"Ye gods and little fishes," said Sir Henry, "can it be? George, it's my own particular, one and only, four-starred pussy. The super-pussy of all old pussies. And she has managed somehow to be at Medenham Wells, instead of peacefully at home in St. Mary Mead, just at the right time to be mixed up in a murder. Once more a murder is announced -- for the benefit and enjoyment of Miss Marple."
- A Murder is Announced, p. 71
The Sum of It
First of all how adorably quaint is that quote, which in these modern times COULD be read with one's mind in the gutter to much hilarity. So, exciting news in the little village of Chipping Cleghorn -- literally -- as the citizens open their morning papers over breakfast. "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m. Friends please accept this, the only intimation," reads a small announcement amid notices of available dachshund puppies and antiques for sale. The curiousity of several is stoked, and they turn up promptly at Ms. Letitia Blacklock's home, Little Paddocks, to see what the mystery is all about. Everyone is quite shocked when a sudden power outage plunges the drawing room into darkness, and then a voice yelling at everyone to put their hands up is followed by one gunshot and then another! When the room is re-lit, the hostess is covered in blood from a wound on her ear due to a near miss, and the masked intruder lies dead in the hallway #DRAMA.
Who put the notice in the paper? Who planned this whole event? Was someone really trying to kill Miss Blacklock, and if so why? The police must sort through the curious inhabitants of Chipping Cleghorn to find the answers to these questions and more, particularly after another murder follows the death of the intruder. Fortunately for them, Miss Marple just so happens to be in town visiting the local vicar's wife, daughter of one of her old pals. It quickly turns out the shooting is only one of many mysteries as Miss Marple and the local detectives uncover multiple secret identities, money plots, hidden doorways, and old ladies on the coast of Scotland to get to the bottom of the murder announced.
The YOA Treatment
J'adore Miss Marple, and her ability to be on the spot just as mysteries pop up around her certainly delights in this classic tale. She's at the top of her game in this book, still sprightly enough to go tramping down village lanes and hide in cupboards, and certainly not missing a beat in her analyses of human nature. This is a well-crafted mystery, one that keeps the reader guessing, but also one that does offer some good hints along the way that might allow the clever reader to figure out who-dunnit, a rarity in Agatha's books!
One of the interesting aspects of this book among the Agatha-folk is the inclusion of the characters Miss Murgatroyd and Miss Hinchliffe, two spinster ladies who live together and take care of each other. It honestly seems quite clear that the two might even be a couple, which seems awfully open minded of 1950's Agatha, herself quite Victorian in her typical sensibilities! Another one of my favorite aspects of the book is the prominent role a goiter plays, as this malady can't help but being amusing in its randomness and drama. I really enjoyed this story, and though I was familiar with its twists from the television adaptation (which is great #MatthewGoode #HeartEyesForever), I was still eager to reach Miss Marple's reveal of the true murderer in the end. I'll certainly recommend this one to Agatha-curious pals.
"You see," he said, "crude, childish spite though it is, sooner or later one of these letters will hit the mark. And then, God knows what may happen! I'm afraid, too, of the effect upon the slow, suspicious, uneducated mind. If they see a thing written, they believe its true. All sorts of complications may arise."
-The Moving Finger, p. 15
The Sum of It:
Brother and sister duo Jerry and Joanna have absconded from the city to the quaint village of Lymstock, where Jerry is meant to follow his doctor's orders of rest and relaxation as he heals from injuries suffered when an airplane he was flying crashed. They're renting a fusty little house from an equally fusty old lady, and Joanna, sophisticated city girl though she is, and her brother are trying to take an interest in local goings on #villagelife.
Shortly after they arrive, however, they receive a so-called "poison pen letter," pieced together from letters cut out of a book, accusing them of being a risque couple as opposed to a perfectly innocent brother and sister, and calling Joanna some rather nasty names. They laugh it off, but find that they are only the most recent of many villagers who have received such letters making vicious but typically unfounded and untrue allegations against the recipients. When one of the recipients is found dead, her letter nearby and an apparent suicide note at her side, the police decide to track down the sender once and for all, as the letters have now begun to result in real injury. However, the case escalates when the dead woman's maid is found quite clearly murdered, having been bludgeoned in the head. Jerry and the police work to track down the letter writer and presumed killer, but run into frustration time and again. Meanwhile Jerry develops a bit of a crush on the dead woman's awkward daughter, and EVENTUALLY, like 3/4 of the way through the book, Miss Marple turns up, asks a few questions, and essentially solves the case. Quite like Miss Marple, really!
The YOA Treatment:
When Audrey read this one during the first go-around, she was adamant that I needed to read it someday, and now that I've finally gotten around to it, I can certainly see why. This book, written during Agatha's prime, is funny and clever, a page turner with a pleasant narrator in Jerry. The village of Lymstock is perfectly painted, and one can just imagine the fluffy old ladies gossiping about the most recent poison pen letter outside the adorable local grocer. Even though Miss Marple honestly barely figures in the story at all, I found this to be one of my favorite Christie reads.
