Review: Murder On The Links by Agatha Christie

Ercule Poirot receives a letter begging him to travel to France to help in a mysterious case. Upon his arrival it turns out that the man who wrote the letter was murdered and it is up to Poirot and his friend Captain Hastings to solve the murder and a couple of other mysteries along the way.

A couple of years ago I got my hands on a volume of five of Christie's Miss Marple mysteries along with a book of short stories and for some reason while I enjoyed them I didn't love them. It all seemed very formulaic with superficial characters and without much feeling. Now that I've been reading more of her books I can't help but think that the timing wasn't right when I picked up that volume. I even remember saying in earlier Christie reviews that to me her novels are good riddles but usually don't have much depth. I officially take it back.
This was Christie's second published novel and already we have a theme that will repeat in a number of her later books - heredity and its effects on a person's character. Poirot is a big believer in heredity and something tells me that Dame Agatha was as well. It was interesting to see how such considerations played a part in the characters' actions.
We also have the matter of social classes and marriage outside of one's class. It seems like an archaic and snobbish subject in this day and age but in Christie's time it was very much relevant and apparently occupied her thoughts enough for the subject to be broached on several separate occasions and for Poirot to remark that 99 times out of 100 such a union isn't a very happy one. But do not despair, my democratic friends, luckily for us Christie favors love and happiness much more than numbers and odds, and that's all I'm going to say about that.
As far as the characters go this set was a lot of fun. Hastings always deems himself such a great detective and speaks of Poirot almost pityingly when the Belgian genius makes conclusions that don't coincide with his. Fortunately he remains such a good sport when he realizes that all his ideas were wrong that one can't hold it against him, which I don't think Poirot ever does. The French police are a different matter entirely and it was very amusing to watch them battle it out over the many plot twists - as the officer in charge of the investigation lamented this was not at all a simple case and you do have to get the little grey cells working to keep track of it all.
Mme Renauld was definitely my favorite female character. She was a remarkable woman indeed and only at the very end of the book do we see the full extent of it. The rest weren't very straightforward either. We have devotion, self-sacrifice, strength, deceit and calculation all present and as carefully as I watched for clues I couldn't always tell who was looking out for whose interests. Hope you have better luck, both here and with the identity of the killer - I was off the mark yet again and A.C. is currently leading 15-0. That's ok, I have 51 more chances.

Review: Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

Nothing ever happens in a quaint little town of Loomouth, not until the local vicar dies at a dinner party at Sir Charles Cartwright's mansion. The police attribute his death to natural causes and the matter is forgotten until Sir Charles' friend, a renown doctor of psychiatry dies in a chillingly identical fashion. Luckily for them Ercule Poirot is there to untangle the mystery and identify the murderer.

The more I read Agatha Christie's mysteries the more I like them. It seems like with every new volume there's an extra something that makes them more than just an engaging riddle. Either I'm reading the books with a more pronounced human element or I'm just noticing it more and somehow I'm inclined to think that it is the latter.
I really liked Mr. Satterthwaite, the intelligent little man with an absolutely unpronounceable name and a way with people. The Lytton Gore ladies were my "human element" here introducing the subject of being able to see people for who they really are and not in the way Poirot does it. They made mistakes sometimes, sure, but their perceptions felt warm and uncalculating. I liked these characters more than the rest particularly because we learned more about them as people than we did about any of the others and that is really my only gripe - the rest of the cast are barely fleshed out and I wish we knew a little more about them.
Of course I didn't figure out who the culprit was even though I suspected everyone. It almost detracted from the story, this constant watchfulness, attentiveness to every word and trying to see in what way it could be a clue, whether it could be a clue. I really need to turn off that part of my brain next time and just enjoy the story. Learn from my mistakes, my friends!

Review: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

A wealthy widow is murdered at an estate in England and her step-sons and new husband are at the same time suspects and possible beneficiaries of her will. It is up to the Belgian detective Ercule Poirot to not only determine who the murderer is but also how he managed to kill a woman in a room locked from the inside. This just might be the case he won't be able to crack.

The first time I read The Mysterious Affair At Styles... Well, I can't even remember the first time I read it so recently decided to re-read the book that was the beginning of Agatha Christie's wonderful career. It has a great reputation and it was probably completely amazing for its time (otherwise it wouldn't have been as successful as it was) but to me it was little more than Agatha Christie starting out, testing her pen, coming into her own. The writing isn't as precise and engaging and Poirot is more exuberance than method but this mystery already has the elements I've come to expect from her work: the detective's presence is more serendipity than anything else, there's a rather large cast of characters and if you dig deep enough every one of them has a motive but none of them actually had the opportunity to commit the crime (not at first glance anyway), and the culprit is not at all the person you've suspected.
As different as Poirot may have been in this book from his later appearances he was ultimately my favorite part of this story. Because of his lack of reserve in his interactions with the English, his status of a refugee, even how stumped he was as for the identity of the murderer made him much more endearing than when he gradually transformed into an infallible force of intellect who always keeps his cards to his chest in the later books. I also liked his role in the human element of this story when he attended to the personal lives of some of the characters as a side project during his investigation. What can I say, the man cared and I like seeing that in fiction!
All in all this is a good debut novel and although because of the writing I can't give it more than a 3 I believe that if one decides to read all of Christie's novels the way I have one might as well start at the beginning and watch the master perfect her craft.

