tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82739118838565802002024-03-18T20:17:53.419+10:30MYSTERIES in PARADISEWhy <b>MYSTERIES?</b> Because that is the genre I read. <br>Why <b>PARADISE?</b> Because that is where I live.<br>
Among other things, this blog, the result of a 2008 New Year's resolution, <br>will act as a record of books that I've read, and random thoughts.Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.comBlogger310125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-49179330434783972612023-10-02T12:44:00.001+10:302023-10-02T12:44:23.462+10:30Review: NEMESIS, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://classicmystery.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/nemesis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="232" height="377" src="https://classicmystery.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/nemesis.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>This edition published by Harper Collins 2016<br /></li><li>Originally published 1971</li><li>ISBN 978-0-00-819662-2</li><li>297 pages</li><li><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-nemesis-agatha-christie.html">My original review</a> (rated 4.4)</li><li><a href="https://knowingchristie.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/notes-on-nemesis/">reader's guide</a> <br /></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/en/stories/nemesis">publisher</a>) </p><p>"In utter disbelief Miss Marple read the letter addressed to her from the recently deceased Mr Rafiel – an acquaintance she had met briefly on her travels. Recognising in Miss Marple a natural flair for justice, Mr Rafiel had left instructions for her to investigate a crime after his death. The only problem was, he had failed to tell her who was involved or where and when the crime had been committed. It was most intriguing."<br /><br />Miss Marple receives an unusual bequest – her old friend and one-time partner in detection, has left posthumous instructions for an investigation into a crime. She must follow the clues across England to discover the truth of his bizarre request.<br /><br /><b>Extra notes</b><br /><br />Nemesis was in fact the last novel Christie wrote featuring Miss Marple, although not the last to be published.<br /><br />Mr Rafiel first appeared in A Caribbean Mystery and struck up a begrudging alliance with Miss Marple in order to solve a multiple murder case. This transformed to respect, which carries on through to Nemesis, despite the fact that it isn’t a sequel. They are partnered novels which complement each other. Written in her eighties, Nemesis is a testament to Agatha Christie's enduring skill at mystery and deception.<br /><br />First adapted for screen in 1987, the story starred Joan Hickson. In 2004 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation, starring June Whitfield. It was adapted again in 2007, with Geraldine McEwan and also featured Richard E Grant as her nephew, Raymond West. <br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Some years earlier, when on holiday in the Caribbean, Miss Marple had met Jonas Rafiel and together they had solved <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">a mystery</a>. Now, a number of years on, he has died, but with some"unfinished business" on his mind, and he leaves a bequest for Miss Marple, dependent on her carrying out his request. She is contacted by his lawyers who hand her a letter from him offering her £20,000. At that stage there is no detail about what he wants her to do apart from the fact that he is keen to see that justice is to be done, and he reminds her of the fact she once told him that she saw herself as Nemesis, the harbinger of justice.</p><p>So she begins her quest two days letter by joining a bus tour of Famous Hoses and Gardens of Great Britain with 15 other people. She really still has no idea of what Mr Rafiel wanted her to do, but she has already begun some investigations of her own into his background. As the bus trip progresses it becomes clear that although he hasn't told Miss Marple much, Mr Rafiel has assumed she will accept his request, and he has done several things to clear the way for her.</p><p>By the middle of the novel I thought the nature of Miss Marple's quest had become obvious, but at the same time, the narrative was frustratingly slow, almost as if Christie wanted us to think about what makes a person a good detective etc. And then came the first death when one of the passengers from the bus tour was killed, struck by a large boulder. Things speeded up a bit after that.<br /></p><p>I can understand if readers are of two minds with this book. It is very different from most of the Miss Marple books, and I thought it was a bit obvious that Christie wanted to explore what made Jane Marple so sensitive to the presence of evil, what made her so determined to see that justice was done. There are sections of text that are almost rambling.</p><p>You will have seen that I have read this before. I am re-reading it with my U3A Agatha Christie reading group and I will be interested to see whether or not they have enjoyed it. We will follow our discussion with the viewing of one of the television interpretations but I have yet decided whether it will be the Joan Hickson or the Geraldine McEwan one, probably the former I think, in the hope that it sticks closer to the original book. Which do you think it should be? (We don't have time for both)<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.0</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie novels that I've read.</a><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-68939399720578665482023-07-17T10:38:00.001+09:302023-07-17T10:38:13.131+09:30Review: ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/image-store/OrdealbyInnocence-pb-c.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/image-store/OrdealbyInnocence-pb-c.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" width="212" /></a></div>this edition (large print) supplied by my local library<br /></li><li>first publishd in 1958, this edition 2011</li><li>HarperLuxe from Harper Collins Publishers</li><li>ISBN 978-0-06-287968-4</li><li>349 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/en/stories/ordeal-by-innocence">Christie.com</a>)</p><p>The Argyle family is far from pleased to discover one of its number has been posthumously pardoned for murder – if Jacko Argyle didn’t kill his mother, who did? </p><p>Dr. Arthur Calgary takes a ferry across the Rubicon River to Sunny Point, the home of the Argyle family. Two years before, the matriarch of the family was murdered and a son, Jack, was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Throughout the trial Jack had maintained his innocence, claiming he was hitchhiking on the night of the murder and he had been picked up by a middle-aged man in a dark car. Unable to locate this mystery man the police viewed Jack’s as a lie. </p><p>Calgary was the stranger in question, but he arrives too late for Jack – who succumbs to pneumonia after serving just six months of his sentence. Feeling a sense of duty to the Argyles, Calgary is surprised when his revelation has a disturbing effect on the family – it means one of the family is a murderer.<br /><br /><b>My Take</b><br /><br /><b><i>More about the book</i></b> (from <a href="http://Christie.com">Christie.com</a>)<br /><br />Two years after Jacko was convicted of the murder of his adopted mother and has died in jail, his alibi steps forward. Dr Calgary had been out of the country during the trial and only heard news of it upon his return. Certain that Jacko was innocent, Dr Calgary takes it upon himself to investigate the past.<br /><br />A psychological endeavour on Agatha Christie’s part, this story signifies a shift in style from some of her earlier, light works, and focuses largely on conversation, memory and perception, as each sibling suspects each other of the murder of their somewhat eccentric foster mother. The book was dedicated “To Billy Collins with affection and gratitude”. It was he who had convinced Christie to leave her one-sided deal with the Bodley Head, the publishers of her first six books, and to switch to William Collins Sons & Co in 1926. Now known as HarperCollins, they are Agatha Christie's UK and US publishers to this day.<br /><br />It was first published in 1958 and it was in 1984 that the story was first adapted for film. It starred Donald Sutherland, Faye Dunaway and Christopher Plummer, and featured an interesting soundtrack that is often thought to conflict with the atmosphere of the film. In 2007, the story featured Miss Marple as part of the ITV television series, played by Geraldine McEwan.<br /><br />In 2018 new TV adaptation of Ordeal by Innocence was broadcast with an all-star cast, including Bill Nighy, Eleanor Tomlinson and Anna Chancellor.<br /><br />It is 10 years since I last read this and I am re-reading it for my Agatha Christie reading group.<br />It was chosen for our discussion because it is a stand alone, so we will be following our discussion with the viewing of the 2018 TV adaptation.</p><p>We are told in reviews that the book was one of Agatha Christie's own favourite novels, and featured a interpretation of her holiday home, Greenway House. Also that the reason this was not a "Poirot" was that when she wrote this book Christie was free to do whatever she wanted as she was not in any financial need that period and wanted to write something that would be enjoyable for her. <br />We spend a lot of time (along with the characters) thinking about who the murderer is, and also about the fact that the innocent are suffering too. We are presented with each of the family in turn for assessment. Did you finally guess who it was?</p><p>I haven't actually created a list of questions this time, so it will be interesting to see how the discussion goes.<br />Some suggestion of themes<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Guilt vs Innocence</li><li>Why is no-one pleased by Dr. Calgary's assertion of the alibi? <br /></li><li>Nurture vs Nature - in particular why didn't Rachel Argyle's great "experiment" work?<br /></li><li>Did Calgary do the right thing? Or should life have gone on with the case unsolved?<br /> Remember that Calgary's revelations eventually led to Mary's husband Philip becoming fixated on solving the murder and so there was in fact another murder and an attempted murder. </li></ul><p><b>Characters</b><br />Leo Argyle<br />Rachel Argyle<br />Mary Durrant<br />Philip Durrant<br />Jacko Argyle<br />Mickey Argyle<br />Tina Argyle<br />Hetser Argyle<br />Kirsten Lindstrom<br />Gwenda Vaughan<br />Arthur Calgary <br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-ordeal-by-innocence-agatha.html">My original review</a> <br /></p><p>My list of <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie books</a>. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-28326529580286559772023-07-11T09:11:00.002+09:302023-07-11T09:11:17.107+09:30Review: HERCULE POIROT'S SILENT NIGHT, Sophie Hannah<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://netgalley-covers.s3.amazonaws.com/cover291354-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://netgalley-covers.s3.amazonaws.com/cover291354-medium.png" width="207" /></a></div><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>This book made available as a review copy by <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/291354">NetGalley</a> - an e-book, but it will be available later in the year in hard copy.<br /></li><li>Pub Date 04 Oct 2023 </li><li>HarperCollins Publishers Australia, HarperCollins</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/291354">NetGalley</a>)</p><p>The world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot – legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and A Haunting in Venice – puts his little grey cells to work solving a baffling Christmas mystery.<br /><br />CAN HERCULE POIROT SOLVE A BAFFLING MURDER MYSTERY IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS?<br /><br />It’s 19 December 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are called to investigate the murder of a man in the apparent safe haven of a Norfolk hospital ward. Catchpool’s mother, the irrepressible Cynthia, insists that Poirot stays in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while Poirot solves the case. Cynthia’s friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why.<br /><br />Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else – someone utterly ruthless – also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot . . .<br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I think Sophie Hannah has done a good job in re-creating Hercule Poirot, but perhaps Inspector Edward Catchpool is not a good replacement for his old offsider Arthur Hastings.</p><p>Catchpool's mother requests Poirot's help in solving one murder and preventing another. The possible second victim is due to be admitted to hospital early in the New Year and to spend his remaining days there. If Poirot can work out who committed the original murder then perhaps her friend Arnold will be safe. There seems to be no reason why the second murder should take place, there is no evident link between the first victim and Arnold, and yet Arnold's wife is convinced the hospital is an unsafe place.</p><p>Poirot is confident that the solving of the first murder will take him only a couple of days and that he and Catchpool will be free to return to London in plenty of time for Christmas. However he has not taken Catchpool's mother's determination into account, and the lengths that she will go to. Add to that a mix of very strange and at times unpleasant characters, an inept local police investigator, and something in the past reaching out into the present .....</p><p>This is the 5th book by Sophie Hannah in this series, and I recommend that if you are still to give it a try, that you make Hercule Poirot's acquaintance. I doubt that you will be disappointed.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br /></p><p>The Hercule Poirot series</p><p><span id="t527718"> </span>1. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/sophie-hannah/monogram-murders.htm">The Monogram Murders</a><span class="year"> (2014)</span><br /><span id="t597205"> </span>2. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/sophie-hannah/closed-casket.htm">Closed Casket</a><span class="year"> (2016)</span><br /><span id="t687761"> </span>3. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/sophie-hannah/mystery-of-three-quarters.htm">The Mystery of Three Quarters</a><span class="year"> (2018)</span><br /><span id="t804018"> </span>4. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/sophie-hannah/killings-at-kingfisher-hill.htm">The Killings at Kingfisher Hill</a><span class="year"> (2020)</span><br /><span class="adata"><span id="t1093778"> </span>5. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/sophie-hannah/hercule-poirots-silent-night.htm">Hercule Poirot's Silent Night</a><span class="year"> (2023)</span></span></p><p><span class="adata"><span class="year">I have already read</span></span></p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/review-monogram-murders-sophie-hannah.html" target="_blank">4.3, THE MONOGRAM MURDERS - #1</a><br />
