Un-cancelled Dinner Plans: Lord Edgware Dies 2.0

(image from here)

"'I've heard you're just the most marvellous man that ever existed. Somebody's got to get me out of the tangle I'm in and I feel you're just the man to do it.'

We got out at the second floor and she led the way along the corridor, paused at a door and entered one of the most opulent of the Savoy suites.

Casting her white fur wrap on one chair, and her small jewelled bag on the table, the actress sank on to a chair and exclaimed:

'M. Poirot, somehow or other I've just got to get rid of my husband!'"

-Lord Edgware Dies, p. 14

The Sum of It:

This story has, for some reason, always been another one of my favorites, so I was very excited to give it a re-read during this 2018 Year of Agatha! This is my third Poirot read in a row, and I am not mad about it. Poirot is living his best life (like he does) in London, hanging out with Hastings and going to fancy dinners and parties and theater-whatnots. Lord Edgware Dies opens with just such an event - an evening of comedy with an American actress and impressionist named Carlotta Adams. At the performance, Poirot and Hastings meet another American actress named Jane Wilkinson, and, in true Agatha fashion, Jane enlists Poirot's assistance with a little trouble in her personal life. She needs help getting rid of her husband #gasp! Apparently her richie-rich lord husband (Lord Edgware of the book title Lord Edgware #doomed) is kind of a meanie and won't give her a divorce even though she needs one very badly so she can marry another lord who is, also apparently, nicer and richer than her current husband. Poirot is quite taken in with the whole American husky voice hottie thing Jane has going on, and, never able to say no to a lady in distress, says he he will do everything he can to assist her. "Great!" Jane says. "Can you run over to my house and convince him to give me a divorce? K BYE!" 

So Poirot and Hastings trudge over to have a chat with Lord Edgware. Lord E. says hi this is kinda weird, but um, yeah I definitely already told Jane via letter that I was down with the divorce so....#hmmm? Poirot and Hastings are like okay yes also weird, but our work here is done and go to tell Jane Wilkinson the good news. Jane is so thrilled to hear all her second wedding plans can move forward, she decides to go out to a fancy dinner party that evening that she hadn't planned on attending AFTER ALL!

HOWEVER, it can't be that easy, can it? Whilst Jane is dining the night away, someone who looks just like her has stabbed Lord Edgeware to death (#spoilers #notreallythough)!!! Stranger still, the next day Carlotta Adams (seen by the entire cast of characters performing her dead-on impression of Jane Wilkinson earlier in the book) is ALSO found dead! Loads of people wanted Lord Edgeware dead, but who could also want the blame cast on poor Jane? As always, only Poirot can sniff out the mastermind behind this tangled tale.

The YOA Treatment:

It's been fun to go back to read our thoughts and feelings on each of these books from our first year of Agatha and see how they compare to our re-readings. What is particularly funny about this book is in 2016 Emily noted she listened to Lord Edgware Dies on Audible and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I happened to do the exact same thing for my read this year! Hugh Fraser is a #nationaltreasure and does a perfect job of reading this book. If you're looking to dabble in Agatha Christie on Audible, I highly suggest finding anything he reads!

One fun tidbit I learned about this book involves the dedication. I always love investigating those Agatha dedicated books to, because they usually have interesting stories. This one is no exception! Lord Edgware Dies is dedicated to Dr. and Mrs. Campbell Thompson. Dr. Thompson was an archeologist who enlisted Max Mallowan (Agatha's second husband) to come help on his dig in Ninevah. Apparently the Mallowan-Christies and Thompsons were pretty good pals, but Dr. Thompson was not a fan of spending money and was a bit perturbed that Agatha wanted to spend money at the dig on a good writing table so she could work on her latest book. Thompson must have somehow gotten over it, because write Agatha did, and thanked him and his wife for their friendship and hospitality by dedicating this book to them. 

When the finished product finally came out in 1932, it was well received, and I completely understand why. It has some great characters, a puzzling plot, and a truly smashing conclusion. If you're looking for a classic Poirot to read (or re-read!) this summer, I heartily recommend it!

-A.

Psycho Killer, qu'est-ce que c'est: Lord Edgware Dies | 1933

(Image from original UK cover)

“One cannot be interested in crime without being interested in psychology. It is not the mere act of killing, it is what lies behind it that appeals to the expert.”  - Hercule Poirot, Lord Edgware Dies

The Sum of It:

Audrey and I are both reading books this week written after 1932, and both of us have agreed that Agatha has really hit her stride by this point. This book is a Poirot mystery, published in the US as Thirteen at Dinner, and at this point Agatha seems to have abandoned the idea of Poirot as a retiree and just gone ahead letting him solve mysteries. There's also not much mention at all of Hastings' wife, although at some point he mentions a trip back to the Argentine (where their ranch is located). 

