Tommy & Tuppence Off Into the Sunset: Postern of Fate | 1973

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"I suppose without curiosity a man would be a tortoise. Very comfortable life, a tortoise has. Goes to sleep all winter and doesn't eat anything more than grass as far as I know, to live all the summer. Not an interesting life perhaps, but a very peaceful one." - Postern of Fate

The Sum of It

In this finale of the Tommy and Tuppence tales, our favorite bantering couple is in their sixties (aka elderly if you ask Agatha) and have acquired a new house in a cozy little seaside village in which to spend their sunset years. Along with the house, they bought a bunch of the old books in the shelves, as well as a shed full of random junk. As Tuppence is going through all the old books, she finds some strategic underlining that reveals a secret message: Mary Jordan did not die naturally. Clearly our curious friend Tuppence isn't just going to let such a message go, so she and Tommy start poking around their new little town to see if anyone has heard of Mary Jordan, or the little boy who left the cryptic message in his book, Alexander Parkinson. Turns out there are all kinds of rumors about a girl named Mary Jordan going back to WWI, some saying she was a German spy, some saying she was a British spy, all saying she died of accidental poisoning. Tommy and Tuppence have several very repetitive conversations with their neighbors, all of whom seem to have heard of the couple's apparently nationwide fame following their capture of a German spy in the last Tommy and Tuppence tale, N or M, and are very excited to talk about that over and over again. 

Tommy eventually starts going through some official channels to obtain information, including Mr. Pikeaway and Mr. Robinson, both of whom featured prominently in the non-Tommy and Tuppence story Passenger to Frankfurt. Meanwhile Tuppence is making the rounds to all the village's oldest inhabitants to see if they know anything useful about Mary Jordan, what she might have been spying about, and what perhaps might be hidden around the house, since so many people seem to think that something spy-related is on their property still. Despite a stated desire to keep their research on the down-low, Tuppence eventually enlists both their elderly gardener Isaac and a huge troop of neighborhood children in helping her track down information, which eventually results in old Isaac getting #MURDERED in Tuppence's own garden shed! There are some mysterious objects in there, including two garden stools in differing shades of blue known apparently as Oxford and Cambridge, as well as a giant wooden rocking horse thing, Mathilda, and a child's toy car, called Truelove for unknown reasons. Tommy and Tuppence narrow their search to these items, but while they're digging around to get close to a clue, someone takes a shot at poor Tuppence from a clump of grass! Their dog Hannibal chases the criminal off, and it takes a little intervention from Mr. Robinson and Mr. Pikeaway to finally clear up who the baddies in town still are. 

The YOA Treatment 

Alas, guys. As much as I love Tommy and Tuppence -- and YOU KNOW I truly do love them -- this book was pretty bad. All their old fun banter was replaced with deadly dull, amazingly repetitive conversations about not being able to remember things: names, places, nationalities, what a census is, quotes from books, etc., etc. That really took a lot of the wind out of my sails in terms of enjoying their detecting. The same was true of basically every conversation they had with anyone else, child or elderly neighbor, ALL of which consisted of someone trying to remember something that doesn't seem that hard to remember, "Err, she was German. Or maybe Russian. Or was it French?" "Oh yeah I remember who lived there, something like Parks. Or was it Parker? Or maybe Parkinson?" The whole time I'm like IT'S PARKINSON Why are we spending time on this conversation?? It was somewhat frustrating, but I had to remind myself that given that Agatha was getting on in years, this was probably a frustrating experience in her own life too!

Additionally, the mystery here -- who killed a British spy during WWI and what might she have hidden on their property before she was killed like 50 years ago -- was either not sufficiently compelling or not sufficiently established so as to really hold one's interest. I kept forgetting (maybe that was on purpose, in keeping with the book's theme) what Tommy and Tuppence were looking for. I think another thing that I have always loved about all the other Tommy and Tuppence stories has been the fairly rapid pace of the action. While some people prefer Agatha's more intellectual mysteries, like Poirot stories, I've always thought she writes a cracking good thriller, and those have been some of my favorite reads. However, I think in her later years, and this is one of the last three books she wrote, that just wasn't really her speed anymore. Over all, this last Tommy and Tuppence tale was definitely my least favorite of the books about them, and I found myself wishing she had allowed them to stay a little younger as she herself grew old, so that their mysteries would still feel fresh. 

We've only got two more books to report on before our Year of Agatha concludes! Stay tuned for Sleeping Murder and Curtain, the last Marple and Poirot books respectively, as well as a post letting you know about the direction we're planning on taking the blog in 2017.

