A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Markup

A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Markup is a good Christie reference book. Ms. Markup covers the poisons that Christie used when she wrote her mysteries. As you may know if you have read anything about the biography of Christie, she started out during World War I by working in a pharmacy. She learned the chemical reactions of drugs and also learned something about how dangerous some poisons are. A is for Arsenic is not really about the books themselves, but about the poisons. For example, we learn how arsenic acts, and how is it used. We get some information about the mystery (or mysteries) where Christie used the poisons, but the poisons themselves are the stars of this book.

A is for Arsenic is an interesting ready, but I have to admit that I found myself skimming the book. Instead of reading this book as you would a typical fiction book, I think it would be great as a resource for the dedicated Christie fan, who could consult the book as he or she reads the mystery.

Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

I like to listen to podcasts of old time radio shows. Sometimes, instead of old time radio, the podcasts will have fairly recent British radio show offerings. My favorites are when they offer a radio play based on one of Agatha Christie's novels. Recently Boxcars711 had a rendition of Sad Cypress. Unfortunately, they only had two of the three parts, so I was quite interested in reading the book to find out if I had figured out whodunit.

Sad Cypress is an Hercule Poirot mystery. Elinor Carlisle is accused of murdering Mary Gerrard, a young woman who had been a protege of Elinor's aunt. When Elinor and her fiance, Roddy Winter, who is also a relation by Elinor's aunt's marriage to Roddy's uncle, get an anonymous letter about Mary Gerrard cozying up to the sick aunt, they go to visit the aunt to see what's going on. Roddy winds up falling for Mary, and when the aunt dies suddenly after a second debilitating stroke, Elinor is the sole heir. The aunt died without a will, but she did express an interest in taking care of Mary Gerrard. Elinor breaks off her engagement because Roddy is in love with Mary, and Roddy also seems upset that Elinor has all the money. Roddy is rebuffed by Mary, and Elinor encourages Roddy to go to Europe. When Elinor goes down to sell her aunt's house and invites Mary and Nurse Hopkins to lunch, Mary winds up dead. Elinor is instantly suspected because of jealousy over the loss of Roddy. The local doctor, who is smitten with Elinor, enlists the help of Poirot to prove Elinor is innocent. Can Poirot do it? More importantly, is Elinor innocent?

Sad Cypress was an enjoyable mystery. The clues are all there, and when Poirot gives the recap at the end, it makes perfect sense. I know that I found myself smacking my palm to my forehead over clues that I overlooked, or didn't even realize were clues. Christie was the master of weaving a great mystery, and in this case, she created some believable characters. Elinor may not always seem very likable, but I did feel sympathy for her. Not only that, but I could see myself have the same reaction to losing my fiance. All in all, Sad Cypress was a thoroughly enjoyable mystery that I would recommend to any who haven't experienced Christie or Poirot.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe is an Hercule Poirot book from 1940. Originally, it was called The Patriotic Murders when it was released in the US, and the title was later changed to An Overdose of Death. That's the tricky thing about Christie's novels. You may think you are getting a new book, when you are actually getting one that you already read. IN One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Poirot has his regularly scheduled dental appointment with his dentist, Mr. Morley. Later that day, Morley is found dead in his office with a gun shot to the head. It looks like suicide, but Poirot cannot believe it because Morley seemed the same as usual. There was no depression or sadness in the dentist's demeanor. Instead, Poirot wonders if it was murder, but then why was the dentist murdered? When a patient, Mr. Amberiotis, who saw the dentist just a few hours later than Poirot, turns up dead from an overdose of anesthetic, Inspector Japp thinks that Morley committed suicide because of the accidental overdoes. However, Poirot isn't satisfied. Could the target have been financier, Alistair Blunt, who is so very important to Britain in the early days of World War II? Could Mabelle Sainsbury Seale have seen something? She had originally caught Poirot's eye when a buckle fell off of her new shoe as she could out of the car in front of the dentist. Could it be Howard Raikes, boyfriend of Mr. Blunt's niece, Jane Olivera? Or could it be the disreputable boyfriend, Frank Cater, of Gladys, Morley's dental assistant? When Mr. Barnes, another patient of Morley and a former member of the Home Office, meets with Poirot, and he mentions that he thinks there is a plot afoot. Something seems wrong to Barnes, and Poirot agrees that something is just not right about the whole situation. When Mabelle Sainsbury Seale turns up missing and then is found dead with her face smashed in, even Japp starts to get suspicious. However, it isn't until two attempts are made on Blunt's life, and the gun in the one of the attempts turns out to be a twin on the gun that killed Morley that Japp agrees that Morley did not commit suicide. Can Poirot connect all the disjointed pieces of this puzzle?

