100 Years of Poirot!

(image from agathachristie.com)

Happy Thursday, readers!

Did you know that the world's favorite Belgian detective (#HerculePoirot) is turning 100 this year!? Neither did we! Thank goodness the good people at Agatha Christie Limited are on top of things and have a fantastic collection of information on this beloved #DameAgatha character on their website. Of particular note is Hercule Poirot's Autobiography which is a for real thing that is absolute magic! Be sure to check out their website to read all the goodness.

For the two of us, Hercule Poirot means the terrific actor David Suchet.

Audrey says: I remember being very small, getting to stay up late and watch Poirot on Masterpiece Theater and falling in love with Agatha Christie's stories because David Suchet brought them completely to life. Even now Suchet's adorably fussy, but at the same time cunning and kind portrayal of Poirot holds a very special place in my heart.

Emily says: Suchet IS Poirot. He himself feels so personally attached to the character, it's incredible to watch some of the behind the scenes conversations with him and listen to him talk about Poirot like a best friend. I've tried to appreciate other Poirots (so sorry, Peter Ustinov) but they just don't get it quite right. The voice, the walk, the facial expressions, the accent; Suchet is the  master, for sure. Though I had read some Christie books as a teenager, I didn't start watching Suchet's Poirot until my mid-twenties, when dear Audrey realized my lack of awareness and insisted on correcting it (thank goodness for #mindtwins!) Suchet brings the stories to life in such a wonderful way, he is the perfect Belgian detective.

Poirot is one of Agatha's most famous characters, and has been portrayed on stage and screen many times. Though we're clearly biased to Suchet, do you have a case to make for a different Poirot? Or share our attachment to dear David? Let's also not forget precious Hastings, who shares this anniversary, and a place in our hearts, as does Hugh Fraser, our favorite Hastings of all)!

Conferences! Stockings! Fox Hunts!: The ABC Murders | 1936

(image from here)

"A madman, mon ami, is to be taken seriously. A madman is a very dangerous thing." -Hercule Poirot, The ABC Murders, p. 5

The Sum of It:
This week, we present to you, dear readers, our recap of what has become one of our favorite #DameAgatha novels: The ABC Murders. We begin with the dynamic duo of Poirot and Hastings reunited again (it seems like Agatha decided these two just weren't as great without each other and has decided to keep them together #4eva). Poirot is dying his hair (#scandal!) and Hastings pretends to be shocked, but has also adopted the combover technique for his own sparse locks. Having tried retirement and not liking it too much (since he always gets pulled into solving murders anyway), Poirot is back in London and looking for the cream of the crop of crime to solve. Just such a crime comes his way in the form of a mysterious letter announcing a murderer's intention to commit a crime in the town of Andover in a few days. Poirot is skeptical of the taunting note because there is something that just doesn't seem right to him about the whole thing. But sure enough, the appointed day rolls around and an elderly shopkeeper named Ascher is found #coshed with an ABC railway guide near her body! The game is afoot!

Before long Poirot is receiving more letters with dates and locations of future murders and they are all in a sinister pattern following the alphabet (#clever). Betty Barnard is belt-strangled in Bexhill! Sir Carmichael Clarke is #coshed in Churston! (and so forth). At each location an ABC railway guide is found, reinforcing the murderer's devious plan to work his or her way through the alphabet of towns in England. (Also causing the question to be asked "uh...what's gonna happen when they get to the letter X?" #goodquestion). Poirot becomes more and more frustrated as he attempts to get one step ahead of the killer, and yet the bodies keep piling up. Along the way, he collects a legion of family members of the victims who attempt to make sense of the crime, and do their part to stop the murders. Just when you think Agatha has given you some resolution (#ABC), SHE DOES THE UNTHINKABLE! Another twist! And a better ending than you could have hoped for. This is truly one of Agatha's most ingenious plots, and deserves to be in the top "To-Reads" for anyone looking to read more of the Queen of Crime.