One of the most enjoyable characters in my opinion was Megan, the awkward young lady Jerry finds himself quite taken with. She's terribly self aware, and makes funny observations about the provincial opinions of the people in town and her own family's inability to figure out what to do with her #notagirlnotyetawoman. I very much enjoyed the scenes when Jerry and Megan take a day trip into the city so he can buy her some clothes befitting a lovely young woman rather than an awkward girl, and they escape themselves and the village for a sophisticated dinner and dance. Even though I have seen the (very good) adaptation several times, I wasn't quite sure who the killer was, and found myself quite satisfied by the build up and reveal. I often enjoy the light, fun mysteries more than the heavier ones, but this one seemed to have a nice balance that would suit any Christie reader, and I'm certain I'll find myself recommending it to many friends!
"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!
The Sum of It:
Thank goodness for our #bookstagram community because they did us a SOLID by letting us know that Crooked House was available on iTunes and Amazon in the US ahead of the theatrical release later this year! Since Crooked House was a favorite read for both of us during our #yearofagatha, we both bought the film right away. We've organized our thoughts and feelings below:
*BE ADVISED: many spoilers to follow! You are legit not allowed to read this post unless you've read the book or seen the film!*
THINGS WE LIKED: Audrey: Guys. This movie. Was. So. GOOD.
Emily: GUYS IT WAS SO GOOD. So good that we and many of our fellow fanatics have tentatively evaluated it as possibly the best Agatha film adaptation...ever. With ZERO offence meant to the iconic David Suchet. From the minute the movie started, I was basically cackling into my magic mirror about how much perfection it was, from the absolutely perfect house (how did they find that place??) for the crooked house, the ideal level of creepiness from Josephine, the costumes, the perfectness of Max Irons as Charles, and the completely pitch perfect level of noir-ish tension throughout. Christina Hendrix's Marilyn Monroe impression as Brenda was legit, and Gillian Anderson totally nailed the drama queen that is Magda. Likely the best of all, though, was Glenn Close being an absolute total smokeshow and completely killing it (pun intended?) as Aunt Edith, the English country lady with an edge. The costuming and sets were all gorgeous, and I really liked the way the adaptation blended the noir-ish detective storyline in with the classic mystery. The family dinner scene was so on point in conveying how toxic this group is together I basically had my hands in the air. Honestly the FEEL of it was just so right, to me, this is up there with Endless Night in terms of the darker plotlines and adaptations, but this one is even more perfect (I KNOW - Audrey is shocked to hear it too).
Audrey: One of the things I loved the most about this movie was the attention to making the family dysfunction seem so real. Throughout the Crooked House book, Sofia is trying to describe to Charles how her family is just not normal. The performances from the actors (along with a truly stellar screenplay #thankyouJulianFellowes) captured this sentiment COMPLETELY and truly made me believe that a twelve-year-old killer could be among this group of people. And don't even get me started about the production design in this film - I was literally gasping with delight as Charles entered each new room in the mansion. I die for that beautiful conservatory space where Roger and Clemency lived (#HEARTEYES).
THINGS WE DID NOT LIKE: Emily: Damn, Audrey, can you think of anything? I guess one thing that I felt could have been handled a bit better was the very abrupt ending to the film. In the book, there's a bit more of a sum-up, where people are like "yeah...Josephine was sort of terrifying in retrospect..." It was genuinely stunning to see the demise of Edith and Josephine on the screen (perhaps one reason this adaptation is only just now happening), and I guess they wanted to leave you with that impact, but it might have been nice to wrap it up a little more.
Audrey: I was also not really fond of the abrupt ending. Like Emily said, the book ties everything up quite nicely as Sofia and Charles's father (VERY MUCH ALIVE) both admit they had wondered if Josephine could be the killer. Another point I was just a bit confused about was leaving Charles's father out of the film, when he is kind of a central character in the book. I will say they handled the change fairly well in that it didn't seem jarring, however, I did miss the rapport between those two as they attempted to solve the case together in the book.
Overall, we give this film all the stars out of stars and hope that each of you have the chance to see it ASAP! Please comment below and let us know what you thought!
