Wuff, Wuff!: Dumb Witness | 1937

(image from here) "'Oh Poirot,' I cried. 'It can't be natural death! It's got to be murder!' 'Oh la la, we seem to have changed places, you and I.'"  Dumb Witness, p. 220 The Sum of It: Our story this week begins (quite literally!) with a death: that of Ms. Emily Arundell. Emily Arundell is a secretly-uber-wealthy spinster woman with many needy nieces and nephews, all of whom decide Easter weekend is the perfect time for a family...

Agatha's Dearest Companion

Hello dear readers! This week we are making our way through Dumb Witness (stay tuned early next week for our recap and review!) For those of you not familiar with this story, it includes a terrifically endearing character in Bob the dog, the family pet of one of Poirot's clients. In our Agatha studies this year, we have enjoyed learning about her personal love of dogs - most particularly her own pets throughout her lifetime. In fact, she dedicated...

Self-portrait of the Artist: Cards on the Table | 1936

" 'Ask Dr. Roberts if he'll be so good as to step this way.'  'I should have kept him to the end,' said Mrs. Oliver, 'In a book I mean,' she added apologetically. 'Real life's a bit different,' said Battle.  'I know,' said Mrs. Oliver. 'Badly constructed.' " - Cards on the Table, p. 25 The Sum of It: This book establishes an interesting premise for the crime around which it centers; a creepy dude who enjoys dressing up like Mephistopheles...

Agatha's Egyptian Throwback: Death Comes as the End | 1944

(image from here) "'There is an evil that comes from outside, that attacks so that all the world can see, but there is another kind of rottenness that breeds from within—that shows no outward sign. It grows slowly, day by day, till at last the whole fruit is rotten—eaten by disease.'" -Hori, Death Comes as the End, p. 9 The Sum of It: Our first book of the week is unique among Agatha Christie's works: Death Comes as the End. This story is set...

#DETECTIONCLUB GUEST POST | Double Review: The Sinking Admiral and The Floating Admiral

Photo courtesy of our guest blogger, @bookishsteph1 on Instagram! We (Audrey and Emily) are so excited this week to have a guest post from one of our #bookstagram friends, Stephanie Russell, from @maidensofmurder! We'll be collaborating with them on a few things this year, and when Steph offered to write about a revival of one of Agatha's most interesting projects, we were thrilled! So, without further ado, take it away Steph! First, The Detection...

Planes, Trains, and Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express #YOAReadalong | 1934

(photo from folio society) "'You do not understand, Monsieur. I have been very fortunate in my profession. I have made enough money to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. I take now only such cases as—interest me.'"  - Hercule Poirot, Murder on the Orient Express, p. 36 We have had such a wonderful time so far this week reading Murder on the Orient Express with so many of you! If you are still working on reading it, be sure to...

#YOAreadalong Discussion 2: Murder on the Orient Express

Hello dear readers! We wanted to give you some details about our second #YOAreadalong of the year: Murder on the Orient Express! As with our first readalong, we are also having a little giveaway (we love spreading the Agatha love!) THE PRIZE! For this giveaway we will be sending our lucky winner a copy of And Then There Were None as well as a print of the amazing Agatha Christie bookshelf by artist Jane Mount (see below!) RULES: Okay...

Cloudy with a Chance of Death: Death in the Clouds | 1935

This is the wonderful late 1960's/early 1970's cover art by Tom Adams, found at deliciousdeath.com "'Supposing,' said Fournier, 'that when traveling in a train you were to pass a house in flames. Everyone's eyes would at once be drawn to the window. Everyone would have his attention fixed on a certain point. A man in such a moment might whip out a dagger and stab a man, and nobody would see him do it.'" - Death in the Clouds, p. 59 The Sum...

The Tale of Jerry and Joanna: The Moving Finger | 1943

(image from here) "The great thing in these cases is to keep an absolutely open mind. Most crimes, you see, are so absurdly simple. This one was. Quite sane and straightforward—and quite understandable—in an unpleasant way, of course." - Miss Jane Marple, The Moving Finger, p. 180 The Sum of It: The Moving Finger has always been one of my favorite Agatha stories (incidentally, it was one of her favorites too!): the plot is very clever,...

When Books Just Aren't Enough

Happy Thursday, good readers! Besides having become avid Agatha Christie book collectors, this Year of Agatha project has made us ever on the lookout for fun non-book Agatha items. Since we love Agatha and independent artists, we've compiled a little list of some of our Etsy favorites below! (We are NUTS about this amazing print, found in shop janemounts) (How clever and gorgeous is this print from one of our favorite short story sets??...

Mystery Meringues: The Listerdale Mystery | 1934

image from our instagram 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...