<a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/review-closed-casket-sophie-hannah.html">4.2, CLOSED CASKET - #2</a><br />
<a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2019/08/review-closed-casket-sophie-hannah.html">4.4, CLOSED CASKET</a> - audio<br /><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2020/10/review-mystery-of-three-quarters-sophie.html">4.4, THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS</a> - audio book #3<br /><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2020/10/review-killings-at-kingfisher-hill.html">4.4, THE KILLINGS AT KINGFISHER HILL</a> - audio book #4 <span class="adata"><span class="year"> <br /></span></span></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-8558450208407154662023-04-20T19:21:00.000+09:302023-04-20T19:21:46.594+09:30Review: SAD CYPRESS, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Sad-Cypress.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="497" height="320" src="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Sad-Cypress.JPG" width="199" /></a></div>this edition a large print one published by Harper Collins in 2013 and supplied by my local library<br /></li><li>originally published in 1940</li><li>ISBN 978-1-61173-770-7</li><li>318 pages</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Literature/Sad-Cypress-186595.html">Trivia Quiz</a></p><p><a href="https://therealchrisparkle.com/2018/07/18/the-agatha-christie-challenge-sad-cypress-1940/">Nice review to check</a> <br /></p><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/en/stories/sad-cypress">Christie.com</a>)</p><p>An elderly stroke victim dies without having arranged a will. Beautiful young Elinor Carlisle stood serenely in the dock, accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard, her rival in love. The evidence was damning: only Elinor had the motive, the opportunity and the means to administer the fatal poison. Yet, inside the hostile courtroom, only one man still presumed Elinor was innocent until proven guilty: Hercule Poirot was all that stood between Elinor and the gallows. </p><p><i>Come away, come away, death.,<br />And in sad cypress let me be laid;<br />Fly away, fly away, breath!<br />i am slain by a fair cruel maid.<br />My shroud of white, stuck all with yew<br />O prepare it;<br />My part of death no one so true;<br />Did share it<span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span>Shakespeare</i><br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>As I am re-reading this novel for discussion with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group, I have decided to create a list of questions for our session. I think we will have plenty to talk about. </p><p>My <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-sad-cypress-agatha-christie.html">earlier review is here</a>. <br /></p><p>If you, blog reader, decide to answer any of my questions, please feel free to leave your responses as a comment.<br /></p><p>Discussion Questions (not listed in any particular order) <br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>In what major ways does this novel differ from other Hercule Poirot ones? </li><li>How does the structure of this book differ from most other Christie novels?</li><li>Where does the title come from? What does it mean? Does it work as a title? <br /></li><li>There are several mysteries in Sad Cypress. How many can you list?</li><li>What is the buried scandal in this novel? What clues are we given about it?</li><li>How does Agatha Christie raise the issue of euthanasia? Do you think it is seriously done?</li><li>Whom did you suspect of the murder(s)?</li><li>Did Elinor ever love Roddy? Why did she break their engagement off?</li><li>This novel was published in 1940. What period do you think it was set in? Why?</li><li>Who committed the murder(s) and why?</li><li>What is the irony in Mary making a will?</li><li>What do you think of Elinor's state of mind? <br /></li><li>The first courtroom drama for Poirot, Sad Cypress was written in the build up to the Second World War, a particularly prolific period for Agatha Christie and her little Belgian. It is written in three parts – the defendant’s account, the build-up to the murder, and Poirot’s investigation. Reflecting upon the piece after publication, Christie decided it would have been better without the character of Poirot. Do you agree<br /></li><li>Apart from the title, there are other literary references in the novel. Which ones did you pick?</li><li>How does Christie demonstrate her knowledge of poisons (and how they work)</li><li>There is at least one reference in the novel that the "clean up brigade" who are sanitising the Christie books will have earmarked for removal. What did you pick up?</li><li>What about the ideas that Mary Gerrard had been "educated above her station". Do you think Christie was serious in suggesting that? Who talks about the dangers of education?</li><li>Hercule Poirot is amazed by the fact that everyone he talks to tells him
lies. Some are just small lies and he can understand why the person has
lied. But then he comes across a lie that seems unnecessary. The other
thing that prompts his involvement is that he becomes convinced that the
truth lies not in what he knows about Elinor Carlisle, but in what he
does not know about Mary Gerrard? What lies is he talking about? <br /></li><li>What is a curate's egg? (I've seen this used in reference to this novel)</li><li>Which of the characters do you like best? least? Why? <br /></li><li>How does Poirot deliver justice?</li><li>Does the novel have a happy ending?</li><li>How much out of 5 do you give it?</li><li>Some commentators say that this is a much under-appreciated novel. Do you agree? <br /></li></ul><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5 </p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">My list of Agatha Christie novels.</a><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-7808068771768008092023-03-07T21:05:00.000+10:302023-03-07T21:05:17.043+10:30Review: THE ABC MURDERS, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41o9d4aYcoL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41o9d4aYcoL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition made available on Amazon (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/ABC-Murders-Poirot-Hercule-Book-ebook/dp/B0046RE5CM">Kindle</a>)<br /></li><li>ASIN : B0046RE5CM</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)</li><li>Originally published 1936</li><li>Print length : 244 pages</li><li>Page numbers source ISBN : 042513024X</li><li><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-abc-murders-agatha-christie.html">My original review</a></li><li>this cover shows Jon Malkovitch as Poirot <br /></li></ul><p>Agatha Christie’s world-famous serial killer mystery, reissued with a striking cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.<br /><br />There’s a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim’s corpe the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town where the murder has taken place.<br /><br />Having begun with Andover, Bexhill and then Churston, there seems little chance of the murderer being caught – until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans…<br /><br /><i>From the Back Cover<br /></i><br />There’s a serial killer on the loose, working his way through the alphabet and the whole country is in a state of panic.<br /><br />A is for Mrs. Ascher in Andover, B is for Betty Barnard in Bexhill, C is for Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston. With each murder, the killer is getting more confident—but leaving a trail of deliberate clues to taunt the proud Hercule Poirot might just prove to be the first, and fatal, mistake.</p><p><b>My take</b></p><p>Once again this is a novel I am reading with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group, and it is a re-read for me. Once again I have used the note-making facility on my Kindle to make a big list of the things that I want to talk about. (I actually started off using a printed copy, and then thought this note-making ability would be very useful).<br /></p><p>Here are some of the things we are going to talk about - please leave a comment if you'd like to contribute to our discussion<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The disclosure right at the beginning by Captain Hastings that he has departed from his usual practice of using only his own account, and has included third person accounts by someone else. So who wrote these extra chapters?</li><li>this novel was originally published in 1936, but the setting is only a year before?</li><li>How old is Poirot at this stage - Let's say he was about 60 when he arrived as a Belgian refugee during World War 1. Is he getting past it? Is Agatha Christie ageing him in "real time"? </li><li>Poirot and Hastings trying to prevent aging. Poirot with his black hair dye, Hastings with his comb-over</li><li>I think it is Agatha Christie's only novel with a plot about a serial killer. But am I right? Aren't there some novels where the killer strikes more than once?</li><li>How did Hercule Poirot tackle solving the puzzle. Why does Hastings get annoyed by his method? How do his methods differ from those of the other detectives?<br /></li><li>the fact that Hercule Poirot has now retired several times, and now tackles only "the cream of crime"</li><li>The way Poirot is regarded (or not) by the other detectives trying to solve the crime</li><li>What is ABC trying to do with his letters to Poirot?</li><li>What are the questions Poirot asks himself in reference to the case? (Why has ABC contacted him rather than going straight to the police?)</li><li>Why does Poirot get the "vigilante" group together - the victims of crime group. What is he trying to achieve?</li><li>When does Poirot get his first idea about who is really behind the murders?</li><li>What is the final solution?</li></ul><p>What other questions do YOU think I should put on my list? <br /></p><p><b>My rating:</b> 4.7</p><p>See <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">my list of Agatha Christie novels</a> <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-29359456168156310142023-01-14T16:54:00.001+10:302023-01-14T16:54:38.916+10:30Review: AGATHA CHRISTIE: A Very Elusive Woman, Lucy Worsley<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/covers/big/9781529303889/6811/agatha-christie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://www.booktopia.com.au/covers/big/9781529303889/6811/agatha-christie.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>This edition published By Hodder & Stoughton, Great Britain 2022<br /></li><li>ISBN 978-1-528-30388-9</li><li>415 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/agatha-christie-lucy-worsley/book/9781529303889.html">publisher</a>) </p><p><i>Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.'</i><br /><br />Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was 'just' an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? As Lucy Worsley says, 'She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern'. She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness.<br /><br />So why - despite all the evidence to the contrary - did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure?<br /><br />She was born in 1890 into a world which had its own rules about what women could and couldn't do. Lucy Worsley's biography is not just of an internationally renowned bestselling writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman.<br /><br />With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley's biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realise what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was - truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century. </p><p>My Take</p><p>An impressive non-fiction work that covers Agatha Christie's whole life, written by a person who is quite obviously a "fan", well versed in the events of Christie's life and the books she has written.</p><p>I've also just watched, and can recommend, the first of the documentaries (4?) based on the book.</p><p>I was glad to see that Worsley shares some of my own impressions of the importance of Agatha Christie in crime fiction. She refers to some of Christie's plot strategies as Christie's "tricks" and refers to the way they made a difference to what we expect from crime fiction as a genre. The book has also sowed a few seeds that will influence my interpretation of the Christie novels that I intend reading this year.