- E. 

Don't Count Her Out: Nemesis | 1971

Image from here (this is a cool mystery blog to check out!)

"You, my dear, if I may call you that, have a natural flair for justice, and that has led to your having a natural flair for crime. I want you to investigate a certain crime. I have ordered a certain sum to be placed so that if you accept this request and as a result of your investigation this crime is properly elucidated, the money will become yours absolutely. I have set aside a year for you to engage on this mission. You are not young, but you are, if I may say so, tough." - Nemesis, p. 22

The Sum of It

Miss Marple, quite the rheumatic old lady, has taken to daily perusing the obituaries to see if she knows any of the deceased. One day, she notes that her old compatriot from A Caribbean Mystery, Mr. Rafiel, has passed away. She's awfully sad about that and thinks to herself that she wishes she could have seen him again before he died. Soon she hears from his attorneys saying they've got something for her from the deceased, and could she come to London? Upon visiting said attorneys she learns that Mr. Rafiel has left her a large sum of money on the condition that she solve a mystery for him. Only he leaves not a single clue as to what the mystery is. Miss Marple is not quite sure if she's going to be able to undertake this task. She tracks down his old secretary and can't learn anything from her, except that Mr. Rafiel did have a few kids, one of whom was a deadbeat son.

Pretty soon she gets notice that passage for her has been booked on a tour of the great homes and gardens of a certain part of England, by Mr. Rafiel, and every accommodation has been made for her. This must be part of the mystery! Off she sets on this bus tour, scrutinizing each of her fellow passengers to see who might be involved in the mystery. She recognizes one lady who had chatted with Miss Marple in St. Mary Mead not too long before, only she had different color hair... mysterious. She befriends a handsome, intelligent lady who used to run a girls school and eventually confesses to Miss Marple that she's not just on the tour to check out fancy homes and gardens, but that it is a "pilgrimage" of sorts to find out about a former pupil of hers who died, she says, because of love. Aha, thinks Miss Marple, now I'm onto something...only then this lady is killed by a boulder while walking on a path during the tour and Miss Marple can't get anything else out of her! 

Mr. Rafiel has also arranged for Miss Marple to stay with three sisters in their crumbling estate while she's in the village where her new friend has been killed, and Miss Marple distinctly senses that SOMETHING is up with these ladies, though she's not sure what exactly. She also discovers that at least one other person on her tour has been planted there by Mr. Rafiel to help keep an eye on her and help her parse out clues. She's getting closer and closer, and as she tours the little village, ever watchful, chatting up the post office lady and dropping into people's homes for tea, she gets closer and closer to the truth til everything comes to a head with a late night encounter with a dangerous person in Miss Marple's bedroom! 

The YOA Treatment

I don't know what it is about Miss Marple. Maybe because Agatha herself was a still clever but pretty old lady at this point, but this book is totally on point. I love how the mystery gradually unfolds from knowing only that there IS a mystery of some kind to one by one learning new pieces of the mystery, and THEN moving on to actually solving it. Miss Marple does a bit of Poirot-style "well I think I know something but I can't tell you til I figure out this other thing and make sure I'm right," which keeps you on the edge of your seat. 

Even though this one is set outside of St. Mary Mead, it is set in another small country village, and Miss Marple seems quite at home here. It also provides yet another example of not judging a book by its cover. Just because Miss M is a little old lady who gets tired out from a trip to the post office doesn't mean her mind isn't valuable and sharp as ever. Even Mr. Rafiel, who judged everyone around him pretty harshly, had the utmost respect for Miss Marple's mind, and counted on her to solve a mystery very dear to his heart as his last wish! 

While there is a bit of circling and circling around the main point of something, or slightly repetitive rehearsal of facts, this is still a solid and enjoyable read. I'm actually adding this one to my favorites list, which is well populated by Miss Marple books at this point! I think one thing I have consistently enjoyed about the Miss Marple stories, as well as other Agatha books with female leads, is that Agatha doesn't really write them like she thinks its unusual that a woman would be so clever and capable in the face of mystery and danger. While she certainly demonstrates that others around her might be mystified by this possibility, Agatha's language and style in writing these characters is not showy or like "haha-see-how-I-prove-a-big-point," and the characters themselves don't even make a big deal out of what they're doing, she just quite casually lets ladies save the day over and over again.

In my opinion, this little old lady detective still fit right in Agatha's wheelhouse, even near the very end of her writing career. 