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe reminds me very much of the espionage stories that Christie writes. However, at times, Christie seems to loose her path in those books, and in this novel in particular, the plot did not seem as tight as it could be. At times, things seemed to drag, and I was hoping that something would happen to help me make sense of the mystery. However, when Poirot unravels the mystery at the end, I had to admit that it was very ingenious. I'm not a huge fan of Poirot's, and this is one of my least favorite of his mysteries. Of course, with that said, I would prefer even the weakest of the Christies over other books!

As with a few other of her stories, Christie uses a nursery rhyme to title the chapters and tie into the plot. I marvel at the creativity of Christie in coming up with ways to present her mysteries. I think my favorites of the nursery rhyme mysteries are A Pocket Full of Rye and Ten Little Indians.

N or M? by Agatha Christie

Although Agatha Christie is mostly known for her murder mysteries, mostly starring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, she was also a very good espionage writer. Those books are few in number, but one of my favorites is N or M?, which features Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Tommy and Tuppence were only in a handful of Christie books: The Secret Adversary, Partners in Crime, N or M?, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, and Postern of Fate, which was the last book that Christie wrote. Tommy and Tuppence start out as young people fresh from World War I with no prospects. They get involved in a spy case, looking for the mysterious Jane Finn. They open a detective agency in Partners in Crime, which is a collection of short stories with an overall unifying theme of working for Mr. Carter and looking for a man known as No. 16. For each case in the book, Tommy and Tuppence took on the personality of a well-known (in 1929) fictional detectives. With N or M?, Tommy and Tuppence are now middle aged. World War II is in full force, and the Berefords want to get in on the act of helping their country, but they are dismissed as being "past it." War is for the young, like Tommy and Tuppence's twins, Derek and Deborah.

N or M? starts with both Tommy and Tuppence down in the dumps because they don't have a role in the war. When someone comes knocking at their door, we all know that it is adventure. This time, it's in the shape of Mr. Grant, who has been sent to solicit the services of Tommy for a boring desk job in Scotland. When Tuppence gets called away to tend to a sick friend, Mr. Grant lets Tommy know that Scotland is a rouse. He's really going to a boarding house in Leahampton called Sans Souci to look for a Nazi spy. The spy can be one of two main people known as N and M. N is a male, while M is a female. Tommy is not to tell Tuppence a thing, and a few days later, he goes off to "Scotland." Imagine Tommy's surprise when he arrives at Sans Souci, as Mr. Meadowes, to find Tuppence already in residence as Mrs. Blenkensop, Tommy is elated. Tuppence figured out that Mr. Grant didn't want to talk in front of her, so she plotted the phone call with a next door neighbor. As Tommy and Tuppence investigate the inhabitants of Sans Souci, they realize that people are not as they appear. Just as Tommy and Tuppence are playing a role, any of the other house guests could be someone else. The only one who seems above suspicion is Mrs. Sprot with her two-year-old daughter, Betty. Christie cunningly hides the identities of N and M, and I was greatly surprised by both reveals. There are no murders in the book, but there is lots of adventure.

I loved N or M?, and it makes me want to re-read the first two Tommy and Tuppence books. The latter two are not very good, so I'll just avoid them for now. As Christie would say, you are not past it until you are dead, and you should never believe everything people tell you.

Keep your eyes open for the part where Christie has a character talk about amnesia that is brought on by the stress of life. This is obviously an reference to the amnesia adventure that Christie had. She rather famously went missing in 1926 when her husband Archie Christie was divorcing her. The claim was that Christie suffered amnesia from the stress of the divorce. You can read more about that here.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

If you are a mystery fan, you have heard of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. The book has generated a good deal of interest and critique over the years since it was published in 1926. The story was narrated by Dr. James Sheppard, who played a key role in the story. The book opens with the death of a Mrs. Ferrars. Her husband had died a year before, and her death was a suicide. Her friend, that many thought she would marry, Roger Ackroyd, asked to talk with Dr. Sheppard about the death. Dr. Sheppard went to dinner at Ackroyd’s estate with Ackroyd’s sister-in-law, niece (Flora), friend (Major Blunt), and secretary, Geoffrey Raymond. Other key suspects in the story are the housekeeper, Mrs. Russell, Ackroyd’s stepson, Ralph Patton (who was recently engaged to Flora), the butler, Parker, and the parlor maid  Ursula Bourne. Ackroyd was found murdered in his study later that night when Dr. Sheppard got a suspicious call that Ackroyd was dead. The finger of suspicion pointed to each of the characters in turn, and it was up to the newly retired Hercule Poirot to figure it out. Poor Poirot! He retired to grow vegetable marrows and wound up getting pulled in to a murder investigation.