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 5.0</p><p><b>About the Author</b><br /><br />Lucy Worsley OBE is Chief Curator at the charity Historic Royal Palaces and also presents history documentaries for the BBC. Her bestselling books include Queen Victoria, Jane Austen at Home, A Very British Murder, If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home, Courtiers, Cavalier and four historical novels for young readers. In 2019 her BBC One programme Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley won a BAFTA. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-29407940644485427322022-10-30T12:31:00.003+10:302022-10-30T12:31:53.844+10:30Review: THEY CAME TO BAGHDAD, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/They-Came-to-Baghdad.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/They-Came-to-Baghdad.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" width="199" /></a></div>this edition published in 2017, by Harper Collins<br /></li><li>first published 1951</li><li>ISBN 978-0-00-819635-6</li><li>294 pages <br /></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/stories/they-came-to-baghdad">agathachristie.com</a>)</p><p>Baghdad is the chosen location for a secret summit of superpowers, concerned but not convinced, about the development of an, as yet, unidentified and undescribed secret weapon.<br /><br />Only one man has the proof that can confirm the nature of this fantastic secret weapon – a British agent named Carmichael. Unfortunately the criminal organisation responsible for the weapon’s development will stop at nothing to prevent him entering Baghdad and presenting his proof to the assembled delegates. Can Carmichael enter the city against such odds?<br /><br />Into this explosive situations appears Victoria Jones, a girl with a yearning for adventure who gets more than she bargains for when a wounded Carmichael dies in her arms in her hotel room.<br /><br />Now, if only she could make sense of his last words ‘…Lucifer…Basrah…Lefarge…</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Dedicated to "All My Friends in Baghdad", this story is based around an impending meeting, taking place after World War II, of the superpowers America and Russia. It gave the author an opportunity to vaunt her knowledge of archaeology and of Islamic/Arabic culture.</p><p>I <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2012/07/forgotten-book-review-they-came-to.html">first reviewed</a> it on this blog ten years ago. I am re-reading it with my U3A Agatha Christie group, and it will be our last book for this year.</p><p>I was surprised to find that it really had so many connections to <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2022/08/review-passenger-to-frankfurt-agatha.html">PASSENGER TO FRANKFURT</a> which we read recently and which was published 20 years later. </p><p>Among them are</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>a nefarious organisation siphoning of funds to use for evil purposes</li><li>the disappearance of talented young from all walks of life (also raised in <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2022/03/review-destination-unknown-agatha.html">DESTINATION UNKNOWN</a>) and their dedication to "making the world a better place"</li><li>the conflict between ideologies</li><li>the possibility of World War III</li><li>the cult of the young Siegfried</li><li>the idea that World War II concluded unsatisfactorily and really left more problems than it solved.<br /></li></ul><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://acrccarnival.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="194" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPzCRNtrThOVm3pOEePuyq4ilMQJUYMlMW0DVaYlU9579f9E7THrcaLEv8XbHROy-FeANud3IgShSS_Cf7i6RPdanjI6OTYHyrI1km5j8qfDSTTuuQ6RpQQZSnq9RbKbh9ue0ssa6lpZo/s1600/agatha_christie_rc.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><a href="https://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Literature/They-Came-To-Baghdad-by-Agatha-Christie-163180.html">Trivia Quiz</a> to try<p></p><p>Things I have found out</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>They Came to Baghdad was first published in the UK in eight abridged instalments in John Bull magazine from January to March 1951, and in Canada, in an abridged version in Star Weekly Complete Novel, a magazine supplement published in Toronto, in September 1951.</li><li>the full version was then published in March 1951 by the Collins Crime Club</li><li>Victoria, the heroine/detective, never appears in another Agatha Christie novel</li></ul><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.3</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">My list of Agatha Christie novels </a></p><p><a href="http://acrccarnival.blogspot.com/">Agatha Christie Reading Challenge</a> <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-53800211557822550622022-10-01T12:24:00.001+09:302022-10-01T12:39:09.900+09:30Review: DEATH COMES AS THE END, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Death-Comes-as-the-End.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=80&w=250" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Death-Comes-as-the-End.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=80&w=250" width="199" /></a></div>this edition accessed through my local library as a large print edition<br /></li><li>first published 1944</li><li>ISBN 978-0-06-287971-4</li><li>321 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/search/results?q=Death+Comes+as+the+end">publisher</a>)</p><p>It is Egypt, 2000 BC, where death gives meaning to life. At the foot of a cliff lies the broken, twisted body of Nofret, concubine to a Ka-priest. Young, beautiful and venomous, most agree that she deserved to die like a snake. </p><p>Yet Renisenb, the priest’s daughter, believes that the woman’s death was not fate, but murder. Increasingly, she becomes convinced that the source of evil lurks within her own father’s household. </p><p>As the wife of an eminent archaeologist, Agatha Christie took part in several expeditions to the Middle East. Drawing upon this experience and exhaustive research, she wrote this serial killer mystery laid in Egypt 4000 years ago. </p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>This is not the first time I've read this novel - I am re-reading it with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group. <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2012/02/review-death-comes-as-end-agatha.html">See my previous review</a>.</p><p>When Imhotep, the Ka-priest, returns to his family, he brings with him an unwelcome surprise, a concubine from the North, who is in fact younger than his recently widowed daughter. None of his household like the concubine, and she plainly does not like them. She tries to turn the family against their father and seems determined to stir up trouble.</p><p>But what Nofret, the concubine, does, as one of the family remarks, is reveals where trouble and evil already are present.</p><p>In the introductory Author's Note Agatha Christie points out that the fact that the action of the book takes place on the West bank of the Nile at Thebes in Egypt about 2000 BC is actually incidental to the story. It is a story that could have been played out against any setting. It is a story of jealousy, a father who dominates too much, and children who are chafing against the bit. The murder of the concubine is just the first in a series of incidents, and the author holds various characters up for us to scrutinise.</p><p>We see the action mainly through the eyes of Imhotep's daughter Renisenb, who is not always the most reliable judge if character, and she is bewildered as various members of the household are killed, and she is not sure who to trust. <br /></p><p>The author puts her knowledge of Egyptian funerary rites and procedures to good use in providing the reader with an authentic background for a solid murder mystery. In all there are 5 murders, enough to overwhelm even the most vigilant family.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie novels I've read</a></p><p><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-7387213850123276662022-08-21T14:47:00.002+09:302022-08-22T07:25:23.636+09:30Review: PASSENGER TO FRANKFURT, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kL_yn49OnvnKXTwvuw-th1tQZxqMQOmohRH7yRTT74SpG5EmRT3M2s558JT1BmyUtrak8prCjuAF6oMLmNZ31i1KnK-A5RprU4bipbpLOfVYec-q2gJMH622A2CNIkwHBZI9geZAVespWP_6IdqvIws3wFlmR2wG89Wek2E7AwgqsAW6vviemiwV/s274/Passenger_to_Frankfurt_First_Edition_Cover_1970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="180" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kL_yn49OnvnKXTwvuw-th1tQZxqMQOmohRH7yRTT74SpG5EmRT3M2s558JT1BmyUtrak8prCjuAF6oMLmNZ31i1KnK-A5RprU4bipbpLOfVYec-q2gJMH622A2CNIkwHBZI9geZAVespWP_6IdqvIws3wFlmR2wG89Wek2E7AwgqsAW6vviemiwV/s1600/Passenger_to_Frankfurt_First_Edition_Cover_1970.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>this edition a large print one published in 2012 by Harper Collins Publishers</li><li>novel first published 1970 <br /></li><li>ISBN 978-1-4448-0305-1</li><li>357 pages<br /></li></ul><p>Synopsis (<a href="https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/Passenger_to_Frankfurt">Agatha Christie fandom</a>)</p><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sir Stafford Nye's flight home from Malaya takes an
unexpected twist when the bored diplomat is approached in an airport by a woman
whose life is in danger, he agrees to lend her his passport and boarding
ticket. Suddenly, Stafford has unwittingly entered a web of international
intrigue, from which the only escape is to outwit the power-crazed Countess von
Waldsausen who is hell-bent on world domination through the manipulation and
arming of the planet's youth, which brings with it what promises to be a
resurgence of Nazi domination. Unwittingly the diplomat has put his own life on
the line; when he meets the mystery woman again she is a different person and
he finds himself drawn into a battle against an invisible and altogether more
dangerous enemy.</span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--> <br /></p><p>My Take</p><p>I was so conscious that my U3A Agatha Christie reading group might make heavy weather of this novel that I wrote them some guidelines for their reading:</p><p>
</p><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;">I am very
conscious that you won't find PASSENGER TO FRANKFURT the easiest book to read
but please persist.</span></p><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><p><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"">Passenger
to Frankfurt: An Extravanganza is a spy novel by Agatha Christie first
published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1970 and in the US
later in the same year.</span></i></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span><p><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"">It was
published to mark Christie's eightieth birthday and, by counting up both UK and
US short-story collections to reach the desired total, was also advertised as
her eightieth book. It is the last of her spy novels. </span></i></span></p><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;"><b>Plot
Summary</b> (from <a href="https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/Passenger_to_Frankfurt">Agatha Christie fandom</a>)<br />
Sir Stafford Nye's flight home from Malaya takes an unexpected twist when the
bored diplomat is approached in an airport by a woman whose life is in danger,
he agrees to lend her his passport and boarding ticket. Suddenly, Stafford has
unwittingly entered a web of international intrigue, from which the only escape
is to outwit the power-crazed Countess von Waldsausen who is hell-bent on world
domination through the manipulation and arming of the planet's youth, which
brings with it what promises to be a resurgence of Nazi domination. Unwittingly
the diplomat has put his own life on the line; when he meets the mystery woman
again she is a different person and he finds himself drawn into a battle against
an invisible and altogether more dangerous enemy.</span></p><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;">There is
more detail and a list of characters at <a href="https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/Passenger_to_Frankfurt">https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/Passenger_to_Frankfurt</a>
but you may not want to look at that until after you've finished reading it and
after you've made your own notes.</span></p><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;">So, in
reading it, I suggest you make your own notes and try to think about the
following questions</span></p><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">think
about Christie the social commentator: what is she observing happening in
the world (in the 1950s and 1960s)?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">think
of the world events that are described in various chapters as snapshots
from television news reels. Make a list of some of them</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Make
a list of the world problems that Christie identifies.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
does the Young Siegfried symbolise? Who is he?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
does the young woman to whom Sir Stafford Nye lends his cloak at Frankfurt
airport carry into England?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Where
and when did Christie make this sort of commentary before?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
does this novel have in common with one that we read earlier, DESTINATION
UNKNOWN?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Make
a list of your own questions and comments not covered by mine</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WGul7VC+L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WGul7VC+L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;">This novel
had a very mixed reception. Can you understand why? Is it a satire or are we