- E. 

My Earliest Agatha Memory: Witness for the Prosecution, While The Light Lasts, & The Harlequin Tea Set | 1948, 1997, & 1997

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"He [Poirot] felt the spell of Margharita Clayton. But he was not entirely sure about her...Such women could be, though innocent themselves, the cause of crimes." -The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, p. 151.

The Sum of It:
Our last short story recap of the year! I'm going to fixate on one particular story from the last three collections I've read, as it has a nostalgic connection for me (more on that later!) The Mystery of the Spanish Chest (which makes an appearance in The Harlequin Tea Set & Other Stories) details the rather gruesome death of a Mr. Edward Clayton. His super stabbed body was found in a rather elaborate, decorative Spanish chest in Major Charles Rich's home. Creepily, the body was discovered the morning after a party had been happening in that very room the entire evening before! Mr. Clayton's wife was in attendance at the party, and her husband was also supposed to be, but he was unable to at the last minute...but did attempt to visit Major Rich before the party. Poirot meets Mrs. Clayton and is, of course, instantly a bit entraceled by her beautiful face and is like oh yeah she def had the hots for Major Rich and vice versa (#affair???!!!), but she insists they didn't have anything going on. Poirot does his usual Poirot thing and interviews everyone who was at the party to see if there's something missing or if it really is as simple as Major Rich killed Mr. Clayton to marry Mrs. Clayton. Poirot must harken back to his remembrance of Shakespeare plots to figure it out!

The YOA Treatment:
I've written before about how my parents introduced me to Poirot from an early age. Masterpiece Mystery! was one of my earliest television memories, and, in particular, The Mystery of the Spanish Chest. Once upon an age ago my parents decided to tape that episode on VHS (along with The Kidnapped Prime Minister) and I would watch it over and over and over and OVER! To this day my father can't bear to watch it because I wore him out of that Spanish chest death with my repeated viewings! It's funny to think that television helped shape my ferocious appetite for reading, but it's rather true. Even though I can probably recount to you every detail of The Mystery of the Spanish Chest episode (that duel at the beginning! So dramatic...), I still loved reading the short story version and transporting myself back to my younger days when my Agatha journey was just beginning.

-A.

Get Off My Lawn: Passenger to Frankfurt | 1970

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"And the kind of people who will go anywhere, do anything, unfortunately believe anything, and so long as they are promised a certain amount of pulling down, wrecking, throwing spanners in the works, then they think the cause must be a good one and that the world will be a different place. They're not creative, that's the trouble -- only destructive. The creative young write poems, write books, probably compose music, paint pictures just as they always have done. They'll be all right -- But once people learn to love destruction for its own sake, evil leadership gets its chance." - Passenger to Frankfurt, p. 55

Good heavens, this one is a doozy. Shall do my best here. 

The Sum of It:

The book begins with Sir Stafford Nye, a rather unlauded member of the aristocracy and diplomatic service, having a beer at the airport on his way back to England from Malay. He's approached by a tall girl with an aquiline nose in the bar who quickly tells him she's in danger and asks to borrow his rather dramatic hooded cloak. And his passport. Deal is, she thinks she can pass as him and take his seat on a  plane to England, and if she doesn't, probably someone is going to kill her because her previous flight to Frankfurt has been cancelled. Sir Stafford is game enough to "wander off" and buy his niece a stuffed panda, allowing the stranger to drug his beer and steal his clothes and documents. When he wakes up a bit later following the sleeping drought she slipped him, his belongings appear to have been stolen, and he's missed his plane. 

Once he makes it back to England, he acts embarrassed, but all his diplomatic pals know something is up. He wonders about the girl, and whether she actually made it back to England, and decides to place a mysterious advertisement in the classifieds for "Passenger to Frankfurt." Soon a mysterious response is printed, and he finds himself passing the girl on a bridge, where she hands him some tickets to a Wagnerian opera. There, he finds himself sitting by her, but they don't talk, and she just makes some musical notes in his program. Eventually he deduces that they are the bars to "The Young Siegfried," a Wagner piece. He's still confused #heisnottheonlyone. Later, he attends a dinner at the U.S. Ambassador's residence and finds himself faced with the girl again, now presenting herself as a Countess. 

After dinner, she kidnaps him and takes him to meet with some mysterious powerful Brits at a country house where they basically tell him that they are freaked out by youths these days, who are essentially turning into neo-nazi/hippies and are gradually taking over the world. This mystery crew is a small group of important and concerned Brit leaders who are full of secrets and calling all the shots about world-saving. They want to enlist his services to figure out who's behind it all #MAKESSENSE (?!). 