"One lie. That was all that was asked of me. One lie concocted between old friends to keep a house in order. And now the lie is growing to the size of an island and must be watered and pruned and fed." - The Destroyers, p. 244
Last year we raved about Christopher Bollen's book Orient, a truly Christie-inspired mystery set on Long Island featuring a truly frightening denouement and named an NPR Book of the Year. Loving that book as we did, and knowing the author's genuine adoration for our muse, Agatha (his article about visiting Greenway is a classic for fans), we were shoe-ins for pre-ordering his acclaimed new book, The Destroyers, as soon as we got wind of it. We were clearly beyond thrilled when Christopher (who edits Interview magazine in addition to writing great fiction) agreed to do an interview with us about the new book and crime fiction in general. First we'll summarize the book, and then we'll let the interview serve as the YOA Treatment because it's awesome. We guarantee you're going to enjoy reading Christopher's thoughts (and The Destroyers) as much as we did.
The Sum of It:
Read this book in two days, it's one of those. The Destroyers was described by one reviewer as "equal parts Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith, and F. Scott Fitzgerald," and if that's not a compelling combo, I don't know what is. Set on the Greek island of Patmos, the gorgeous descriptions of sparkling seas, looming monasteries, deserted beaches, gleaming yachts and sunwashed tourists will immediately draw you in, and the building sense of ominous tension amid the glamour and carefree days will hook you.
For the most part, we see the story through the perspective of Ian Bledsoe, an Ivy-league educated former New Yorker from a wealthy family whose idealism often leads him to dubious allegiances and decisions that have made him a black sheep in his family and his profession life. Desperate for someone to give him a hand, Ian tracks down his old school friend Charlie on Patmos, whose family was originally from Cyprus and possess wealth and power that dwarfs that of Ian's family. When Ian and Charlie were kids, they invented a game they called Destroyers, where they'd take turns laying out a scenario in which the other player was trying to escape from a band of attackers in their school, on the subway, in a bank or a museum, forcing each other to think on their feet and use their surroundings to stay safe in a mental game of wizard's chess. Ian was always better at it than Charlie, who let his emotions and wandering eye for the ladies cloud his judgement. Anyhow, Ian and Charlie both grew up with the mindset of using their mental acuity to try and skirt the rules and stay ahead, even if it's just one jump, Aladdin-style.
When Ian finds Charlie on the island, the latter is running a fleet of yachts for tourists, dating a beautiful if frantic former actress, and juggling some real family drama, as well as being harangued by the various expats who call Patmos home for the summer. Ian wants Charlie to give him a job, and the role he ends up with is unique. Or so he thinks. A bomb that exploded in an island cafe earlier in the summer has everyone on edge, and some apocalypse-obsessed hippies who've made the island where Revelation was written their base camp add to the strange atmosphere. Ian starts wondering if that's all that has Charlie and his motley crew acting secretive and feeling suspicious, and when something happens to throw everything into chaos, Ian feels like it's up to him to get to the bottom of the trouble in paradise.
The YOA Treatment:
Without further ado, Christopher Bollen!
YOA asks: Your last novel, Orient [which we loved], was set on Long Island, NY. Obviously the setting of TheDestroyers, the Greek Island of Patmos, is a bit more exotic. The imagery of the island is crystal clear; you can basically feel the sun dazzling your eyes off the water and the whitewashed walls. Did you choose the island before visiting, or after?
CB answers: After. I had been to Greece a few times before visiting Patmos in August 2013, but it was on that trip—and on that particular island—that the faint flame of an idea began to beat in my head. Actually it wasn’t so faint. I think I was determined to set my next novel on Patmos before my return flight touched down in New York. But to be honest, the cards were stacked in favor of Patmos from the very beginning. As a kid who went to Catholic school, I knew that it was the island where St. John wrote The Book of Revelation. And then, later, in my twenties, I kept hearing about Patmos from wealthy, mostly European jet-set friends as this perfect vacation destination. Those two realities—Apocalypse island/ideal holiday island—seemed so impossible that I was hopelessly fascinated in the place before I ever booked my ticket.
YOA asks: Both settings are coastal. Is there something about a waterfront locale that feels particularly mysterious or sinister for you as a writer?
CB answers: Absolutely. I tend to like to have elements of crime in my books, and that always seems to lead me toward the water. I’m not alone on this idea. Jean Genet’s Querelle starts with this delicious line: “the notion of murder often brings to mind the notion of sea and sailors.” Of course, ports and waterfronts are traditionally where “unsavory” things happen, where transients and people quite literally on the edges of society gather. But I think there is also a personal reason for my obsession with coasts. I grew up in Ohio, which is in the very center of the United States. I was intent at very young age to move to the coast—either New York or California. So in a sense I think being raised in a landlocked place has made me instinctively reach for the sea, and I seem to end up near water every time I write fiction.
YOA asks: As a writer in this style, you may be asked to consider this question often, but why do you think we as readers are fascinated by tales of the worst parts of human nature? Do you think we like knowing that sometimes the good parts -- curiousity, care, determination, loyalty -- struggle with the worst parts, and win, or is it something more?
