An Education: Cat Among the Pigeons 2.0

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"I think there is something wrong here," said Eileen Rich slowly. "It's as though there were someone among us who didn't belong." She looked at him, smiled, almost laughed and said, "Cat among the pigeons, that's the sort of feeling. We're the pigeons, all of us, and the cat's amongst us. But we can't see the cat."
- Cat Among the Pigeons, p. 98

The Sum of It:

Though most of it is set in a quintessential English mystery setting, a fancy girls school on a country estate, Agatha brings her personal twist even to the setting, starting the action out in her beloved Middle East. The fictional state of Ramat is on the brink of revolution, and beleaguered (and #doomed) Prince Ali Yusuf entrusts his family's nest egg, a literal pile of glittering jewels, to his righthand man, Bob, a British secret service type fellow who kind of acts as Ali Yusuf's bodyguard. Before they attempt to escape the revolution, Bob frantically looks for a way to get the jewels out of the country to jolly old England, making a surprising choice at the last minute. But before he can let anyone know where he hid them, Bob and Ali Yusuf meet an unfortunate end, and the jewels are hidden, their location guessed by only a few. 

Following this exciting spy-like episode, the action transitions to Meadowbank, a posh but slightly progressive girls boarding school in the British countryside, with an interesting assortment of educators, from the snobbish French Mistress to the unconventional but enchanting literature teacher, led by the formidable Miss Bulstrode. The students, a meticulously selected blend of sturdy British athletes, glamorous princesses, and clever scholars, and educators are all shocked when their idyllic environs are darkened by the mysterious murder of the unpopular games mistress, Miss Springer, in the school's fancy new athletics pavilion. When this death is followed by others, all the ladies start worrying that there's really a cat among the pigeons, and along with the police and the secret government agent in their midst, they must track the murderer down and figure out their motive before more lives -- and the life of the celebrated school -- are endangered. 

The YOA Treatment:

Audrey read and loved this book during the original year of Agatha, and I totally see why. This tale is classic Christie, her skill in her prime, and the type of story that became a model for other books in the genre for generations to come. Where sometimes mysteries are too obvious (though this is rarely if ever the case for Agatha), or so sneaky that there's NO way a reader to solve it before the author produces the reveal, this one is calibrated perfectly so that the savviest readers might figure out Agatha's clever twists by the end, but most of us can joyously read a long and pick up on some of the clues but enjoy the surprise but retrospective inevitability of the resolution when Poirot maps it out. 

One of the fun things about this book is that although Poirot steps in to help out the folks at Meadowbank and the venerable police wrap things up, for most of the story we get to see lots of new characters working their way through the mystery on their own. We often highlight some of the fun and ahead-of-their-time female empowerment elements of Agatha's work, and this book is a great example. Not only do we see the poised and perceptive Miss Bulstrode outsmart the police every time, but we see Agatha offer some of the cleverest deductions to an intrepid, tennis-loving schoolgirl, who works a huge piece of the mystery out for herself and takes the initiative to travel to London on her own and bring Poirot in on the action at exactly the right moment to protect herself, and her schoolmates, and get to the bottom of the crimes on campus. This one will definitely be among the first Agathas I recommend to friends, especially the ones who like to race the book's crime solvers to the final deduction!

- 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.

Papa Poirot Gets Protective: Peril at End House | 1931

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"You are in danger - grave danger. I tell to you. I! And you do not know who I am?" -Hercule Poirot, Peril at End House, p. 23

We have come to the end of our first #YOAreadalong! Thanks so much to those of you who read Peril at End House with us this week - it was so fun to hear your thoughts and become better acquainted over Agatha! Also - stay tuned for the winner of our #giveaway announcement in the next few days! And, for those of you who haven't had a chance to read Peril yet, fear not! We will still give you our recap for this week, and you can join us for our next #YOAreadalong, Murder on the Orient Express!

The Sum of It:

Hercule Poirot is still "retired", but is happily reunited with his bestie Hastings for a seaside vacay. While getting their resort on, Poirot literally stumbles upon a cute girl named Nick Buckley who, while they are chatting, is nearly killed by a stray bullet. Poirot is obviously concerned for her safety and goes into full Papa Poirot mode and makes it his life mission to keep her out of harm's way. Nick is a little apprehensive (and sassy) at first about this total random foreign stranger making his way into her life and insisting that someone is trying to #MURDER her, but after Poirot has Hastings explain to Nick just exactly who they are dealing with (THE Poirot!), she takes him seriously.

