sun shines. The sea is blue. But you forget, Miss Brewster, there is evil everywhere under the sun.’

Some even privately express a belief (a murderer amongst them) that if a crime does occur Poirot is probably "past it".

......

‘He’s pretty old. Probably more or less ga ga.’

Well, the reader knows from the beginning (because of the publisher's blurb) that a murder will occur. Poirot knows it will too but can't see how he can prevent it. And we readers even know who the victim will be. What we don't know is when, how, and why.

One of Poirot's problems is that, although he is pretty sure who one of the murderers is, he likes her. She has qualities he appreciates in the 'modern' young woman - plenty of resolution, courage and good sense - and so he is reluctant to place her in the picture until he gets irrefutable evidence of an earlier crime and then the penny drops. It is a dilemma that often crops up for Poirot - feminine wiles can get the better of him.

For those who need it in their holiday reading, there is also romance, and a young life saved.

EVIL UNDER THE SUN is an enjoyable read, well constructed, fairly complex plot, but I think quite a way from Christie's best. I was particularly exasperated by the final chapter in which Poirot lays everything out before us. This was one case where perhaps Christie could have left it to the reader to put it all together. (Kindle tells me the chapter is 5% of the total book.) Perhaps Christie could have finished when the murderer lunged to get his hands around Poirot's throat. The explanations of chapter 13 got a bit tedious.

My rating: 4.3

Check another review: Miss Lemon's Mysteries

Plans to celebrate Agatha Christie's birthday

2011-07-27T13:24:00.000+09:30

If you are an Agatha Christie enthusiast and a blogger you will probably like to participate in an online event on September 15.

Check the details released today on the Agatha Christie Blog Carnival and spread the word.

July edition of the Agatha Christie Blog Carnival

2011-07-25T11:49:00.000+09:30

The July edition of the Agatha Christie Blog Carnival is available here
Many thanks to the 10 contributors who have provided 16 blog posts for you to visit.

Features include

a travel article written when Roberta visited Torquay and Greenway
book reviews:
ENDLESS NIGHT,
FIVE LITTLE PIGS,
ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER,
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
ONE TWO BUCKLE MY SHOE
THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY
MISS MARPLE SHORT STORIES
THE POSTERN OF FATE
MISS MARPLE'S FINAL CASES
NEMESIS
one blogger who is collecting photos where "Miss Marple may appear"
a look at what you can now do on the "official" Agatha Christie site in locating sites where novels were set. Put yourself on the map of Agatha Christie fans.
And a short story you may not have read.

Find out more about the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and the accompanying Blog Carnival here.