Christie caused a ton of controversy with the book because of the plot twist she employed. I won’t say what it is here, but some people thought it was a cheat. Since I read the book before, and I knew whodunit, I was looking for all the clues that point to the murderer. They are indeed there! Christie’s mantra throughout all of her books was that you can’t believe what people tell you. You should only believe the things that you know that you can absolutely verify that isn’t based on X told me. Even as a kid, I was one of the “show me” types. I don’t know if I ever took it to the level of Christie’s detectives, but I do appreciate the philosophy. I found The Murder of Roger Ackroyd to be extremely well-written and highly entertaining. Christie knew how to weave a pleasing and entertaining puzzle, and I highly recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd to anyone who loves a good book!

Curtain by Agatha Christie

I’ve been a fan of Agatha Christie since I was a teenager. I remember getting Curtain as a Christmas present one year. It was the only time I read the book, and I remember that I was quite shattered by the book. Obviously, I don’t want to give any spoilers to someone who hasn’t read the book, but it is Hercule Poirot’s last case. Agatha Christie originally wrote the book in the early 1940s in case she was killed in one of those bombing raids on London. Her thought was that the Poirot and a Miss Marple, Sleeping Murder, would help support her daughter and grandson in her absence.It was locked away until the 1970s when it became obvious that Christie would not be able to write another book.Curtain was published shortly before Christie’s death. Sleeping Murder was published after Christie’s death.

Curtain, as I mentioned, was Poirot’s last case. He and Hastings returned to the site of their first case, the country house named Styles. Hastings was a recent widow, and he was quite disturbed to find Poirot in a much weakened physical state. Poirot was after X, a person who was responsible for several deaths that had been done by others. For example, in one case, the daughter murdered her repressive father, and then went to the police to turn herself in. Another time, a husband murdered his wife. Poirot knew that X was at Styles, which has been turned into a boarding house, and that murder was soon to follow. Also at Styles were Hastings daughter, Judith, who is working with a research doctor, Dr. Franklin. Dr. Franklin was unhappily married to woman who claimed to have poor health. Mrs. Franklin’s old beau was there, Mr. Norton, a bird watcher, and Elizabeth Cole, who was the sister of the woman who murdered the repressive father. It became obvious that there was tension in the air. Even the new owners, Colonel and Mrs. Luttrell showed signs of cracking under the strain. After the Colonel accidentally shot his wife, who was not badly injured, Hastings was on the watch. But could he stop the next murder? With concern over his daughter Judith, Hastings himself almost stooped to murdering a man Hastings thought was going to use his daughter in a nasty affair.

The story was very gripping, and I enjoyed reading the book more this time the first. Knowing how the story ended, I was on the lookout for all the potential clues, and they were all there. The book was a very fitting end to both Christie’s and Poirot’s careers. I would recommend the book to any mystery lover. Just keep in mind that the ending might be a bit of a shock. I’m glad that I finally got over my negative feelings about the book and reread it. Agatha Christie is one of those authors who should be read and reread many times!

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie

I was in the mood for an Hercule Poirot mystery, so I got Evil Under the Sunby Agatha Christie. It’s one of the earlier Christies, written in 1941. Poirot is on vacation and before you know it, he finds himself in the middle of a murder. Arlena Stuart is strangled, and the husband, Kenneth Marshall, looks like a good suspect. He could see that Arlena was flirting with Patrick Redfern, and everyone is sure that the romance has to be getting under Marshall’s skin. However, Marshall appears to have an alibi. Redfern also has an alibi. Redfern’s wife, Christina, also has an alibi because she is with Marshall’s teenage daughter, Linda. Linda is acting guilty, probably because she hated her step-mother. But could a young girl strangle a grown woman? It looks as if the only person who could have committed the crime is a mentally troubled priest or an anonymous drug dealer.

I really enjoyed the book. Unlike some of the other Christie mysteries, there is only one murder. If you pay close attention, all the clues to the murder are there. This book was also made into a movie, starting Peter Ustinov as Poirot. The movie also stars Diana Rigg as Arlena Stuart. The book was a quick and enjoyable read, and I found it to be a pleasant way to spend a snowy weekend.

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

As some of you may remember, Miss Marple is one of my favorite fictional detectives. I love reading Agatha Christie, in general, but for some reason, I find Miss Marple more entertaining that Hercule Poirot. I think that part of it may be because Miss Marple is more self-effacing. Others toot her horn more than Miss Marple does. I’ve randomly read her novels over the years, and it’s been quite some time since I read A Caribbean Mystery. This is one of the later books of the twelve Marple novels, published in 1964. The book was made into a movie with Helen Hayes, which is also very enjoyable.

