Sunbathers Beware: Evil Under the Sun | 1940

(image from here)

"It was, Hercule Poirot thought, like watching the needle of a compass. Patrick Redfern was deflected, his feet changed their direction. The needle, do what it will, must obey the law of magnetism and turn to the north. Patrick Redfern's feet brought him to Arlena Stuart."
-Evil Under the Sun, p. 15-16

The Sum of It:
Papa Poirot is on vacation again! But, like usual, he isn't even totally off the detective clock because wherever Poirot is, murder cannot be far behind. Poirot is enjoying a summer holiday on the English coast at a little island resort called The Jolly Roger Hotel (which Agatha goes to great pains to describe as fabulous but it sounds very #Daytona to us...). As always, he is surrounded by a smorgasbord of fellow vacationers, some of whom are quite boisterous and have wild theories about how sunbathing will LITERALLY put hair on your chest (Mrs. Gardner, we're lookin at you) or are constantly bragging about how rich they are (shut it, Mr. Blatt) or are famous and refined fashion designers with exotic perfume (yes ma'am, Rosamund Darnley). The most sensational guest at The Jolly Roger is Arlena Stuart: a gorgeous actress with a reputation for being a home wrecker and a pretty dull husband. Drama starts heating up big time when Arlena and young, handsome, and very married Patrick Redfern get their not-so-subtle flirt on. No stranger to hot mess #lovetriangles, Poirot steers clear of the drama (aside from eavesdropping on their alone time), hoping nothing deadly becomes of all this sexual tension. But sure enough, Patrick Redfern soon stumbles upon his summer fling #MURDERED on a secluded island beach, apparently strangled as she lay sunbathing!

Of course nearly the entire resort population had a death wish on Arlena: there was no love lost between Arlena and her husband Kenneth Marshall and stepdaughter, Linda, Patrick Redfern's timid wife Christine wasn't too thrilled about the hold Arlena had on her husband, and Rosamund Darnley would be very interested in becoming Mrs. Marshall #2…except Kenneth Marshall had no intention of ever divorcing his wife. Evil Under the Sun is a terrific example of straightforwardly enjoyable Agatha Christie: plenty of fun characters, juicy drama, and a solution that isn't necessarily her most clever, yet we dare say keeps you guessing until the last minute! We also highly recommend this as a beach read. Not only will you feel right at home with the waves crashing and sun shining as Agatha describes the pleasures of #beachlife, but this book goes by nice and fast if you have a few hours of uninterrupted time.

The YOA Treatment:
As with many of her books, infidelity plays a big part of Evil Under the Sun not only as a characteristic of arguably the two least likable characters, but also as a possible murder motive. Agatha Christie was sadly well acquainted with the heartache that comes from an adulterous marriage. Agatha's first husband, Archie, left her for another woman early in her writing career and it sent her into an understandable spiral of sadness. As described in her autobiography, Archie was generally super selfish and pretty straightforward about being in love with someone else and even kind of blamed Agatha for making him unhappy because she had to go take care of her sick mother (GOOD GRIEF, ARCHIE).

While Agatha went on to remarry and move past her first husband #TeamMax (who maybe also was a little unfaithful but we don't know that for sure and if it happened it didn't break her heart like Archie did so we're still #TeamMax), you can sense the feeling she puts into writing characters who have a cheating spouse. Christine Redfern's heartache feels very real in Evil Under the Sun as she watches her husband swooning over Arlena, and basically all the other characters have various reasons for disliking Arlena's homewrecking-self, and judging Patrick (although pretty much everyone blames Arlena for being a siren and gives Patrick the #Ulysses-style excuse of being helpless under her gaze #noexcusesforbeingadickguys #lookinatyouArchie). There's even a priest in this book who just goes with "that woman is straight up evil" for her siren-like ways.

Even though Agatha kind of sadly gives cheaters the benefit of the doubt in her autobiography (one of the only times we wanted to be like #LEANIN, girl, don't blame yourself for this!), she uses the behavior as a theme in many of her books, and in this one we hope she got a little satisfaction from giving a cheater their just desserts (disclaimer: no one is saying murder is appropriate retaliation, just sayin').

-A. & E.

Rubies and the Riviera: The Mystery of the Blue Train | 1928

"Some day, who knows, you might be in the thick of things," he went on. "It is all chance." "I don't think it is likely," said Katherine. "Nothing of that kind ever happens to me." He leaned forward. "Would you like it to?" 

