#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 Club
As an avid yet fairly new reader of Agatha Christie, I'm still in the stage of wanting to know everything and anything about the Queen of Crime. During one of my regular searches for information, I came across The Detection Club, which Agatha Christie was a founding member of in 1930, right up to being the President between 1957-1976.

I found the idea of The Detection Club fascinating! A group of crime writers getting together for dinner a few times of the year and discussing their craft. From these meetings the idea for The Floating Admiral was born. The basic set out of the book is that each of the 14 members would each write a section of the book, making 12 chapters (husband and wife duo G. D. H and M. Cole wrote a chapter between them) and a prologue by G. K. Chesterton, as well as an introduction by Dorothy L. Sayers. Each author would carry on from the last chapter, working up to the conclusion by Anthony Berkeley, making a collaborative novel. A great feature of the book is the alternative endings from the other authors at the back of the book. Agatha Christie's alternate ending is fabulously outrageous and a little far-fetched but super fun.

The Sum of It:
A brief synopsis of the book: a body is found in a rowing boat floating down the river in the town of Whynmouth. Inspector Rudge must clear up all the details, which include the vicar, who owns the boat, the victim's niece, who has disappeared, and many more characters who could all be withholding information.

The YOA Treatment:
What I liked about this book the most was the unexpectedness of each chapter and the anticipation of what each author would bring, what character they could introduce, and what bombshell they might leave their chapter on for the next author to clear up in the following chapter. This really added to the suspense and made it quite impossible to guess with any degree of accuracy whodunnit. There are many possibilities of the ending, as shown with the alternate endings.

Getting to know all the authors was also a plus point. I really found it quite fascinating to see how well this book worked with all these different authors and their individual voices and whether those voices would get lost or stand out too much, how they would vary from the most popular author to the lesser known authors. I'm happy to say that the format worked really well and there were no major shifts in perspective, atmosphere or character. This is a testament to how well these authors could adapt and add their own style without overwhelming the story.

I found the ending impressive and thought it was in keeping with what the previous authors had developed.  But for me, the alternate endings were even more intriguing. The many possibilities of how a story could end. Christie, I think, had the best and most creative alternate ending and it is worth reading for that little page and a bit of summing up.

My rating for this book is 4/5 stars. I couldn't give it the full 5 stars as I found the prologue by G. K. Chesterton a bit obscure and long winded. I also disliked one of the chapters, which was a list of evidence. It was helpful, just not the most riveting. I would highly recommend this for Christie fans and lovers of classic crime books.

The Sum of It:
Now, 85 years after the publication of The Floating Admiral, the current Detection Club have taken inspiration from it to produce the collaborative novel, The Sinking Admiral (published by Harper Collins),  released this year on June 16th. I was lucky enough to receive a copy from Harper Collins and read it straight after I finished The Floating Admiral!

The basic storyline is that the local pub, The Admiral, is threatened with closure due to falling takings. A TV crew arrive to make a documentary. Then the owner of the pub, also nicknamed The Admiral, is found dead in his tethered boat. Suicide is the assumption. But all isn't as it seems.

The YOA Treatment:
Firstly, the not so good things. It isn't set out the same as The Floating Admiral and you do not know which writer is writing each chapter, an added whodunnit element, as Simon Brett, President of The Detection Club, states. Which is great if you are familiar with each authors style. Which I am not. There's also no alternate endings, taking out the fun of seeing different perspectives.

Where this book does succeed is the actual storyline which is engrossing and kept me guessing. The book has some good twists and fun characters and kept me reading, so I gave it a solid 3/5 stars. Again, great for lovers of classic crime but with a modern take.

There are several other Detection Club books available, some which have a contribution from Agatha Christie!

Thank you for reading my review and a big thank you to Audrey and Emily for featuring me.

- Steph (@bookishsteph1, @maidensofmurder)

This month over at @maidensofmurder on Instagram and at www.agathachristie.com/ @officialagthachristie we are reading The Thirteen Problems. This Miss Marple book of short stories makes me wonder whether Agatha Christie was inspired by The Detection Club or The Detection Club formed around the basic premise of these stories of a group of people, The Tuesday Night Club, getting together and discussing unsolved crimes. A bit of life imitating art? These stories were published together in 1932 but written between 1927-1928, a few years before The Detection Club was formed. You can also read the Year of Agatha post about The Thirteen Problems here!