In A Caribbean Mystery, Miss Marple was vacationing in the Caribbean as a treat from her nephew, Raymond West. Miss Marple had been feeling poorly, and a vacation in a tropic area was just the ticket for recovery. Miss Marple found herself involved in murder when a fellow guest, Major Palgrave was murdered after offering to show Miss Marple the photograph of a man who had murdered a couple of wives. Of course, Christie explained to the reader that people just don’t listen to the repetitive stories of the elderly. As Miss Marple tried to get a glimpse of the photo and get the authorities to confirm if Major Palgrave died due to natural causes, another housemaid turned up dead. An investigation showed the Major Palgrave was poisoned, and the housemaid must have known who did it. Miss Marple knew that the way to catch the murderer was to figure out who was the murderer in the photograph. As Miss Marple explained to the rich, crotchety Mr. Rafiel, the person in the photo must have been planning another murder! There were plenty of suspects, but with the help of Mr. Rafiel and his manservant, Jackson, Miss Marple saved the day.

Although this book is one of the later books, the story wasn’t as rambling as some of the other books. We did get to see things more from Miss Marple’s perspective than we have in other novels. Usually, the teller of the story was someone else, and Miss Marple was a supplemental character. I think that having the story from Miss Marple’s viewpoint allowed Christie to give some perspective on old age. Miss Marple realized that she wasn’t as mobile as she was. Christie also complained about the eagerness of doctors in prescribing medications and finding health problems with people. We have that same problem today. Doctors are quick to prescribe antibiotics for colds and a variety of pills for the most routine ailments.

Of course, the most interesting interaction was between Mr. Rafiel and Miss Marple. Miss Marple took the role of Nemesis. Hence the title for the succeeding book Nemesis, where Miss Marple looked into a mystery for Mr. Rafiel as a request from his will. I really enjoyed reading A Caribbean Mystery. It wasn’t the best of the Christies, but it had a good mystery and interesting characters. As Mr. Rafiel said to Miss Marple at the end, “Ave Caesar, nos morituri te salutamus.” Christie, I salute you!

4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors. I started reading her books as a pre-teen, and I still enjoy them just as much as I did then. My favorite sleuth is Miss Marple. I can hear the groans from all of the Hercule Poirot fans. However, I feel a connection to Miss Marple. Her version of detection was recognizing the traits shared between the current batch of protagonists with those she has met throughout her life. Miss Marple only featured in thirteen of Christie’s novels, and in my opinion, all except for At Bertram’s Hotel, are very good books.

This past week, I read one of my favorites, 4:50 from Paddington or What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw. The first title was the original British title of the book, while the latter was common in the US. The book started with Elspeth McGillicuddy travelling by train from London to Saint Mary Mead a few days before Christmas. On the journey, another train passed Mrs. McGillicuddy’s train. The trains’ speeds matched as they rounded a curve, and as Mrs. McGillicuddy stared out the window, she saw a man with his back toward Mrs. McGillicuddy, strangling a woman in the adjoining train. Mrs. McGillicuddy was shocked. However, as she explained the situation to the ticket collector a few minutes later, she found that no one believed her. However, Mrs. McGillicuddy found someone who trusted her when she made it to Jane Marple’s house. Miss Marple took her friend seriously, and the pair started a short investigation. Since Mrs. McGillicuddy had to travel on to India, Miss Marple continued on the investigation herself. With the aid of a nephew and maps, she figured out where the body may have been dumped from the train, Rutherford Hall. Miss Marple was no spring chicken, so she enlisted the aid of Lucy Eyelesbarrow to find the body. Lucy, a highly-prized and expensive housekeeper, went to work at Rutherford Hall, working for Mr. Luther Crackenthorpe, an old curmudgeon, and his daughter, Emma. Luther’s grandson, Alexander Eastley came to visit for the school holidays with his school chum, James Stoddart-West. Lucy found a woman’s body in one of the old stables, stuffed in a sarcophagus. The woman matched the description of the woman that Mrs. McGillicudy saw being murdered. The question was if the woman was the mysterious Martine, the woman betrothed to the eldest son Edmund, who died in the war. Emma had received a letter from Martine before Christmas with an answering reply that Martine was returning to France. The other key members of the mystery:

• Cedric Crackenthorpe, the eldest surviving son who lived on a remote island and painted
• Harold Crackenthorpe, the married businessman
• Arnold Crackenthorpe, the con artist
• Bryan Eastley, Alexander’s father and widowed husband of Edith
• Dr. Quimper, the family doctor

Miss Marple went to stay in the village around Rutherford Hall to be available for assistance, and to lend a helping hand to Dermot Craddock of Scotland Yard. Craddock was the godson of Sir Henry Clithering, who got a helping hand from Miss Marple in A Murder is Announced. Two more victims fell to the murderer’s hand before Miss Marple, Lucy, and the return of Mrs. McGillicuddy put the murderer behind bars.