CB answers: I think especially in this age, where everyone has stage-managed their lives and serves as their own PR consultant on their personal habits and interests—look at basically any Instagram account, from your grandmother to the young man who rang you up at the grocery store this morning—where everyone is showing off their best selves and spreading Vaseline on the lens of reality, we do need a reminder of our darker proclivities. We need works that remind us of the house of horrors that lurks inside each one of us. And I don’t just mean selfishness, which has been taken up by comedy as a badge of individualism. I mean the twisted desires and perverse compulsions that haunt and frighten each of us. And of course, yes, murder as entertainment is a release for your own feelings of fear dread.
YOA asks: In a recent interview, Anthony Horowitz (creator of Foyle'sWar, MidsomerMurders, and the new book MagpieMurders) said he believes that "whodunits" give us truth. While The Destroyers isn't a straight, Poirot-style whodunit, the mysteries at the heart of the story: the bomb, the disappearance, the mistaken identities, the deceits (large and small) are reminiscent of these tales. Do you feel that stories like yours help us find truth?
CBanswers: Oh, they probably do in a sense, in that we are taught to remain skeptical jurists when listening to the confessions or alibis of each character. But I worry that their inevitable solution—and their hero worship of the detective—often gives the false notion that the truth prevails, that justice is eventually served, that the lie is always brought to light. And that is a dangerous delusion for “whodunits”: that even in their sometimes far-fetched solutions, they promise that a solution will be reached.
YOA asks: We approach this story through the eyes of Ian, a guy who means well but always seems to get it a bit wrong, and who's reached the end of his rope. Since we see the story through his eyes, we still trust him in spite of that. In Orient, we saw the story through the eyes of Mills, a character who was also at the end of his rope, caught just before he slid off into the ether by the last person who was willing to catch him. What is it about this type of character that makes you want to let them tell the story and control the narrative?
CB answers: In one sense, Mills and Ian couldn’t be different characters. Ian is from a wealthy Manhattan family, while Mills doesn’t have more than five dollars to his name; Ian has too much family, and Mills has none; Ian really has no one but himself to blame for his mess, while Mills is really a victim of society in a lot of ways. However, you’re right. No matter where they started psychologically or socio-economically, they are both at the ends of their ropes and in crash circumstances. I like a struggling character, I like someone who is in a position where they can’t sit back and relax, I like a hidden motive to be running through even an ordinary scene of a dinner or a day at the beach. I love what you say about these characters hoping to be saved by “the last person who was willing to catch them”. That’s so true. But doesn’t life often feel as if, behind the solid floors and the comfortable bed and the weekly paychecks, it’s all hanging by a few threads? It only takes a few snips before any of us could be Mills or Ian.
YOA asks: One of the things that brought us to your books was your notoriety as a fan of Agatha Christie :). What did your history as a connoisseur of Christie's work teach you about writing mysteries that delve into the human condition?
CB answers: Quite simply, Agatha Christie taught me to love reading. I don’t mean I had never loved a book before I read Christie at around age eleven. But until I discovered Christie, I had never felt the passion—really the hunger—that brings us running to the shelf as soon as we finish one book to consume another. Christie did that for me, unlocked the pleasure and drug of exciting fiction. So simply on the addictive qualities of her books, I owe her a tremendous debt. Now, on a more philosophical scale, Christie is one of the great advocates of complicated lives, reminding us not to trust our first impressions or believe the official verdict. There is always more to the story.
YOA asks: How do you feel like the crime or mystery fiction genre has changed since Agatha and her contemporaries were writing between the Wars?
CB answers: I am not an expert. I tend to still read all over the map (or bookstore) in terms of genre. I will read horror, sci-fi, poetry, etc. as much as I read from the mystery section. But in my opinion, it hasn’t changed enough. There are lots of trends—serial-killer tropes being the obvious winner—and lots of new geographic regions being promoted. But really the mystery as a form hasn’t been revolutionized or challenged. That might be the fault of us authors for not being harder on ourselves. Or it might be that the murder mystery is such a solid formula that, like a formula in math, it’s really trustworthy in delivering the result. It’s battletested. Still, I’d love to read a mystery that swam in the wrong direction (Paul Auster’s 1985 novel CityofGlass is a start).
YOA asks: We recently visited the "Bodies from the Library" conference at the British Library, where a panel discussion focused in part on the fact that the Golden Age's "cozy" mysteries aren't really that cozy at their hearts, the people in them are harboring terrible thoughts, feelings, motives, and actions. Orient and TheDestroyers are both mainly set in small, closed worlds (Orient, Patmos) where it's tough to hide or remain a stranger. What draws you to this type of setting?
