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

Image from here "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...

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...

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

(image from here) (image from here) (image from here) "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...

Get Off My Lawn: Passenger to Frankfurt | 1970

Image from here "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...

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

(Image from here) '"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...

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

(image from here) "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...

Bonus Read & Guest Post: The Monogam Murders | 2014

(image from here) "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,...

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...

Agatha is NOT a Fan of Hipsters: Third Girl | 1966

Image from here "It's the way girls like living now. Better than P.G.s or a hostel. The main girl takes a furnished flat, and then shares out the rent. Second girl is usually a friend. Then they find a third girl by advertising, if they don't know one." - Third Girl, p. 16 The Sum of It:  Elderly Poirot is relaxing at home of an evening when his butler, George, comes in to let him know that there's a young lady at the door who thinks...

Miss Marple Hits the Beach: A Caribbean Mystery | 1964

Image from here "Do you think a murderer ought to be a happy man?" Miss Marple coughed. "Well, they usually have been, in my experience."  "I don't suppose your experience has gone very far," said Mr. Rafiel.  In this assumption, as Miss Marple could have told him, he was wrong. But she forbore to contest his statement. Gentlemen, she knew, did not like to be put right in their facts."  - A Caribbean Mystery, p. 113 The...

Beginnings & Ends: Poirot's Early Cases, Miss Marple's Final Cases, & Problem at Pollensa Bay | 1974, 1979, & 1991

(image from here) (image from here) (image from here) "Remember it, and if you think at any time that I am growing conceited - it is not likely, but it might arise." I concealed a smile. "Eh bien, my friend, you shall say to me, 'Chocolate box.' Is it agreed?" "It's a bargain!" -Poirot & Hastings, "The Chocolate Box," Poirot's Early Cases, p. 139 The Sum of It: We are getting deep into the land of We Have Read All These Short...

Memory Lane: Elephants Can Remember | 1972

(image from here) "So I thought that what we've really got to do is to get at the people who are like elephants. Because elephants, so they say, don't forget." -Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, Elephants Can Remember, p. 31 The Sum of It: Elephants Can Remember reunites two of our favorite sleuth besties: Poirot and Mrs. Ariadne Oliver. Mrs. Oliver is paying her famous author dues and attending a literary luncheon with the masses. She has some initial...

Star Struck: The Mirror Crack'd | 1962

(image from here) "I don't think," he said gently, "that anything that you or I could say about murders is likely unduly to excite or shock Miss Marple. I can assure you, my dear Miss Knight, that Miss Marple can contemplate murder and sudden death and indeed crime of all kinds with the utmost equanimity." - The Mirror Crack'd, p. 203 The Sum of It: Times, they are a'changin' (ain't that the truth, AGH) in St. Mary Mead, and Miss Marple is...

Short Story Honesty & The Occult: Double Sin + The Golden Ball | 1961 & 1971

(image from here) (image from here) "Suddenly the child stirred. His eyes opened. He looked past his mother towards the open door. He tried to speak and she bent down to catch the half-breathed words. 'All right, I'm comin,' he whispered, then sank back. The mother felt suddenly terrified; she crossed the room to her father. Somewhere near them the other child was laughing. Joyful, contented, triumphant, the silvery laughter echoed through...