I loved reading the book. The plot is tricky and convoluted enough to keep anyone guessing. Of course, if you watched any of the numerous movie and television adaptations, you knew whodunit. I’ve read the book a few times, and every time I reread it, I found a fresh clue. Sometimes people say that Christie made things up or provided the clues at the end only. Well, I think those folks just haven’t read the books, or they read them only once. I have to admit that I forgot that Martine was Lady Stoddart-West.

The only unresolved mystery in the book is Lucy Eyelesbarrow love life. Christie loved throwing in romance, and the suggestion was that Lucy found someone to marry. It’s left up in the air, but I think the clues are there. Every time the suggestion of marriage or choosing a partner came up with Lucy, she thought of the pig sty. That’s where Lucy had an interesting conversation with Cedric who was quite clear about NOT wanting to marry Lucy. Everyone else, including old Mr. Crackenthorpe, made a marriage offer to Lucy, including Alexander for his father. As Miss Marple told Dermot Craddock at the end, she was thought she knew Lucy’s choice. Miss Marple wasn’t keen on Brian, who was the suggested mate in the Joan Hickson television adaptation. Craddock was suggested as the mate at the end of the more recent Marple series. However, when you read the book, just pay close attention to the pig sty references. Also, Miss Marple wasn’t as keen on Brian. He was the sort who would never make wise financial decisions.

As a final note, the book was the basis for the Murder, She Said movie with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. The general plot was the same, but Miss Marple took a much move active role in the murder.

There’s so much to enjoy about 4:50 from Paddington or What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw. I strongly recommend it!

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie

This is the final book in the Poirot in the Orient collection. I hate the character of Mrs. Boynton, who eventually is murdered, and I admit that I look forward to her murder. In the book, Mrs. Boynton rules her step-children and own child with an iron fist, causing them all much mental anguish. Lennox, Raymond, Carole, and Ginevra (Mrs. Boynton’s biological daughter) all suffer mental torment at Mrs. Boynton’s hand. They are captives, unable to escape. The only person not affected by Mrs. Boynton is Lennox’s wife, Nadine, but Nadine is troubled because she loves Lennox and can’t get him to escape. Mrs. Boyton usually keeps the family at home, but she decides to take a trip to the Middle East. The trip gives her a chance to test and strengthen her hold on the family. However, revolt is in the air, and Hercule Poirot overhears Richard and Carole talk about how they must murder Mrs Boynton in order to escape. When Mrs. Boynton dies on a trip to Petra, the local authority, Colonel Carbury calls in Poirot to find out what really happened. Additional characters in the book are:

• Sarah King, a young doctor who has fallen in love with Richard (and vice versa)
• Dr. Gerald, a French psychologist who is fascinated by the relationships in the family and troubled by the anxiety he sees
• Jefferson Cope, a family friend who is in love with Nadine
• Lady Westholme, a member of Parliament, who just happens to be on the trip
• Miss Pierce, an older woman who also just happens to be be on the trip

I have to admit that this is not the first time I read the book. I knew who the murderer was, but I have to admit that I remember from the first that I was truly surprised at whodunit. Christie knows how to present the psychology of the various characters. Mrs. Boynton oozes evil. You want someone to kill her and to make her suffer the way she made others suffer. But as Poirot says, murder is murder. The murderer should not be allowed to walk free just because the person deserves to die. Of course, Nadine Boynton brings up the case on the Orient Express, but Poirot dismisses that as an aberration in his usual technique. If you haven’t read it, you should. See if you can figure out the murderer. The clues are there, and Christie tries to get the reader to see it by calling out the significant points. All I know is that Appointment with Deathis an enjoyable and satisfying mystery.