CB answers: I’ve never understood the word “cozy”—unless it is used cynically/sarcastically to describe the great comfort we humans experience watching other people’s tragedies from a safe distance (and then I think it is a very apt description). Yes, it’s hard to write about buried secrets in the middle of Manhattan, because your neighbors (who you might not know by name let alone by sight) would mostly prefer you kept your secrets buried and left them alone. They simply don’t care! Which is the joy and liberation of living in Manhattan. One of the graces of setting a book in a smaller, isolated, and more socially-knit setting is that your neighbors DO CARE who they are living next to. And they watch. And they remember. There is a personal and cultural history to any set of houses in a small town. So there are clear advantages in setting crimes there merely for the tension of intruding lives.
YOA asks: Following the "Bodies from the Library" conference, we also participated in the "International Agatha Christie: A Reappraisal" conference last month. There was a quite a bit of focus among speakers on the way justice is handled in Christie's books: very often outside the legal system, sometimes through suicide, another murder, or a whisking away of the offender to care. Did that style of justice from authors like Christie influence the way you choose to handle justice in your own work?
CB answers: I don’t believe in justice, and that’s where I part ways with most of the mystery genre. You can see the murder mystery as an inherently conservative form: there is a well-adjusted society until it is thrown into chaos by a murder and the detective comes like a sort of ethical cleaner to detect the agent causing the chaos and remove it, thus restoring harmony to society. But I tend to write from the idea that there was never harmony in the society, and sometimes the agent causing the chaos is the hero and not the villain. So I tend to write in the opposite direction. And thus I celebrate Christie’s occasional fondness for endings that happen outside of the courtroom and leave us wondering about the nature of justice.
YOA asks: AND FINALLY, we have to ask: What is your favorite Agatha Christie book? Feel free to list more than one; we know that's kind of a Sophie's choice!
CB answers: Yikes! I have to list more than one. And it changes. There are so many I admire (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, A Mirror Crack’d, A Murder is Announced). Even some of the black sheep I admire (The Man in the Brown Suit, They Came to Baghdad). But okay I will pick three: One stand-alone, Ten Little Indians, because I think it changed the way stories are told (no exaggeration); one Poirot, Death on Nile, because it’s so stylish, so far-flung, and so deviously smart; and one Marple, Nemesis, fiendishly clever.
Safe to say we are big fans. Go pick up a copy of The Destroyers today!!!
First of all, if you're out there, THANK YOU for reading the blog, following us on social media, buying tshirts, sharing your thoughts, opinions, and photos, and generally being there. The experience of The Year of Agatha has been fascinating and fun and enlightening and empowering and so much more, so we wanted to share some of our #THOUGHTZANDFEELINGZ after this epic year!
Broadly speaking, though we're both admitted bibliophiles, this project has forced us to prioritize reading despite our busy lives working full-time jobs, finishing graduate programs, teaching classes, and (for one of us) planning a wedding! The way we divided the books allowed us each to read a little over one book a week for the entire year, sometimes both reading the same mystery at the same time, sometimes reading different books during the week. We both realized that a lot of the time we spend in boring meetings, riding public transportation, waiting for a friend to meet you for dinner, etc. (which these days we all often spend scrolling mindlessly through our phones) can instead be put to good use as little nuggets of reading time. While we both love television (especially the streaming variety) and would never malign it, making so much time for reading also had us being more mindful of our other media consumption as well. Not to mention an all-consuming project such as this one has been a great ice breaker at parties and in job interviews!
Obviously, reading all of Agatha's mysteries between the two of us in itself has been a really delightful experience. Her books are timeless, the plots engaging, the characters funny, terrifying, clever, alive, and the twists are brilliant, even a hundred years later. We each wanted to share some thoughts about Agatha's books after this year with her work, as well as an oft-requested list of each of our five favorites.
Emily
I was a little less familiar with Agatha's work than Aud going into this year, so many of the books were totally new to me. Knowing Agatha was so renowned as an author, I went into the experience expecting to be impressed. However, after reading 52 of her books over the course of the year, I am just straight-up bowled over by her mind. She has such a talent for creating an engaging plot that hooks you like a melody and keeps you turning the pages that in the few books that aren't quite as catchy, you're totally shocked to be underwhelmed. She is the Queen of Mystery because she has a gift like none other for creating tale after tale with so many quality red herrings and plot twists that even her most avid readers are still kept guessing. I think one of the things I've enjoyed the most about the books, though, is Agatha's skill with dialogue. Creating dialogue between characters that sounds natural and not stilted is terribly tricky, and so many of Agatha's books contain funny, or chilling (or both!) conversations that really advance the plot. She knew people, and how they would interpret situations or conversations or clues. She knew how to explain motives, as well as painting a picture of settings and scenes that could be as cozy as a little, flower-covered English cottage or as bleak as a windswept seaside cliff. She knew what would matter to readers, and what readers would believe mattered to characters. Getting to know her through her work this year has been really something.