A Brief List of Hilarities:
This recap would not be complete without noting some truly excellent Poirot & Hastings moments found in The ABC Murders:
>At one point, Poirot teases Hastings about his general extreme love of women by singing (in what appears to be a fairly grating manner) #hastingsinlove #poirotthesinger
>Poirot also suggests that Hastings should think about joining a nudist colony (Hastings is not amused).
>Hastings, trying to be considerate of Poirot's extreme need to "think things over" aka engage the Little Grey Cells! that he (Hastings) literally falls asleep rather that disturb his friend (#friendshipgoals).
>In the end, Poirot must admit that, though his friend Hastings has a rather basic mind, he is the Belgian's good luck charm once again! A stray, obvious observance from Hastings ultimately leads Poirot to solve the crime.

The YOA Treatment:
It's interesting to think in today's society full of TV show, book, and real life serial killers, that the notion of such a murderer was not common when The ABC Murders was written. agathachristie.com notes that, at the time of ABC's publication, the term "serial killer" was not even yet coined! It is this serial killer plot that caused critics at the time of its publication to initially question the book's significance, and yet ultimately to hail its brilliance. Edward Powys Mathers asked himself in a 1936 review: "Is Agatha Christie going to let me down? Does she think she can give us this kind of tale as a detective story and get away with it?" Of course she isn't and IS and even Eddie PM must admit that "Ingenuity...is a mild term for Mrs. Christie's gift."

Cruella de Boynton: Appointment with Death | 1938

(image from here)

"You do see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?" 

- Unknown Whisperer (until the end of the book...), Appointment with Death, p. 1

The Sum of It:
We turn, dear readers, once again to the Middle East for our second book of this week: Appointment with Death. Set first in Jerusalem, this story focuses on the most depressing family of all time: The Boyntons. The Boyntons are a rag-tag group of emotionally abused, American step and half brothers and sisters who are (basically, literally) under the thumb of their disgusting (the exact words used to describe her are "the grotesque, Buddha-like figure" with fat hands, among other things) and super, duper psycho mother. #Yikes. These grown adults are constantly at their mother's beck and call, are not allowed to leave their home (uh...except on this random vacay), are not allowed to get jobs, and can only talk to people their mother says they can. Her list of Okay People most definitely does not include young hot shot doctor, Sarah King, who has developed a bit of a crush on Raymond Boynton. We see most of the first half of the book through the eyes of Dr. King, or Dr. Gerard, a French doctor who is also having a Middle East tour. These two are fascinated by the prisoner-like Boynton children and their crazy mom and the psychology behind the hold she has on them.

After several chapters of Truly Awful Things Happening to all the Boynton Kids, the group moves their vacation to a more remote location in Petra, along with another American woman (who has married a fancy Lord Downton-Abbey style), Lady Westholme, and old-maidy-type named Miss Pierce. The group is gelling as well as can be expected when, of course, one afternoon the horrid Mrs. Boynton is found #DEAD alone in her lawn chair! As you can imagine, none of her kids are terribly torn up and everyone seems cool with saying "oh yeah she def just died of regular heart stuff"...except for Hercule Poirot. With basically everyone having a motive for knocking old sourface Boynton off, Poirot needs to know if they are dealing with just #DEATH or #MURDER. Commissioned by a Colonel Carbury to solve the crime in just 24 hours, Poirot sits down for some long chats with each person involved and, of course, in true Poirot fashion, finds the truth with time to spare.

The YOA Treatment:
I must admit (without giving any spoilers), that the end of the book was slightly disappointing. And by the end I mean the solution. But while the ending might not be 100% satisfying, the ride truly is. Appointment with Death features a lot of the Poirot order and method we have come to know and love. For example, at one point he writes out a list of nine items that are just simply interesting about the case, and then goes back through to see if he can reconcile all of them together or if there are any that conflict (you guessed it, there are!) But Poirot also spends a great deal of time thinking through the psychology of this #MURDER. He considers each suspect and decides to prove each of them innocent if he can, and if he cannot...well they most certainly must be the guilty party. Appointment with Death shows the maturity #DameAgatha was reaching as a writer, not necessarily (in this case) with stunning plot development, but in a very logical and convincing understanding of psychology.

Another interesting tidbit - Appointment with Death mentions not one, but two of Poirot's previous cases! The work he did on the A.B.C. Murders and, most notably, his success with that little affair on the Orient Express. Now, I shall not reveal the context in which this case was brought up, for it shall spoil the end of that book which is considered one of Agatha's finest! But for those of you who are familiar with the ending of Orient Express, you will no doubt be able to sniff out the connection made between the two cases...

-A.

When You Just Need Some Pictures: Agatha Comics!

