Reviews and commentary on the works of Agatha Christie, best mystery author of the "Golden Age".

Agatha Christie Reviews

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Death On The Nile

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 up, with fiance in tow. Jackie is terribly in love with Simon Doyle, and they're both poor. She wants Linnet to give Simon a job as land agent for her new property. Then everything will be wonderful.

Jackie's rosy future turns black, however, when Linnet ends up falling for Simon herself and marries him. The newlyweds go on an extended honeymoon, which quickly goes sour for them, as Jackie turns up wherever they go.

Things come to a head on a cruise along the Nile. Jackie, in a moment of passion, shoots Simon in the leg. Later that night, Linnet herself is murdered as she sleeps in her cabin.

While Jackie appears to be the obvious culprit, there is no lack of other suspects. The American lawyer, who may have been dipping into Linnet's inheritance; the engineer whose bigamous marriage was thwarted; the undercover terrorist; the jewel thief who made off with Linnet's fabulous pearl necklace.

Hercule Poirot, having yet another busman's holiday (he just can't take a vacation without a corpse or two showing up), with some help from Col. Race (who's after the terrorist), handles matters with his usual aplomb.

Typical in a Christie novel, there is much underbrush to be cleared away before the truth is revealed. Not quickly enough, though. This is one of her more bloodthirsty works, as five bodies are taken off the steamer Karnak at the end.

Speaking of Nile trips and Egypt, the book gives wonderful background color. You get a really good feel for how the country was back in the 1930s, when Egypt was one of the places for the upper class to visit. You almost need sunscreen while reading it.

Most interesting, perhaps, is that any number of minor crimes are dismissed as Poirot and Race search for the killer. Then again, neither man is "official" (Race is Secret Service), and they can afford such latitude.

In some ways, this book is reminiscent of Murder On The Orient Express, with everyone in one small, enclosed location. All the detection and murders take place on the Karnak. A number of passengers have some connection with Linnet, although, unlike MOTOE, none are hidden.

Dame Agatha spreads suspicion with a deft hand, and the solution comes as a dazzling shock. Few readers are likely to anticipate it. This is Christie at her best.

Death On The Nile is a tour-de-force not to be missed. It is also, in some ways, a sad book...but you'll have to read it to find out why. So go read it!







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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Sittaford Mystery

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 is heavy on the ground, with more on the way. Mrs. Willet invites several people for the afternoon, and soon they're engaged in table turning. It's all fun, until the table spells out "T-R-E-V D-E-A-D".

Despite the impending blizzard, Burnaby is upset enough to make the six-mile walk into Exhampton and ensure Trevelyan is all right. When, a couple of hours later, he arrives and gets no answer at the house, he calls on the local police.

They enter and find that the table was right: Trevelyan is dead, having been killed, so the doctor figures, just around the time the table rapped out its message.

Inspector Narracott, in charge of the case, dismisses "spirits" and looks for a material solution. He quickly finds it in James Pearson, one of Trevelyan's nephews, who is not only hard up, but was actually at the house around the time of death.

Enter Emily Trefusis, James' fiancee. She's one of Christie's "spunky heroines": bright, crafty, and indomitable. In no time at all, she has a journalist (Charles Enderby) in tow, and establishes herself in Sittaford to make her own investigations.

The story has an overall light tone, though with serious undercurrents. After all, a man's life is at stake, and there are others who were in need of some ready cash besides James.

It's great fun watching Emily and Charles poking around the village and town, especially Emily. She has no qualms about making up anything she thinks will serve her purpose, and she's quite good at it.

For example, to avoid offending the sensibilities and "pure minds" of the locals, she presents Charles as her cousin. In some way (don't ask me how) this makes it "all right" that they take (separate) rooms in the cottage of the local cleaning oman.

The best part is that Emily is no fool, no addle-pated heroine who rushes
impetuously into a bad spot. When she finds the "ultimate clue", she does exactly the right thing with it.

Of course, there are red herrings and schemes under the surface. The trick is to disentangle the main plot from the side issues, and as usual, it won't be easy. Christie's sleight of hand is as deceptive as ever.

The Sittaford Mystery is a treat for any Christie fan. Unfortunately, it isn't easy to find these days. While many of Dame Agatha's books are in print, this one doesn't seem to be available, and you'll have to try eBay or a second-hand bookseller. It's worth the effort.






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Sunday, April 15, 2007

Third Girl

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 them, and with the help of Mr. Goby, they track down Norma's identity. However, there is no body or recent death anywhere to be found.

Unfortunately, despite the promising start, this is one of Christie's substandard books. Coincidence plays a big part: just by chance, Mrs. Oliver walks into a cafe and sees the missing Norma in close conversation with her undesirable boyfriend.

Soon after, thanks to Poirot, Norma is whisked away to relative safety for the time being. Meanwhile, much of the story is taken up with digging around in the past of the Restaricks and assorted other characters.

Mrs. Oliver, who begins with an active role, takes a heavy hit to the head and afterwards becomes very much secondary. There isn't a lot she can do from a hospital bed.