After an agonizing narrowing down process, here are my five favorites, in no particular order: 1) The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence at their finest, the witty dialogue bubbles like champagne and the action races along, I read this one in one night, staying up way past my bedtime to find out what happened!) 2) 4:50 to Paddingdon (This one is such a good solid mystery, and I loved Lucy Eyelesbarrow, Miss Marple's adorable, clever, brave sidekick who can make dinner for the landed gentry and track down a dead body all in one night without batting an eye #girlboss, plus this is a great Miss Marple, whom I now seriously adore) 3) Endless Night (IT'S SO GOOD AND CREEPY!! I love how deep into character Agatha went to get into the narrative of this story, and what a great sneaky plot it is. Terrifically well done. I'm not a big Halloween person, but I think I'll read this one around that time every year!) 4) And Then There Were None (There is seriously no two ways about it, in my mind, this book is brilliant. I've already shared it with so many friends who have different tastes in books, but they all race through it and proclaim it great. The character development is top notch, the setting is ominous and terrifically well painted, and the reveal is oooh, excellent. An absolute classic.) 5) The Seven Dials Mystery (This was one of my earliest reads, and a story I was totally unfamiliar with. It's a very interesting set-up, with a mysterious secret society, and its more of a caper, which I really enjoy, but what I liked most was the plucky heroine Bundle Brent, who didn't mind what any man told her was her role, and did as she pleased with calm and cunning. Another #girlboss I adored.)
Audrey
As I've said time and time again (sorry, #brokenrecord), I've been an Agatha Christie fan for a long time now. The thought did cross my mind for a quick second back at the beginning of last year whether or not I would be bored re-reading books I had devoured as a teenager. I couldn't have been more wrong. Spending this year revisiting my favorite author has been the most delightful experience - even more so to share it with one of my dearest friends! There's nothing quite like having a good friend to discuss books with! Not only have I loved my midnight text marathons with Emily about that ending to Sparkling Cyanide I forgot about or Hastings' latest crush, but the Agatha Christie community we have found here on the blog and on social media has given me an even deeper level of enjoyment of Agatha's works. I've loved reading reactions from our #bookstagram pals as they've reached the end of Roger Ackroyd or shared their love for some of my more obscure favorites. Reading is one of my deepest joys, and it warms my heart to no end to have dedicated this year to a genre and an author I have admired for so long!
And now on to my favorites: (Like Emily, this took me FOREVER to decide! I ended up sharing some of my more surprising favorites, because honestly, they're just all so great.) 1) The Murder at the Vicarage (I can't say this enough: go read this book pronto. It has some of the funniest lines I think Agatha ever wrote. And Griselda Clement is literally my hero.) 2) A Pocket Full of Rye (A surprising favorite for me! This year taught me I am more of a Marple fan than a Poirot fan when it comes to the books [even though I adore David Suchet's Poirot performances more than I can say!], and I thought this portrayal of Miss Marple avenging her murdered maid was one of her best!) 3) Crooked House (This book is just terrific. Like And Then There Were None, this was a case where a standalone novel without Agatha's usual crime fighters was a home run. Agatha does creepy/dysfunctional families well, and this was, in my opinion, perhaps her best. Add to that one of the most mind boggling endings and you have a true classic!) 4) Cat Among the Pigeons (Even though Poirot has basically no page time in this later Agatha novel, I really loved the angsty and very realistic teenage girl characters that made up the majority of the story.) 5) Murder in Mesopotamia (This was always one of my favorite Poirot TV adaptations, so I was primed to love this book. While the mystery itself isn't necessarily earth shattering, the Middle Eastern setting is so much fun, and you can tell it was very dear to Agatha's heart.)
People have asked all year if we're "tired of it" yet, and perhaps surprisingly (aside from short story droughts, oof) the answer has always been no. This project has been a joy and an inspiration, for reals, from beginning to end. Which is why we aren't really going to let it end! Our next post will offer our plans for The Year of Agatha, phase two, in 2017. We hope you'll continue to follow us as we make our way further through the world of mysteries and crime fiction!
(Grab a copy of Orient at your local bookstore, or Amazon!)
"What else can I tell you that you won't believe? That I saw the killer's face the night I left? I did. I held a flare into the darkness and saw a face so familiar that anyone might pass it on the sidewalk and not blink an eye. They might even say hello." -Orient, p. 6
Clearly we are in the zone this year, reading a book a week in order to meet the goals of our project. Being bookish, of course, we often wish we had more time in the day to take in additional tomes, and the Memorial Day holiday weekend afforded us a bit of said coveted time for bonus reading! We had a long list of potential candidates, but when we learned of author Christopher Bollen's Agatha Christie fandom, we knew his 2015 mystery/thriller Orient was the book for us!