- Poirot and Katherine Grey in The Mystery of the Blue Train, p. 75

The Sum of It:
Even though this one says "A Hercule Poirot Novel" on the front, I found myself wondering if Poirot was ever going to turn up, because it's about 70 pages before Poirot comes into the tale. The seeming main character of this book, initially, are some rubies that used to belong to Catherine the Great. As the book begins, the glorious stones are purchased from Boris and Natasha (I'm pretty sure) by an American. Our American, Mr. Van Aldin, has bought them for his daughter, Ruth, the apple of his eyeballz. He gives them to her on the eve of her trip via the glamorous Blue Train to the French Riviera, along with a caution (put these priceless jewelz in the bank rather than risk having them stolen and you murdered on the train puh-lease) and a demand (divorce your good-for-nothing, money-grubbing, philandering husband Derek and don't do anything to jeopardize your case). 

We ALSO meet a bunch of other characters, including; 

• Mirelle, the exotic dancer with whom said philandering husband Derek is doing his philandering 
• Lady Katherine Grey (the actual main character, besides the rubies) who is a classy lady with beautiful grey eyes despite being elderly and decrepit at the beyond-her-prime-age of 33 and who has also just inherited loads of money from an actual elderly lady for whom she had hitherto served as companion (her family was apparently nobility of some kind but sans money to this point.) Fun fact: She lives in St. Mary Mead! No mention of Marple though.
• Lady Tamplin, Katherine's cousin, who is wealthy (but not as wealthy as she'd like) and lives on the Riviera with;
• her feisty daughter, Lenox, and Lady Tamplin's fourth husband, the young and dashing (if dense) Charles Evans (aka Chubby) #cougartown
• Major Knighton, who is Mr. Van Aldin's secretary and a war veteran 
• A Greek jewel dealer named Mr. Papopolous and his daughter Zia.

ANYWHO after Lady Katherine inherits the dollars, she goes to London to buy some clothes befitting her new income and to embark on her first world travels, to visit Lady Tamplin, et al, on the French Riviera (via the Blue Train). She keeps bumping into a handsome fella around town, and feels a premonition about him and unbeknownst to her he's also headed to the Riviera #meetcute. On the train, Katherine befriends Ruth over lunch, where Ruth bares her soul due to Katherine's nice eyes and says she's feeling super torn because her dad wants her to file for divorce and made her promise she wouldn't mess that up but also she lied to dad about being engaged in an affair with Le Comte de la Roche, a fancy-man from France who her dad already made her break up with once before she married Derek (dad thinks he's a scoundrel). 

Because it's the early 20th century and Katherine doesn't have headphones she can put it to deter people from telling her their life stories on trains, she listens kindly and gives advice only to not really see Ruth again for the rest of the trip. Once they arrive in the Riviera, it turns out that Ruth is #MURDERED and Katherine and another traveler with whom she has chatted, HERCULE POIROT, are immediately embroiled in the mystery. No more spoilers, but the rest of the book is mostly concerned (obviously) with trying to determine who killed Ruth, where the eff her rubies went, whether Derek is a bad guy or a good guy, and what Katherine is thinking. There's lots of being in love, tennis matches, Poirot bragging about how awesome he is, casinos, and glistening blue waters. 

Agatha & Archie early on (from the Autobiography)

The YOA Treatment:
So, in her autobiography, Agatha said of The Mystery of the Blue Train: "Really, how that wretched book ever came to be written, I don't know...I had no joy in writing, no elan...I assumed the burden of a profession which is to write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you are writing, and aren't writing particularly well. I have always hated The Mystery of the Blue Train, but I got it written."

Aside from her little daughter, Rosalind, being distracting, there's one even bigger reason why writing this one was likely a struggle, and that's because Agatha wrote it in the Canary Islands, where she escaped with Rosalind after horrid Archie made her get a divorce because he was selfish and didn't deserve her #teamMax. Poor Agatha was trying to "go right away from all the things that had wrecked life" for her.

With that context in mind, it's interesting how sympathetically Agatha wrote the character of Derek, the philandering husband. When you read her autobiography, although she had a lot of sadness because Archie broke her heart, she also offers him sympathy and in some ways puts some of the responsibility for the demise of their relationship on herself, talking about how he could be so kind but he was just ruthless about getting what he wanted and that she really believed he hated hurting her #eyeroll. If she and I were friends at that point in time, I would have said to her NO WAY young lady, this jerk is the world's most selfish man and you cannot blame yourself for that (I mean he LITERALLY SAID TO HER as an explanation for why they had to get a divorce against her wishes: "I can't stand not having what I want, and I can't stand not being happy. Everybody can't be happy -- somebody has got to be unhappy." #archiesux #mansplaining #GOODRIDDANCE, it seriously makes me so mad. And Agatha felt like it would have been inappropriate to stand up to him and say "But why should it be me and not you?" #LeanIn). 