meant to take it seriously?</span><p></p><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-passenger-to-frankfurt-agatha.html ">I read this novel nearly 10 years ago</a> and really didn't give it much credit then and gave it a rating of 2.0</span></p><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;">Today I am feeling a bit more kindly to it, but have still only given it 3.5 and I feel there is a certain clumsiness about it and I don't think it was a style she was suited to.</span></p><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">See my list of Agatha Christie novels</a>.<br /></span></p><p><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>
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<![endif]--></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-3429961933228363372022-07-07T16:14:00.001+09:302022-07-19T07:28:46.054+09:30Review: THE HOUND OF DEATH and other stories, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/Hound_of_death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="169" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/Hound_of_death.jpg" /></a></div>This edition published by the Hamlyn Publishing Group in 1972<br /></li><li>part of the Agatha Christie Crime Collection, pages 345-510 (165 pages)</li><li>is a collection of twelve short stories by Agatha Christie first published in the United Kingdom in October 1933. <br /></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/search/results?q=The+Hound+of+Death">Agatha Christie.com</a>)</p><p><i>Twelve unexplained phenomena with no apparent earthly explanation…</i><br />
<br />
<i>A dog-shaped gunpowder mark; an omen from ‘the other side’; a haunted
house; a chilling séance; a case of split personalities; a recurring
nightmare; an eerie wireless message; an elderly lady’s hold over a
young man; a disembodied cry of ‘murder’; a young man’s sudden amnesia; a
levitation experience; a mysterious SOS.</i></p><p>I have read this earlier - <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-hound-of-death-agatha-christie.html">see my post.</a> <i><br /></i></p><p>I am reading this again, this time with my U3A discussion group, so I have decided to ask them each to handle the discussion of a particular story. Below is the wording that I have sent to them: <br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">.. if you
could each make some notes on the particular short story assigned to you along
the following lines:</span></p>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">brief
plot summary - don't worry about spoilers - we will have all read it, but
we probably need to be reminded of the main narrative, including how it
ends.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">over
riding theme -is it crime fiction or something else?</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">how
you felt about it - did you enjoy it? - give it a rating out of 5</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">you
will have 5 or so minutes to talk about it.</span></li></ul>
<p>My Take</p><p>I have assigned myself <span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The
Red Signal, published June 1924. But here I will be careful about spoilers.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span>This story is one of the longer ones in the collection. It begins with a discussion of the sixth sense, which the speaker, Mrs Eversleigh, thinks all women have. She is addressing Sir Alington West, a famous alienist, a former term for a psychiatrist. A discussion ensues about the differences between the sixth sense and premonitions. One of the party, Dermot West, talks about "red signals", the feeling that something is not quite right. Sir Alington says that he thinks premonitions often come from within, the subconscious picking up on vibes from other people.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span>However, even as he talks, Dermot feels that he is picking up a Red Signal, and begins to look for what is giving it to him. If you want to know how this story continues, go down to the bottom of the page. </span> </span><!--[if gte mso 10]>
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<![endif]--> </p><p>My rating: 4.4 </p><p>See the other<a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-reading-challenge-short.html"> Agatha Christie short stories</a> that I have read. 156 of them.</p><p><b>The continuation of the story - spoiler alert!</b></p><p>Dermot West feels that Sir Alington is focussing in particular on another member of the dinner party, Claire Trent. He himself feels particularly attracted to Claire, really besotted with her, but torn because her husband Jack is his best friend. <br /></p><p>After dinner, the group participates in a seance, in which the medium calls a Japanese spirit. A voice comes through the medium advising someone not to go home but nobody is really sure who the advice is directed to. When the medium comes back to normality she says she has the feeling that there is death in the air.</p><p>In a discussion afterwards Sir Alington tells Dermot that Claire is not for him. That there is insanity in the family. Dermot assumes the one with insanity is Claire. Claire's husband Jack is his best friend, and actually saved his life back in the war. </p><p>Later that night the police come to Dermot's flat to tell him that Sir Alington has been murdered shortly after Dermot left him. We later discover that the murderer is Jack Trent, that he is the one with insanity, not Claire. He has committed the murder and fudged evidence that will convict Dermot, as he has noticed Dermot's feelings for Claire.</p><p>So how did I feel about this story? I guess the theme is that while you might have a premonition, recognise danger signals etc., you might still misinterpret them, just as Sir Alington West did, as he did not imagine that he was the one in danger. So, also, danger signals, premonitions etc. do exist.</p><p>In the long run, the story was a bit complicated, maybe too many mini stories. The finale of the story was well disguised. And every one you talk to will say they understand what are meant by danger signals. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-48547833543216123732022-05-26T16:47:00.003+09:302022-05-26T16:47:42.700+09:30Review: THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/414wyW+wGnL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/414wyW+wGnL.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>This edition read on my Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sittaford-Mystery-Agatha-Christie-Signature-ebook/dp/B0046REG94/">Amazon</a>)<br /></li><li>Originally published 1931</li><li>ASIN : B0046REG94</li><li>this edition Publisher : HarperCollins (October 14, 2010)</li><li>Print length : 289 pages</li><li>AKA THE MURDER AT HAZELMOOR (title for USA publication)</li><li><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-sittaford-mystery-agatha.html ">My original review</a> (2009)</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sittaford-Mystery-Agatha-Christie-Signature-ebook/dp/B0046REG94/">Amazon</a>)</p><p>A seance in a snowbound Dartmoor house predicts a grisly murder…<br /><br />In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a small table for a seance. Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message: ‘Captain Trevelyan… dead… murder.’<br /><br />Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snow drifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot…</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I've read this for my U3A Agatha Christie discussion group. As always I am amazed that in the 12 intervening years since I have last read this novel, I have forgotten the salient features, particularly the details of who did what. It came as a genuine surprise to discover the identity of the murderer, although I must admit that his identity crossed my mind, and was dis-counted, earlier in the novel.</p><p>So here are some of the elements in the novel we will discuss</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The role of the seance as the harbinger of death. How did that work? Who was it that told the gathering that the message was for Major Burnaby?</li><li>What are the relationships between the various characters? <br /></li><li>Why have Miss Willett and Mrs Willett really taken Captain Trevelyan's house?</li><li>What is the role of Emily Trefusis in solving the murder?</li><li>How effective is Inspector Narracott and what is the role of Mr Duke?</li><li>Who are the most memorable characters? What makes them so?<br /></li><li>Which are the most effective red herrings?</li><li>This novel is a stand-alone, although I think at this stage Agatha Christie was still looking for a suitable sleuth. Will Inspector Narracott appear in future novels do you think?</li><li>What does the isolation of Sittaford House make you think of? What about the escaped convict scenario?</li><li>How credible is the secondary plot (the Willett scenario)</li><li>What did you think of Charles Enderby? How good is he as a journalist?</li><li>Why did the murderer commit the murder? Is the reason given plausible?<br /></li></ul><p>In 3 weeks we are going to view the ITV television version, which I was interested to find is a "Miss Marple." I think I can see which character in the original is replaced by Miss Marple, even though that will involve eliminating some aspects of the original plot. I wonder if I am right. </p><p>How do you feel about television productions that change the story of a novel?<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie novels that I've read</a> <br /></p>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-65746347989947574682022-03-31T09:33:00.000+10:302022-03-31T09:33:07.953+10:30Review: DESTINATION UNKNOWN, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Destination-Unknown.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Destination-Unknown.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" width="200" /></a></div>this edition (large print) published 2012 by William Morrow<br /></li><li>originally published in 1955 aka SO MANY STEPS TO DEATH<br /></li><li>ISBN 978-1-61173-541-3</li><li>302 pages</li><li><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-destination-unknown-agatha.html">my original review</a></li><li><a href="https://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Literature/Agatha-Christie-Destination-Unknown-109772.html">Discussion questions</a> - Trivia </li><li>Review at <a href="https://booksplease.org/2016/01/10/destination-unknown-by-agatha-christie/">Books Please</a><br /></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/en/stories/destination-unknown">Christie website</a>)</p><p>A young woman with nothing to live for is persuaded to embark on a suicide mission to find a missing scientist. </p><p>When a number of leading scientists disappear without trace, concern grows within the international intelligence community. Are they being kidnapped? Blackmailed? Brainwashed? One woman appears to have the key to the mystery. Unfortunately, Olive Betteron now lies in a hospital bed, dying from injuries sustained in a Moroccan plane crash. </p><p>Meanwhile, in a Casablanca hotel room, Hilary Craven prepares to take her own life. But her suicide attempt is about to be interrupted by a man who will offer her an altogether more thrilling way to die. </p><p>~~~~~~~~</p><p>A woman thinks she has nothing to live for – bereaved, divorced – she is saved from suicide by an opportunity to die in an altogether more thrilling way. Nuclear scientists, international intrigue and a touch of romance, Agatha Christie takes her readers on a wild excursion far from the country houses and cosy murders of England. <br /><br />Christie based this book partly on the activities of two famous physicists of the early 1950s: Bruno Ponecorvo, who defected to Russia, and Emil Fuchs, who spied for the Russians. It is another of Christie’s light-hearted thriller novels featuring a daring and fearless heroine. </p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Once again a re-read of a novel I previously read for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-destination-unknown-agatha.html">My original review</a></p><p>This novel echoes themes present much earlier in Christie's novels such as Tommy and Tuppence and THE BIG FOUR and even earlier stories. (THE BIG FOUR's central theme was that of a master criminal or a gang of organised criminals responsible for a variety of international catastrophes mistakenly attributed to other causes.) This was a theme that was transposed into the period after World War Two, the period of the Iron Curtain, when Communist Russia seemed to pose a threat to the Western democracies. It was a theme that occupied other authors like Ian Fleming and George Orwell and was supported by the defection from the early 1950s onwards of British diplomats and agents. Only a short step from them to scientists and others.<br /></p><p>DESTINATION UNKNOWN explores the possible defection of Western European scientists, with a prominent business man sponsoring their defection.</p><p>This idea of a mastermind who threatened the existence of democratic countries is one that never left Agatha Christie's writing, and reoccurs often enough for it to be something Christie really believed in.<br /></p><p>To modern readers this theme probably seems a little far fetched but to readers 70 years ago, the threat seemed very real. Communism seemed a real threat to the capitalist world - the "red under the bed". Has that changed?<br /></p><p>Things to talk about:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A missing scientist - brain drain. <br /></li><li>A breakthrough invention in nuclear energy - a benefit or a threat?<br /></li><li>A mad philanthropist - what motivates philanthropy?<br /></li><li>possible threat of a global virus</li><li>the battle of ideologies between East and West</li><li>new "world order" after World War II, dissatisfaction by idealists with the results of the war. </li><li>the meaning of life - the "heroine comes back from the brink of suicide</li><li>the idea of the world becoming "smaller" because of technology like faster planes.