As always there are a number of characters, the first of whom we meet in the book's introductory scene, an American comic actress named Carlotta Adams, whose "mobile features" and talent for mimicry lead her to impersonate another famous American actress, Miss Jane Wilkinson/Lady Edgware, as a part of her stage act. Hastings and Poirot happen to attend a Carlotta Adams show at the same time as said Miss Wilkinson, and chat with her, a fellow American film star with dashing good looks, Bryan Martin, Miss Adams, and her drunken and broke friend, Ronald Marsh (Miss Wilkinson's stepson and heir to Lord Edgware), at dinner. During this chat, the beautiful and seemingly dim Miss Wilkinson (bit of a Marilyn Monroe type) insists she must talk to Poirot about how she simply MUST get ride of her evil old husband, Lord Edgware, on account of wanting to marry a different and younger lord. She asks Poirot to go reason with evil Lord Edgware about granting her a divorce, which he and Hastings do with a surprising result, only to find out that later that same day Lord Edgware has been #MURDERED with a sharp stab to the medula oblongata shortly after the house staff claim a woman matching Lady Edgware/Miss Wilkinson's description marched proudly into the house! 

Suddenly, poor broke Ronald Marsh is the new Lord Edgware #reversaloffortune, Lord Edgware's nervous, pale daughter Geraldine is free of her tormentor, Jane Wilkinson is free to marry again, and people who dislike Jane (aka her future mother-in-law who doesn't want this dim bulb marrying her scholarly only son, aggrieved lovers, and lovers of aggrieved lovers) rejoice in seeing her as suspect numero uno. BUT WHO ACTUALLY DUNNIT?? And who commits the subsequent other murders?? In this glorious example of Agatha's cleverness, one (once again #brokenrecord) never knows til quite the very end. We'll just say that the solution to the mysteries has to do with Paris (the Greek, not the French capital/city of love) and Paris (the French capital/city of love, not the Greek) #OOOHLALA! 

The YOA Treatment:

Due to a momentary weakness of Amazon ordering skills, my copy of this book has not yet arrived at my house (let this be a warning to us all: always make sure you're shipping PRIME). This has resulted in somewhat unconventional digesting of this story on my part, which was actually kind of delightful. I read the first 20 or so chapters on some shady website online where every esteemed word of Lady Agatha was contrasted with dubious ads for magical age-erasing potions (#meaculpa, I justified this by telling myself that I did in fact pay for a copy of the book). However the last 11 or so chapters were not available from said shady website, so I used a free trial from #audible to listen to those as narrated by #DARLINGHUGHFRASER and BOY was that great. For reals, I definitely recommend the audiobooks of Agatha, especially as long as they are narrated by Hugh Fraser (aka TV's Hastings) who in addition to being the Hastings we all know and love the most is truly terrific at doing all the voices, from Scottish lads to Poirot to the indignant Inspector Japp (back again!). 

Anyhow, that said, I think my enjoyment of this book was enhanced by listening to at least part of it as an audiobook, which I can never decide is cheating or not when it comes to reading. However, this is an excellent Agatha specimen. I'm keeping a mental list of Agathas that I plan to recommend to friends who are interested in getting started (Secret of Chimneys, Secret Adversary, Seven Dials, Man in the Brown Suit, voila no longer a mental list) and I am totes adding this one to it. The pacing is quick, the characters clear, as are the various potential motives, and the plot trips along compellingly as narrated by Hastings. Some of the others, despite being well done of course, are a bit slower, and I find its the fast-paced ones I enjoy most. 

The final chapter of the book (NO SKIPPING AHEAD!) is a confession in the killer's own words, in the interest of having their cleverness preserved for posterity (including a stated disappointment that hangings are no longer public #goodlord). The killer is revealed to be a person in possession of cunning and vanity, and completely lacking in remorse or conscience. Poirot always works out his cases with the use of order and method, and searches for the rhyme and reason behind each crime. In this one he is repeatedly frustrated with himself for picking up a couple wrong rhymes before he lands on the right one, at which point he is startled by the psychosis of the murderer, quite the cool customer with purely selfish motives. As a case that even had the brilliant Poirot stumped most of the time, this book is as good as it gets. 

-E.

When You Don't Know Where to Start | EPIC LISTS!

When we started getting ready for this project last fall, the first thing we did was sit down and figure out exactly how many books we were going to be reading and in which order we should read them. Now, of course we could have just turned to the good old Google machine to look up a list of Agatha's works, but it's loads more fun to have them in a handy-dandy list format with a checklist and everything (#checklistsrule).

AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, our ever-favorite agathachristie.com has sorted all of Dame Agatha's works into just such terrifically organized lists! We have been using The Complete Agatha Christie Reading List as our guide for The Year of Agatha project, but you can also find helpful lists (including publication dates) of all Poirot and Miss Marple books on their site. The Poirot list is particularly interesting because it gives some fairly cryptic and intriguing suggestions about the reading order of several books - for example, it is suggested Lord Edgware Dies be read before After the Funeral...I'm sure we will give you some clues as to why when we get to those books later this year!

And so, dear readers, if our blog has piqued your interest in Agatha's works and should you find yourself needing to know (or simply curious about!) which books you'll need to add to your "Every Miss Marple Book" Amazon Wish List, may we heartily recommend the above mentioned resources! AND if you are interested in which books are coming up in February on The Year of Agatha, we have added next month's reads to our Reading Schedule.

-A. & E.