So off he and the girl traipse to observe these mysterious and unruly youths at a series of music festivals (seriously) finally ending up at a castle in the Dolomites hosted by the richest, fattest woman Stafford has ever seen, who greets them in a formal gown, with solitary jewels on every finger and a colorful jeweled tiara, and hosts them at a mysterious, formal dinner also attended by uniformed young men who are basically a revived version of the Hitler youth (all blond, all putting their arms in the air and saying "Heil!"). This fat rich lady is apparently trying to take over the world via her youth army, led by the handsomest blonde guy Stafford has ever seen, who goes by Franz Josef and gets "heiled" all over the place, especially at the rallies he leads, Munich-beer-hall-style. 

Meanwhile, the British mystery league is like drawing diagrams about what's happening in the world and talking to other mystery leagues about them #againconfusing. Stafford's old aunt is also chatting with all her old man diplomatic friends and figuring out what's going on with the youths and the nazis and whatever else. She makes a trip to the mountains to confirm what it seems like we already knew, that the fat rich lady (an old family friend) is a fat rich nazi who wants to take over the world. Sort of. Aunt Matilda tells all her old man diplomatic friends about it, even though presumably they already knew, and are trying to figure out how to stop the total destruction of the world (Washington has been "razed," we're told). Eventually it turns out Aunt Matilda also knows a scientist who might have the key to solving the world's problems, and the British mystery league that Stafford signed up with go off to find him.

The YOA Treatment:

SHEESH. This book. Is intense. It was apparently published to honor Agatha's 80th birthday, and advertised as her 80th book. As an old lady, Agatha was clearly troubled by what was up with the youths of her elderly age, and felt like the world was going down the toilet. As Christie novels go, this one is practically dystopian, with armed crowds of young people singing Wagner, heil-ing everyone, and taking over world capitols. There are some pages that are fascinating, and really make you think of the somewhat bizarre alt-right trends of some folks around the world (such as the quote at the top). The description Agatha offers of the fat, rich lady (Big Charlotte) is so vivid and detailed that it makes you wonder if she saw someone like this at some point in her life, sitting on a throne in a German castle, surrounded by the world's most valuable art, covered in jewels, welcoming guests in velvet gowns and diamond-and-sapphire shirt studs to a dinner attended by a legion of uniformed young men with swords. 

This is the type of stuff Agatha has always been good at, images of glamour, painting a picture for her readers, intelligent folks acting as spies in odd but interesting situations. However, when she starts trying to interpret and discourse on global politics and youth culture things get... a little weird. A WIDE range of random characters meant to be politicians from a range of countries spend PAGES discoursing on the different types of weapons they have at their disposal to potentially stop the armies of youth around the world. The main characters disappear for periods of time with no explanation. At one point there's a wedding. We're meant to understand a couple inside jokes that figure into the plot, but are never clearly explained. A few quotes floating about on the world wide web from reviewers of this book sum it up pretty well: 

"...The rest of the book is largely a discourse on a favourite old theme of Mrs. Christie's, the present state of the world and its future outlook, on both of which she takes a somewhat dim view. In other words, for her eightieth book a rather more serious work than usual from this author." - Anthony Berkeley Cox, The Guardian, 1970

"Her eightieth book and though not her best very far from her worst...At moments one wonders whether the old dear knows the difference between a hippie and a skinhead but she is still marvelously entertaining." - Maurice Richardson, The Observer, 1970

This is the harshest, but perhaps most accurate, no offense to dearest Agatha: 

"The last of the thrillers, and one that slides from the unlikely to the inconceivable and finally lands up in incomprehensible muddle. Prizes should be offered to readers who can explain the ending. Concerns the youth uproar of the 'sixties, drugs, a new Aryan superman and so on, subjects of which Christie's grasp was, to say the least, uncertain (she seems to have the oddest idea of what the term 'Third World' means, for example)." - Robert Barnard, from his book A Talent to Decieve - An Appreciation of Agatha Christie [She uses the term Third World to refer to some kind of new political society envisioned by these neo-nazi hippie youths taking over the world, bless her]

I must say, this was not my favorite, though I did really enjoy the normal spy bits, and found some of the concerns about the world a bit prescient of our Agatha, considering the troubling political circumstances we find ourselves in today (she literally mentions trouble in Syria). The solution she finds to the world's problems seems a BIT unlikely, but perhaps she was prescient about that too. 