Poirot suggests she find a fairly dull, yet reliable, friend to come stay with her to make sure there's no more attempted murder funny business going on so Nick says I HAVE JUST THE GIRL! Aka, her cousin Maggie. However, Cousin Maggie has been at Nick's fairly crumbly mansion, End House, for not even 24 hours when she is found #MURDERED, and apparently mistaken for Nick when she is killed! Poirot, feeling fairly devastated that he was not able to prevent this death from happening under his nose, vows to track down the killer before they are able to knock off their intended target.

Nick has surrounded herself with quite the cast of characters who sound like a real bunch of #newromantics in her crumbly old house, including Nick's cousin Mr. Vyse, a lawyer whom Hastings is immediately suspicious of on account of his being a lawyer and having blonde hair and an impassive face, Commander Challenger, a stalwart military man with a suntanned face and a not-so-secret love for Nick, Freddie (aka Frederica), Nick's alternatively zen and spastic (#cocaine) bff, and Mr. Lazarus, a glamorous and wealthy art dealer who is Freddie's not-so-secret man on the side. Nick is renting the lodge on her property to some VERY AUSTRALIAN AUSTRALIANS (Poirot finds them suspicious because they seem toooo sincere). Some characters outside the frame include Nick's secret lover, a wealthy, Lindbergh-style pilot trying to fly around the world, and Freddie's erstwhile husband. We also get to see Inspector Japp!

To help with sorting out all the potential suspects, Poirot creates a list of possible baddies, A-J, item J being someone who exists but is unknown. Nick gets locked up in a hospital (for her own protection), and Poirot gets down to business with the investigating, at one point even making Hastings pretend to be a medium conducting a seance (blessed Hastings), before revealing a red herring or two AND surprising everyone with the #DARKTRUTH in the end.

Because that's what we all do on our seaside vacays.

The YOA Treatment:

Though there are a million things we could touch on, we want to leave some of the discussion to you guys! A few things we want to highlight:

>The Agatha Wrap Up: one of the things that is just so deliciously satisfying about Agatha Christie novels is how you rarely (if ever!) have lingering questions after you finish the book. Each detail of the storyline is there for a reason, and if it isn't there to bring color or character to the plot, you're going to find out why it's included before the book is done. One reader (Kelly) pointed out that Agatha goes to the trouble of resolving a minor, minor plot point at the very end of Peril and how pleasant it is to end on that kind of note.

>Sassy Poirot: Poirot is particularly sassy in this book. He and Hastings have their typical bickering, but it's at new heights during their End House adventures. Poirot is calling Hastings his "faithful dog", turning up his nose at English breakfasts, and makes a passionate plea for Hastings to get a Poirot-esque mustache (and to part his hair in the middle so as to be more symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing). Hastings observes that he repressed a "shudder at the thought." We also get some standard Poirot-to-Hastings zingers, including: "Hastings has a singularly beautiful nature. It has been the greatest hindrance to me at times." Of himself, Poirot cutely says, "I am convinced that le bon Dieu created Hercule Poirot for the express purpose of interfering. It is my metier."

>Classic Hastings: Hastings has previously revealed himself to be 100% certain of many things, and as a general rule he is almost always wrong and then totally baffled by his own wrongness. Poirot has picked up on this trend, saying to his friend after a particularly certain character assessment: "You have an extraordinary effect on me, Hastings. You have so strongly the flair in the wrong direction that I am almost tempted to go by it!" Hastings also recounts his own bafflement in an adorable story about Poirot's one failed case, saying "And I smiled, for at the time that Poirot told me that tale, he had instructed me to say "chocolate box" to him if ever I should fancy he was growing conceited! He was then bitterly offended when I used the magical words only a minute and a quarter later." So mysterious can't imagine why Poirot was annoyed by that.