Twitter revealed Bollen as a fellow fan, and led us to this super fun Daily Beast article accounting his pilgrimage to Greenway House, Agatha's home in Torquay (the article is really a great read and offers us lots of fun tidbits about the Queen of Crime). We got even more excited about reading his tale of crime after identifying with this description of his own childhood:
"My only recreation during sixth and seventh grade was reading Christie. I craved her murders. I envisioned myself strolling through the village of St. Mary Mead or attending an archaeology dig in Mesopotamia alongside Poirot and a number of suspicious, well-tailored aristocrats."
We second that emotion! Bollen explains that he got his start as a grade-school writer, crafting Christie-inspired tales of crime with lots of murders and female murderers, but drifted away from detective stories as he grew up, favoring more "literary" literature. Eventually, as we all do, he circled back to his childhood interests and decided to try his hand at mystery writing, taking inspiration not only from Agatha's clever, puzzling mysteries, but also her deft depiction of place and characters.
Though the name of the town where he set his book (inspired by a real life town on the North Fork of Long Island) coincidentally echoes one of Agatha's most well-known books, Bollen writes "I liked that my Orient held a quiet acknowledgement of the master."
Thusly, we present our Year of Agatha review of Orient, an NPR Best Book of the Year!
The Sum of It:
We enter the story through a mysterious prologue, a message to readers from the main character at the end of the story, the first of many ably executed Christie call-backs in the book. The character, Mills Chevern (an adopted name), hooks you with his own background, but also with statements such as:
"It is hard for me to picture those first days without seeing the madness that was to follow. I realize now that the deaths in Orient would have happened whether I made my way east or not. They were like matchsticks in a book waiting neatly to be ripped and burned."
UH, YEAH! TELL US MORE.
Mills, a teenager who grew up in foster care in California and made his way to New York City, gets taken in by Paul, a friendly architect with "the head of a lion," who by way of helping Mills get clean takes Mills out to his summer house in the small coastal town where Paul grew up, Orient. Mills finds himself dropped right in the middle of some standard suburban-style strife, old-timers who resent newcomers disrupting idyllic village life, battles between members of the village historical board on how best to preserve their place, some desperate housewife action, husbands looking to prove their virility, and rebellious teens. Mills finds that Orient has also become home to some cosmopolitan artists hoping to find their creativity stoked by the pastoral setting.
Mills finds himself a bit of a polarizing figure in town, a scraggly young stranger who arrives just before a series of local murders rocks the village, paired with the periodic washing up on the shore of creepy mutant animals, presumably the bi-products of a government laboratory on a nearby island. Even so, he has a few friends in town, his benefactor, Paul, Beth, a native of Orient who has returned from a stint in New York with her artist husband, and the handsome, angsty teen next door, Tommy (who is maybe not so much a friend as a fascination #crushing #hearteyes). From the time the first dead body turns up in the bay, all eyes are on the poor guy who just wants to help Paul clean out his house and form something like a normal life.
The tension in the tale builds like music, starting slow, then gathering like dark storm clouds rolling in from the ocean. You can almost hear the Jaws theme getting faster and scarier as the pages turn, which explains why it was 1:42 a.m. when Emily finished the book and sent a photo of her totally surprised/impressed face to Audrey.
The YOA Treatment:
This was a delicious, compelling mystery with some major Agatha elements. We got fooled by some totally classic red herrings, and Bollen's keenly crafted depiction of the tensions in village life definitely remind us of a heightened version of the tea and scandal found in St. Mary Mead. In particular, one of the twists amid the reveal of the killer is SUCH an Agatha move, which we obviously can't tell you about here because you should for sure read this book, but it's just an added little element to help explain the motive of the killer that adds a hint of spice and a little more depth to the story.
The setting of the book comes alive, perhaps particularly so due to recent consumption of similarly set tales, including Showtime's The Affair, set in Montauk, the Harrison Ford/Greg Kinnear version of Sabrina #ontheNorthShoreofLongIsland (David did a GAP AD), and of course F. Scott's perfect tale of West Egg, The Great Gatsby. It simultaneously made us want to visit a Long Island seaside village and NEVER visit such a village because #MURDER.
As an aside, one of the more interesting descriptive elements in the book which eventually made us chuckle was Bollen's choice of words in describing everyone's skin tones. At one point we started asking ourselves, is everyone in this town supposed to be an alien, or has dear Bollen developed a sort of color-blindness specific to skin? There are at least eight different instances of totally alive people being described with skin in tones of blue, green, and grey; "her skin as gray-green as algae," "light hair and skin-color, that of a mildewed paperback novel," "his complexion was a shade of yellow-green," "the pewter pallor of her skin," and even someone, an alive someone, described as having cheeks the color of blueberries #ghostpeople #reversesixthsense? Certainly lent a distinct tone to all the people in town!
While we feel like Agatha has had an inspirational effect on most mystery writers today, whether in her ability to create a Rubik's-style puzzle in each element of the story or her talent for really persuasive red herrings, we really enjoyed reading a totally new thriller bold in its embrace of Agatha's influence. We recommend fitting this into your library as well.