- E. 

SO Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want: Endless Night | 1967

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'"Nobody shall drive us away," I said. "We're going to be happy here." We said it like a challenge to fate.' - Endless Night, Ch. 13

The Sum of It: 

Our narrator, Mike Rogers, really wants the reader to know him. He tells us all about himself, his success with the ladies, his nomadic lifestyle, all the different jobs he had, the sense he's got of being on the verge of something interesting: then he sees a real estate listing. A house called The Towers is up for auction, and out of curiosity he walks up the wooded road to see it. Immediately he knows he just has to live there. The views and the trees and the rolling hills are perfect, and his old friend, an architect, has already designed a house for him to build someday. Alas, Mike is broke, so he's not sure how his dreams will ever come true. While he's wandering through the trees, he stumbles across a beautiful American girl, who also climbed the hill to Gypsy's Acre (that's what the land is known as locally) curious about the real estate listing. 

Mike and the girl, who turns out to be a crazy wealth heiress named Ellie, fall promptly in love. She is about to come of age, and is eager to escape her little bubble of other wealthy people and elderly advisors watching her every move. She and Mike elope, surprising everyone, and she surprises Mike by purchasing Gypsy's Acre, and they sign up his ailing architect friend, Rudy Santonix, to design it before he drops dead of consumption. Once the house is built, Mike and Ellie move in and are so excited and happy, except they keep getting harassed and warned off by this old creepy Gypsy lady, who is rumored to be mad that her people got kicked off the land ages ago. Eventually Ellie invites her former secretary, Greta, to come stay. Ellie and Greta are BFF, and Mike is more than a little jealous, eventually even getting into a shouting match with the glamorous Greta. Soon enough, a fatal accident befalls one of the party, and everything is thrown into tumult. That accident is closely followed by the disappearance of the old Gypsy lady, Miss Lee, and the death of a friend from the neighborhood, Claudia Hardcastle. People start to think something fishy is going on and THAT'S when it really gets good.  

The YOA Treatment: 

OOOOOH I have been waiting ALL YEAR to see if this book was as good as the absolutely PERFECT version from television. And guess what...IT WAS. Boy is it creepy and clever, Broadchurch-style. I seriously recommend this one if you're in the market for a good mystery to read while it's cold and gray outside this winter.

For one thing, I've found as we've moved through this year that I really enjoy the books where we get our narration in first person. There's an added element of mystery in wondering if we can trust our narrator, or if they're missing something, or if we're missing something about them. The narrator of Endless Night, Mike Rogers, eagerly pours himself out into the pages of the book. He's telling the story but he's regularly trying to get the reader to understand something about himself, how he became who he is, the experiences and circumstances that shaped him, his own hopes and dreams. Agatha does an amazing job of getting inside his head and making us feel like we know him. At one point he tells us: 

"I suppose what I really am is restless. I want to go everywhere, see everything, do everything. I want to find something. Yes, that's it, I want to find something."

There is also a nice creepy sense of foreboding in this book, you can't quite figure out what's going to go wrong, but you know something will. As Mike falls in love with a piece of land, Gypsy's Acre, and with the girl he meets under the trees there, things seem to be going great, but then creepy stuff happens: a weird prediction from an elderly Gypsy lady on the road, a brick through a window, a warning look in someone's eyes. Once a terrible thing finally happens, we still aren't quite sure what's happening, even who might be the culprit. By the time you reach the end of this book, the revelation of the actual criminal (if it's a new story to the reader) is pretty impressively shocking, right up there with Crooked House. Though this is one of Agatha's last few books (boohoo!), it feels like a super strong return to form to me. 

-E.

Something's Rotten in the State of Meadowbank: Cat Among the Pigeons | 1959

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"But you must remember this," said Miss Bulstrode, "one or other of the girls may wish to make herself important by exaggerating some incident or even by inventing one. Girls do very odd things..." -Cat Among the Pigeons, p. 94

The Sum of It:
As we get closer and closer to the end of our Agatha journey this year, I am becoming more and more sad about saying goodbye to Poirot! Although Emily and I discovered this year that we prefer a Miss Marple book (#sorryHercule), it was still sad to realize this was my second to last Poirot read! Okay so on to the summarizing:

