The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

The Body in the Library

 

Review of the novel The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie.

Published by Harper Collins on 11^th May 1942.

Cost: 3s 6p 1967

ISBN: N/A (Paperback Edition - 191 pages – starts on page 7)

Dedication: To my friend Nan

The Body in the Library is the second full-length Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie; with The Murder at the Vicarage having been published in 1930, there is a twelve-year gap. However, the story seems to pick up exactly where the previous one left off – but we must accept that Miss Marple has become a little wiser and been observing the activities in the village which will help her find solutions to crimes and mysteries.

The story opens with Dolly and Arthur Bantry, the owners of Gossington Hall, having been woken by their maid, to find there is a body in their library. From the short story collection presented in The Tuesday Club Murders (published in 1932), we learnt that Dolly Bantry and Miss Marple are good friends, so it’s not surprising that Dolly should immediately contact Miss Marple.

Miss Marple’s telephone rang when she was dressing. The sound of it flurried her a little. It was an unusual hour for her telephone to ring. So well ordered was her prim spinster’s life that unforeseen telephone calls were a source of vivid conjecture.

'Dear me,’ said Miss Marple, surveying the ringing instrument with perplexity. 'I wonder who that can be?’

Nine o’clock to nine-thirty was the recognised time for the village to make friendly calls to neighbours. The butcher had been known to ring up just before nine if some crisis in the meat trade had occurred. At intervals during the day spasmodic calls might occur, though it was considered bad form to ring up after nine-thirty at night. [No one] of Miss Marple’s acquaintances would be likely to ring up before eight in the morning. Actually a quarter to eight.

Too early even for a telegram, since the post office did not open until eight.

'It must be,’ Miss Marple decided, 'a wrong number.’

Having decided this, she advanced to the impatient instrument and quelled its clamour by picking up the receiver.

The telephone call is from Dolly Bantry, who insists that Miss Marple should investigate the murder and with that in mind, Miss Marple arrives at Gossington Hall before the police have taken control of the situation. So, five pages into the story we are re-introduced to Miss Marple, her way of life and given an insight into the village of St Mary Mead.

As Miss Marple reviews the scene in front of her when she enters the library. She sees:

…. across the old bearskin hearthrug there was sprawled something new and crude and melodramatic. The flamboyant figure of a girl. A girl with unnaturally fair hair … dressed in a backless evening dress of white spangled satin. The face was heavily made-up …. The finger-nails were enamelled in a deep blood-red and so were the toenails in their cheap silver sandal shoes.

When the police arrive on the scene, Miss Marple and Dolly Bantry quickly leave the library.

As the body is discovered in the village of St Mary Mead, we are again introduced to Inspector Slack, the lead detective in The Murder at the Vicarage. What is interesting in this story is the number of senior police officers investigating the case, partly because the investigation covers two English Counties managed by different police forces; Colonel Melchett, Chief Constable for the County of Radfordshire (which includes St Mary Mead); and Superintendent Harper for the Glenshire police (the neighbouring county).

The reader is given no further details when the police review the body, and it can only be supposed that no further facts would present themselves, however, if the reader were to reflect on the scene they would see that Christie set out important clues that the police missed and Miss Marple would use to solve the murder. The incompetence of the police is reinforced a few pages later when they review a list of persons reported missing:

'Mrs Saunders, reported missing a week ago, dark-haired, blue-eyed, thirty-six. Mrs Barnard – she’s sixty-five. Pamela Reeves, sixteen, missing from home last night … dark-brown hair in a pigtail, five feet five –‘

Melchett said irritably, 'Don’t go on reading idiotic details, Slack. This wasn’t a schoolgirl.’

The investigation takes a new turn when a few minutes later details of a further missing person are telephoned through to the two police officers; a professional dancer fitting the description of the body is missing from a local hotel eighteen miles away in the next county.

At the same time, Christie seems to want to reinforce the incompetence of the police when she introduces Basil Blake, a resident of St Mary Mead, who has a girlfriend with platinum blonde hair and Colonel Melchett rushes off to interview him. However, after a few cross words between the two men, Melchett leaves Blake when the girlfriend arrives on the scene.

