tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-387661302024-10-24T08:34:09.971-04:00Reviews and commentary on the works of Agatha Christie, best mystery author of the "Golden Age".Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-42071313475503272042007-04-24T23:12:00.000-04:002007-04-24T23:21:04.174-04:00

Linnet Ridgeway has it all: brains, beauty, bucks - and she's only twenty. A very mature twenty at that; she could easily have been ten years older. Linnet's unusual in another way, too. Unlike many Christie victims, she doesn't die in the early pages. We get to know her quite well before the end comes. Linnet is renovating her new country home when her old friend, Jacqueline de Bellefort shows

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-22891073187374517732007-04-18T19:59:00.000-04:002007-04-18T20:05:20.792-04:00

Also known as Murder At Hazelmoor, this is one of my favorite novels. Captain Trevelyan (retired Navy man) rents his home, Sittaford House, in the tiny village of Sittaford to the Willetts for the winter.He rents a house in nearby Exhampton called "Hazelmoor" for himself, where his life-long friend, Major Burnaby, visits on Friday nights for gaming (chess, not video!).It's been a bad winter. Snow

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-88969074036015242007-04-15T10:56:00.000-04:002007-04-15T11:03:28.748-04:00

Two young women rent an apartment. Then they advertise for one more to help with expenses, a "third girl". The third girl here is Norma Restarick. She shows up at Poirot's place one morning, blurts out she "may" have killed someone, decides Poirot is too old, and promptly vanishes.Mrs. Oliver turns up next, and hearing the tale, decides the girl must have been someone she met at a party. Between

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-91594110134182149602007-04-10T22:52:00.000-04:002007-04-10T23:04:09.892-04:00

Although published in 1976, Christie wrote Sleeping Murder during World War II. It and Curtain were "safeguards", in case she happened to be killed during the attacks on London: there would still be a couple of "Agatha Christies" after peace was restored. The setting is pre-war rural England, along the south coast. Recently-married New Zealander Gwenna Reed arrives to do some house-hunting while

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-82499539376682738192007-04-06T19:20:00.000-04:002007-04-06T19:26:12.358-04:00

Miss Jane Marple - who traveled a lot in her "later" years - finds herself at the Caribbean resort of Saint Honore, courtesy of her nephew Raymond West. She loves the beautiful climate, the wonderful warmth, the attentive service. But she's bored.She thinks it's the sameness of the weather and scenery, but we know better. She misses her coterie of gossipers, the "tea and scandal at four-thirty",

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-3971183065253934702007-03-31T20:45:00.000-04:002007-03-31T20:50:19.579-04:00

This is not one of Christie's better works. The action takes place almost entirely in the exclusive girls' school called Meadowbank, and is centered around a fortune in jewels.A revolution occurs in the fictitious Middle East country of Ramat. Prince Ali Yusuf hands Bob Rawlings the gems and asks him to get them safely out of the country. Rawlings hides them in the handle of his niece Jennifer's

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-74869737838229936052007-03-25T22:37:00.000-04:002007-03-25T22:45:42.703-04:00

In The ABC Murders, Poirot asks Hastings to describe a "creamy" murder. Ever the romantic, he gives what Poirot calls "a very pretty resume of all the detective stories that have ever been written".Challenged by Hastings, Poirot then describes his own choice: something simple, something intime. Four people play bridge, while a fifth sits out by the fire. Later, he is found dead. One of the other

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170540155076249052007-02-03T16:58:00.000-05:002007-02-03T17:02:35.076-05:00

During the 1930s, Hercule Poirot was always talking about "retiring". Of course, any such period of "retirement" didn't last long. Wherever he was, murder reared its enticing head, calling him to action. Besides, Poirot usually found retirement boring, anyway.In one of these retirement fits, he decided to exit in grand style by taking just twelve more cases. Not just any case; it had to be a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170198237334375512007-01-30T17:55:00.000-05:002007-01-30T18:03:57.343-05:00

Of all Christie's works, this is my favorite. Hercule Poirot at the top of his form, on a snow-bound luxury train full of suspicious characters.During the second night's run, Samuel Ratchett, alias the vicious kidnaper Cassetti, is stabbed to death. It would seem that one of the other passengers in the Calais coach must be the murderer. But is that really the case? Aside from the dead man's

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170539885783273862007-01-30T16:57:00.000-05:002007-02-03T17:07:26.690-05:00

Directory of Agatha Christie short story collections. Click any title to read the writeup.The Labors Of Hercules

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170539839220705232007-01-30T16:56:00.000-05:002007-02-03T16:57:19.226-05:00

Directory of articles about Agatha Christie and her works. Click any link to read the post.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170124806928555722007-01-29T21:31:00.000-05:002007-01-29T21:40:06.930-05:00

Christie breaks into the mystery scene with a good first novel, introducing us to Hercule Poirot and his companion, Arthur Hastings. World War I is raging, and Hastings is home on medical leave.You wouldn't believe it, though. While almost everyone at Styles is doing something to help the war effort, they still manage to have some servants and even enjoy tea on the lawn.Enjoyment ends quickly

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170124267290503262007-01-29T21:30:00.001-05:002007-04-10T23:07:44.694-04:00

Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1970s. Click any title to read the writeup.Sleeping Murder

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170124243539084642007-01-29T21:30:00.000-05:002007-04-15T11:05:44.727-04:00

Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1960s. Click any title to read the writeup.A Caribbean MysteryThird Girl

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170124208554234872007-01-29T21:29:00.001-05:002007-03-31T20:55:27.748-04:00

Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1950s. Click any title to read the writeup.Cat Among The Pigeons

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170124183073533222007-01-29T21:29:00.000-05:002007-01-29T21:29:43.073-05:00

Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1940s. Click any title to read the writeup.Entries Coming Soon

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170124153885904442007-01-29T21:28:00.000-05:002007-04-24T23:23:23.723-04:00

Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1930s. Click any title to read the writeup.Cards On The TableDeath On The NileMurder On The Orient ExpressThe Sittaford Mystery

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38766130.post-1170122495848338462007-01-29T20:59:00.000-05:002007-04-06T19:32:35.939-04:00

Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1920s. Click any title to read the writeup.The Mysterious Affair At Styles

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