Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
Dame Agatha VII
Murder on the Links: Poirot★
This book is not only a mystery, but it is about relationships & romance. As most all Christie's mysteries are about relationships, that of the victim to the suspects and the murderer(s), as well as the friendships the detectives have their co-detectives.
M. Poirot receives an extraordinary letter from businessman M. Renauld: "For God's sake, come!" Poirot and Hastings go to Renauld's home, only to find that Renauld had been murdered that morning. Meeting them at the gate is Marthe, the girl M. Poirot noted has "anxious eyes".
Madame Renauld was tied up and her husband taken away. Entry to the house was through the open front door. Renauld's body was found, stabbed in the back, in a newly-dug pit that was to serve as a sand bunker of the adjacent golf course. Renauld had sent his son Jack away on business to South America; given the chauffeur a holiday; his secretary, Gabriel Stoner, remains in England, leaving three female servants in the house.
A servant reported that neighbor Madame Daubreuil, the mother of Marthe, (had paid two hundred thousand francs into her bank account in recent weeks) visited M. Renauld after Madame Renauld had retired for the night but another servant contended it was an unknown woman who came the day before, whom Renauld urged to "leave now".
At the scene of crime there was: a smashed watch; a long piece of lead pipe; a love letter signed by "Bella"; the fragment of a check with the name "Duveen"; and the murder weapon (a letter opener used as a dagger). Renauld changed his will two weeks before, leaving almost everything to his wife and nothing to his son.
While the M. Poirot, the French magistrate and police do their work, Monsieur Giraud of the Sûreté joins them and is overtly hostile to M.Poirot and the rest of the team.
Hastings had previously encountered a young lady whom he named "Cinderella" on a train to Calais and fell in love with her. She later turned up at the links and asked Hastings to be shown the scene of the crime. Like the great azz Hastings is, he left her alone at the scene of the crime and she absconded with the murder weapon.
Jack Renauld returns home, his ship having been delayed. Jack admits to arguing with his father over who he wants to marry, but shows he is unaware of the change in the will. Marthe is the girl in question, considered unsuitable to both his parents.
Meanwhile when M. Poirot is away, another body was found with the same dagger in his heart. No one recognizes the well–dressed man who, by his hands, could be a tramp. It is found that the man died before Renauld's murder. When M. Poirot examined the new corpse with the doctor they find that the man died of an epileptic fit and was stabbed after death.
So the book goes on & on, with many side clues, investigations, & romantic involvement. The characters are not likable and most of the dialog between M. Poirot & Hastings is imbecilic blathering.
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They Do It With Mirrors: Marple
★ ★ ★ ★A family running a psychiatric "Reform College" for juvenile offenders is thrown into a tizzy when a visiting trustee is murdered in his room, the head of the family & reform college is "attacked" by one of his "patients" behind closed doors with the family listening, and the matriarch is seemingly being poisoned.
Two more murders take place; another of the stepsons & a youthful offender who both seem to know something they shouldn't...
Before any of this happens Miss Marple is sent down by Ruth van Rydock (an former school chum) to make sure that their mutual former school chum, Carrie Louise (Matriarch) is safe... When Ruth last stayed w/ Carrie Louise there had been a sense of impending trouble brewing.
The family was a definitely odd group of people, being mostly adopted: with the natural daughter being a sour, jealous woman; the Italian dramatic granddaughter being from an adopted mother (whose grandmother was a convicted murderess) & her unhappy husband (a simple man from the mid-west u.s.); an older stepson by Carrie Louise's first marriage; two other stepsons from a second marriage both in love w/ the granddaughter and wanting to marry her; and the newly arrived out-of-place ranting young man suffering from persecution & delusional syndrome.
I liked the mystery and the story (a twist on the locked door conundrum), but I didn't take too much to the characters, so I knocked this down a star.
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Murder in the Mews: 4 Poirot Stories★ ★ ★
I found the stories to be odd and can not say I really liked any except the 3rd story.
1. Murder in the Mews: Poirot joins Inspector Japp at the scene of a murder, posed to look as a suicide. Mrs Allen shot herself during a fireworks display and was found the following morning by her roommate, Miss Plenderlieth, in her bedroom behind a locked door.
It seems as though Mrs Allen had a visitor of dubious reputation and was being blackmailed by the man who was seen at the scene of the crime during the fireworks display.
2. The Incredible Theft: A house party is underway with a large variety of guests including: Lord Charles (the engineer of a new bomber), his secretary, an MP (Sir George Carrington), his wife, his son, & the dubious Mrs. Macatta (a suspected spy).
After dinner Lord Charles & sir George stroll the grounds and then go into the study where the secretary has laid out the plans for the bomber, only to find the plans stolen.
Who stole the plans out from plain sight?
3. Dead Man's Mirror: Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore having written to M. Poirot, imploring him to come help him before it is too late is found dead in his study prior to dinner. It appears to be suicide, with the bullet hitting the mirror as the main clue. Everyone heard the shot, but no one recognized it for what it was.
The family all had reasons for wanting Sir Gervase dead, he was a controlling despot more concerned with pride of family name than care of his family and his family resented his control of them.
Of all the stories this is the one I liked.... I liked the characters, the plot, the twists, & the romances.
4. Triangle at Rhodes:
While on holiday during the off season M. Poirot an overtly observed love triangle turned deadly. However the victim was not who the other guests supposed it would be.
The sleight of hand, an unobserved triangle, and "wrong" victim are all sorted out by M. Poirot.
This was my least favorite of all. I didn't like the characters, the story was not involved enough and it left me wanting.....
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Why Didn't They Ask Evans: Bobby & Frankie★ ★
There were many twisted "relationships" in the book, a few false romances, trickery & a supposed happy ending:
From Wikipedia:
"Bobby Jones is playing golf with Dr Thomas in the Welsh seaside town of Marchbolt. Seeking the golf ball he hit over the cliff edge, he sees a man lying below. The doctor says the man is fatally injured and seeks help. Bobby stays with the man, who briefly regains consciousness, says "Why didn't they ask Evans?", and then dies. Bobby found a photograph of a beautiful woman in the man's coat pocket, but no identification. Roger Bassington-ffrench, wearing plus fours, offers to stay with the body so Bobby can play the organ at his father's church.
The dead man is identified as Alex Pritchard by his sister, Amelia Cayman, at the inquest. She is said to be the woman in the photograph; Bobby wonders how such a beautiful girl could become such a coarse older woman. After the inquest, Mrs Cayman and her husband want to know if Pritchard had any last words. Bobby says that he did not. Later, when talking with his friend Frankie (Lady Frances Derwent), Bobby remembers that Pritchard did have last words and writes to the Caymans to tell them.