Our story begins in Ramat (a fictional Middle Eastern country) where the Prince of the land (one Prince Ali Yusef, Hereditary Sheik of Ramat) is consulting his British private pilot and pal, Bob Rawlinson. There's a revolution going on, and Prince Ali has decided he needs to flee the country or be killed. Bob agrees to fly him out, but before they go, Prince Ali entrusts Bob with a huge task: thinking of a way to smuggle nearly a million pounds's worth of jewels out of the country! Bob is like GEEZ, LOUISE HOW DO I DO THAT? The palace is full of spies, and the two men's plane ride will be dangerous enough. Luckily, Bob's sister and niece have been visiting him, and they should be able to leave the country un-searched. Bob goes to their hotel to make the jewel arrangements and potentially bid farewell (forever!?) to his family, but they are not there. He spends some time in their room doing something mysterious to hide the jewels, and then takes off with Prince Ali on their flight to freedom.

Some months later, Bob's niece, Jennifer, is one of many girls arriving at fancy-dancy school, Meadowbank, for the start of term. The school is run by "headmistress extraordinaire" Miss Bulstrode, who prides herself on running an establishment that takes on the brightest students, with a couple of princesses sprinkled in for the wow factor. One of these princesses is Princess Shaista of Ramat. Princess Shaista is fond of touting the fact that a) she is royal, b) she was engaged to her cousin, the now deceased Prince Ali (Bob and Ali's plane crashed in the mountains as they attempted to flee #RIP #sadface), and c) as an important royal, she is likely to be kidnapped at any moment. Miss Bulstrode and Co. assume she is just a dramatic teenage girl and ignore her fears.

Meadowbank is experiencing an influx of new staff, notably a new games mistress, Miss Springer, a new French mistress, Mlle. Blanche, and a young gardener named Adam, who is repeatedly described as obnoxious to the Meadowbank staff, as they assume all the young girls will be in love with him (#accurate). We learn early on that Gardener Adam is actually not a gardener (well, sort of, apparently his mom was good with plants?), but in fact a secret agent sent to keep an eye on Princess Shaista. The school year seems to be going along swimmingly, until games mistress Miss Springer is found #MURDERED in the new sports pavilion! Although a rather brusque and disliked woman, there doesn't seem to be much motive for her death. Local Inspector Kelsey is doing his best on the case, and then has to work double time when there is a SECOND murder, and a kidnapping to boot! The case needs a professional, and so, nearly 3/4 through the book, one of Meadowbank's plucky students gets herself to London to bring in none other than Hercule Poirot to make sense of it all. As he makes his way through his usual interviews, it becomes apparent that something (or more importantly, someONE!) is not right this year at Meadowbank...there is a cat among the pigeons!

The YOA Treatment:
When I first started reading this book, it felt a bit like Agatha was in two places at once. The opening scenes set in Ramat (and the following intrigue) felt very much like They Came to Baghdad or Destination Unknown. And then the rest of the story set at Meadowbank felt like her usual English countryside murder mystery. However, she did a fairly good job of bringing the two together and leaves you with a story that is one part caper, one part whodunit. I was a bit disappointed that Poirot didn't come into the picture earlier (and when he did, he figured things out awwwwfully quickly), but the cast of colorful Meadowbank characters kept my attention until it was finally time for Hercule's appearance.

I also admire Agatha's take on a bit of a coming of age story by setting this mystery at a girl's school. Quite a bit of the story is seen through the eyes of several of Meadowbank's students and it's entertaining to see how their adolescent trials and tribulations fit into the plot. Secret cigarettes are discovered, tennis rackets are unraveling, tiffs are had with Mother, and the halls are thick with gossip about the teachers. I'm attempting to work my way through Emma Cline's truly excellent book, The Girls, and while Cat Among the Pigeons is vastly different, I get some of those same pangs of recognition of my younger self like "Oh wow, that IS what it was like to be 15 and have a crush on the hot guy that mows the lawn at your school."

Overall, a read that's fun and intriguing and with a bit of Poirot to boot!

-A.

Bonus Read & Guest Post: The Monogam Murders | 2014

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"Ah! Now you think like a proper detective. Hercule Poirot is educating you on how to use the little gray cells." 

-Hercule Poirot, The Monogram Murders, p. 233

We are so pleased to have company this week as we recap a bonus read, The Monogram Murders. Sophia from the utter delightful book blog, Main Street & Maple, joined us as we dug into this 2014 NEW case starring our favorite Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot! For those of you not familiar with Monogram Murders (and the subsequent Closed Casket), it is penned by mystery author Sophie Hannah, who received permission from the Agatha Christie Estate to revive dear Hercule. The result is fairly wonderful, but let's give you a little background first....

