Mystery Meringues: The Listerdale Mystery | 1934

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The Sum of It:
MORE SHORT STORIES. Oy with the poodles already. I've dubbed these 12 tales mystery meringues because they are, for the most part, quite light [much easier to guess what's going on than in the novels, which I can basically never figure out] and fluffy & sweet [almost every story wraps up with some happy couple gazing at each other and tripping off to the cinema or to pick up a marriage licence.]

In case you, like me, now want desperately to eat meringues, this photo is from a recipe!

There are hints of darkness in some of the crimes; evil husbands plotting their wives demises, vengeful stabbings, a murdered old lady. And in a few of the stories, Agatha definitely demonstrates some awareness of the financial troubles a lot of her readers were likely experiencing at this point in time. For the most part though we're talking jewel thieves, counterfeit royalty, bored peers, etc. etc. This set of shorties was published in England, but there are several that were also re-published along with a few new ones in America.

Given that these are short stories I didn't want to actually summarize them all because then there would be no point in someone reading them on a bus or an airplane or something (the most appropriate type of place for this one). Instead I'll highlight one in particular that I found to be a fun bit of confection: The fifth in the series, The Manhood of Edward Robinson.

This one feels like a bit of satire, poking some fun at the dramatic romance stories of the day, in which voluptuous, red-lipped beauties throw themselves into the arms of the aloof and strapping heroes. Edward Robinson has found himself a bit of a doormat in his relationship with his lady friend, Maud, who feels its her responsibility to be the responsible one, regularly calling poor Ed to task for making poor investments. The blessed fella, who apparently is not ashamed to read romance novels on trains, longs to be the kind of man who picturesque ladies fling themselves at, not a milquetoast little fish. The symbol of this longing becomes enveloped in a beautiful red sports car he abruptly decides to purchase with the winnings from a contest, which gets him into quite the romantic adventure. Though this one is still a fluffy caper, it's charming and clever in the tongue in cheek way Agatha pokes fun at the silliness of capital-R Romance, which made it my favorite.

The YOA Treatment:
A few interesting tidbits and thoughts about this set:
1) A wee bit of research informed me that the second story in the book, Philomel Cottage, eventually became one of Dame Agatha's many successful stage plays. In her autobiography, we learned that she really enjoyed seeing her work performed, and this dark little tale with a classic if quickly arrived at twist would certainly prove quite the creepy stage drama.

2) As we like to consider how much modern tales of mystery and intrigue owe to Dame Agatha, I almost couldn't believe my eyeballz when I got to story no. 3 in this compilation, The Girl in the Train! However, any inspiration the recent best seller drew from this tale is likely strictly limited to the the title, as the story itself is about a wayward young fella who's been tossed out on his ear by a rich uncle after a night of too much revelery, and while aimlessly riding a train finds his compartment host to a beautiful young lady. Not a bit of spying on people out the train windows. Well, maybe a bit, but not in the same way.

3) The fourth story in the set, Sing a Song of Sixpence, is the tale of a retired lawyer who once met a pretty young thing (#PYT) on a ship and foolishly told her upon parting "If there's ever anything I can do..." The PYT is not quite as young and dewy as she was when they met 15 years before when she turns up at his house seeking to make good on that offer. In addition to some rather harsh jabs at the mean work time can do on the dewy beauty of a lady, this one features some hilarious reluctance on the part of the old fella to make good on his promise. Not for the first time, I found myself identifying with the grouchy old man in one of Agatha's books when he thinks to himself that really nothing could compare with "a really well-stocked library on criminology."

4) In story number eight, A Fruitful Sunday, the tale begins with a tidbit about a housemaid and her employer, who "had strong views upon the Christian names suitable for parlour maids and had repudiated Dorothy in favour of Miss Pratt's despised second name of Jane." This seems to be another example of Agatha pulling some color from her own life to flavor one of her stories, as I recall a similar anecdote about her parents household and the updating of some maids' names which at the time of reading I was like sheesh that's a little Downton of them, and this little insert made me think Dame Agatha probably thought so too :)

5) In the ninth tale, Mr. Eastwood's Adventure, the main character is a mystery writer who begins the story stuck on coming up with a plot for his newest story, titled "The Mystery of the Second Cucumber." This one is a light little caper that perhaps reveals a bit about the process of writing a mystery tale from Agatha's point of view, and some of the challenge involved with conjuring such stories out of thin air when day-to-day life leaves one with little inspiration for glamorous tales of intrigue.

So, if you love quick capers and need an easy read, this set of short stories could be just the ticket! However, if you're a fan of the true intrigue of the long-form story, a novel might be a better bet :).

- E.