Bobby receives and rejects an unexpected job offer from a firm in Buenos Aires. Soon afterwards Bobby nearly dies after drinking from a poisoned bottle of beer. The local police do not pursue this. Frankie thinks Bobby is targeted for murder. Bobby agrees when he sees the issue of the local paper with the photograph used to find Pritchard's sister. Bobby sees that is not the one he found in the dead man's pocket. He and Frankie realize that Bassington-ffrench swapped the photographs and that Mrs Cayman is not related to the dead man at all. Bobby and Frankie search for Bassington-ffrench. They trace him to Merroway Court in Hampshire, owned by his brother Henry and Henry's wife Sylvia. They stage a car accident outside the house with the help of a doctor friend so that Frankie, feigning injury, will be invited to stay to recover. Frankie produces a newspaper cutting about the mysterious dead man; Sylvia remarks that he looks like Alan Carstairs. He is a traveler and big-game hunter who was a friend of John Savage, a millionaire who had killed himself after learning he had terminal cancer. Frankie meets two neighbours of the Bassington-ffrenches – Dr Nicholson and his younger wife, Moira. Dr Nicholson runs a local sanatorium. Frankie writes to Bobby and gets him to investigate the establishment. On the grounds at night, Bobby encounters a girl who says that she fears for her life; she is the original of the photograph that Bobby found in the dead man's pocket. Several days later, the girl, Moira Nicholson, turns up at the local inn where Bobby stays in his disguise as Frankie's chauffeur. She says her husband is trying to kill her and says she knew Alan Carstairs before her marriage to the doctor. Bobby introduces her to Frankie. Moira suggests that they ask Roger if he took the photograph from the body of the dead man. At the next opportunity, Frankie asks. Roger admits that he took the photo, recognizing Moira and wanting to avoid scandal for her....."
I didn't like the book as it was all so much going on and in a "breathless" manner. The characters were rather gullible. The romance & the relationships were very convoluted....
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The Moving Finger: Marple★ ★ ★ ★
Jerry Burton (a pilot recuperating) and his sister Joanna have let a house in the quiet village of Lymstock.... Soon they are victims of poison pen letters, as are most of their neighbors.
When the mother of the odd & unwanted young Megan commits suicide and her maid is poisoned, the village is thrown into even more of a frenzy of accusations & suspicions...
The vicar's wife, who with her acid tongue & pronouncements, is not above suspicion herself, calls in her friend Miss Marple to help solve the problems.
Meanwhile Jerry not only takes a keen interest in Megan and is surprised find his interest to be romantic, but an even keener interest in solving the crimes.
When Megan decides to blackmail her stepfather (at the behest of Miss Marple) the solution of the poison pen letters & the murder is solved.
I liked the mystery, the plot, the romance, and the twists made for good reading, but I found Miss Marple's intervention too pat.
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Mysterious Affair at Styles: Poirot
★ ★ ★ ★
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Affair_at_Styles
"..... Upon her husband's death, the wealthy widow, Emily Cavendish, inherited a life estate in Styles as well as the outright inheritance of the larger part of the late Mr. Cavendish's income. Mrs. Cavendish became Mrs. Inglethorp upon her recent marriage to a younger man, Alfred Inglethorp. Emily's two stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish, John's wife Mary and Cynthia Murdoch, also live at Styles. John Cavendish is the vested remainderman of Styles; that is, the property will pass to him upon his stepmother's death, per his late father's will. Lawrence Cavendish would also come into a considerable sum of money. The income left to Mrs Inglethorp by her late husband would be distributed according to her will, which she changes at least once per year. If she has not changed her will since her marriage, her husband will inherit that income.[4] Cynthia does war-time work at the pharmacy in the nearby hospital.The residents of Styles wake to find Emily Inglethorp dying of strychnine poisoning. Hastings, a house guest, enlists the help of his friend Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the nearby village, Styles St. Mary. Poirot pieces together events surrounding the murder. On the day she was killed, Emily Inglethorp was overheard arguing with someone, (presumably) her husband Alfred or her stepson John. Afterwards, she seemed quite distressed and, apparently, made a new will — which no one can find. She ate little at dinner and retired early to her room with her document case. The case was later forced open by someone and a document removed. Alfred Inglethorp left Styles earlier in the evening and stayed overnight in the nearby village, so was not present when the poisoning occurred. Nobody can explain how or when the strychnine was administered to Mrs. Inglethorp.
At first, Alfred is the prime suspect. He has the most to gain financially from his wife's death, and, since he is much younger than Emily was, the Cavendishes already suspect him as a fortune hunter. Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion, seems to hate him. His behaviour is suspicious; he openly purchased strychnine in the village before Emily was poisoned, and although he denies it, he refuses to provide an alibi. Inspector Japp is keen to arrest him, but Poirot intervenes by proving he could not have purchased the poison. Inspector Japp arrests John Cavendish. He inherits under the terms of her will, and there is evidence to suggest he had obtained poison."
I enjoyed the mystery and I understood many of the clues & Red Herrings. I had an inkling of what was going on but didn't really even connect all the dots.
There was a subplot of the relationships within Styles, the marriage of Emily & Alfred, Evelyn Howard & Alfred (cousins who hate each other), Alfred & the local widow, and John & his wife Mary.
I realize Hastings, is the perfect "straight man" for M.. Poirot, and an excellent narrator, but he is such an incompetent azz and just serves as a foil for M. Poirot's soliloquies.... But I have never taken to him, as he never learns a thing from M. Poirot & remains ignorant throughout all of Christie's books.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Dame Agatha VI
A Pocketful of Rye: Marple★ ★ ★ ★
First I liked the fact that Miss Marple was not that involved in this book, mostly the CID Neel and it was his going around talking to everyone that made the story better for me.
A rich eccentric businessman is dead by poison at this office (found with a handful of Rye in his pocket), but the poison used was one with a delayed reaction.... so someone tampered w/ his breakfast. He wasn't mean nor tightfisted toward his family, just suddenly making bad business decisions and was known to cheat in his dealings to get what he wanted.
Two other murders take place which seem to be mimicking the nursery rhyme..... The wife (eating bread & honey) and Miss Marple's former housemaid, Gladys (in the garden, but not hanging out the clothes).
The year prior, blackbirds baked into a pie, and four on the old man's desk...... The Blackbird mine deal......
Family & household members seeming to be whom they might not be, with hidden pasts.
As I said, Miss Marple wasn't in evidence as the main character, so it made the story much more enjoyable for me. Good plot twists!
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Passenger to Frankfurt (Neither Marple nor Poirot)★ ★
This book confused me, it felt like "snippets" of conversations, ideas, circumstances here &
there......
The book begins w/ a man giving his overcloak & passport to a young woman, as she has convinced him that if she gets on her prearranged flight, that she will be killed..... So while she "steal" his things (so that she might take on his identity), he goes to the airport concession & purchases a stuffed panda for his niece.....................
When he goes back to London, it is that he is in the Secret Service & everyone there is discombobulated not being able to figure out what happened....
I still really never understood the point or anything about the story, not to mention all the spy stuff bored me as I found the characters flat &
dull... not anyone to like or care about.
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Peril At End House: Poirot
★
What a way to begin the year.... with a loser!
M. Poirot & Hastings are on holiday, staying at a beach side hotel..... Enter a young woman, Nick, who has been shot at and has had a few other near attempts on her life in the past 3 days....
M. Poirot takes these attempts very seriously, but Nick merely laughs them off. M. Poirot not one to allow murder to pass undetected assigns himself to Nick & her house party, so that he might protect her.
During the fireworks, both Nick & her cousin go back in the house for their coats. The cousin is found shot to death wearing Nick's the shawl, proof that Nick is in danger.
I didn't like this book, I didn't like the characters...... I also didn't like the constant barrage of forced dialog between Poirot & Hastings. Hastings was his usual inept self, and Poirot was all conjecture, exclamations, & prattle.
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The Secret of the Chimneys: Battle★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I liked the story, I liked the characters.... Really liked Lord Caterham, his daughter Bundle, & Inspector Battle. In fact I like Inspector Battell much better than M. Poirot & Miss Marple combines. He's intelligent, quiet (not boastful or misleading), and he has a sense of humor.
