Agatha Christie Reviews
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Murder On The Orient Express
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 secretary and valet, no one else has a connection with him. And those two have water-tight alibis, although such alibis are often suspicious.
This is her most cerebral detective novel. Almost all the action takes place within two cars of the luxurious Orient Express. There are no outside distractions, no running hither and yon, no checking up on the passengers' credentials. Claustrophobes, beware!
Certainly there are clues, but are they real or fake? It isn't so easy to tell, especially with Dame Agatha setting them up. And unlike The Mysterious Affair At Styles, the clues are placed with a light hand.
Much of the book is centered on the interrogations of the passengers. They seem to be telling the truth, but are any of them holding a little something back? Naturally they are; that's par for the course in any mystery novel.
The question, as always, is whether what they're concealing has anything to do with the murder of the abominable Ratchett. The answers can be quite surprising.
This is one Christie where, after a certain point, the question of "whodunnit" will become obvious before Poirot's explanation. That doesn't matter so much.
What matters is how she takes a perfectly outrageous plot and makes it seem almost plausible. Working this out must have given her a real headache, especially as there is more than one solution. There's no way to explain that without spoiling it, so you'll just have to read it for yourself. Armchair detection at its best!
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 secretary and valet, no one else has a connection with him. And those two have water-tight alibis, although such alibis are often suspicious.
This is her most cerebral detective novel. Almost all the action takes place within two cars of the luxurious Orient Express. There are no outside distractions, no running hither and yon, no checking up on the passengers' credentials. Claustrophobes, beware!
Certainly there are clues, but are they real or fake? It isn't so easy to tell, especially with Dame Agatha setting them up. And unlike The Mysterious Affair At Styles, the clues are placed with a light hand.
Much of the book is centered on the interrogations of the passengers. They seem to be telling the truth, but are any of them holding a little something back? Naturally they are; that's par for the course in any mystery novel.
The question, as always, is whether what they're concealing has anything to do with the murder of the abominable Ratchett. The answers can be quite surprising.
This is one Christie where, after a certain point, the question of "whodunnit" will become obvious before Poirot's explanation. That doesn't matter so much.
What matters is how she takes a perfectly outrageous plot and makes it seem almost plausible. Working this out must have given her a real headache, especially as there is more than one solution. There's no way to explain that without spoiling it, so you'll just have to read it for yourself. Armchair detection at its best!
Short Story Collections
Directory of Agatha Christie short story collections. Click any title to read the writeup.
The Labors Of Hercules
The Labors Of Hercules
Articles About Agatha Christie
Directory of articles about Agatha Christie and her works. Click any link to read the post.
Monday, January 29, 2007
The Mysterious Affair At Styles
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 with the death by poisoning of Emily Inglethorpe, elderly, autocratic and wealthy. Suspicion naturally falls on her husband, Alfred, whom the Inglethorpe family members consider "not one of us".
Hastings, having run into Poirot earlier - he's a member of a small Belgian refugee group - hurries to drag his friend into the case. In no time at all, Poirot is following a maze of physical clues, closely-held secrets, and red herrings.
Typical for a first effort, The Mysterious Affair At Styles is overburdened with those clues, or supposed clues. Christie was a great fan of Sherlock Holmes, and Styles is heavily influenced by physical evidence.
Nonetheless, everything is still fair and aboveboard. The plotting, while a bit over-elaborate, is carefully done. Poirot explains everything quite clearly at the end, and the reader has no trouble following the sequence of what really happened that fateful day at Styles.
This one is on my "top 10" list of Christie novels, and recommended to anyone who enjoys reading the "Golden Age" mysteries.
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 with the death by poisoning of Emily Inglethorpe, elderly, autocratic and wealthy. Suspicion naturally falls on her husband, Alfred, whom the Inglethorpe family members consider "not one of us".
Hastings, having run into Poirot earlier - he's a member of a small Belgian refugee group - hurries to drag his friend into the case. In no time at all, Poirot is following a maze of physical clues, closely-held secrets, and red herrings.
Typical for a first effort, The Mysterious Affair At Styles is overburdened with those clues, or supposed clues. Christie was a great fan of Sherlock Holmes, and Styles is heavily influenced by physical evidence.
Nonetheless, everything is still fair and aboveboard. The plotting, while a bit over-elaborate, is carefully done. Poirot explains everything quite clearly at the end, and the reader has no trouble following the sequence of what really happened that fateful day at Styles.
This one is on my "top 10" list of Christie novels, and recommended to anyone who enjoys reading the "Golden Age" mysteries.
The 1970s
The 1960s
Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1960s. Click any title to read the writeup.
The 1950s
Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1950s. Click any title to read the writeup.
The 1940s
Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1940s. Click any title to read the writeup.
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The 1930s
Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1930s. Click any title to read the writeup.
The 1920s
Directory of Agatha Christie novels she wrote in the 1920s. Click any title to read the writeup.