>Style: This feels like quintessential Agatha and Poirot. The storytelling is pretty tight, although not quite at its zenith, and the mystery offers the classic set of twists at the end that leave you marveling at Agatha's creativity. Though some of the red herrings just FEEL like red herrings, it's fantastic how she ties them into the story so that even though they're not the main solution to the mystery, they are a part of the whole in a really clever way.

We also get a little more of a look into some of the big questions one could consider in mystery writing. In her autobiography, Agatha mentions that she is much more interested in the victim of the crime than the perpetrator. In this book, Poirot shares this perspective as he is discussing one of the many attempts on Nick's life, saying to her "For me -- I have different work to perform. I have the innocent to think of, not the guilty -- the victim, not the criminal." But this doesn't mean that Poirot isn't also trying to get into the psyche of the murderer. As he is trying to work through all his theories with the trusty Hastings, he exclaims "Motive!", saying "Let us come back to that, and regard this problem calmly and methodically. To begin with, how many kinds of motive are there for murder? What are the motives which lead one human being to take another human being's life?"

What did you love or hate about the book?? If this is your first Agatha reading experience, are you hooked? Did you already run out to your local book store or fire up the ol' Amazon account and grab some more? Will you join us for our next #YOAreadalong?? TELL US ALL YOUR THOUGHTZ AND FEELINGZ!!

Truth Will Out: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd | 1925

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"What one does not tell to Papa Poirot he finds out." -The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, p. 217

Dear Readers. Please hold on to your hats this week, because we read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and we have a lot to talk about.

First, a quick note, you may notice that we have been jumping around a bit chronologically with our reads. In an effort to split up Agatha's books (and pick out a few for the two of us to read at the same time), we have gotten ourselves a bit out of order, strictly speaking. However, rest assured we do have a plan to read them all, and we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves.

Alright - back to business.

The Sum of It:

Hercule Poirot is back! But he is not here to swoop in and save the day, no. Flush with cash from a recent case (perhaps solving a "baffling murder mystery" involving a Russian Grand Duchess disguised as a commoner mentioned in chapter 11?), Poirot has RETIRED to the country to engage in the relaxing task (?) of growing vegetable marrows (yes.) But where Poirot is, murder cannot be far behind. Devoid of his usual Hastings for company (#Argentineorbust #wishyouwerehere), Poirot teams up with his neighbor and local physician (and this book's narrator!), Dr. James Sheppard, to find out just WHO KILLED ROGER ACKROYD?!

Ackroyd was a local richie big wig, eligible bachelor, and step dad to total hottie Ralph Paton, who is about to (reluctantly) announce his engagement to his (no blood relation!) cousin, Flora Ackroyd. Of course, before his death, Roger Ackroyd is overheard arguing with someone about money, nearly everyone who benefits from his will got that money just in the nick of time, and just as the police move in to investigate, Ralph Paton goes missing. Let's add to this the fact that Roger Ackroyd was just about to find out who blackmailed his lady love, Mrs. Ferrars, literally to death. It's essential that Poirot and the police determine who saw Roger Ackroyd last, when exactly the crime was committed, who a mysterious Canadian stranger is, and what color someone's boots are.

Poirot enlists everyone's help in attempting to solve the murder, but senses reluctance.

"'Each of you has something to hide. Come now, am I right?' His glance, challenging and accusing, swept around the table. And every pair of eyes dropped before his. Yes, mine as well. 'I am answered,' said Poirot, with a curious laugh. He got up from his seat. 'I appeal to you all. Tell me the truth -- the whole truth.' There was silence. 'Will no one speak?' He gave the same short laugh again. 'C`est dommage,' he said, and went out."

Little do these people realize that it is nooooo good keeping secrets from Papa Poirot, because he'll just find out anyways. We really cannot say more here without spoilers, but suffice it to say, you're going to be guessing and guessing until the end of this one!