There are three stories here: a jewel thief just out of French prison looking for the original Koh I-noor diamond that is said to be hidden 2 the Chimneys; the infamous manuscript of a well known count that is on its way to publication (but has been stolen), and the death/murder of the next crown prince and his "dead" brother...
All involved are gathered at the Chimneys, a traditional meeting place of Royalty & political power, much to the consternation of the current Lord Caterham. There are people who are not who the seem, and all except the family have something to hide & gain.
A very delightful mystery, definitely one of Christie's better books.
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The Seven Dials Mystery: Battle
★ ★ ★ ★
Once again we have a gathering at Chimneys, which had been let out to Sir & Lady Coote..... The Cootes, and most of the previous political figures from "Secret of the Chimneys" are gathered again at a house party that the Cootes are giving. Unfortunately one of the young men has been murdered and seven alarm clocks (there had originally been eight) are found line up across the mantle across from his bed.
After the murder, Sir & Lady Coote leave the Chimneys only to be invited back to a neighboring estate for a highly important political deal where Sir Coote's steel manufacturing will be involved.....
As Bundle is driving through to town, she comes across a young man in the road & nearly runs him over. She swerves and misses him yet she finds him dead... his last words: "The Seven Dials.... Jimmy Thesiger". These words send Bundle off on a chase trying to discover who are the group members of the mysterious Seven Dials and how to stop them from committing more murders....
Enter Inspector Battle; clam, cool, & with his ever present wry sense of humor.
I didn't like this as much as "The Secret of Chimneys", but as I liked the characters I'm willing to rate this higher than had it been one of Christie's other detectives.
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Murder at Hazelmoor
★ ★
Also published as "The Sittaford Mystery"
A rich recluse, Sir Trevayne, rents his remote mansion out to a woman & her daughter, while he takes a manor in town. He is in the habit of dining w/ his friend on Tuesdays & Thursdays, but due to the snow, dinner has been cancelled and his friend goes up to Hazelmoor for the evening instead.
After dinner a seance is held and the "spirit" taps out that Trevayne is Dead, Murdered! It is found that Trevayne's estranged nephew has been to visit him, prior to his being found dead & is arrested for the crime. The nephew's fiancee, Emily Trefusis, believe him innocent and sets out to prove it.
From Amazon: "Agatha Christie: Inspector Narracott. Murder at Hazelmoor has the British title: The Sittaford Mystery. From inside the front cover: Race Against Death. Inspector Narracott was the perfect model of a professional police inspector - calm, methodical, doing everything by the book.
Beautiful Young Emily Trefusis was his perfect opposite - impulsive, intuitive, irreverent toward all rules and regulations. Together, they entered into a competition to solve a baffling case of a man who had died at the very moment his murder was being forecast at a seance miles away.
And it was not long before even the Inspector had to admit Emily was as effective a sleuth as he could ever hope to be ... ... unless of course, she was a murderess, leading him on a merry chase..."
I didn't like Emily (she was annoying & a user/manipulator of people) and I didn't like the detective..... The story had a good premise, but unlikable characters.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Dame Agatha V
The Hollow: M. Poirot★ ★
Also titled: Murder After Hours
Romance, triangles, jealousy, family, secrets from the past, & murder.....
For some reason I am always surprised when there is romance in Christie's mysteries, not so much as a basis for murder, but when people actually get together & have a life after murder..... In this book there were several romances: past, present, and future. There was also two interlocked triangles and unrequited love, which in part were the basis for the murder.
M. Poirot is invited to lunch during a family gathering at a neighboring home. When he arrives he finds a dying man, John Christow, laying next to the pool, his wife, Gerta, w/ a gun in her hands. The dying man's last words in the tone of a plea/question (calling the name of his mistress who is standing there)... "Henrietta".
Henrietta comes to Gerta to comfort her & takes the gun out of her hand, then quite "accidentally" drops the gun in the pool, thus obliterating all fingerprints. As the story moves forward we are privy to the fact that the gun that was dropped in the pool was not the gun that killed John.
It seems as everyone in the house knows who killed John and is intent on protecting the person.... It take M. Poirot quite awhile before he is able to come to the correct murderer.
There was only one racial reference (rolling my eyes here), but I didn't like the book. It seemed to be missing something and the characters seemed flat and boring....
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Five Little Pigs: M. Poirot
★ ★Well known & egotistical artist is in the midst of painting a most fantastic portrait of an equally (if not more so) egotistical young woman..... Hence a triangle of love? Which of course leads to his murder..... Very cold blooded....
However there are men who love the artist's wife w/ devotion & hate....... two more triangles. The wife, is heard to say: "You & your women.....One day I'll kill you." Evidence enough to convict her of murder?
The wife does nothing, says nothing to defend herself..... a price/debt to pay? Her daughter, receiving a letter from her mother stating her innocence, hires M. Poirot to clear her mother's name......
Is it possible? Who really "done it"? I figured it out...... But it was a dull story told in first person narration verbally then in letters by the witnesses...... People who were basically detestable....
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Miss Marple: Complete Short Stories★ ★ 1/2
The collection is made up of: Tuesday Club Murders (13 Problems), The Regatta Mystery, Three Blind Mice and Other Stories, and Double Sin and Other Stories.
In all I believe there were 20 stories ALL Featuring Miss Marple..... I was never fond of Jane Marple to being with, the falsely humble old lady who knits and pretends to be a simple minded old maid.
The Tuesday Club Murders bored me to tears; In the first six stories a group of six people gathered at Miss Marple's home each posing a mystery for the others to deduce the outcome.... In the second six stories everyone gathered at Gossington Hall the Bantrys' home (you remember them from "Body in the Library" & "The Mirror Crack'd"). The original six are: Raymond West (Marple's nephew); Former Yard Commissioner, Sir Henry Clithering; Raymond's friend Joyce Lempriere; clergyman Dr. Pender; solicitor Mr. Petherick; & Miss Marple. Odd (annoying) how no one could figure anything out, only Miss Marple because after all she knows "human nature" based on all the not nice (evil) people she has known in her quaint little village of St. Mary Mead.
Stories included: The Tuesday Night Club, Ingots of Gold, The Blood Stained Pavement, The Idol House of Astarte, Motive v. Opportunity, The Thumb Mark of St. Peter, The Blue Geranium, The Companion, the Four Suspects, A Christmas Tragedy, The Herb of Death, The Affair at the Bungalow, & Death by Drowning.
The Regatta Mystery was actually "Miss Marple Tells a Story" of how she solved a murder while at home sitting in her armchair.
Strange Jest, The Tape Measure Murder, Case of the Perfect Maid, The Caretaker, Greenshaw's Folly, & Sanctuary or The Man on the Chancel Steps (featuring Bunch Harmon Miss Marple's Niece) I found to be more interesting as they involved the people involved and were not stories told about others.
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Appointment With Death: M. Poirot★ ★ ★ ★ ★
A tormented family goes on holiday to the Middle East...... Monster Dearest was previously a Prison Wardess and now has her family (children/step-children) as her prisoners.....
An English (Psych) female doctor & a well known French psychotherapist come across the family and attempt to intervene....... add to the mix a good friend of the family, a well known member of Parliament (who is anti-oppression), and a mousey spinister....
M. Poirot is in town and is asked to find the "truth", even though there will not be enough hard proof to bring a murderer to trial.
I really liked this book. I liked most of the characters and the psych. study. Almost everyone had opportunity as well as a motive and the family & both doctors all thought to protect each other....