</li><li>the concept of cooperation by the Western Powers - not just Britain being affected.</li><li>life is more than work. The idea that work in captivity is still like being in jail even if all you need is provided. </li></ul><p>Anything else my group should discuss? <br /></p><p></p><p><b>My rating:</b> 4.3</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie Books</a><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-36037322470058885932022-02-18T19:34:00.002+10:302022-02-18T19:50:52.306+10:30Review: CROOKED HOUSE, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Crooked-House.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="496" height="320" src="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/Crooked-House.JPG" width="198" /></a></div>This edition published 1989 by William Collins<br /></li><li>Originally published in 1949</li><li>ISBN 0-00-616864-7</li><li>188 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/en/stories/crooked-house">Agatha Christie.com</a>)</p><p>A wealthy Greek businessman is found dead at his London home… The Leonides were one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That was until the head of the household, Aristide, was murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection. Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiance of the late millionaire’s granddaughter… </p><p>The crooked house of the title is much like the house in the nursery rhyme There was a Crooked Man. The narrator, in love with a daughter of the household, wonders if this means dishonest or as she describes it “twisted and twining”, unable to grow up independently, all surrounding the family patriarch and murder victim. The shock ending was nothing new for Agatha Christie but it certainly surprised her readers. It was so shocking in fact that her publishers at the time wanted her to change the ending, but Christie refused.<br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I'm re-reading this for the Agatha Christie discussion group that I am leading at U3A.</p><p>The story is set in London after World War II. Both Sophia Leonides and Charles Hayward have been overseas during the war.</p><p>Among the questions that I want to talk about with my group:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>the reliability of the narrator</li><li>Agatha Christie's familiarity with poisons</li><li>the portrayal of children in this novel</li><li>the deception that Aristide Leonides resorted to about his will - was it justified or necessary?</li><li>the portrayal of the main characters - can you visualise them?</li><li>how realistic or ethical was it of Scotland Yard to involve Charles Hayward in the investigation?</li><li>how surprised were you by the ending?</li><li>Why was Aristide Leonides murdered? <br />What does his murder tell you about the murderer?<br /> What was his opinion of the murderer? <br />Who did you consider might have been the murderer? <br />What red herrings were there? <br />Was there anyone you decided could not have committed the murder?<br /></li><li>What about the other people who are murdered during the book? <br /></li></ul><p>We will follow our discussion up with the viewing of the <a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/en/film-and-tv/crooked-house">2017 film</a> with Glenn Close and Max Irons in it. Do they think this film is a good interpretation of the novel?<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-crooked-house/free-quiz.html#gsc.tab=0">Here is a quiz</a> that I could direct them to. <br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-crooked-house-agatha-christie.html">My earlier review </a></p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">All Agatha Christie novels </a><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-85420132494573658212022-01-24T15:11:00.003+10:302022-01-24T15:11:36.531+10:30Review: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dwcp78yw3i6ob.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/09134303/And-Then-There-Were-None-768x1172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="524" height="320" src="https://dwcp78yw3i6ob.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/09134303/And-Then-There-Were-None-768x1172.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>this large-print edition published by Harper Collins 2011<br /></li><li>Originally published in 1939</li><li>ISBN 978-0-06-208152-0</li><li>307 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.harperreach.com/products/and-then-there-were-none-agatha-christie-9780008255466/">Harper Collins</a>)</p><p>A couple of publisher's blurbs for you to consider<br /><br />Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to an isolated mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. On the island they are cut off from everything but each other and the inescapable shadows of their own past lives. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die…<br /><br />Which among them is the killer and will any of them survive?<br /><br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.harperapps.com/hcuk/covers/9780008255466/x250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://i.harperapps.com/hcuk/covers/9780008255466/x250.JPG" width="199" /></a></div><br />Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an island mansion off the coast of Devon by the mysterious U.N.Owen. Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former reckless driver Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of cyanide.<br /><br />The tension escalates as the survivors realise the killer is not only among them but is preparing to strike again… and again… <br /><p></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I've lost count of the number of times I have read this novel by the Queen of Crime. The fact that I can re-read it again and again should explain to you why I have given it the highest rating. </p><p>This time I am re-reading it with purpose, for a discussion with my local U3A Agatha Christie reading group. Last year we tackled some Poirots and some Marples. This year we are tackling some "stand-alones" and this is the first.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTr_-dar9kG3_4F5fu7GQKA0-20VDbufByYOnegMLWVA0LJzj0IIYBW2zYESmNkt4j5Ywg&usqp=CAU" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="190" height="266" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTr_-dar9kG3_4F5fu7GQKA0-20VDbufByYOnegMLWVA0LJzj0IIYBW2zYESmNkt4j5Ywg&usqp=CAU" width="190" /></a></div>Last week I posed the question of whether <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2022/01/review-invisible-host-gwen-bristow-and.html">THE INVISIBLE HOST</a> was the novel that inspired this one. There is an author's note at the beginning of the novel, an extract from her autobiography, that makes it clear that this book involved "a tremendous amount of planning" and that she found it quite difficult to write. So no, I don't think it is plagiarism in action. I think Christie recognised a challenge - to write a novel where people die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious.<p></p><p>I thoroughly enjoyed it, and as I read, I kept an eye on the "Ten little soldier boys" rhyme conveniently displayed at the beginning of the novel, so I could track how the rhyme worked in the novel.</p><p>Our group is also going to watch one of the film versions of the novel which should be interesting. (<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The video has Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, Richard
Attenborough, Herbert Lom, Gert Frobe, Charles Aznavour and the voice of Orson
Welles and is 94 mins.)</span><!--[if gte mso 10]>
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<![endif]--> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRo2mfV69DWhKTKR0bJLL0hoD1TH6CHmJ0CTA&usqp=CAU" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="257" height="196" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRo2mfV69DWhKTKR0bJLL0hoD1TH6CHmJ0CTA&usqp=CAU" width="257" /></a></div>And of course I originally read it when it didn't have a politically correct name. Amongst talking about the many names the novel has gone by, I want also to talk about the central idea that people can commit quite dreadful crimes, even murder without punished for them. That is what binds all the people on Soldier Island together.<p></p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2011/04/review-ten-little-niggers-agatha.html">See my original review on this blog over 10 years ago.</a><br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 5.0 <br /></p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">see my list of Agatha Christie novels</a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-79246975126188237872022-01-18T10:36:00.000+10:302022-01-18T10:36:22.449+10:30Review: THE INVISIBLE HOST, Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pyY5xFE2L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pyY5xFE2L.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition an e-book on my <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Invisible-Host-Gwen-Bristow-ebook/dp/B09C7KK499/">Kindle</a></li><li>ASIN : B09C7KK499<br /></li><li>first published 1930</li><li>Publisher : Dean Street Press; 1st edition (6 December 2021)</li><li>Language : English</li><li>Print length : 190 pages </li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Invisible-Host-Gwen-Bristow-ebook/dp/B09C7KK499/">Amazon</a>) </p><p><i>"Do not doubt me, my friends; you shall all be dead before morning."</i><br /><br />New Orleans, 1930. Eight guests are invited to a party at a luxurious penthouse apartment, yet on arrival it turns out that no one knows who their mysterious host actually is. The latter does not openly appear, but instead communicates with the guests by radio broadcast. What he has to tell his guests is chilling: that every hour, one of them will die. Despite putting the guests on their guard, the Host's prophecy starts to come horribly true, each demise occurring in bizarre fashion. As the dwindling band of survivors grows increasingly tense, their confessions to each other might explain why they have been chosen for this macabre evening-and invoke the nightmarish thought that the mysterious Host is one of them. The burning question becomes: will any of the party survive, including the Host . . . ?<br /><br />The Invisible Host (1930) established one of the best-loved and most durable forms in classic mystery fiction. It was famously to reappear in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (1939). How much Christie's novel is indebted to its predecessor is open to conjecture (and the subject is discussed in our new introduction, by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans). Whatever the verdict, readers will delight in The Invisible Host, an innovative and most unusual mystery from the golden age of crime fiction. It was adapted into a play, and a Hollywood movie as The Ninth Guest (1934).<br /><br />1930. The Invisible Host is the first novel published by the husband and wife team of Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning. The tale of murder was based on a facetious scheme to get rid of a neighbor whose raucous radio disturbed them day and night. </p><p>The novel begins: <i>That makes thirty-seven words, said the girl. Will you read the telegram again? came the voice over the wire. She read: Congratulations stop plans afoot for small surprise party in your honor Bienville penthouse next Saturday eight o'clock stop all sub rose big surprise stop maintain secrecy stop promise you most original party ever staged in New Orleans Signed Your host.</i><br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I have read this as a prelude to re-reading AND THEN THERE WERE NONE with my U3A Agatha Christie Discussion group. THE INVISIBLE HOST pre-dates the publication of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by 9 years. </p><p>In New Orleans in 1930, 8 guest, all well-heeled and well known in society are invited to a surprise party in their honour. All think they know who the host organising the party is, and all think they know the reason why the party is being given. When they arrive at the party, each of them sees there the person whom they think is the host, but amongst the guest each sees at least one person that they hate.</p><p>They are met by a butler who says he does not know who the host is, that he has his instructions, and among those is to turn on the radio, and that their host will communicate with them via it during the evening. Through the radio the host tells them they are all scheduled to die before morning, and that they are taking part in a competition in which he will outwit each one of them. And so the plot proceeds.<br /></p><p>I didn't actually know of the existence of this book, nor of the possibility that Agatha Christie plagiarised the main plot. We don't know now, and can't ask, if Agatha Christie had read the book, but to me, if she had, there is no surprise in the possibility that she said something like "What an interesting plot - but I can do better than that". That is actually a situation that we come across quite often in crime fiction - where an author seems to have taken a plot that someone else has used, and seemingly tried to do better or produce a variation. </p><p>There are many differences between THE INVISIBLE HOST and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE but I will let you discover them for yourself. I'm not sure that I agree that in the former the guests were in a competition with the host - if they were, the rules were never made clear.