The Real Housewives of St. Mary Mead: The Murder at the Vicarage | 1930

(image from here)

"If I were at any time to set out on a career of deceit, it would be of Miss Marple that I should be afraid."
- Leonard Clement, The Murder at the Vicarage, p. 194

The Sum of It:
This week we finally joined the host of delightful characters in the tiny village of St. Mary Mead in their crime adventures with #DameAgatha's first full-length novel "starring" Miss Jane Marple. We say "starring" because, while Miss Marple does in fact do the majority of the crime solving, the events of The Murder at the Vicarage actually unfold through the eyes (and narration) of the lovable, middle-aged vicar, Leonard Clement.

Leonard lives in St. Mary Mead with his MUCH younger wife (#cradlerobber), hysterically named Griselda (NOTE: Griselda has become one of our most beloved Agatha characters! See more about her below), and his teenage nephew, Dennis. The three are a fairly merry trio: Griselda loves the  gossip (#teaandscandal), Dennis loves the local bigwig's daughter, Lettice Protheroe, and Leonard loves to sit back and watch it all happen. Old Leonard's life get a bit more exciting when he stumbles upon the local bigwig's wife, Anne Protheroe, making out with young, local hottie/misunderstood artist, Lawrence Redding. Things get even MORE interesting when Leonard comes home one day to find Anne's cranky old husband, Lucias, #MURDERED in his study (and bleeding on the carpets, so rude)!

Just as the investigation gets underway, Lawrence Redding confesses! Then Anne Protheroe confesses! Everyone can't wait to confess! But, of course, it can't be that tidy. Their confessions don't fit in with the facts of the crime, literally everyone in St. Mary Mead had some sort of beef with dearly departed Lucias (Miss Marple counts 7 suspects), and so the true killer must be found. Who else but Miss Marple to help the police sort out the whole nasty business?

A Brief Interlude to Pay Homage to Griselda:
The pure delight of Vicarage rests in its characters, and in particular, the hilarious interactions between Leonard and Griselda Clement. Leonard first describes his wife thusly:

"My wife's name is Griselda - a highly suitable name for a parson's wife. But there the suitability ends. She is not in the least meek."

He goes on to recount how they had a whirlwind romance, she had loads of boyfriends, but chose him in the end because, in her words, "It's so much nicer to be a secret and delightful sin to anybody than to be a feather in his cap." Griselda hosts "tea and scandal" group with all the village biddies on Wednesday afternoons at 4:30 (Miss Marple included!), is proudly sitting for one of Lawrence Redding's paintings (she likes to tease that she sits in the nude), and is more than once called upon for Nephew Amusing Parties. Griselda is pure delight and her witty banter with Leonard is very reminiscent of the Tommy and Tuppence relationship that we also love so much!

The YOA Treatment:
With this story we get our first real introduction to Miss Marple in her natural habitat, the village busybody with keen observational skills and a tendency to expect the worst of people. After long familiarity with Miss Marple as a beloved figure in fiction, it was interesting to be reminded that not everyone finds her nosiness charming, with many of her neighbors talking about her with a verbal eye roll. By the time the mystery is solved, many of her fellow villagers have developed a bit more respect for her skill and nuance, but it was good to be reminded that she's not just the sweet old lady we get an impression of from the tv adaptations. (We also meet Nephew Raymond who is basically an early 20th century hipster, all snobbery and boredom, kind of hilarious).

Agatha seemed to take particular pleasure in writing Miss Marple, and her readers found a connection with her new character as well. Vicarage is considered one of Agatha's best works and even her contemporary, Dorothy L. Sayers, wrote to #DameAgatha to give her approval: "Dear old Tabbies [speaking of Miss Marple and her old lady cronies] are the only possible right kind of female detective and Miss M is lovely...I think this is the best you have done - almost."

-A. & E.