Very interesting
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The Big Four: M. Poirot - ★
Four unknown powerful people: A Chinese, a Frenchwoman, an American businessman, & an Assassin are bent on taking over the world....
As Hastings arrives on a surprise visit to his "bon ami" M. Poirot, he finds M. Poirot on his way to South America on "business". It all turns out to be a wild goose chase in order to get M. Poirot out of the way so that the BIG 4 may put a plan of diabolical intelligence into play. An unknown man is in one of M. Poirot's rooms and is ranting about,Li Chang Yan, Chinese man of great power who is about unleash a diabolical plan..... M. Poirot & Hastings depart in order to learn more about Li Chang Yan from a well known Chinese antiquities scholar, leaving the man resting safely...
Upon returning to Poirot's home, they find the man poisoned and an attendant of the local asylum knocking on the door asking about the dead man (an escapee).... Upon further investigation the "escapee" turns out to be Mayerling from the CID who has gone missing years before and the "attendant" #4, the assassin.
The book continues, ad nauseum, in this vein.... One mysterious death, kidnapping, attempt on M. Poirot's life after another.... Bad enough that Hastings is always such a proficient bumbler, but that M. Poirot should be too?
The dang book, just went on too long and it seemed to be more of a comédie noire, than a serious mystery..... Just a plain waste of time and an annoyance.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Dame Agatha IV
The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side: Miss Marple
★ ★ ★ ★
This was published as a book and in an anthology..... The story takes place in the same house as "The Body in the Library", but for some reason in the anthology this story is first....
Marina Gregg (manic-depressive movie star) and her husband Jason "Jinks" Rudd (famous director) purchase the old Victorian manor Gossington Hall from Dolly Bantry. On the other side of St. Mary Mead is a new "development" where lives Heather Badcock who once many years ago had snuck out of her sick bed to meet Marina Gregg and obtain Marina's autograph.....
Heather is beside herself w/ happiness when she finds out that Marina has moved back into town and is having an open house fete to meet & greet her new neighbors.... While Marina is greeting Heather, Heather recounts her story of the day she first met Marina... Marina freezes and we are told repeatedly she resembles Tennyson's Lady Shalott:
"Out flew the web and floated wide—
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me", cried
The Lady of Shalott."
During the reception Marina & Heather are drinking daiquiris when Heather's drink is spilled... Marina kindly offers her drink to Heather and Heather succumbs to a poison that was in Marina's drink.
In the meantime Marina is besieged by threats and another attempt of poisoning..... There are two other murders, Marina's secretary & the Butler (who did not do it), and the disappearance of a young woman who was working the fete and saw what really happened.
The basis of this story is taken from a real life event: "Christie's inspiration for the motive likely came from an incident in the real-life of American film star Gene Tierney. In June 1943, while pregnant with her first daughter, Tierney contracted German measles during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen. Due to Tierney's illness, her daughter was born deaf, partially blind with cataracts, and severely developmentally disabled. Some time after the tragedy surrounding her daughter's birth, the actress learned from a fan who approached her for an autograph at a tennis party that the woman (who was then a member of the women's branch of the Marine Corps) had sneaked out of quarantine while sick with German measles to meet Tierney at her only Hollywood Canteen appearance. In her autobiography, Tierney related that after the woman had recounted her story, she just stared at her silently, then turned and walked away. She wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favourite actress."[citation needed]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mirror_Crack'd
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Nemesis: Miss Marple
★ ★ ★ ★
In a sequel to "The Caribbean Mystery"; Miss Marple receives a letter from Mr Rafiel (now deceased) asking her to accept a quest for justice, but does not tell her what she will be doing nor does he give her any clues, but assuring her that there will be at least one Guardian Angel about looking after her safety.
His subsequent letter sends her on a Historic Home & Garden tour where she meets a former headmistress of an acclaimed all girls school who is on a pilgrimage to make peace with the murder of a former student.... Mr. Rafiel also has arranged for Miss Marple to stay with "Three Weird Sisters" in a decaying manor, whom were friends w/ Mr. Rafiel and the guardians of the young murdered woman.
The young murdered woman was to marry via elopment Mr Rafiel's troubled (bad seed) son, but she never showed up and the young man was put away in a mental prison for the murder of the young woman....
At the same time of the first murder another young woman goes missing... and as Miss Marple investigates the Headmistress is crushed while hiking by a boulder.... On her deathbed, the Headmistress talks to Miss Marple and gives her more clues...
I liked the mystery just fine, I figured out the killer & the details of the victims.... I did not care for the 2nd to last chapter which consisted of Miss Marple's overly long & detailed explanation of the murder, who did it, why, and how she figured it all out. In fact I skipped most of it!
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What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw: Miss Marple
Or: "The 4:50 From Paddington"
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
While the train that is taking her to visit her friend Miss Marple slows & stops at a curve.... another train in passing also slows & stops at the same curve... Mrs McGillicuddy looks out and sees a man strangling a woman..... Although she reports it to the porter & train station, no one believes her. Miss Marple believes her and reports it to the police.... but not only is there no report of a missing/murdered woman... one can find a body.
Her insatiable curiosity aroused, Miss Marple makes discreet inquiries... maps of the train lines, train timetables, what is on that piece of land, etc. Then Miss Marple hires Miss Lucy (a most efficient & sought after) to work at the manor (snoop around the grounds) where the train lines curve.
Lucy is happily ensconced working for the Crackenthorp family: Luther (patriarch & tightwad); Emma (his devoted daughter); Brian Easterly (son-in-law & widower); sons Harold (bad business deals), Alfred (shady character), & Cedric (laid back artist); and a good-natured grand-son & his school chum Stoddart-West (help Lucy search for clues). The good Doctor has eyes for Emma...
The murdered woman, soon found by Lucy, is hidden away in an old sarcophagus in the now disused long barn and is believed to be Martine, a French woman who may or may have not been married to the Crackenthorp eldest son (killed in WWII)....
All along during family gatherings there have been instances of poisonings and now both Alfred & Harold succumb....... While the real Martine (now Stoddart-West) shows up to clear her name......
Very well thought out plot, good red herrings, a fine (but understated) romance, and strong likable women characters.
**************************************************************************
The Labours of Hercules: M. Poirot
★ ★ ★
M. Hercule Poirot is sitting in conversation w/ Dr. Burton and they are discussing names. Dr. Burton mentions that M. Poirot does not seem to "fit" his name but M. Poirot assures the Dr. that he, Hercule Poirot, is indeed of great mental & detecting strenght. In order to prove that he is indeed capable of living up to his name, M. Poirot takes on twelve feats of detective work that correspond to the twelve labors of Hercules:
The Nemean Lion: There is a series of dognappings, in the form of Pekingese of rich idle women. The women pay the ransom without telling their husbands for fear the dogs will be harmed/killed.
The Lernean Hydra: The wife of a chemist has died and someone is spreading rumors that she was poisoned.... M. Poirot goes about the task of not only stopping the rumors but uncovering the actual murderer as well.
The Arcadian Deer: A young man falls in love, only to have his new love disappear without a trace.... People are not whom they seem and M. Poirot is enlisted to find the missing love.
The Erymanthian Boar: On a short holiday in Switzerland, M. Poirot boards a funicular to the top of a mountain... He is entreated to stay and help the police capture an infamous gangster
The Augean Stables: A seemingly upright member of Parliament is about to be exposed for dirty politics & dealings. M. Poirot is hired to clean up the mess by dealing w/ the scandal mongering paper that plans on exposing the dirt.