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4 <br /></p><p></p><p><b>About the authors</b>:</p><p>Gwen Bristow was born in Marion, South Carolina in 1903, and Bruce Manning in Cuddebackville, New York in 1902. In 1924, following Bristow's graduation from Judson College, her parents moved to New Orleans, the setting for The Invisible Host (1930). In the late 1920s, Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning, both Louisiana journalists at that point, met and married.Their first joint novel, The Invisible Host, was a success, and was followed by stage and film adaptations, and two further mysteries.The couple moved to Hollywood and there Bristow established herself as a prolific and successful writer of historical fiction, while Manning became a well-respected screenwriter, producer and director.They continued to live in California until their respective deaths, Manning's in 1965, Bristow's in 1980<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-76150980555600590502021-11-14T16:54:00.000+10:302021-11-14T16:54:35.867+10:30Review: THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS, Agatha Christie<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/512FTBmPqqL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/512FTBmPqqL.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>This edition from Amazon - read on Kindle<br /></li><li>ASIN : B0046RE5H2</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)</li><li>Originally published in 1952</li><li>Language : English</li><li>File size : 1232 KB</li><li>Print length : 227 pages </li></ul></div><p><b>Synopsis</b> (Amazon)<br /><br />A man is shot at in a juvenile reform home – but someone else dies…<br /><br />Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitiation centre for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator, Lewis Serrocold. Neither is injured. But a mysterious visitor, Mr Gilbrandsen, is less fortunate – shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building.<br /><br />Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and vows to discover the real reason for Mr Gilbrandsen’s visit.<br /><br /><b>My Take</b><br /><br />I am re-reading this for a book discussion group that I have been leading all this year. We have now read the first 5 Poirot novels and the first 5 Marple novels. We have been looking for the development of both sleuths and watching Agatha Christie as she experiments with various plot structures. <br /></p><p>Miss Marple is in this novel from the very beginning. It is the first time this has happened. In the earlier novels she appeared after the action was well underway.<br /></p><p>While visiting her American school friend Ruth Van Rydock in London, Miss Marple learns that Ruth is seriously concerned for her sister Carrie Louise. She asks Miss Marple to visit Carrie Louise at Stonygates, her home in England. Miss Marple agrees to the visit. She is impressed by the size of the Victorian mansion, which now has a separate building for delinquent boys, the cause which engages Carrie Louise and her third husband, Lewis Serrocold. Carrie Louise has her family living with her, as her granddaughter Gina has brought her American husband Walter to England to meet her family. Daughter Mildred Strete moved back home after she was widowed. Stepsons Stephen and Alexis Restarick, now grown, are frequent visitors and are present during Miss Marple's visit. One of the first people Miss Marple encounters is Edgar Lawson, a young man acting as a secretary to Serrocold; Lawson shows clear signs of paranoid schizophrenia, but these are largely ignored.<br /><br />Miss Marple learns that Carrie Louise has experienced health problems incidental to old age. Nevertheless, Miss Marple is pleased to see that Carrie Louise is still the sweet, idealistic, and loving person she has known.<br /><br />One of the puzzles for the reader to solve is the meaning of the title. For a while, you read on, looking for mirrors, or at the very least, duplicates, but that is really a red herring.<br /><br />There are a number of interesting themes. One is the economic and social features of England post World War 2. The old customs and social barriers have been largely discarded. Old estates like Stonygates have largely been repurposed. Another is the attitude of Americans to what they see as the state of England. <br /><br />In this novel Miss Marple is included in his investigation by the police Inspector Curry, who is impressed by her powers of observation.<br /><br />We get a little more background to Miss Marple too. She and Ruth Van Rydock were friends nearly 50 years before, and had travelled to Italy.<br /><br />A number of the characters are not actually what they seemed to be originally.</p><p>My rating: 4.4<br /></p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2012/09/review-they-do-it-with-mirors-agatha.html">My original review, from 2012</a></p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">The list of Agatha Christie novels I have read.</a> <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-5977629401241752332021-09-19T09:57:00.001+09:302021-09-19T09:57:53.780+09:30Review: A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED, Agatha Christie<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/415Meftuw8L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="332" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/415Meftuw8L.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>This edition an e-book published by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC12YG">Amazon</a> (Kindle)<br /></li><li>ASIN : B000FC12YG</li><li>Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (March 17, 2009)</li><li>Publication date : March 17, 2009</li><li>Originally published 1950</li><li>Miss Marple #5</li><li>Print length : 240 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC12YG">Amazon</a>) </p><p>The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which read: 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6:30 p.m.' Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd begins to gather at Little Paddocks at the pointed time when, without warning, the lights go out ...</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>This is another of my re-reads, so I can contribute to a book discussion on the first 5 or 6 Miss Marple novels. While Jane Marple was introduced in a set of short stories in the late 1920s, the first novels were spaced well apart.</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE 1930</li><li>THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY 1942</li><li>THE MOVING FINGER 1943</li><li>A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED 1950</li></ul>The last in that list seems to be placed just after World War II has ended, and there is even thought that another war is inevitable, with reference to the horrors of atomic war. </div><div>England has much changed, and it's residents are no longer necessarily English. There are many migrants, and people are no longer whom they seem to be.</div><div> </div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Fifteen years ago one knew who everybody was. The Bantrys in the big house—and the Hartnells and the Price Ridleys and the Weatherbys … They were people whose fathers and mothers and grandfathers...</i></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>But it’s not like that any more. Every village and small country place is full of people who’ve just come and settled there without any ties to bring them. The big houses have been sold, and the cottages have been converted and changed. And people just come—and all you know about them is what they say of themselves.<br />They’ve come, you see, from all over the world.</i></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>There were just faces and personalities and they were backed up by ration books and identity cards—nice neat identity cards with numbers on them, without photographs or fingerprints. Anybody who took the trouble could have a suitable identity card —and partly because of that, the subtler links that had held together English social rural life had fallen apart. In a town nobody expected to know his neighbour. In the country now nobody knew his neighbour either, though possibly he still thought he did …</i><br /></div><p></p><p>Miss Marple is introduced relatively early in this novel. She is staying at a local hotel, having treatment for her "rheumatic leg." she is introduced as an old "Pussy" who has written to the local police saying that she might have something to contribute in the matter of the recent murder that has taken place at Little Paddocks.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Miss Jane Marple was very nearly, if not quite, as Craddock had pictured her. She was far more benignant than he had imagined and a good deal older. She seemed indeed very old. She had snow-white hair and a pink crinkled face and very soft innocent blue eyes, and she was heavily enmeshed in fleecy wool. Wool round her shoulders in the form of a lacy cape and wool that she was knitting and which turned out to be a baby’s shawl</i>.</p><p>There are a couple of sub-plots to keep the reader involved, and eventually 3 murders in the quiet little village of Chipping Cleghorn, and of course, a whole raft of red herrings.</p><p>Inspector Craddock the policeman from Scotland Yard is far better treated by Christie than Inspector Slack was in earlier novels. He also has a better appreciation of Miss Marple:</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Well, perhaps you’re right, Miss Blacklock, but my own diagnosis would be a severe attack of Nosey Parkeritis …’ ‘She’s a very harmless old creature,’ said Miss Blacklock. ‘Dangerous as a rattlesnake if you only knew,’ the Inspector thought grimly. But he had no intention of taking anyone into his confidence unnecessarily. Now that he knew definitely there was a killer at large, he felt that the less said the better. He didn’t want the next person bumped off to be Jane Marple.</i></p><p>Interesting features of this novel:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Agatha Christie's observations of the changed structure of village life, and her comments on social and economic changes that have taken place;</li><li>Miss Marple snares the murderer, whose identity she has already realised, but needs to prove. Her "honey trap", set up with the local policeman, puts one of the other characters in great danger. Note here Miss Marple's talent at mimicry;</li><li>Miss Marple moves in a circle of vicarages. The Vicarage at Chipping Cleghorn is not the first one she has stayed at in these novels.</li><li>ex-Commissioner of Scotland Yard Sir Henry Clithering first appeared in the late 1920s and is still around, and being consulted.</li><li>Note the "mannish" women and the women doing men's jobs. </li><li>Note also Jane Marple's own comments on her sleuthing abilities.<br /></li><li>There is a romantic element</li><li>If Jane Marple was "old" in the late 1920s, how old is she now? It is 25 years later. She has to be in her 80s.<br /></li></ul><div><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie novels</a><br /></p></div>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-47351844876886685062021-09-11T11:13:00.002+09:302021-09-11T11:13:57.610+09:30Review: THE MOVING FINGER, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Qsb8m+WSL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="325" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Qsb8m+WSL.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>This edition <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Finger-Miss-Marple-Book-ebook/dp/B0046H95SG/">from Amazon on Kindle</a></li><li>Miss Marple #4</li><li>ASIN : B0046H95SG</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)<br /></li><li>Publication date : October 14, 2010</li><li>Originally published in 1942</li><li>Language : English</li><li>Print length : 243 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Finger-Miss-Marple-Book-ebook/dp/B0046H95SG/">Amazon</a>)</p><p>The quiet village of Lymstock seemed like the perfect place for Jerry Burton to recover from his accident. But shortly after his arrival he receives a letter accusing him of the unthinkable.<br /><br />He’s not the only one. Across the village people are receiving letters accusing them of terrible acts. It seems like just a cruel prank until one recipient is found dead, with a letter next to her reading ‘I can’t go on’.<br /><br />The inquest rules that her death was a suicide and the case seems clear cut. Until another body appears…</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I'm reading this again for a group discussion, and at the same time I'm looking for new insights, things I haven't taken notice of before. </p><p>Here are a few things to consider</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>In this novel Agatha Christie reverts to the use of a narrator, and we need to ask ourselves how reliable he is. Does the fact that the narrator is male skew the perspective for the reader? Do other things cloud his judgement?<br /></li><li>The novel is well underway (over 60% according to Kindle) by the time Miss Marple is called in by the Vicar's wife, after two murders have already taken place:<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><i>I’m going to call in an expert. .... I don’t mean someone who knows about anonymous letters or even about murder. I mean someone who knows people.<br /><br />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 <br />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.<br /><br /></i></div></li><li>Miss Marple lays a trap for the murderer just as she did in THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY</li><ul><li>Miss Marple attributes her understanding of what has happened to her life-long observation of village life.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><i>One sees a good deal of human nature living in a village all the year round,’ said Miss Marple placidly. Then, seeming to feel it was expected of her, she laid down her crochet, and delivered a gentle old-maidish dissertation on murder. ‘The great thing is in these cases to keep an absolutely open mind. Most crimes, you see, are so absurdly simple. This one was. Quite sane and straightforward—and quite understandable—in an unpleasant way, of course.’