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

I’ve been reading Poirot in the Orient, which is a three novel collection that features Hercule Poirot on trips in the Middle East. The first was Murder in Mesopotamia. I just finished the second in the collection, Death on the Nile. I’ve read this one a few times, and, of course, I watched the movie with Peter Ustinov as Poirot. The movie is somewhat faithful to the book, with some minor changes in the amount of characters. In Death on the NIle, we have some buildup before the story moves to Egypt. Linnet Ridgeway is a young, wealthy girl. She always gets what she wants, and what she wants is her friend’s fiance. Jacqueline de Bellefort winds up losing Simon Doyle to Linnet, and that’s when the problems start. Jackie starts to follow Linnet and Simon their honeymoon, trying to make them feel miserable. The honeymoon winds up in Egypt, where the Doyles, Jackie, Poirot, and a cast of others start to sail down the Nile. The others include an American lawyer who is embezzling Linnet’s fortune, a jewel thief, a kleptomaniac, and a person with drinking problems. These people add a wealth of potential murderers, and it’s only because of Poirot that the murder is solved. Colonel Race also makes an appearance in the book, and he aids Poirot in the investigation.

Because I was so familiar with the story, I read it with an eye to see if the clues add up. One of the raps against Christie is that she makes up things at the end to tie all the clues together. However, on the close reading of Death on the Nile, all the clues were there, and in fact, they seemed quite obvious. Christie did a great job with the mystery in this book. It ranks, in my mind, in the top ten of her books. The book was originally published in 1937, which is right before the golden era of Christie. Most seem to think that the books published from the late 1930s to 1940s are the best of the bunch. If you have only seen the movie, you should definitely read the book. I believe that you will enjoy the book and appreciate the movie even more.

The last in the collection is Appointment with Death. I just started reading that one today.

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

Murder in Mesopotamia is one of the early Agatha Christie mysteries. It stars Hercule Poirot, and it’s part of the Poirot in the Orient set that I’m reading. The novel was published in the summer of 1936, and it’s perfect for summertime reading. The narrator of the story is Ann Leatheran, a nurse called in to help with a woman, Louisa Leidner, who seems to be having issues with fear. As Nurse Leatheran finds out, Mrs. Leidner is receiving threatening letters from her first husband, who was supposed to have died in a train wreck while trying to escape from execution for treason. When Mrs. Leidner found out about her husband’s treason, she turned him in to her father, who was in the US defense office. Every time Mrs. Leidner was close to a man, she would receive a threatening letter that would cause her to drop the man. She did not receive a threatening letter when she married Dr. Erich Leidner, an archaeologist. However, after the marriage the letters started up again. When Nurse Leatheran appears on the scene, the Leidners are in Iraq on an archaeological dig. Shortly after Nurse Leatheran starts on the job, Mrs. Leidner is murdered. Hercule Poirot happens to be passing through on his way from Baghdad, and the local police call him in to assist with the mystery.

I really loved the book. Although I read the book several times, I would have to admit that it’s not obvious who the murderer is and how the murder was committed, Even the second murder of Dr. Leidner’s assistant, Miss Anne Johnson, wasn’t an obvious one. Christie did a great job in telling the story through Nurse Leatheran’s eyes. She gives her opinion of Poirot, not impressed at first, but then seeing him as the skilled surgeon that she was assisting. Of course, at the end, Poirot gathers everyone together, and after explaining how everyone could have done the deed, he finally explains how it really happened. This is a great Christie story, and I would highly recommend it.

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

I read one more Miss Marple mystery, The Moving Finger this weekend. Agatha Christie wrote this one in early 1940s with publication in 1942. This is one of my favorite of the Marple books. The story is narrated by Jerry Burton. He and his sister Joanna go to stay in Lymstock while he recovers from a bad play crash. Jerry and Joanna rent Miss Emily Barton’s house, and they prepare to settle in to boring village life. Of course, we all know that it won’t be boring for long. Anonymous letters are making the rounds in Lymstock, and Jerry and Joanna aren’t excluded from those who receive them. Of course, everyone knows that something bad will come from it all, and it does when Mrs. Symmington winds up dead, supposedly at her own hand. Of course, Jerry takes Mrs. Symmington’s elder daughter Megan under his wing. Her step-father doesn’t have time for her. Within a week, Scotland Yard is hard at work in the village when Agnes, the Symmington’s maid turned up murdered, after telling the Burtons’ housekeeper, Partridge, that she, Agnes, was confused over something. The police are baffled until Elsie Holland, the stunningly beautiful but personality-less governess, receives her first anonymous letter. Eventually, the murder is captured, and true love blooms for Jerry and Joanna.