The Stymphalian Birds: While on holiday M. Poirot becomes involved with helping Harold Waring to untangle a fatality.... Two ugly sisters whom are thought to bring doom are staying at the hotel and seem to cross Harold's path too often for his comfort.... A young woman & her jealous husband fight and he dies..... or does he?
The Cretan Bull: A young man is about to marry a young woman he grew up with, but he then begins to wake up in the mornings covered w/ blood, bloody knives, and dead animals being found throughout the village & estate. He is sure that he suffers from a hereditary madness and has broken off his engagement.... M. Poirot is called upon by the fiancee of the young man in order to get to the bottom of the madness.
The Horse of Diomedes: After an all night party, a young man comes across a young woman (one of 4 daughters of a General living out in the country) in drugged distress and wants to help her before she becomes addicted. M. Poirot goes out to the country in order to find who is supplying the young people w/ cocaine & inducing their addiction....
The Girdle of Hyppolita: M. Poirot is called upon to find a missing Rubens, stolen in broad daylight from a museum. A schoolgirl on a train vanishes in mid-travel to a well known Girls' art academy and then reappears. A rather ugly painting arrives as a gift to the Headmistress in the girl's luggage... M. Poirot is the one to untangle the mystery.
The Flock of Geryon: A religious cult has ensnared older women who are all well off.... When they die (far from the cult in their own homes) no one thinks it odd, but their estates are left to the cult. A woman seeking to help her ensnared friend goes undercover w/ the help & guidance of M. Poirot.
The Apple of Hesperides: A valuable gold chalice once belonging to the Borgia family has seemingly disappeared in a burglary after being sold (but not delivered). The new owner will not file a claim, as once he is paid by the insurance company,the chalice then is no longer his property. M. Poirot is entrusted to locate the missing chalice and return it.
The Capture of Cerberus: A famous & beautiful jewel thief (Russian Countess Vera Rossakoff) with whom M. Poirot had previously become enchanted crosses his path on the stairs of the subway.... She invites him to visit her in "Hell"..... Hell, being a new nightclub based on legends & lore w/ a huge black dog named Cerberus guarding the door.... Again there are jewels involved, being swapped out for paste and drugs.....
**************************************************************************
Lord Edgware Dies: M. Poirot
★ ★
Or: "Thirteen at Dinner"
American actress Jane Wilkinson (Lady Edgware) is at the theater, M.Poirot is sitting in front of her, watching a young actress, Carlotta Adams, imitate her, as soon as the actress is finished, Jane gives her an excellent round of applause.....
Later at dinner Jane loudly announces to the room of diners (M. Poirot being one of them) that she will kill her husband, Lord Edgware, and she proceeds to tell everyone in which manner.... Upon espying M. Poirot, Lady Edgware, leaves her dinner companions & invites M. Poirot up to her room. Once there she begs M. Poirot to take on her case, entreating Lord Edgware to agree to a divorce so that she may marry again.
Originally, Jane had planned to marry her co-star Bryan Martin, but now she is planning on marrying Duke Merton....
Upon discreetly visiting Lord Edgware, M. Poirot is informed that his errand was for naught, as Lord Edgware had indeed agreed to the divorce 6 months previously and what is more notified his wife Jane of his decision via post.
A dinner party for those on the rise and in need of being in favor with the right people is given.... Originally Jane had opted out of attending, but at the last minute changed her mind. Her dinner partner, not knowing did not attend and there were 13 in attendance at dinner.
During the dinner Jane receives a mysterious phone call..... but is simultaneously seen in Lord Edgware's home, going into his study by both the butler & Lord Edgware's secretary.....
In the course of M. Poirot's investigation of the murder, two other people are murdered.....
Meh... I didn't like the characters and the story seemed to be lacking something.....
★ ★ ★ ★
This was published as a book and in an anthology..... The story takes place in the same house as "The Body in the Library", but for some reason in the anthology this story is first....
Marina Gregg (manic-depressive movie star) and her husband Jason "Jinks" Rudd (famous director) purchase the old Victorian manor Gossington Hall from Dolly Bantry. On the other side of St. Mary Mead is a new "development" where lives Heather Badcock who once many years ago had snuck out of her sick bed to meet Marina Gregg and obtain Marina's autograph.....
Heather is beside herself w/ happiness when she finds out that Marina has moved back into town and is having an open house fete to meet & greet her new neighbors.... While Marina is greeting Heather, Heather recounts her story of the day she first met Marina... Marina freezes and we are told repeatedly she resembles Tennyson's Lady Shalott:
"Out flew the web and floated wide—
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me", cried
The Lady of Shalott."
During the reception Marina & Heather are drinking daiquiris when Heather's drink is spilled... Marina kindly offers her drink to Heather and Heather succumbs to a poison that was in Marina's drink.
In the meantime Marina is besieged by threats and another attempt of poisoning..... There are two other murders, Marina's secretary & the Butler (who did not do it), and the disappearance of a young woman who was working the fete and saw what really happened.
The basis of this story is taken from a real life event: "Christie's inspiration for the motive likely came from an incident in the real-life of American film star Gene Tierney. In June 1943, while pregnant with her first daughter, Tierney contracted German measles during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen. Due to Tierney's illness, her daughter was born deaf, partially blind with cataracts, and severely developmentally disabled. Some time after the tragedy surrounding her daughter's birth, the actress learned from a fan who approached her for an autograph at a tennis party that the woman (who was then a member of the women's branch of the Marine Corps) had sneaked out of quarantine while sick with German measles to meet Tierney at her only Hollywood Canteen appearance. In her autobiography, Tierney related that after the woman had recounted her story, she just stared at her silently, then turned and walked away. She wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favourite actress."[citation needed]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mirror_Crack'd
*****************************************************************
Nemesis: Miss Marple★ ★ ★ ★
In a sequel to "The Caribbean Mystery"; Miss Marple receives a letter from Mr Rafiel (now deceased) asking her to accept a quest for justice, but does not tell her what she will be doing nor does he give her any clues, but assuring her that there will be at least one Guardian Angel about looking after her safety.
His subsequent letter sends her on a Historic Home & Garden tour where she meets a former headmistress of an acclaimed all girls school who is on a pilgrimage to make peace with the murder of a former student.... Mr. Rafiel also has arranged for Miss Marple to stay with "Three Weird Sisters" in a decaying manor, whom were friends w/ Mr. Rafiel and the guardians of the young murdered woman.
The young murdered woman was to marry via elopment Mr Rafiel's troubled (bad seed) son, but she never showed up and the young man was put away in a mental prison for the murder of the young woman....
At the same time of the first murder another young woman goes missing... and as Miss Marple investigates the Headmistress is crushed while hiking by a boulder.... On her deathbed, the Headmistress talks to Miss Marple and gives her more clues...
I liked the mystery just fine, I figured out the killer & the details of the victims.... I did not care for the 2nd to last chapter which consisted of Miss Marple's overly long & detailed explanation of the murder, who did it, why, and how she figured it all out. In fact I skipped most of it!
***********************************************************************
What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw: Miss Marple
Or: "The 4:50 From Paddington"
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
While the train that is taking her to visit her friend Miss Marple slows & stops at a curve.... another train in passing also slows & stops at the same curve... Mrs McGillicuddy looks out and sees a man strangling a woman..... Although she reports it to the porter & train station, no one believes her. Miss Marple believes her and reports it to the police.... but not only is there no report of a missing/murdered woman... one can find a body.