The Sum of It:
It's 1929 and Poirot has decided to take staycation to a new level and rent a room at a boarding house literally across the street from his usual abode, #whitehavenmansions. Whilst at Mrs. Unsworth's lodging house, Poirot befriends Scotland Yarddie, Edward Catchpool, and the two enjoy spending time talking crime and working out crossword puzzles by the fire. Poirot has also developed a penchant for Pleasant's Coffee House, a small cafe that apparently has the best coffee in the world, and decent food to boot. On his weekly table for one dinner dates, Poirot encounters a harried and terrified woman (later found out to be named Jennie) in the cafe. Poirot approaches Jennie and asks her if anything is wrong. She ominously tells Poirot there's nothing to be done to help her cause she's basically a DEAD WOMAN WALKING. "Who's after you!?!" Poirot asks. "Lemme help you out!" But Jennie refuses, instead begging him to, when she is eventually found #murdered, to not look for her killer because she deserves to die! #OMINOUS. Poirot is rightly concerned about the situation, particularly when, later that night, Catchpool tells him of not one, but THREE murders that have taken place at a fancy London hotel! All three victims are laid out as if awaiting burial...and each has a monogrammed cufflink in their mouth #creepytown. Is Mademoiselle Jennie among the dead?! You'll just have to pick up and copy to find out AND to see if Poirot and Catchpool hurry to catch the killer before he (or she!) strikes again!

The YOA Treatment:
Since we are nearly finished (EEK!) with our Year of Agatha project, and have only a handful of Poirot stories left, we felt this was a good time to see how we felt about Sophie Hannah's Poirot. We enlisted Sophia's help in reviewing Monogram Murders to also get some perspective from someone new to Agatha Christie's works. Here's her verdict:

This might be a cardinal sin as a guest blogger on Year of Agatha, but I have never read a Hercule Poirot story! Shh, don’t tell them! Having no experience with Hercule Poirot previously, I felt I was getting to know the famous detective along with Detective Catchpool, his partner on the case. Unlike the girls of Year of Agatha, who undoubtedly know Poirot well, to me, he started off as just another detective in a mystery novel. Regardless, without knowing whether Hannah stayed true to his character, I was instantly charmed with Poirot’s quirks and peculiarities. I messaged Audrey & Emily as soon as I was done asking, "Does he always talk in the third person?!"  

In true Christie fashion, the plot weaved throughout The Monogram Murders is captivating and intricate. When I read mystery novels, I am always trying to guess who did it and how it was done (aren’t we all??), but I COULD NOT figure it out in this novel. And while the plot is incredibly complex, I never found myself lost or lagging behind. Poirot has a brilliant manner of keeping the reader up to speed without spoon feeding the answers. 

Adding to the fun of uncovering the mystery in this novel, is the vibrant cast of characters. From Poirot himself to the animated hotel-owner to the esteemed artist, there was really never a dull moment at the Bloxham Hotel (which is almost a character in itself). 

Now that I’ve read Sophie Hannah’s take on Hercule Poirot, I think it’s about time I pick up a Poirot novel done by the queen herself!

Overall, we Year of Agatha girls thoroughly enjoyed The Monogram Murders. Full disclosure, the first chapter was a little off-putting for us - we still aren't totally sold on the idea that Poirot would trust his evening hot drink to a cafe, or that he would be drinking that much coffee since super rich hot chocolate is his usual jam. However, we can buy that if he did go through a coffee shop phase, it would be in his earlier days before he gets too old and fussy! But after the first "scene" at Pleasant's, we were totally hooked. The initial round of hotel murders is presented a bit more macabre than the usual Agatha (seemed a bit more Sherlock than Poirot), but the premise is as much a recipe for a late night page turner as any Christie! While the overall pacing of the book was quite excellent, we were a bit bogged down by the ending. Poirot is famous for his EPIC and often lengthy denouements, but this one felt particularly long for some reason. Sophia's assessment is accurate that, while it was complex, it was thoroughly explained. However, it felt as though Poirot's assembled group of suspects/witnesses/etc. would have had to sit for hours to hear his full explanation!

Now, on to what we loved. Poirot did truly feel like Poirot in Monogram Murders. Hannah has done a wonderful job of capturing the Hastings/Poirot relationship in Poirot's interactions with Catchpool, with the latter playing the pivotal Hastings role of saying a small, innocuous phrase that sets off Poirot's little gray cells into a spiral of understanding. Poirot was full of his usual bizarre requests, sending people on random errands that end up producing vital pieces of evidence, and interviewing witnesses like a pro. We heartily recommend this as a read for any Agatha Christie fan, and think the Queen of Crime herself would be pleased with this fresh Poirot success!