The interesting thing about this book is that Miss Marple only appears in the last quarter of the book. Although Jerry’s subconscious figures out the mystery, it takes Miss Marple, with the help of Megan to solve the crime. Miss Marple explains it all. Christie populated the book with some interesting characters. Megan is one of my favorites. She lives in her own world, and doesn’t give in to the conventions of others who want her to take up some sort of work. As Megan says, she really doesn’t like people, and she doesn’t go out of her way to befriend them. Mrs. Dane Calthrop is the minister’s wife, and it’s through her intervention that Miss Marple gets involved in the case. Mrs. Dane Calthrop is horribly offended at the evil of the murderer of Agnes and says that she will get an expert in murder and crime on the case. The 1940s were supposed to be the apex of Christie’s books, and The Moving Finger is a good representation of Christie’s best.

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

I’ve been in the mood to read some Miss Marple mysteries, and I started the second in my group of library books: A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie. This book fell in the collection of Christie books that used a nursery rhyme in the plot of the book. In this case it was Sing a Song of Sixpence. Rex Fortescue died in his office at drinking tea, and when the police checked things out, they found loose grain, rye, in his pocket. This puzzled the police, and since Rex died from taxine poisoning (from yew trees), they took the investigation to Rex’s estate, Yew Tree Lodge. Rex had a much younger wife, an adult son and daughter, and an estranged son in Africa. Could it be the wife? Nope, because she died a few days later at tea. Then the maid, Gladys, was found dead near the clothesline with a clothes pin on her nose. The last really irritated Miss Marple, who trained the maid in St. Mary Mead. Of course, Miss Marple recognized the situation for what it was, a devious twist to the nursery rhyme:

The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes;
When down came a dickey bird
And pecked off her nose.

Of course, Miss Marple made the trip to Yew Tree Lodge and figured out whodunit, shifting through the distraction of dead blackbirds put in a pie and on Rex Fortescue’s desk a few months before the killings. She pointed Inspector Neele in the right direction, just when he was thinking Miss Marple might be a bit past it.

A Pocket Full of Rye was published in 1953, and the mystery and writing are great! I really enjoyed the book. Miss Marple got involved in just the right amount, and the mystery was a puzzler. Since this was not the first time that I read it, I knew what to look out for, and found all the clues pointing to the murderer. Sometimes people claimed that Christie hid the clues, and then threw out the solution at the end. I can assure you that was not the case with A Pocket Full of Rye. The book was a great read, and if you pay attention, you can figure out the murderer when you read it!

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie

I have finally managed to finish reading a book! It seems like it’s been a long time since I read through a book. I was in the mood for some of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and read The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. The book was published in 1962, and Christie dedicated it to Margaret Rutherford. Today, some people claim that Christie would be irritated with the liberties that the television producers have taken with Miss Marple. All I have to say is that if she dedicated a book to Margaret Rutherford, who was an extremely a typical Marple, she would be perfectly okay with the new Marple. After all, it introduces her characters and novels to a whole new generation.

In The Mirror Crack’d, Christie seemed more aware of the aging, both her own and Miss Marple’s. Miss Marple was stuck with a live-in companion, Miss Knight, an extremely irritating woman who wanted to coddle and baby Miss Marple. But Miss Marple didn’t want all that coddling, and she rebelled, taking a walk on her own, falling, and being helped by Heather Badcock. Miss Marple’s body may be frail, but her mind was still as sharp as a tack, and she realized that Heather Badcock was one of those characters who was just asking for someone to kill her. When Marina Gregg, famous movie actress, bought the Bantry estate, the whole town was thrilled and couldn’t wait to see what changes were made to the house. Mrs. Bantry went to a fete at the house and was there when Heather Badcock was poisoned. Of course, Mrs. Bantry reported to Miss Marple, and on the advice of Doctor Haddock, Miss Marple began to unravel the murder to discover the murderer. Unfortunately, two more die before Miss Marple discovered the murder, but she figured it out!

I enjoyed this book. The book was written and published in the questionable era, when Christie’s plots and writing seemed to disintegrate a bit. However, I thought the book was very entertaining and fast paced. As I mentioned, Christie seemed very aware of the changing times. Miss Marple was laid low with a bad case of bronchitis, and even had to realize that she couldn’t continue living alone in St. Mary Mead. The town itself was changing. A housing development was built in the town, and the people living there have a different character. The young people, like Cherry, who cleaned for Miss Marple, have a different attitude. As Miss Marple commented, Cherry used a vacuum cleaner where others in the past would use a broom and dustpan. Times were changing, and Miss Marple, and I think Agatha Christie, felt out of place. The title of the book, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, came from the poem, The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The look of doom overcame the face of Marina Gregg, and ultimately led to the death of Heather Badcock. The book was a good Miss Marple mystery, and I would strongly recommend it!