Her insatiable curiosity aroused, Miss Marple makes discreet inquiries... maps of the train lines, train timetables, what is on that piece of land, etc. Then Miss Marple hires Miss Lucy (a most efficient & sought after) to work at the manor (snoop around the grounds) where the train lines curve.
Lucy is happily ensconced working for the Crackenthorp family: Luther (patriarch & tightwad); Emma (his devoted daughter); Brian Easterly (son-in-law & widower); sons Harold (bad business deals), Alfred (shady character), & Cedric (laid back artist); and a good-natured grand-son & his school chum Stoddart-West (help Lucy search for clues). The good Doctor has eyes for Emma...
The murdered woman, soon found by Lucy, is hidden away in an old sarcophagus in the now disused long barn and is believed to be Martine, a French woman who may or may have not been married to the Crackenthorp eldest son (killed in WWII)....
All along during family gatherings there have been instances of poisonings and now both Alfred & Harold succumb....... While the real Martine (now Stoddart-West) shows up to clear her name......
Very well thought out plot, good red herrings, a fine (but understated) romance, and strong likable women characters.
**************************************************************************
The Labours of Hercules: M. Poirot
★ ★ ★M. Hercule Poirot is sitting in conversation w/ Dr. Burton and they are discussing names. Dr. Burton mentions that M. Poirot does not seem to "fit" his name but M. Poirot assures the Dr. that he, Hercule Poirot, is indeed of great mental & detecting strenght. In order to prove that he is indeed capable of living up to his name, M. Poirot takes on twelve feats of detective work that correspond to the twelve labors of Hercules:
The Nemean Lion: There is a series of dognappings, in the form of Pekingese of rich idle women. The women pay the ransom without telling their husbands for fear the dogs will be harmed/killed.
The Lernean Hydra: The wife of a chemist has died and someone is spreading rumors that she was poisoned.... M. Poirot goes about the task of not only stopping the rumors but uncovering the actual murderer as well.
The Arcadian Deer: A young man falls in love, only to have his new love disappear without a trace.... People are not whom they seem and M. Poirot is enlisted to find the missing love.
The Erymanthian Boar: On a short holiday in Switzerland, M. Poirot boards a funicular to the top of a mountain... He is entreated to stay and help the police capture an infamous gangster
The Augean Stables: A seemingly upright member of Parliament is about to be exposed for dirty politics & dealings. M. Poirot is hired to clean up the mess by dealing w/ the scandal mongering paper that plans on exposing the dirt.
The Stymphalian Birds: While on holiday M. Poirot becomes involved with helping Harold Waring to untangle a fatality.... Two ugly sisters whom are thought to bring doom are staying at the hotel and seem to cross Harold's path too often for his comfort.... A young woman & her jealous husband fight and he dies..... or does he?
The Cretan Bull: A young man is about to marry a young woman he grew up with, but he then begins to wake up in the mornings covered w/ blood, bloody knives, and dead animals being found throughout the village & estate. He is sure that he suffers from a hereditary madness and has broken off his engagement.... M. Poirot is called upon by the fiancee of the young man in order to get to the bottom of the madness.
The Horse of Diomedes: After an all night party, a young man comes across a young woman (one of 4 daughters of a General living out in the country) in drugged distress and wants to help her before she becomes addicted. M. Poirot goes out to the country in order to find who is supplying the young people w/ cocaine & inducing their addiction....
The Girdle of Hyppolita: M. Poirot is called upon to find a missing Rubens, stolen in broad daylight from a museum. A schoolgirl on a train vanishes in mid-travel to a well known Girls' art academy and then reappears. A rather ugly painting arrives as a gift to the Headmistress in the girl's luggage... M. Poirot is the one to untangle the mystery.
The Flock of Geryon: A religious cult has ensnared older women who are all well off.... When they die (far from the cult in their own homes) no one thinks it odd, but their estates are left to the cult. A woman seeking to help her ensnared friend goes undercover w/ the help & guidance of M. Poirot.
The Apple of Hesperides: A valuable gold chalice once belonging to the Borgia family has seemingly disappeared in a burglary after being sold (but not delivered). The new owner will not file a claim, as once he is paid by the insurance company,the chalice then is no longer his property. M. Poirot is entrusted to locate the missing chalice and return it.
The Capture of Cerberus: A famous & beautiful jewel thief (Russian Countess Vera Rossakoff) with whom M. Poirot had previously become enchanted crosses his path on the stairs of the subway.... She invites him to visit her in "Hell"..... Hell, being a new nightclub based on legends & lore w/ a huge black dog named Cerberus guarding the door.... Again there are jewels involved, being swapped out for paste and drugs.....
**************************************************************************
Lord Edgware Dies: M. Poirot★ ★
Or: "Thirteen at Dinner"
American actress Jane Wilkinson (Lady Edgware) is at the theater, M.Poirot is sitting in front of her, watching a young actress, Carlotta Adams, imitate her, as soon as the actress is finished, Jane gives her an excellent round of applause.....
Later at dinner Jane loudly announces to the room of diners (M. Poirot being one of them) that she will kill her husband, Lord Edgware, and she proceeds to tell everyone in which manner.... Upon espying M. Poirot, Lady Edgware, leaves her dinner companions & invites M. Poirot up to her room. Once there she begs M. Poirot to take on her case, entreating Lord Edgware to agree to a divorce so that she may marry again.
Originally, Jane had planned to marry her co-star Bryan Martin, but now she is planning on marrying Duke Merton....
Upon discreetly visiting Lord Edgware, M. Poirot is informed that his errand was for naught, as Lord Edgware had indeed agreed to the divorce 6 months previously and what is more notified his wife Jane of his decision via post.
A dinner party for those on the rise and in need of being in favor with the right people is given.... Originally Jane had opted out of attending, but at the last minute changed her mind. Her dinner partner, not knowing did not attend and there were 13 in attendance at dinner.
During the dinner Jane receives a mysterious phone call..... but is simultaneously seen in Lord Edgware's home, going into his study by both the butler & Lord Edgware's secretary.....
In the course of M. Poirot's investigation of the murder, two other people are murdered.....
Meh... I didn't like the characters and the story seemed to be lacking something.....
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Dame Agatha III
Hercule Poirot's Christmas: M. Poirot
AKA: Murder for Christmas A Holiday for Murder
★ ★ ★
Oh boy, another "Locked Door" murder featuring a mean old man whose family hates him, all with motives for murder....... I think I'm getting smarter, I figured this one out immediately........
So let's see this mean old man (mom) invites his entire family home for Christmas; including his prodigal son and granddaughter. A son of the mom's friend from good-old-days-gone-by also turns up..... There is a whole lot of family tension & angst going around not only from past family rifts, but the mom has called in his lawyer in order to change his will.....
Not everyone is whom they appear to be.... Shortly after christmas eve dinner there is a huge crash and a blood curdling scream.... Everyone rushes up to the mom's room, only to find it locked. When the door is broken down the mom is lying in "an awful lot" of blood w/ his throat cut and most all of the furniture toppled over as if there was a fight.
The characters were not particularly likeable.... The mom had a very interesting attitude..... mainly he just wanted his family to stand up for themselves, especially against his bullying ways and resented that most of his offspring preferred to cower before him.
_________________________________________________________________
And Then There Were None (No Detective)
AKA: "Ten Little Indians" & "Ten Little Niggers"
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Ten people are invited to Soldier Island by Una, U.N. Owen.... All have been guilty of some form of murder but in one manner or another have escaped punishment by the law.