A huge thanks to Sophia for reading along with us! If you're in the market for a non-Agatha mystery to read, be sure to check out her reviews of recent thrillers for some great recommendations!

-A & E.

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Ahhhhh, Witchy Woman: By the Pricking of My Thumbs | 1968

Image found on Pinterest, a perfectly creepy cover!

"I daresay people have liked murderers," said Tuppence very reasonably. "It's like swindlers and confidence tricksmen who always look so honest and seem so honest. I daresay murderers all seem very nice and particularly softhearted. That sort of thing."
-By the Pricking of My Thumbs p. 210

The Sum of It: 

TOMMY AND TUPPENCE ARE BACK!!!!!!! Yesssssssssssssssssss. Ok summarizing. 

Tommy and Tuppence (though referred to throughout as elderly #projecting) seem like they are maybe in their 50's at this point. Though they may be older, with grown-up children and grandchildren out in the world, their minds are still just as sharp and the banter is still #TOPNOTCH (phew!) As they're having breakfast one day, Tommy starts thinking he should probably go visit his old Aunt Ada at the little old ladies home where she's been living for the past couple years. Though Aunt Ada genuinely despises Tuppence, she decides to go along with Tommy anyway for solidarity and also because if being mean to her brings Aunt Ada some joy, then Tuppence doesn't grudge her that :). Upon arrival Aunt Ada immediately denies she knows Tuppence and kicks her out of the room, so Tuppence goes down to sit in the little sunroom, where she joins a "fluffy" old lady with a pretty face and white hair, who's drinking milk. The old lady chats a bit and then asks Tuppence, "Was it your poor child?" Tuppence is like huh what and the lady starts talking about a poor child buried behind the fireplace. Mercifully Tommy comes in to rescue her from this real awkward situation and back home they go. 

Only once they get there, Tuppence can't stop thinking about that old lady, Mrs. Lancaster, and her weird line of conversation. A few weeks later, Tommy's Aunt Ada dies, and when they go back to the old ladies home to sort her things, Tuppence intends to talk to Mrs. Lancaster again, because she's worried Mrs. L knows something about some child who was killed or some crime and might be in danger. HOWEVER when they get there they learn Mrs. L was recently disappeared from the home by some relative named Mrs. Johnson, who gave a false address. They also learn that Mrs. L gave Aunt Ada a painting of a pretty house by a canal and a little bridge, and Tuppence immediately realizes she saw the house once on a train journey, and decides that it's the only clue to find out where poor Mrs. L might be so Tuppence can make sure she's safe. When Tommy goes off on a business trip, Tuppence decides to figure out where the little house is, and hopefully Mrs. L, and heads off on a little trip of her own. Only, once she actually stumbles upon the pretty house and the little village nearby, Tuppence quickly realizes she's become mixed up in a mystery much bigger than the one she came to solve. The only question is whether anyone can save her from the danger she's stumbled upon!?

The YOA Treatment: 

I knew I was a big fan of Tommy and Tuppence in their early days, but given how dated the last couple novels of Agatha's felt, I was a little worried about how their charming repartee and page-turning plots might fare as their characters got older. But the GREAT news is that in my opinion, it felt like nothing had changed. Tuppence is still the same plucky adventurer she was when we first met her in London just after WWI. Tommy is still gruffly admiring of his wife's cunning, and clever and resourceful on his own. It was super delightful to see them again, and follow along with their action-packed adventures #CAPER!

We've also been waiting for this one since reading The Pale Horse, where Agatha first stumbled on the little plot device of a random old lady asking "Was it your poor child?" and going on about a baby buried behind a fireplace. In that book, it was just a throwaway anecdote, but clearly Agatha found it creepily inspiring and mulled over it for a few years before developing it into a full-blown plot, which served this tale quite well. 

Unlike some of the less action driven stories of late, the pace of this one moved along easily, and the twists along the way didn't feel manufactured, but instead felt clever and fun. Each of the newly introduced side characters felt fully fleshed out and familiar, filling their roles in a little country village, as opposed to the stilted design and flat nature of many of the "modern," city-based young people in some of the other recent novels #villagelife. It felt like a true return to form, and I really can't imagine why Agatha didn't write more Tommy & Tuppence books, because she is so very good at them! 

- E.