The YOA Treatment:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is considered a turning point for Agatha. This plot of this book (and, in particular, it's conclusion) is markedly spectacular and a step up from previous novels. Before we get into the meat of our thoughts, here are a few sparkling details that we found particularly wonderful:

• Without his usual pal, Hastings, Poirot adorably becomes besties with Dr. Sheppard, who proves to be a worthy understudy, having (just like Hastings) back luck in speculation choices (Porcupine Oilfields? I mean, come on...) and perhaps a "penchant for auburn hair?"
• Chapter 16 has us longing for a night of Mah Jong partying (or maybe mostly the coffee, cake, sandwiches, and tea that come with it #hearteyesemoji).
• In looking for clues, Poirot goes all Idris-Elba-as-Luther and identifies a goose quill which is used in North America for "sniffing snow," i.e., cocaine, without batting an eye because he's just that urbane. 
• Agatha's writing in this one feels more mature and confident than in some of her other, earlier books. It kind of seems like this is the point where she started taking herself a bit more seriously as a writer. 
• Though there are lovely ladies in this book, they are much less the focus of the story than in others. That might be one reason why this one feels a little less romantic and a little more mysterious (though we love the romantic ones too!)
• We know that despite being a crime writer, Agatha wasn't crazy about gory violence, hence the very common use of poison or strangling in her books. In this book, though, she went with stabbing via a fancy dagger, so that's a bit out of the ordinary.
• This book is also more about the crime and less about Poirot himself, in part because the narrator doesn't know Poirot as well as Hastings did, which keeps your attention more locked on the mystery at hand. 
• Obvi in this one Poirot is retired, and he talks a lot about how old he is and how this might be his last case, etc. etc. While Papa Poirot is given to hyperbole, this could also just be a sign that Agatha had no idea at this point just how many more Poirot stories the world would demand!

And here is where we are going to have some spoilers so PLEASE BE ADVISED SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT (until the very end, where there are mild spoilers in quiz answers!)

The idea of a novel's narrator being much more involved in a crime than they initially let on is one that, when done well, is so very effective. The absolute brilliance of Roger Ackroyd is darling Dr. Sheppard doing just that throughout the book, and yet, as a reader, you are never explicitly lied to. Going into this read knowing the outcome, both of us watched the narration like a hawk (as Emily said) just to see if we could catch Agatha in a fib. In the Apologia that is chapter 27, Dr. Sheppard touts (as we imagine Agatha was as well) his lack of outright lying, using clever language like "I did what little had to be done" to blind the reader to his actual role in the story. Despite never giving away the actual solution to the crime, Agatha wasn't afraid to hint at the truth throughout the book, even though the hints might stare you right in the face before disappearing in your mind.

One thing that struck us as a bit odd/grim is Poirot's advice to the murderer after he has notified him that his identity is known. Without giving literally everything away, Poirot suggests to the murderer that there might be another way to handle his guilt, besides going to jail. In future stories, Agatha and Poirot both demonstrate a pretty strong value for life, especially given his Catholicism. This conclusion seems a bit out of character for both, though that could have more to do with the fact that Agatha hadn't realized yet fully who Poirot was than anything else. It could also, however, be more of an insight into Poirot's character and world view. While he is often sweet and compassionate, he also pulls no punches when it comes to his understanding of human nature, and no rose colored glasses shield his view of what people are capable of.

Most of the books we've read and written about so far have been, despite the general topic of murder, rather light and chock full of banter, love stories, and capers. This story is a first glimpse into a darker type of tale, perhaps influenced by Agatha's own growth through life experience, and further revealing Agatha's depth and talent as a writer.

______________________

AS PROMISED! Here are the answers to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd quiz from last week:

(*Mild spoilers below, when put together with questions from last week*)

Characters:

1.) Inspector Raglan

2.) Flora Ackroyd

3.) Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

4.) The motto of the mongoose family, "Go and find out," from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

5.) Major Blunt was a big game hunter.

6.) Roger Ackroyd discovered that Mrs. Ferrars killed her first husband.

7.) The person who murdered Roger Ackroyd

8.) Captain Ralph Paton

9.) Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd

10.) Major Blunt

Circumstances:

1.) Fernly Park

2.) Mah Jong

3.) King's Abbot

4.) Three Boars

5.) Larches

6.) A hairdresser

7.) At a mental hospital in Cranchester

8.) Until the next morning

9.) Blue

10.) Dog and Whistle

Leave us a comment below and let us know how you did on the quiz! AND, of course, about all your Roger Ackroyd thoughts and feelings.

-A. & E.