Each has this little poem in their bedrooms:
"Ten Little Soldier Boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine Little Soldier Boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight Little Soldier Boys traveling in Devon; One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.
Seven Little Soldier Boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six Little Soldier Boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five Little Soldier Boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were four.
Four Little Soldier Boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three Little Soldier Boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Soldier Boys sitting in the sun; One got Frizzled up and then there was One.
One Little Soldier Boys left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none."
One by one they begin to die, and as they do; one by one the 10 toy soldiers in the table's centerpiece begin to disappear......
There are two major clues as to "who-done-it"...... but to tell you the clues would also tell you who the murderer was.....
The murderers were not particularly likeable people... so I'd say they all ended up w/ their just desserts....
_________________________________________________________________
Mystery of the Blue Train: M. Poirot
★ ★ ★ ★
Katherine Grey, the enigmatic young woman of the memorable eyes, has left her post of caregiver (the old woman died leaving Katherine well off) in St. Mary Mead (No Marple) and is bound for Nice on The Blue Train to visit her money hungry cousin.....
Lady Ruth Kettering (an American Heiress) is about to divorce her husband (at the behest of her father) and meet her gigolo of a lover in Nice, she too is aboard the Blue Train..... Lady Ruth is carrying the Former Tsarina's rubies and many people are very aware of that fact. In a moment of blue funk, Ruth befriends Katherine and unburdens herself.....
Ruth's gigolo, her husband, her husband's discarded mistress are also on the train....... All want Ruth's money and or the rubies.... Just outside Gare de Lyon, Ruth is found in her compartment strangled to death with a bashed in face....
There is no lack of suspects...... and there are the mysterious shadowers of the rubies......
Between a thoughtful & astute Miss Grey and Monsieur Poirot Ruth's murderer is caught and the rubies discretely go on to their next owner.
_________________________________________________________________
Cat Among the Pigeons: M. Poirot
★ ★ ★ ★
A Crown Prince who has brought Democracy to his country & his pilot (a chum from school days) are forced to flee the country.... Their plane is found downed in the mountains and a thorough search is made for the sparkling "insurance"..... but the pilot was seen hiding them in order to get them out of the country lest they fall into the wrong hands.......
At an elite girls school in England the term has just begun and there is a new sports mistress, French mistress, school secretary, & gardner..... Dropping her daughter off at school a former employee of the CID sees someone from the past and as she tells the Headmistress (who is about to retire & name her successor), who the person from her espionage days is, they are interrupted by another mother in midst of a binge seeking to bring her daughters home.
Then the sports mistress is murdered in the new sports pavillion, as is the French mistress, and the to be successor..... Homes are ransacked, the cousin of the Prince is kidnapped, and a frightened little girl runs to M. Hercule Poirot.
Very interesting, I would have liked it to be a bit longer, even though in some places it was difficult for me to tell who was speaking to whom...
And once again, Dame Agatha showed her unending prejudice; this time it was of the two Italian school girls, whom she dedicated a paragraph to in order to refer to them as "Eye-Ties", and then there was nothing more in the book about them... otherwise it was a very enjoyable story.
_________________________________________________________________
Murder on the Orient Express: M. Poirot
★ ★ ★ ★
AKA: "Murder in the Calais Coach"
Although I remembered "who done it"...... I still enjoyed reading this story again, mostly because I didn't remember much of anything else.
A man on the train to France asks Poirot for his help. He has received a threatening letter and is much afraid for his life.... Although the man is impeccable in speech, manner, & presentation, he has evil in his eyes and there is something deep reflected that causes M. Poirot to turn him down.
Although is is late in the season, for some reason the train is unusually full (even the stand-by compartment saved for the railway company) and for the first few stops M. Poirot has to share a berth..... When another coach has been added, M. Poirot is moved to the number 1 compartment, directly next to the man who had unsuccessfully solicited M. Poirot's help.
Along in the third night, M. Poirot hears voices, sees a mysterious woman, hears much commotion.... and finds that the man with the evil in his eyes has been murdered... Stabbed 12 times... with several of the wounds not made by the same hand.
Everyone has an alibi, no one seems to have a motive.... until M. Poirot ascertains the murdered man's true identity.....
Oh good old Bigoted Agatha.... she sure hated Italians.... and once again goes off on a rant about them.... Amazing, really; and for this reason, I cut off a star!
_________________________________________________________________
By the Pricking of My Thumbs: Tommy & Tuppence
★ ★ ★
"By the pricking of my thumbs...... Something wicked this way comes"
Well now that's odd, because the book does not have Miss Marple in it, but the movie does...... Sigh.
Tommy & Tuppence are a modern couple who have grown older and are retired..... Tommy worked for the spy network" and Tuppence would always insert herself into his business (nosy Parker).
In this story they are off to visit Tommy's acerbic Aunt Ada who is staying in a home for elderly women.... Aunt Ada can not stand Tuppence so Tuppence goes off to sit in the "lounge" where she meets elderly Mrs. Lancaster who asks Tuppence: "Was it your child?"
A few weeks pass and Aunt Ada has died as has another older woman, neither of whom were "sick" or predisposed. In Aunt Ada's room Tuppence comes upon a painting that hadn't been there before, which was given to Aunt Ada by Mrs. Lancaster. It is view of a house by a canal w/ a humpback bridge (the house which Tuppence has seen before) and Tuppence wants to give it back to Mrs. Lancaster......
Unfortunately Mrs. Lancaster is no longer in the home, she has been moved away...... Thus begins the mystery of the: painting; house by the canal; dead elderly women; murdered child; criminal ring......
All in all this was quite a good story, what I didn't like was Tuppence's endless blathering chatter..... For someone as keen as a "terrier" she comes off quite often as rather mindless. Minus 1 star.
_________________________________________________________________
The Body in the Library: Miss Marple
★ ★
Ok; another slur against Italians..... makes me wonder if her books sold well in Italy!
Let's see Mrs. Colonel Bantry are woken up by a hysterical maid... something about there being "A Body in the Library".... When Dolly Bantry goes down to the library to check on the hysterics, yes indeed there is the body of a strangled young woman in a white spangled evening dress in the library.....
Miss Marple,a close friend of Mrs. Bantry, is called in immediately to nose around (investigate)......
They find out from the police that the body seems to be that of Ruby Keene, a dancer at the local hotel; and the soon to be adopted ward of Mr. Conway Jefferson, and invalid whose family perished in an accident, and who is being taken care of by his son-in-law & daughter-in-law.
Not much afterwards a Girl Guide come up missing and it seems as if it her her that is found in the charred remains of a local's car.
Almost 1/2 way through Miss Marple announces to Dolly Bantry that she knows who did it..... But she isn't going to tell, as there are other loose ends to tie up & need for proof positive.
I found this to be a rather benign story with flat characters, none of whom I cared about...... This could have been so much more appealing & interesting, but it seems as if Christie was writing just to be writing.
AKA: Murder for Christmas A Holiday for Murder★ ★ ★
Oh boy, another "Locked Door" murder featuring a mean old man whose family hates him, all with motives for murder....... I think I'm getting smarter, I figured this one out immediately........
So let's see this mean old man (mom) invites his entire family home for Christmas; including his prodigal son and granddaughter. A son of the mom's friend from good-old-days-gone-by also turns up..... There is a whole lot of family tension & angst going around not only from past family rifts, but the mom has called in his lawyer in order to change his will.....