</i><br /></div><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><i>“No smoke without fire.” It irritated you, but you proceeded quite correctly to label it for what it was—a smoke screen. Misdirection, you see—everybody looking at the wrong thing—</i><br /></div><br /></li></ul><li>And of course Miss Marple engages in a little misdirection herself. When Jerry Burton and the police think the murderer has been found, the wrong person is accused.</li><li>And then finally there is a bit of romance, just as there was in MURDER AT THE VICARAGE, and THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY.</li><li>And the motive for the murders? well, that would be telling.<br /></li></ul><p><b>My Rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">See what other Agatha Christie novels I've read</a> <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-46767053212403329742021-08-19T20:06:00.002+09:302021-08-19T20:18:13.095+09:30Review: THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51n5wQ5vopL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="327" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51n5wQ5vopL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>this edition, an e-book in Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Body-Library-Miss-Marple-Book-ebook/dp/B0046H95MC/">Amazon</a>)<br /></li><li>Miss Marple #2</li><li>originally published 1942</li><li>ASIN : B0046H95MC</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins (October 14, 2010)</li><li>Print length : 226 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Body-Library-Miss-Marple-Book-ebook/dp/B0046H95MC/">Amazon</a>)</p><p>It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.<br /><br />But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?<br /><br />The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery… before tongues start to wag.</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY portrays Miss Marple very differently to <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2021/07/review-murder-at-vicarage-agatha.html">THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE</a> which was published 12 years earlier.</p><p>The village hasn't changed much in that period of time, although I suspect that not so much time has elapsed in"village time". This novel is perhaps set 2 or 3 years later than THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE. Among my reasons for saying that are that the vicar and his wife, who made their debut appearance in the earlier novel, now have a son, a toddler. Among the cast of characters are people whom we met in the earlier novel: Colonel Melchett, Sir Henry Clithering, the local spinster "cats", and Superindent Slack.</p><p>The body on the floor of the Bantry's library at Gossington Hall is quickly identified as a young dancer missing from the Majestic Hotel in nearby Danemouth. Dolly Bantry and Jane Marple go to stay at the hotel to see what they can find out about the dancer. Dolly in particular is determined to prove that Colonel Bantry has nothing to do with the murder. The local cats are already saying there's "no smoke without fire".</p><p>Meanwhile Sir Henry Clithering answers a call for help from his friend Conway Jefferson at the Majestic Hotel. Jefferson had been planning to adopt the young dancer. On his arrival Sir Henry recognises Miss Marple sitting in a chair in the hotel foyer, and she is drawn in as a private consultant.</p><p>As the novel progresses the plot becomes more complex. Another body, another girl turns up in a burnt out car, and there are plenty of suspects and red herrings.</p><p>And I need to confess that when the murderer attempted to do away with Jefferson, I did not have a clue about who it might be.</p><p>We learn a lot about how Miss Marple's brain works in this novel. Unlike THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE there is no narrator, and we see the action from a number of points of view.</p><p>Miss Marple says</p><p><i>The trouble in this case is that everybody has been much too credulous and believing. You simply cannot afford to believe everything that people tell you. When there’s anything fishy about, I never believe anyone at all! You see, I know human nature so well.</i><br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5</p><p>See <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie books I've read</a><br /></p><p>My p<a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-murder-at-vicarage-agatha.html">revious review</a>, written 11 years ago. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-8199583276177690142021-07-01T10:28:00.004+09:302021-07-01T10:44:55.178+09:30Review: MURDER AT THE VICARAGE, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51+QiD4VjeL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="327" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51+QiD4VjeL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition a kindle e-book (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Vicarage-Marple-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B000FC12XW">Amazon</a>)<br /></li><li>ASIN : B0046H95N6</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)</li><li>First published 1930</li><li>Print length : 305 pages</li><li>#1 in the Miss Marple series</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Vicarage-Marple-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B000FC12XW">Amazon</a>)</p><p>Agatha Christie’s first ever Miss Marple mystery, reissued with a striking cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.<br /><br />’Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,’ declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, ‘would be doing the world at large a service!’<br /><br />It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later. From seven potential murderers, Miss Marple must seek out the suspect who has both motive and opportunity. <br /></p><p><b>My take</b></p><p>This is the first time I have read this title in 12 years and I was a little surprised at how much I have forgotten or perhaps mis-remembered. I think my memory is a little clouded by the fact that I have probably seen about 3 television versions of the story in that time, and each one of those has tampered with or embellished the story.<br /></p><p>This is the first Miss Marple novel although she had been introduced to readers in short story in 1927. Basically she is an elderly spinster living in St. Mary Mead, with apparently little experience of life outside the village. She has already figured in solving small village mysteries in the past, but the Vicar and his wife both regard her as a busy body, although more astute than most.</p><p>Colonel Protheroe, an extremely unpleasant and unpopular character, is found murdered in the same vicar's study, and two different people confess to the crime. The investigation is handed locally to Inspector Slack, who has a great belief in fingerprints, and expects to be able to solve the murder quickly and easily. There are a number of red herrings. At firts Miss Marple who lives next door to the Vicarage doesn't seem to take much part in the novel, but then she seems to hover in the background.</p><p>The novel really sets a pattern for what we can expect in future novels and there are a range of characters who will crop up again in the future.<br /><br />The vicar and his wife, Leonard and Griselda Clement respectively, who made their first appearance in this novel, continue to show up in Miss Marple stories: notably, in The Body in the Library (1942) and 4.50 from Paddington (1957) </p><p>The Chief Constable, Colonel Melchett becomes involved, as does Sir Henry Clithering, a friend of Miss Marple's and a former head of Scotland Yard. He will feature in a number of Miss Marple stories. We are also introduced to Raymond West, Miss Marple's nephew, who is an author and will also feature in a number of future plots.</p><p>Agatha Christie uses the narrator device which she relied on so much in the Poirot novels. we see the story through the eyes of the vicar Leonard Clement. However it is really us seeing things as the vicar does, hearing conversations he is part of, and so on, rather than the impression of a written journal.</p><p>The other thing I have noticed in this novel is that Christie uses numbered chapters, without giving each chapter a number and a title as she did in the Poirot novels.</p><p>There are still references to the impact of the first world war on English society.</p><p>There are a number of side-plots which flesh out the setting: among them the parentage of Lettice Protheroe, and a love interest in the marriage of Leonard and Griselda Clement, the vicar and his wife.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-murder-at-vicarage-agatha.html ">My original review in 2009</a> (I gave it 4.7)</p><p><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">The Agatha Christie Novels</a></p><p><a href="https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/The_Murder_at_the_Vicarage">Useful Link at Fandom </a><br /><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-26034601744739864462021-05-13T10:26:00.000+09:302021-05-13T10:26:08.396+09:30Review: THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51gvQEazjJL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51gvQEazjJL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>this edition on Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Mystery-Blue-Train-Poirot-Hercule-ebook/dp/B0046A9MQS/">Amazon</a>)<br /></li><li>ASIN : B0046A9MQS</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (14 October 2010)</li><li>first published 1928</li><li>Language : English</li><li>File size : 650 KB</li><li>Print length : 317 pages</li><li><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2009/02/review-acrc8-mystery-of-blue-train.html">Earlier review</a></li><li>Extra information- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_the_Blue_Train">Wikipedia</a> <br /></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Mystery-Blue-Train-Poirot-Hercule-ebook/dp/B0046A9MQS/">Amazon</a>)</p><p>The daughter of an American millionaire dies on a train en route for Nice…<br /><br />When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again – for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing.<br /><br />The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie re-enactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board… <br /></p><p><b>My take</b></p><p>Another novel that I have read many times, as well as seen numerous tv versions of. However it is one of those novels where the precise details become a bit blurred. <br /></p><p>The novel has two major events: the theft of a ruby and the death of its owner while they are on The Blue Train which is taking holiday makers to the French Riviera. It reveals glimpses of the French underworld, a description of the lifestyle of the well to do in post-war Europe, and the plot is characterised by a lot of misdirection and red herrings. Poirot has some doubt that theft and the murder are done by the same person.<br /></p><p>Poirot goes into "partnership" with Katherine Grey, who recently has acquired wealth after a decade as a companion. She meets Ruth Kettering on the Blue Train. This "partnership" foreshadows a method Poirot will often use in the future.<br /></p><p>There does not appear to be a narrator in this novel (i.e. no Hastings who is not even mentioned). Poirot is described as a famous detective of bygone years who is now retired. Ruth Kettering's father offers him a huge sum to take on the case, but then becomes frustrated with what he thinks is inaction on Poirot's part.<br /></p><p>As with many other of Agatha Christie's full length novels, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN was based on an idea originally used in an earlier short story: The Plymouth Express.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/The_Mystery_of_the_Blue_Train_First_Edition_Cover_1928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="197" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/The_Mystery_of_the_Blue_Train_First_Edition_Cover_1928.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><p></p><p>It was also serialised over a 6 week period in 1928 in a slightly shorter version with 34 daily instalments. This may explain the relative shortness of each chapter. <br /></p><p>This novel features the first mention, in a novel, of the fictional village of St. Mary Mead, which had originally appeared in "The Tuesday Night Club" published in December 1927, which was the first short story of Christie's detective Miss Marple. It also features the first appearance of the minor recurring character, Mr Goby, who would later appear in After the Funeral and Third Girl. The book also features the first appearance of Poirot's valet, George<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie Books read</a> <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-41268607671623252762021-04-12T17:08:00.000+09:302021-04-12T17:08:06.557+09:30Review: THE BIG FOUR, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/516f5MafZ4L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/516f5MafZ4L.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>this edition published on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Big-Four-Hercule-Poirot-Mystery-ebook/dp/B000FC10T8">Kindle</a><br /></li><li>ASIN : B0046H95TA</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins (October 14, 2010)</li><li>Publication date : October 14, 2010</li><li>Originally published 1927</li><li>Language : English</li><li>File size : 633 KB</li><li>Print length : 242 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Big-Four-Hercule-Poirot-Mystery-ebook/dp/B000FC10T8">Amazon</a>)</p><p>A ruthless international cartel seeks world domination…<br /><br />Framed in the doorway of Poirot’s bedroom stood an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man’s gaunt face stared for a moment, then he swayed and fell.<br /><br />Who was he? Was he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what was the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper? Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life to uncover the truth about ‘Number Four’. <br /></p><p><b>My take</b></p><p>I had forgotten the unusual structure of this novel. </p><p>Hastings returns from Argentina without warning Poirot that he is coming. He arrives to find Poirot about to leave to sail to South America. He had decided to surprise Hastings with his arrival.</p><p>Plans are thrown into disarray by the uninvited guest who comes into Poirot's bedroom, collapses, and then dies. Poirot realises that he is being warned not to embark for South America.</p><p>This 18 chapter novel focusses on 4 people who threaten world security with catastrophe and destruction. At first the identity of just two people are known, then the third is revealed, but Number 4 is like a chameleon, able to take on many disguises and then leave no lasting impression of his face. All 4 are self-centred, and have world domination as their individual goal.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The novel was written originally as 11 or 12 short stories with the central theme of Poirot's search for these arch villains. The stories are presented sequentially and take place over a period of 10 or so months. The stories were published separately in Sketch magazine from 1924 under the sub-heading of <i>The Man who was No. 4</i>,