" '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 and freaking people out bumps into Poirot at a museum and mentions that he's got a collection the detective might be interested in — a collection of murderers who got away with their crimes. When Poirot is invited to attend a dinner party at creepy dude's house (Mr. Shaitana) along with a police superintendent, a secret service man, [one of our favorite recurring characters] mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, and four randoms, Poirot gets a feeling Shaitana has gathered the randoms as his collection. His feelings are confirmed when Shaitana gives a sort of strange speech at dinner about women and poisoning and other crimes.
Shaitana insists that everyone but him sit down to play bridge, four in one room and four in another, and assigns all the "sleuths" to play together while the other four played in the room with him. When the evening waxes, they discover that their host, who seemed to be sleeping in his chair by the fire, was instead #MURDERED with a little jeweled dagger, stolen from a nearby table top.
All the sleuths, including the writer Ariadne Oliver, put their heads together to solve this crime. They interview all the bridge players who were in the room with Shaitana when he died, that night and then individually later. They were engrossed in the game, no one saw a thing, not a clue to be found. Poirot realizes the only clues they have are psychological, so he proceeds to investigate, in true Poirot manner, stuff like the bridge score cards and everyone's memories of what the room looked like. Based on what Poirot knew about the four, he knew that each of them had something to hide, something Shaitana presumably knew by including them in his collection. So who could be guilty?
The YOA Treatment:
Though Agatha regularly contrasts Poirot's focus on psychology and use of his "little grey cells" with the more prosaic methods of traditional police officers, this book offers an opportunity for Poirot himself to contrast with a few different types of sleuths. Though sometimes such contrast serves to make Poirot a bit surly and judgy, he seems to enjoy this little crime solvers club, and works closely with the police superintendent especially.
One of the most enjoyable things about this clever mystery is the presence of Ariadne Oliver, who first joined the Christie canon in Parker Pyne Investigates, and in this tale provides another fun foil to our beloved Hercule.
In 1956, Agatha told a magazine, "I never take my stories from real life, but the character of Ariadne Oliver does have a strong dash of myself." Little hints of Agatha herself are sprinkled throughout the character and comments of Mrs. Oliver, including her love for driving, lack of talent at bridge, exasperation at readers who are sticklers for accuracy about things like what type of flowers bloom when, penchant for apples, distaste for dictating her books to a secretary, and her frustrations with her most famous detective, Sven, whose Finnish homeland Mrs. Oliver knew actually nothing about (akin to a certain Belgian we know Agatha was often annoyed by). Mrs. Oliver is even given credit for having written a mystery with a name familiar to Agatha fans, The Body in the Library, a title Agatha actually gave to one of her own books about six years later.
At one point in Cards on the Table, Mrs. Oliver is talking to another character about being a mystery writer, and they have the following exchange:
"...It must be wonderful to just sit down and write off a whole book."
"It doesn't happen exactly like that," said Mrs. Oliver. "One actually has to think, you know. And thinking is always a bore. And you have to plan things. And the one gets stuck every now and then and you feel you'll never get out of the mess — but you do! Writing's not particularly enjoyable. It's hard work like everything else."
"It doesn't seem like work," said Rhoda.
"Not to you," said Mrs. Oliver, "because you don't have to do it! It feels very like work to me. Some days I can only keep going by repeating over and over to myself the amount of money I might get for my next serial rights. That spurs you on, you know."
This conversation is quite reminiscent of Agatha's own attitude towards writing once she became a "professional," as she described it in her autobiography, following her heartbreaking separation from #HORRIDARCHIE during the time she was trying to write The Mystery of the Blue Train (her own least favorite book):
"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, and sent off to the publishers. It sold just as well as my last book had done. So I had to content myself with that — though I cannot say I have ever been proud of it."
Later in her autobiography, a more cheery but still practical professional Agatha echoed these statements by Mrs. Oliver further, writing of the days following the publication of The Seven Dials Mystery:
"The nice part about writing in those days was that I related it directly to money...This stimulated my output enormously. I said to myself, 'I should like to take the conservatory down and fit it up as a loggia in which we could sit. How much will that be?' I got my estimate, I went to my typewriter, I sat, thought, planned, and within a week a story was formed in my mind. In due course I wrote it, and then I had my loggia."
Perhaps we have home decorating needs to thank most for how prolific dear Agatha became over the course of her career! Regardless, Cards on the Table gives us a delightful glimpse at perhaps her own view of herself as a writer and sleuth, all wrapped in a typically twisty-turny mystery which ONCE AGAIN made me gasp with surprise at the resolution — outwitted by the Dame again.
Audrey (l) and Emily (r): just a couple of mind twins bringing you all things Agatha!
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