Review: Crooked House by Agatha Christie

When Aristide Leonides dies and it is determined that he was poisoned the entire family is under suspicion and it is up to Charles to find the murderer if he wants to marry Aristide's granddaughter, Sophia.

Usually when I read an Agatha Christie mystery my mind is fully occupied. I suspect everyone and try to figure out if a clue is a red herring or not. Her books are usually more logic for me than human interaction and I tend to not become very invested in the characters or the plot. They’re a great way to unwind and recharge and have fun playing detective. Imagine my surprise when I put down Crooked House and sat there pretty much stunned for a while. Better yet, imagine my surprise when I caught myself coming back to the story and the characters days later. Even now, quite a while after reading the book all it took is a brief synopsis and a description of characters to bring it back.
The first thing that made it stand out is how non-formulaic the setup is. There is no uninvolved detective at the helm for whom the whole affair is little more than a challenging riddle – the amateur detective here must solve the crime if he wants to marry the woman he loves. The parties involved are not strangers thrown together by chance but members of the same family living under one roof. None of the characters are particularly ordinary at all; they are all curious personalities, sometimes as outlandish as the house they live in (the scientist and the actress alone are reason enough to read the book). The second thing that impressed me is how the characters are even less what they seem than usual. The whole idea of a stereotype is upended and the result is very engaging. Then of course there was the ending. I can’t tell you who was behind the tragic events but the unraveling of the mystery left me speechless. Finally, and possibly my favorite thing about this story, is that it’s not all logic and categorization of characters and motives and traits that might or might not make them the murderer. There’s a social issue deeper and bigger than money or jealousy or the desire to hide a shady past, and Christie shines a light on it in such a way that rouses emotion even now, when sometimes I think I’ve seen it all between the hours of 8 and 12 PM on network television.
It is rumored that Agatha Christie said that Crooked House is one of her two favorite books out of all that she’s written. I can see why. It has more heart and soul than almost any other book of hers that I’ve read so far. I highly recommend that you read it, even if mystery isn’t really your cup of tea.

Review: N or M? by Agatha Christie

The quaint seaside town is the hiding place for the two most dangerous spies the Germans have working on their side. The crux of the matter is that these spies are most likely English and the English officials on all levels of the government who are sympathetic to the Nazi cause make investigation impossible. Intelligence brings in two perfect outsiders, Tommy and Tuppence, and tasks them with discovering who these spies are while working undercover. They are former intelligence agents who are not quite ready to retire and behind their positively ordinary appearance they are the perfect people to take down England's main threat.

I laughed at the loving condescension of the middle-aged sleuths' children for their parents. They think they're so important in their jobs and don't even suspect that their parents do more than knit and play golf to occupy their time. I admired the wits and the guts of the two patriots ready to sacrifice themselves for their country. I marveled at the dedication they displayed to each other, the affection and the partnership in everything their relationship is based on. I suspected everyone and in the end the bad guys were those I didn't even think to suspect. Hope you do better :)

Review: Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

An elderly woman is found murdered in her home. Her lodger, an unpleasant young man, if convicted of the crime, but the police officer in charge of the investigation believes he is innocent and recruits Ercule Poirot to prove that the convicted man is innocent.

Agatha Christie always surprises me when it comes to the identity of the criminal and this time is no exception, which is why I come back to her works again and again. I suspected everyone but the real villain and while many of the characters I pegged as untrustworthy were in fact hiding something (some even concealing secrets related to the case) none of them turned out to be guilty. I particularly enjoyed the characters in this story - the apple-eating authoress, the disheveled hostess, the clingy mother who isn't as weak as she'd like everyone to believe, a publicity-conscious politician, an impoverished nobleman turned farmer, a wealthy heiress who acts like she's the maid... Even if you can't be bothered to keep all the names straight you will know exactly who's who.
One of the themes of this novel is revealed in the alternative title - Blood Will Tell. The notion that character traits are hereditary comes up in conversation and the murder, when discovered, exclaims "I can't help it! It's in my blood!". While there is a reason the saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" exists I don't subscribe to the idea that one's predecessors' flaws as well as their strengths are irrevocably a part of one's character and feel that Christie didn't either.

Review: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot investigates a triple murder that takes place on a ship taking a tourist trip up the Nile. The murder of an heiress, one of the richest women in Europe, is only the top of the iceberg of intrigue and secrets that obscure the truth and lead to more deaths.

I think that Agatha Christie was at her best when it came to writing novels. Short stories didn't give her as much room to develop the plot and characters in that special subtle way of hers. I particularly liked this story because on the surface it is a mystery but underneath it all it is really a study in human character, the different types and manifestations of love and the role it plays in the lives of people.