Not everyone is whom they appear to be.... Shortly after christmas eve dinner there is a huge crash and a blood curdling scream.... Everyone rushes up to the mom's room, only to find it locked. When the door is broken down the mom is lying in "an awful lot" of blood w/ his throat cut and most all of the furniture toppled over as if there was a fight.
The characters were not particularly likeable.... The mom had a very interesting attitude..... mainly he just wanted his family to stand up for themselves, especially against his bullying ways and resented that most of his offspring preferred to cower before him.
_________________________________________________________________
And Then There Were None (No Detective)
AKA: "Ten Little Indians" & "Ten Little Niggers"
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Ten people are invited to Soldier Island by Una, U.N. Owen.... All have been guilty of some form of murder but in one manner or another have escaped punishment by the law.
Each has this little poem in their bedrooms:
"Ten Little Soldier Boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine Little Soldier Boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight Little Soldier Boys traveling in Devon; One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.
Seven Little Soldier Boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six Little Soldier Boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five Little Soldier Boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were four.
Four Little Soldier Boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three Little Soldier Boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Soldier Boys sitting in the sun; One got Frizzled up and then there was One.
One Little Soldier Boys left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none."
One by one they begin to die, and as they do; one by one the 10 toy soldiers in the table's centerpiece begin to disappear......
There are two major clues as to "who-done-it"...... but to tell you the clues would also tell you who the murderer was.....
The murderers were not particularly likeable people... so I'd say they all ended up w/ their just desserts....
_________________________________________________________________
Mystery of the Blue Train: M. Poirot★ ★ ★ ★
Katherine Grey, the enigmatic young woman of the memorable eyes, has left her post of caregiver (the old woman died leaving Katherine well off) in St. Mary Mead (No Marple) and is bound for Nice on The Blue Train to visit her money hungry cousin.....
Lady Ruth Kettering (an American Heiress) is about to divorce her husband (at the behest of her father) and meet her gigolo of a lover in Nice, she too is aboard the Blue Train..... Lady Ruth is carrying the Former Tsarina's rubies and many people are very aware of that fact. In a moment of blue funk, Ruth befriends Katherine and unburdens herself.....
Ruth's gigolo, her husband, her husband's discarded mistress are also on the train....... All want Ruth's money and or the rubies.... Just outside Gare de Lyon, Ruth is found in her compartment strangled to death with a bashed in face....
There is no lack of suspects...... and there are the mysterious shadowers of the rubies......
Between a thoughtful & astute Miss Grey and Monsieur Poirot Ruth's murderer is caught and the rubies discretely go on to their next owner.
_________________________________________________________________
Cat Among the Pigeons: M. Poirot
★ ★ ★ ★A Crown Prince who has brought Democracy to his country & his pilot (a chum from school days) are forced to flee the country.... Their plane is found downed in the mountains and a thorough search is made for the sparkling "insurance"..... but the pilot was seen hiding them in order to get them out of the country lest they fall into the wrong hands.......
At an elite girls school in England the term has just begun and there is a new sports mistress, French mistress, school secretary, & gardner..... Dropping her daughter off at school a former employee of the CID sees someone from the past and as she tells the Headmistress (who is about to retire & name her successor), who the person from her espionage days is, they are interrupted by another mother in midst of a binge seeking to bring her daughters home.
Then the sports mistress is murdered in the new sports pavillion, as is the French mistress, and the to be successor..... Homes are ransacked, the cousin of the Prince is kidnapped, and a frightened little girl runs to M. Hercule Poirot.
Very interesting, I would have liked it to be a bit longer, even though in some places it was difficult for me to tell who was speaking to whom...
And once again, Dame Agatha showed her unending prejudice; this time it was of the two Italian school girls, whom she dedicated a paragraph to in order to refer to them as "Eye-Ties", and then there was nothing more in the book about them... otherwise it was a very enjoyable story.
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Murder on the Orient Express: M. Poirot★ ★ ★ ★
AKA: "Murder in the Calais Coach"
Although I remembered "who done it"...... I still enjoyed reading this story again, mostly because I didn't remember much of anything else.
A man on the train to France asks Poirot for his help. He has received a threatening letter and is much afraid for his life.... Although the man is impeccable in speech, manner, & presentation, he has evil in his eyes and there is something deep reflected that causes M. Poirot to turn him down.
Although is is late in the season, for some reason the train is unusually full (even the stand-by compartment saved for the railway company) and for the first few stops M. Poirot has to share a berth..... When another coach has been added, M. Poirot is moved to the number 1 compartment, directly next to the man who had unsuccessfully solicited M. Poirot's help.
Along in the third night, M. Poirot hears voices, sees a mysterious woman, hears much commotion.... and finds that the man with the evil in his eyes has been murdered... Stabbed 12 times... with several of the wounds not made by the same hand.
Everyone has an alibi, no one seems to have a motive.... until M. Poirot ascertains the murdered man's true identity.....
Oh good old Bigoted Agatha.... she sure hated Italians.... and once again goes off on a rant about them.... Amazing, really; and for this reason, I cut off a star!
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By the Pricking of My Thumbs: Tommy & Tuppence★ ★ ★
"By the pricking of my thumbs...... Something wicked this way comes"
Well now that's odd, because the book does not have Miss Marple in it, but the movie does...... Sigh.
Tommy & Tuppence are a modern couple who have grown older and are retired..... Tommy worked for the spy network" and Tuppence would always insert herself into his business (nosy Parker).
In this story they are off to visit Tommy's acerbic Aunt Ada who is staying in a home for elderly women.... Aunt Ada can not stand Tuppence so Tuppence goes off to sit in the "lounge" where she meets elderly Mrs. Lancaster who asks Tuppence: "Was it your child?"
A few weeks pass and Aunt Ada has died as has another older woman, neither of whom were "sick" or predisposed. In Aunt Ada's room Tuppence comes upon a painting that hadn't been there before, which was given to Aunt Ada by Mrs. Lancaster. It is view of a house by a canal w/ a humpback bridge (the house which Tuppence has seen before) and Tuppence wants to give it back to Mrs. Lancaster......
Unfortunately Mrs. Lancaster is no longer in the home, she has been moved away...... Thus begins the mystery of the: painting; house by the canal; dead elderly women; murdered child; criminal ring......
All in all this was quite a good story, what I didn't like was Tuppence's endless blathering chatter..... For someone as keen as a "terrier" she comes off quite often as rather mindless. Minus 1 star.
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The Body in the Library: Miss Marple ★ ★
Ok; another slur against Italians..... makes me wonder if her books sold well in Italy!
Let's see Mrs. Colonel Bantry are woken up by a hysterical maid... something about there being "A Body in the Library".... When Dolly Bantry goes down to the library to check on the hysterics, yes indeed there is the body of a strangled young woman in a white spangled evening dress in the library.....
Miss Marple,a close friend of Mrs. Bantry, is called in immediately to nose around (investigate)......
They find out from the police that the body seems to be that of Ruby Keene, a dancer at the local hotel; and the soon to be adopted ward of Mr. Conway Jefferson, and invalid whose family perished in an accident, and who is being taken care of by his son-in-law & daughter-in-law.
Not much afterwards a Girl Guide come up missing and it seems as if it her her that is found in the charred remains of a local's car.
Almost 1/2 way through Miss Marple announces to Dolly Bantry that she knows who did it..... But she isn't going to tell, as there are other loose ends to tie up & need for proof positive.
I found this to be a rather benign story with flat characters, none of whom I cared about...... This could have been so much more appealing & interesting, but it seems as if Christie was writing just to be writing.
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