65. Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960)

 Dear Agatha,

I've gotta be honest.  I read this book months ago and don't recall much detail, although the memory of having read it is favorable - hahaha.  This book completed my 2021 reading goal on Goodreads - but then with the end of the year, tax season, general kid issues, health issues, life life life - I haven't logged the last number of my reads at all.  That said, I unfortunately don't have a lot to say.

I did mark this little gem in "Adventure of the Christmas Pudding":

Mr Jesmond made a peculiar noise rather like a hen who has decided to lay an egg and then thought better of it.

I did, as I read this short, Google some info on Christmas pudding, and English puddings in general.  I think I am glad that it is not a big part of our traditions, as it doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.

"The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" felt familiar - and indeed it seems that it is a reworked version of a previous short story, "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest."  "The Under Dog" and "Four and Twenty Blackbirds" I have read before, although I never remember the outcome.  And "The Dream" and Greenshaw's Folly" were new and fun.

'Nough said.  Thanks always,

b.

61. Dead Man's Folly (1956)

 Oh, dear Agatha ~ I loved this book so much!

Ro and Grace and I just watched a season (there was only one, sadly) of Whodunnit on TV, about a group of strangers who gather at a mansion and one by one are killed off, until only one remains, and the killer himself/herself.  It was a lot of fun to watch together - and no, we couldn't solve this either.  So when I picked up my next Christie novel to find that Ms. Ariadne Oliver had constructed a Murder Hunt - similar enough, I would say, I was really excited.

I had actually jotted several references to quotes that I greatly enjoyed, but it was destroyed by flood (or a leaky water glass) and I lost the references.  I do not have the time today to go back and look.  One I remember and two more I came across after the flood.  The first, Poirot's opinion on shorts:

Poirot nodded absently.  He was reflecting, not for the first time, that seen from the back, shorts were becoming to very few of the female sex.  He shut his eye in pain.  Why, oh why, must young women array themselves thus? Those scarlet thighs were singularly unattractive!

Seems Ariadne Oliver's thoughts on Scotland Yard haven't changed in 20 years, when she had similar ideas in Cards on the Table:

"Oh, the police," said Mrs. Oliver.  "Now if a woman were the head of Scotland Yard..."

But my favorite quote from this book, I honestly found full of truth and had a complete affinity with it (for it?):

Assessed correctly, each had its particular place in a particular universe.  Assembled in their proper place in their particular universe, they not only made sense, they made a picture. In other words, Hercule Poirot was doing a jigsaw puzzle.

He looked down at where a rectangle still showed improbably shaped gaps. It was an occupation he found soothing and pleasant.  It brought disorder into order.  It had, he reflected, a certain resemblance to his own profession.  There, too, one was faced with various improbably shaped and unlikely facts which, though seeing to bear no relationship to each other, yet did each have its properly balanced part in assembling the whole.  His fingers deftly picked up an improbable piece of dark grey and fitted it into a blue sky.  It was, he now perceived, part of an aeroplane.

"Yes," murmured Poirot to himself, "that is what one must do.  The unlikely piece here, the improbable piece there, the oh-so-rational piece that is not what it seems; all of these have their appointed place, and once they are fitted in, eh bien! there is an end of the business! All is clear.  All is - as they say nowadays - in the picture." 

He fitted in, in rapid succession, a small piece of a minaret, another piece that looked as though it was part of a striped awning and was actually the backside of a cat, and a missing piece of sunset that had changed with Turneresque suddenness from orange to pink.

If I weren't headed to Colorado in the morning, with about a million things left to do to get ready, I'd probably get out a jigsaw puzzle.  Maybe even listen to a Christie audio book as I work on it.  That would be different.

~ me

52. Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950)

{also published as The Mousetrap}

Agatha!  

How I loved "Three Blind Mice"!  I kept seeing it in my head as a brilliant play.  I Googled it to see if it had been done.  I'm an idiot.  I knew "Mousetrap" has been one of the longest-running plays in history in London and I have always wanted to see it - but it took until this morning to realize it's the same play.  Doh!

But...!  This was such a wonderful, fun read.  I loved every minute of it and now I doubly can't wait to see the play performed.  Someday...

Other stories -

With Jane Marple:

• "Strange Jest" 
• "Tape Measure Murder"
• "The Case of the Perfect Maid"
• "The Case of the Caretaker"

With Hercules Poirot:

• "The Third-Floor Flat"
• "The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly"
• "Four and Twenty Blackbirds"

And with Satterthwaite and Harley Quin:

• "The Love Detectives"

What a tremendous volume of stories, dear Agatha.  Obviously "Three Blind Mice" was my favorite, but I enjoyed every one of the others, too - even those strange birds Satterthwaite and Quin.

We are in a strange state of the world today, dear Agatha.  We are in the midst of a worldwide panic over the coronavirus pandemic.  I've never seen any reaction like this at all.  Schools closed, many, many businesses closed.  I'm not sure how I will navigate the next few weeks.  But one good thing about it - there will be lots of time for reading.  And I have lots of books.

Back soon,

b.

PS:  Another mystery...:

44. Death Comes as the End (1944)

Hello, Dame Agatha ~

Funny how I was able to get 3 of your novels read in January, giving me false hope that that would set the pace for the year.  And then February came, and... suddenly we're 1/3 of the way through March.

I'll be honest - I suspected I wouldn't like this book, set as it is in ancient Egypt.  But I was wrong.  Once I finally got past the first few paragraphs and odd names, I was hooked.  Wikipedia says "it is also the first full-length novel combining historical fiction and the whodunit/detective story, a genre which would later come to be called the historical whodunit."  So yeah - *that's* kind of cool!