We share too much of Poirot's thinking. In earlier novels, we were just given some tantalizing bits and pieces; here we have pages of his mental workings, which, to be blunt, seems like padding.

Christie approaches the "hippie scene" with a good deal of tentativeness. There are mentions of the odd and disreputable appearance of young people and the prevalence of drug-taking, but little else. It is obvious she isn't familiar with this milieu. Even though the book is contemporary with the times, it lacks an authentic feel.

Of course, by now Dame Agatha was in her 70s, and the world she wrote about up through the 40s had disappeared. She may have been a little bewildered by the "generation gap", and it was a mistake on her part to incorporate that to give her work a "modern feel".

Even the denouement isn't startling. Much of it is telegraphed to the reader long before the "final chapter".

Overall, Third Girl is a disappointment from many angles. Christie fans may want to read it, just to complete going through her work. Otherwise, you can skip this one and not miss anything.






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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Sleeping Murder

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 waiting for her husband Giles to finish up whatever it is he does (his actual job is never mentioned in the book).

She spots a charming house in Dillmouth, and quickly decides "this is home". Soon, however, Gwenna begins having odd experiences. First it's the door in the wall. Sure enough, a door, bricked over, is right in that spotwhere she thought it ought to be.

Then it's the back steps. She thinks they should be in a different location. And yes, they once were right where she felt they belonged. Finally, a closet is opened, and inside it's papered with wallpaper that she dimly recalled having seen somewhere before.

All that is creepy enough to send her to London, and stay with Raymond and Joan West. Fortunately, Miss Marple is staying with them, too. A good thing, because when they all attend a performance of The Duchess Of Malfi, Gwenna suddenly runs screaming from the theater.

The next day, Gwenna relates her odd experiences, and that the play suddenly brought back a memory of seeing a strangled woman, whose name she believes is Helen, lying on the floor of the drawing room in the Dillmouth house. Gwenna is ready to have herself certified as crazy.

Miss Marple, however, calmly suggests the most likely explanation: that Gwenna must have stayed in that house for at least a short time when she was very young. And so it turns out: Gwenna had lived there briefly at around the age of three. Which means it's also likely that a murder happened there as she recalled it.

She and Giles are hot to take up the trail of this eighteen-year-old murder, despite Aunt Jane's advice to "let sleeping murder lie". Not realizing all the implications, they go on anyway. Miss Marple, worried about them, gets Dr. Haydock to recommend a "stay at the seaside for her
health".

From there on, the book follows Giles and Gwenna on the one hand, and Miss Marple on the other, as they slowly work their ways back through time. First they discover that "Helen" was Gwenna's stepmother, who supposedly ran offwith another man.

She learns the truth about her father, committed to an asylum, thoroughly convinced he had strangled Helen during a "mental blackout". Later, hecommitted suicide.

Did he do it? Was it one of the other men in Helen's life? What happened to her body? Little by little, the real story comes out.

The book moves along at a breezy pace. Giles and Gwenna, with help from Miss Marple, have little trouble finding most of the important people(suspects) from long ago, or getting them to talk about Helen.

The unmasking of the real killer will likely not come as a surprise to experienced mystery readers. Sleeping Murder isn't one of Christie's substantial works.

I suspect it was written, not only as "insurance", but also to take her mind off real-world happenings. The rural setting, the absence of war, the retrospective nature of the crime (which she had done before in Murder In Retrospect, also a war book), show an unconscious yearning for earlier, happier times.

With that in mind, and realizing anyone would have a hard time concentrating with London being bombed to shreds, it may be only natural the book is somewhat lightweight.

However, it's always good to see Miss Marple in action, and even better to see her for once coming to the rescue on her own. If you need to while away a few hours, Sleeping Murder is a good choice.



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Friday, April 06, 2007

A Caribbean Mystery

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", the discussions of interesting events in and around St. Mary Mead. With Agatha Christie directing matters, though, "Aunt Jane" won't be bored much longer.

It begins with Major Palgrave, a fellow guest, asking if Miss Marple would like to see the photograph of a murderer. Just as he's about to hand it over, the Major's face changes, he hurriedly shoves the snapshot back into his wallet, and begins to talk loudly of something else.

A little too late for the good Major, however. Next day, he's found dead, apparently of natural causes. Miss Marple isn't quite sure about that, and begins a little investigation of her own.

As far as the plot goes, it's average Christie. Not top form, not bad, just somewhere inbetween. The real meat of the book is watching Miss Marple, cut off from her usual helpmeets, poking around and getting to the truth of the matter.

She is amazingly spry here, and quite different from the Miss Marple of The Mirror Cracked five years earlier. There is no mention of frailty. She lives self-sufficiently in her own bungalow, no attendant needed.

Further, she tells blatant lies, performs stealth missions, and bullies an irascible millionaire, Jason Rafiel, into becoming her assistant. Indeed, she so gains his respect that he will later call on her services in Nemesis.

Overall, this is a great book for Miss Marple fans (and I am very much one of those). She's in top form, and it's a joy to watch her in action. For all who love "Aunt Jane", this one is not to be missed.







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