then amalgamated into one narrative. The stories test Hercule Poirot's abilities as a detective. In fact he wishes to establish himself as the pre-eminent brain in the world.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The idea of evil powers trying to control world politics and economies is not confined to Agatha Christie, nor to this one "novel". We see it for example in the James Bond stories, in Christie's Tommy and Tuppence stories, in Superman, Batman and so on. It seems particularly to crop up in the 1920s and 1930s when the Western Powers felt threatened by the rise of China, of Russia, and when the old order had been brought down during World War One.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Once you realise the structure of the novel you begin to see other things. Some of the stories in THE BIG FOUR appear at first to have nothing to do with the central theme, but Poirot plucks 4s out of nothing.<br /></p>
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<![endif]--></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.2</p><p>See <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie books</a> I have read as part of the <a href="https://acrccarnival.blogspot.com/">Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. </a><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-62007470945248161652021-03-13T13:26:00.000+10:302021-03-13T13:26:46.894+10:30Review: THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41n5CwqOv2L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41n5CwqOv2L.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Roger-Ackroyd-Poirot-Hercule-ebook/dp/B0046A9MRW/">Amazon on Kindle</a></li><li>ASIN : B0046A9MRW</li><li>Publisher : HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)<br /></li><li>Originally published 1926</li><li><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2008/12/review-acrc6-murder-of-roger-ackroyd.html">My original review</a> (2008) <br /></li><li>Language : English</li><li>File size : 1538 KB</li><li>Print length : 260 pages </li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (Amazon)</p><p>Agatha Christie’s most daring crime mystery - an early and particularly brilliant outing of Hercule Poirot, ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’, with its legendary twist, changed the detective fiction genre for ever.<br /><br />Roger Ackroyd was about to be married. He had a life of wealth and privilege. First he lost his fiancée – and then his life.<br /><br />The day after her tragic suicide he retires upstairs to read a mysterious letter, leaving his closest friends and family to eat dinner below.<br /><br />Just a few hours later he is found stabbed to death in a locked room with a weapon from his own collection.<br /><br />Was he killed for money? For love? Or for something altogether more sinister?<br /><br />The truth will out.<br />But you won’t see it coming<br /><br />Warning: there are significant differences between the original book and the TV version. <br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I have read this one several times before, and also seen the TV version more than once. I think that resulted in some confusion in my mind, because after all that I wasn't really sure who murdered who. So I'm glad to have read it again, and clarified things, I think... <br /></p><p>I did remember though that it introduced for the first time in Christie novels the theme of the unreliable narrator. Poirot himself remarks on how a number of people witnessing an event will have a variety of interpretations, particularly if they are hiding secrets. And of course, if we were not a first-hand witness, then we have no idea of how reliable the version we are being told is.</p><p>And of course what we are reading is Dr. Sheppards' version of events. In that he has picked up the role that Hastings played in the two earlier novels. And because we accepted Hastings as a narrator chosen by Poirot, we tend to accept Sheppard. <br /></p><p>The plot also appears to present as a locked-room mystery, but that is quickly dismissed.</p><p>I'm not sure that I agree with the synopsis that I picked up from Amazon. Was Roger Ackroyd about to be married? Certainly his adopted son was, and it was his impending marriage that was being announced, and while Roger was deeply in love with Mrs Ferrars, was his marriage to her expected?</p><p>Plenty to think about though, with a prototype of Miss Marple making an appearance, and many references to how useful Hastings had been is making suggestions even if he didn't always understand what was happening. </p><p>Poirot is living in the village of King's Abbot, retired after 30 years as a detective, so a change from where he was and what he was doing in MURDER ON THE LINKS. He is now attempting to grow marrows and finds it very frustrating.<br /></p><p><b>My rating:</b> 4.4<br /></p><p><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Check the list of Agatha Christie novels</a></p><p>Another review: This novel, written in 1927, is considered the best and most successful of the early mysteries. It met with no small outrage when it appeared, as it uses a plot device many readers thought "unfair." There is a full complement of characters populating the cozy English village of King's Abbot: Major Blunt, Colonel Carter, Miss Gannett, the butler, the housekeeper, the narrator, Dr. Sheppard, and his know-it-all sister (the precursor of Miss Marple, according to Christie), and, of course, the redoubtable Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells. There are clues with a capital C to mislead us, and the listener gets so involved with these red herrings (or not) that the very simple truth eludes the puzzler. A classic of the genre and essential for any fiction collection. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-29066798335571095412021-02-13T18:01:00.001+10:302021-02-13T18:01:10.088+10:30Review: THE MURDER ON THE LINKS, Agatha Christie - audio book<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51CVWSueqYL._SL500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51CVWSueqYL._SL500_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>edition available from <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Murder-on-the-Links-Audiobook/B0036GROSG">audible.com</a></li><li>Narrated by: Hugh Fraser</li><li>Series: Hercule Poirot, Book 2<br /></li><li>Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins</li><li>Release date: 01-30-09 </li><li>©2008 HarperCollins Publishers</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Murder-on-the-Links-Audiobook/B0036GROSG">Audible</a>)</p><p>An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course.<br /><br />But why is the dead man wearing his son's overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse... </p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I have recently read the printed copy which I reviewed <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2021/02/review-murder-on-links-agatha-christie.html">here</a>. So why, you say, listen to it as well? The narrator is Hugh Fraser and he does an excellent job. I'm not sure about his "French" voice but he does make the various characters easily distinguishable.</p><p>But the other thing with an audio book is that it forces you to "listen" (no pun intended) to the author in a different way, because in some ways you pick up the narrator's interpretation as well. Sub-plots seem to take on a life and certain nuances seem a little more obvious.</p><p>The one thing with an audio book is that it is not easy to go back over something and "read" it again, although my system does allow you go back in 30 second bits.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-42300989572340534312021-02-07T18:42:00.001+10:302021-02-07T18:42:38.800+10:30Review: THE MURDER ON THE LINKS, Agatha Christie<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/The-Murder-on-the-Links.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://agathachristie.imgix.net/hcuk-paperback/The-Murder-on-the-Links.JPG?auto=compress,format&fit=clip&q=65&w=300" width="199" /></a></div>First published 1923<br /></li><li>ASIN : B085VHVV9C</li><li>Publisher : GENERAL PRESS; 1st edition (March 12, 2020)</li><li>Language : English </li><li>File size : 809 KB </li><li>#2 Hercule Poirot series</li><li>At <a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/stories/murder-on-the-links">AgathaChristie.com</a> </li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/stories/murder-on-the-links">AgathaChristie.com</a>)</p>An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course.<br /><br />But why is the dead man wearing his son’s overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse.<p><b>My Take</b></p><p><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvL0QjlaEK5s4exh2sRw3MwJPxVrqKtDfpi6Y3IzGSVdrxoE0A89azW7MRNbATHwDsOaK6KodihREdcYK_JGWBEBzFfsj_pWLxI0kxN1dlSXaJiArFO54joRCPiiNNaQvJao_A2T61_r4/s150/agatha_christie_rc.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 186px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 147px;" />Yes, I have read this before, but have read it again, leading a group to read the first 5 Poirots and the first 5 Marples. So I am reading it with an eye to what I can point out to them.</p><p>The story is narrated by Captain Hastings and is set maybe 3 or 4 years after the first novel which introduced the Poirot/Hastings "team". Although this is only the second time we have seen Poirot in action,
Hastings implies they have worked other cases together since <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2008/09/review-acrc-1-mysterious-affair-at.html">THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES</a>.
In a reference to Inspector Japp from Scotland Yard in the opening
pages, Hastings says that he had "more than once introduced us to an
interesting case."</p><p>At the beginning we get an update on what Hastings and Poirot have been doing, and in France Poirot meets up with the Commissary of Police with whom he worked on a case in 1909. </p><p>As investigating the murder begins, the "team" is joined by Inspector Giraud from the Surete, who is much younger, and obviously regards Poirot as a "has-been". One of the themes of the novel is the comparison of the methods Poirot and Giraud use - the difference between "little grey cells and logic" and what Poirot disparagingly calls Giraud's methods. Giraud is very sarcastic to Poirot. Eventually they have a bet on who will solve the case first.</p><p>Poirot elucidates his principles of investigation but Hastings is embarrassed by his friend's lack of action, and even betrays Poirot, as well as showing quite clearly how easily duped he himself can be.</p><p>The plot is quite complex and the reader needs to keep on their toes to make sure they understand each nuance.</p><p>We are introduced also to Poirot's "romantic streak", as he match-makes for Hastings and chooses a wife for him.</p><p>There are several denouements, a couple caused by the fact that poor old Hastings has not been able to make sense of what has happened. <br /></p><p>I am also listening to the audio version read by Hugh Fraser but will review that separately.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br /></p><p></p><p><b>See also</b></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-acrc-3-murder-on-links-agatha.html">My earlier review</a> <br /></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murder_on_the_Links">Wikipedia</a></li><li><a href="https://acrccarnival.blogspot.com/">Agatha Christie Reading Challenge</a> </li><li><a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Agatha Christie Novels</a></li><li><a href="https://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz2110351829fb0.html">Fun Trivia Quiz</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182332/">The movie 1996</a> - David Suchet is Poirot, Hugh Fraser is Hastings<br />Note how the story is changed <br />"While Poirot and Hastings are holidaying in France, a businessman tells Poirot that his life is in danger. The next day he is found stabbed to death on a nearby golf course."</li><li><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiJqOKkqdfuAhXW8XMBHbS4C14QtwIwAHoECAIQAg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DYD1Jd9tbf0A&usg=AOvVaw3QFYP07s7I9OIZ14poeK2G">YouTube copy</a><br /></li></ul>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1