Derek, the philanderer in Blue Train, not only gets described more like a bad little boy who can't be blamed for running around on his wife because she didn't really love him that much, there's a decent amount of sympathy sent his way by various characters including Poirot, and lots of ladies who love him seemingly regardless of the fact that it is well known he's been stepping out with a money-grubbing exotic dancer who pitches fits in public. This book kind of makes me a little sad for Agatha because she was having such a rough go of it and beating herself up a bit, but it's comforting to know that eventually dearest Max came along and Agatha got her confidence and her groove back. 

-E.

How to be Charming: The Secret Adversary | 1922

"You must stifle this longing for vulgar sensation, Tuppence. Remember that if Mr. Brown is all he is reported to be, it's a wonder that he has not ere now done us to death. That's a good sentence, quite a literary flavor about it." "You're really more conceited than I am--with less excuse!" - Tommy & Tuppence banter exhibit 4 million from The Secret Adversary, p. 57

The Sum of It:
The Secret Adversary begins with a prologue set in the last above-sea-level minutes aboard the Lusitania. Two attractives notice each other in what could likely be the last moments of their lives. However, hope for end of life comfort is dashed by a secret mission as a document is handed off to a young American lady before she boards a lifeboat #womenandchildren.

Our story itself opens with the most charming greetings ever between the main characters (not the boat people): “Tommy old thing!” “Tuppence old bean!” (dolls). Tommy and Tuppence knew each other during WWI while Tuppence was acting as a nurse in a soldiers hospital. Turns out post-war they’re both broke and unemployed, like pretty much everyone else in their generation (remember that number from White Christmas where they dance around in the giant wooden cutouts of people and sing about how they wish they were back in the army because of the free meals and such? Pretty much like that but one war earlier). They hatch a plan to raise funds via adventures, “no unreasonable offer refused.”

Their tenure as young adventurers begins with an overheard name: Jane Finn, which Tuppence cleverly repeats to a mysterious man who heard their plan and basically stalks her in a park to try to hire her to move to Paris (nooothing shady, he promises. MHMM). Sleuths now “in earnest,” they follow the trail of the mysterious Mr. Whittington (the stalker) which leads them straight to a SECRET GOVERNMENT AGENT who is like “you dummies are in the middle of something FAR BIGGER THAN YOURSELVES” then naturally hires them as spies (presumably bc they are charming and...expendable?)

Tommy and Tuppence pursue Jane Finn, the secret document, and the mysterious Mr. Brown (COMMIE/CRIMINAL MASTERMIND) lit’rally all over Great Britain. They're fueled by cleverness and witty repartee and accompanied by an American named Julius, who proves his Americanness by saying things like "If that's the case, and there's such a thing as graft in this country, I'll buy her off!" and "See here, this isn't Sicily!" They also engage a young sidekick named Albert who is perpetually on the brink of saying "GEE WHIZ" and generally keeps an eye out.

In the interest of not getting too spoiler-y because this book is stuffed to its gills with suspenseful twists and turns and disappearances and kidnappings and intrigues and hidden rooms and secret communist meetings and nursing homes and car chases (for realz), I will not do much plot summarizing re: the rest of the book, but there is more charming banter than an episode of Gilmore Girls and the dadgum story is so exciting and suspenseful it cost me most of a night of sleep the first time I read it because I HAD to finish it in one sitting #AgathaReigns #YasKween.

Not Tuppence, but close

The YOA Treatment:
Of all the Christie books I've read before, this one is probably my favorite, even on a re-read. In addition to a legit suspenseful storyline and more than one major twist, favoritism is largely due to the crime fighters we meet in this, Agatha's second book; Tuppence Cowley and Tommy Beresford. Tommy and Tuppence are two 20-somethings with little to their names besides cleverness, and like most of Agatha's sleuths, they lean on their intuition to solve the mysteries rather than training.

Tuppence, a plucky, quick-witted, level-headed girl with progressive tendencies (she favors fashionable short skirts and refuses to play a supporting role) creates an archetype of #empoweredladies we'll see repeated in lots of Agatha's stories. Though Tommy and Tuppence are a duo, and Tommy calls upon his resourcefulness to get out of a number of scrapes, Tuppence is the brains of the operation. She pushes Tommy to think outside of the box and focus on their interest in adventure when they can't find jobs, she finds them their first mystery, roots out key suspects, goes under cover, and all kinds of other stuff on her own initiative #LeanIn. Agatha doesn't write many simpering heroines or weak damsels in distress, instead creating women who know what's up and take care of it (often while making snappy little jokes).

In her autobiography, Agatha mentions how one of her grandmothers was always complaining of some vague ailment or another, which Agatha eventually divined was really just an act to demonstrate the feminine frailty deemed attractive in the 19th century. Agatha recognized this as an antique mentality; 20th century girls were made of heartier stuff. In Tuppence she created a leading lady who not only embraced the bobbed hair and ankle-baring fashions of her day but also the why-not-me spirit of the post-war girl.

- E