One of the things I admire about your writing, Agatha, is the depth of the characters you create in just 175 or so pages, all along crafting a detective story littered with clues and surprises and death along the way.  This was short - but it was absolutely filled with murder and mayhem and twists and turns along every page.  And while it was set thousands of years ago in a completely different region and culture, it just goes to show that there's nothing new under the sun.  People love, people hate, people are inclined to evil and ambition and pride... then or now.

I loved Hori and the ending of the novel... I was worried for a little bit there.  And all the people who died... whatever - except one.  Aw.  :(

I have to say, though - this isn't my favorite cover!

Thanks for the fun again, dear Agatha. 

Hungry for more,
b.

34. And Then There Were None (1939)

{also published as Ten Little Indians}

First book I've read in one sitting in... years.

This.

Dear Agatha, I have always thought that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was my favorite Christie.  Murder on the Orient Express is up, there, too.  But this... this book is different from any of the others I've read.

I'd almost classify it as horror or suspense rather than detective fiction.  Yes, there is a mystery to solve -- who exactly is U. N. Owen? - but it is solved in the context of ten people fighting for their lives.  That definitely brings a horror / suspense element to the normally cerebral cozy mystery that we are so used to from you.

Roger Ackroyd was written early on and certainly established your position as Queen of Deception, but the novels that followed were often formulaic (no criticism intended as I still can never guess the culprit!).  Then, somehow, you manage to do something so creative, so extraordinary with And Then There Were None - in the middle of it all.  It blows my mind simply that you published something like 5 novels in 1938 and 1939 - that alone is a feat of workmanship to be admired - but to come out with ATTWN in the middle? Astounding.

What else can I say?

I love that the mystery is not solved with the final chapter.  Or what you think is the solution is found not to be the solution in the epilogue.  It isn't until the final pages of the novel in one character's confession that everything is wrapped up neatly.  (If it weren't for that confession, we would have no solution!  What if...?)  Even structurally this book transcends norms.

Tonight we get to go see the stage version of the story.  I can't imagine how this will translate into a live production.  And I can't wait!

33. Easy to Kill (1939)

{also published as Murder is Easy}

(I like the American title of Easy to Kill better, dear Agatha.)

I *loved* this book.

It was really outrageous and shocking and twisty and fun.

And while you know I adore Hercule Poirot, it was certainly a nice break from his order and method - in favor of a new sleuth in town (a not very successful one, in the end, mind you) and the lovely heroine (who, as she said, would not die - although it was close!). 

A serial killer with no apparent pattern, no apparent links among the victims... Red herrings and twists and mentions of detective fiction and books and... what is not to love about this book?

And no typos, unlike the previous read. (Forgot to mention that, did I? It *annoys* the heck out of me, Agatha!)

Love!

me

PS:  Oh yeah - I started this book with the British edition on my Kindle.  (1) The title changed - not unusual - but (2) the British version has chapter titles while the American version does not.  Odd.  And (3) one of the main characters' name was changed from Pinkerton to Fullerton.  Hmmm...

PPS:  And... on my cover there is a picture of... someone.  Who?  Not sure, really.  It could be the creeper Ellsworthy (who made me think of Mr. Gold of Once Upon a Time) I guess.  Or maybe Miss Waynflete?  I don't know.  But I *love* the cover art that came up on my Goodreads post.

21. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1934)

{also published as The Boomerang Clue}

Ah, dear Agatha,

I loved loved loved this book!  Frankie and Bobby reminded me a little bit of Tommy and Tuppence.  I loved their friendship, their banter, the wise(r?) female half, their wit, their perseverance, their bravery, their smarts.

From the very first chapter, this book had me hooked. "Why didn't they ask Evans?" the dying man asked.  Indeed, why not?  And who the heck is Evans?  And what difference does it make?  Ah, so many questions from the get-go.  AND... when the mystery begins to unravel, they have a chance to find out who Evans is, and the bad guy denies them the solution!  HA!

Chapter 2 talked much of the relationship of Bobby and his father - pure brilliance.  I loved every word.

Such suspense at the Grange in the evening of chapter 15!  Honestly usually I'd say your stories are more cozy than suspenseful, but you really had me entirely drawn in with that chapter.

The only thing that really dates this novel is the use of terms such as "dope gang."  It did make me chuckle, I have to admit.

{I don't however, understand the meaning of the American title, The Boomerang Clue...}

Thanks again for the wonderful fun!

b.

16. The Tuesday Club Murders (1932)

(also published as The Thirteen Problems)

Dear Agatha,

Such an interesting book.  I don't know why you wrote it the way you did - 6 people share 6 dilemmas to be solved; at a later date a different set of 6 (some of the first set included) share 6 new dilemmas; and finally, Miss Marple solves one more crime.  It's odd to me, the structure.

But I liked it anyway.

(I'll admit I was hoping that someone in the club would be murdered whilst they discussed their unsolved mysteries - leaving the culprit to be one of the remaining 5.)

"...little Tommy Symonds, a naughty little boy, I am afraid, but sometimes very amusing... He said, 'Teacher, do you say yolk of eggs is white or yolk of eggs are white?'... and naughty Tommy said: 'Well, I should say yolk of egg is yellow!'"

Got me, and my daughter, too.

Of the beautiful actress Miss Helier:

"It was borne in upon her audience that the outside of Jane's charming head was distinctly superior to the inside."

Oh, dear Agatha, you make me chuckle.  One more, waxing philosophical:

"Perhaps it was better for her to die while life was still happy than it would have been for her to live on, unhappy and disillusioned, in a world that would have seemed suddenly horrible."

Just skimming the stories again, Dame Agatha - you are incredibly creative.  Some of your stories seem so far-fetched on the surface, but when explained they make perfect sense. 

As always, thanks for the fun.

Beth