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

Cards on the Table is one of the earlier Agatha Christie novels (published in 1936) featuring Hercule Poirot. It also features the first appearance of Ariadne Oliver. The victim, Mr. Shaitana, is a weaselly sort of person. He gets joy out of finding things out about people and collecting them. When Shaitana meets with Poirot, Shaitana mentions that he has a "collection" of people who have committed murder and gotten away with it. Shaitana invites Poirot to a dinner party. When Poirot arrives at the party, he finds mystery writer, Ariadne Oliver, Superintendent Battle from Scotland Yard, and Colonel Race, connected with British intelligence in some undisclosed way. In addition to our four crime solvers, we have four other guests, young Anne Meredith, dashing Major John Despard, Doctor Roberts, and Mrs. Lorrimer. Shaitana throws out hints throughout dinner about undiscovered murders, then he splits the guests into two groups. The detectives play bridge in one room while the murder suspects play in another. At the end of the evening, Shaitana is found stabbed through the heart with a long, sharp, skinny dagger while sitting in a chair by the fire in the room with the murders. It's the classic locked room mystery. Only the four were in the room, and one of them must be the murderer. The question the detectives have is who did it then, and perhaps got away with it in the past? All four take a hand at detecting, and in the end, the finger of blame swings from one to the other before finally settling on the real murderer.

I love Agatha Christie, and her works from the late 1930s and 1940s are her best in my opinion. Cards on the Table is an entertaining mystery. The only problem that I had with the mystery is that bridge plays a huge role in solving the mystery. Knowing who was the dummy, meaning who was the person who was walking around, and what was being played at those particular times helped Poirot with the solution. The bridge score cards were included in the front of the book that I read. I know nothing about bridge, but I could gather enough from Poirot's explanations to get some idea of what was going on. Of course, with that said, I admit that I picked the wrong person as the murderer. It turns out that my choice was a pretty nasty piece of work, but wasn't the murderer of Mr. Shaitana. After the murderer was revealed, I could see that the hints were there. I just missed them, or rather misinterpreted them.

I enjoyed seeing the four detectives too. Ariadne Oliver is supposed to be Christie's image of herself. Mrs. Oliver has issues with her Finn detective. She berates him and wonders why in the world she ever decided to have a Finn as the detective. I love the voice of Christie that comes out. As she says, it's a story, who cares if she has the right flowers in season or if she makes some other similar minor mistake. As long as it doesn't affect the story, who cares. Mrs. Oliver also admits to reusing murder ideas, and if the story is running too short for the prerequisite word count, Mrs. Oliver just throws in some more murders. In this book, one of the earlier murders occurs when a woman accidentally drinks hat dye instead of medicine. The same technique was used in Murder Is Easy. Also, it was good to see Colonel Race and Superintendent Battle in action. Sometimes I think of them as the same man, so it's nice to know that both appear together in this novel. I admit that Hercule Poirot isn't one of my favorites. Yes, I tolerate him because he is in a good number of Christie's mysteries. I prefer Miss Marple.

Spoiler alert! Reading this paragraph might give some clues to the murderer. The four suspects were interesting characters. I found myself liking and admiring Mrs. Lorrimer and Major Despard at the start. I was hoping for romance for Major Despard, and when it came down to Anne Meredith and her housemate, Rhoda Dawes, I was rooting for Rhoda. She was the more outgoing of the two and a definite adventure seeker. Christie never lets the reader down. You know that when there are young people involved that they will find some happiness together.

I really enjoyed Cards on the Table. It wasn't my all time favorite Christie, but it was an enjoyable, quick read. Get your cuppa tea and scones ready, sit in a comfy chair, and let your little grey cells take a romp.

The Big Four by Agatha Christie

I'm a huge fan of Agatha Christie, and I've read almost all of her books more than once. I love Miss Marple and Tommy and Tuppence. Hercule Poirot is okay, but he can be annoying. I say that I've read almost all of her books because I don't remember reading The Big Four. This is a book copyrighted from 1927, but it's actually a collection of 12 short stories that were published in The Sketch magazine. Hercule Poirot learns of a criminal organization called the Big Four. The four are a Chinese man, a French scientist, an American millionaire, and a mysterious British man. Hercule Poirot figures out who the first three members of the Big Four are and spends most of the book trying to figure out who is the mysterious fourth member. Of course, the Big Four do everything they can to remove Poirot from their trail.

So what did I think of the book? It was interesting. Agatha Christie was good at making a connection between a collection of short stories. She did it with The Thirteen Problems, The Labors of Hercules, and Partners in Crime. The individual mysterious were intriguing and quite puzzling. Captain Hastings is back to help Poirot with the mystery. The book is a very quick, short read, although it wasn't very easy to find. My library only had a few copies; so if you can find it, give it a try.