(all images in this post by us!)

I (Audrey) am always looking to find new and interesting items to add to my ever-growing Agatha Christie book collection, and so was very pleased to recently find several used copies of graphic novel versions of her works.

These terrific little adaptations are, understandably, quite abbreviated, and yet the essence of Agatha remains! I have so far acquired The Murder on the Links, The Man in the Brown Suit, Murder at the Vicarage, and Evil Under the Sun. I heartily recommend any of them to both long-time Agatha fans who are looking for a fun refresher and newcomers who new want a colorful introduction to #DameAgatha's works!

I found a good reference here of a list of the available adaptations and best purchase options.

-A.

Banter, Blunts, and a Ham Merchant: Partners in Crime | 1929

(image from here)

"I want things to happen. Exciting things. Wouldn't you like to go chasing German spies again, Tommy? Think of the wild days of peril we went through once." - Tuppence Beresford, Partners in Crime, p. 2

The Sum of It:
This week we have dived head first back into the adventurous and terrifically witty world of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford with Partners in Crime. The one-time Adventurers for Hire duo from The Secret Adversary are settling into married life, and settling rather badly. After all their excitement in Secret Adversary they want more than just home life. Lucky for the Beresfords, high-up-spy-man Mr. Carter comes to the rescue with a proposition: would Tommy and Tuppence like to pose as a Mr. Blunt and Secretary at the International Detective Agency in order to find out more about some fishy "foreign business" involving blue letters from a Russian ham merchant who just wants to find his refugee wife?? Um, #YASPLEASE

What follows is a truly jolly collection of short stories with many #DameAgatha classics: stabbings at costume parties, poisoned chocolates, a lady hiding from her fiance' while undergoing "slimming treatments" #dubiousscience, disappearing ladies, and that's just the start! We will be honest: the mysteries in Partners in Crime aren't necessarily mind blowing, but the dialogue is just so scintillating, it's a pure delight to read. Take this passage from chapter 1:

"Don't you ever have a wild secret yearning for romance - adventure - life?"
"What have you been reading, Tuppence?" asked Tommy.
"Think how exciting it would be," went on Tuppence, "if we heard a wild rapping at the door and went to open it and in staggered a dead man."
"If he was dead he couldn't stagger," said Tommy critically.
"You know what I mean," said Tuppence. "They always stagger in just before they die and fall at your feet just gasping out a few enigmatic words. 'The Spotted Leopard' or something like that."

Now tell us you don't want to read a whole book of that delightful repartee...

The YOA Treatment:
One of the particularly fun things about Partners in Crime is Agatha's not so subtle nods to the detective classics sprinkled throughout the cases. Tommy and Tuppence have great bookshelves of classic detective novels in their office and they often reference them in their exploits, and decide to try solving crimes in the style of many of their favorites (Tommy even pretends to be blind at one point while imitating Thornley Colton, the blind Problemist. Fortunately Agatha and Tommy avoid insensitivity by having him pledge to donate loads of money to a charity for the blind). One of Audrey's favorite instances is Tommy's attempts at the eccentricities of Sherlock Holmes:

"He picked up a violin which lay on the table, and drew the bow once or twice across the strings. Tuppence ground her teethe and even the explorer blenched...As the visitor left the office, Tuppence grabbed the violin and putting it in the cupboard turned the key in the lock. 'If you must be Sherlock Holmes,' she observed, 'I'll get you a nice little syringe and a bottle labeled Cocaine, but for God's sake leave that violin alone."

Sherlock Holmes isn't the only detective Agatha paid homage to - in fact she even left a few hints at Hercule Poirot! There are many instances of Tuppence or Tommy encouraging the other to "use your little grey cells, mon ami" #tresadorbs. Ol' Tommy at one point dresses up as a parson and imitates the well known clerical sleuth Father Brown.

Agatha owes the roots of her own mysteries to the work of her predecessors, and tells in her autobiography about a conversation with her sister Madge, who had introduced her to some of her favorite detective story authors, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Paul Beck, and Gaston Le Roux. She told Madge after reading a Paul Beck book called The Mystery of the Yellow Room that she would like to try her hand at writing a detective story. Madge basically said "yeah right good luck" but from that moment, Agatha says she was "fired by determination" that she would write a detective story. And how!

- A. & E.