The investigation now focuses on the professional dancer, Ruby Keene, missing from the Majestic Hotel. There is more here than first seems obvious; the eighteen-year-old Ruby Keene has become involved in a wealthy family staying at the hotel. Desperate to get away from Gossington Hall, Dolly Bantry decides she and Miss Marple will also investigate the mystery behind the body in the library and book rooms at the Majestic hotel. At this point, Miss Marple is also encouraged to use her investigative skills to solve the murder by the retired Chief Constable, Sir Henry Clithering.

When the body in the library is identified by Josie Turner, one of the lead dancers at the hotel and cousin to the dead girl, the police are left floundering with the case and it’s Miss Marple’s understanding of village life that comes to the rescue.

'With Mr Harbottle it was Miss Harbottle going away. And with the Badgers it was Mrs Badger taking such an interest in Spiritualism.’

'I must say,’ said Sir Henry ruefully, 'that I dislike the way you reduce us all to a General Common Denominator.’

Miss Marple shook her head sadly. 'Human nature is very much the same anywhere, Sir Henry.’

After a second body found in a burnt-out wreck is identified as that of the missing schoolgirl, and Girl Guide, Pamela Reeves it's Miss Marple who feels there is a connection between the two deaths. She insists the friends of Pamela Reeves are re-interviewed and a forceful Miss Marple has one of the girls reveal the truth about the missing girl’s activities on the day she went missing, which enables the murder of Ruby Keene and Pamela Reeves to be linked.

There is so much going on in this story, it would be possible to continue detailing the action that takes place and review it for the part the characters play in unravelling the solution to the murders. Miss Marple reveals that she is on the committee of the local orphanage and has had several servants and young maids to assist her in running her house, that she feels she has had a lot of experience in assessing when a girl is telling the truth and when she is holding something back. A theme that is expressed by Miss Marple on more than one occasion: 'One does see so much evil in the village.' 'Human nature is very much the same everywhere.'

This is a wonderful story with clues dotted throughout the pages and sadly missed by the police in their investigation. In this story, the reader must also reflect on the capabilities of Doctor Haydock, who refuses to budge on the time of the death of the body in the library, but fails to recognise the facts before him that should have led to different conclusions early on in the investigation. It is perhaps too easy to suggest that in today’s police investigations the clues would not have been missed, however, it is the clever instincts of Miss Marple that guides the police to the solution that was missed by so many characters in the story. Christie gives the reader a few glimpses into village life of St Mary Mead and how Miss Marple is able to compare past and present activities of the villagers to enable her to suggest solutions to the unravelling of the murders. It’s not surprising that Miss Marple has become one of the most popular Christie characters, loved by so many of her readers. A must read story: Rating: 5 stars.

Dr Sheppard

7 December 2016

The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Chrsitie

The Thirteen Problems

 

Review of the novel The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

Published by William Collins & Co, 1932

Cost: 30p 1974

ISBN: 0-00-613397-5 (Paperback Edition - 192 pages)

Book dedication reads: To Leonard and Katherine Woolley

This is a collection of thirteen short stories, where Agatha Christie introduces Miss Marple, who would become her second major detective. The length of each of the stories varies between twelve and twenty pages. As a reader, you are either someone that loves short stories or prefers the full-length novel but it’s worth pursuing with this collection of tales. Although these stories were published as a short story collection in June 1932 in the UK, the first six stories from the collection initially appeared in the fiction magazine The Royal Magazine between 1927-1928.

The first story - The Tuesday Night Club - sets the scene. Five guests are in the sitting-room of Miss Marple’s home and decide to entertain themselves by telling a story with a mystery ending that the others must try to solve. The guests have a wide range of worldly experience: there is her nephew the writer Raymond West, the artist Joyce Lemprière, Sir Henry Clithering (a former Scotland Yard commissioner), a clergyman called Dr Pender, and Mr Petherick, a solicitor. As the back cover of the paperback book explains:

The problems posed range widely from brutal murder by poisoning to the mysterious disappearance of gold bars from a galleon … From a hideously bloodstained pavement to a violent and supernatural death …

And from the crime that had not yet been committed to the thief who committed his crime twice …

Raymond West introduces the reader to Miss Marple:

The room was an old one with broad black beams across the ceiling and it was furnished with good old furniture that belonged to it.

His Aunt Jane’s house always pleased him as the right setting for her personality. He looked across the hearth to where she sat erect in the big grandfather chair. Miss Marple wore a black brocade dress, very much pinched in round the waist. Mechlin lace was arranged in a cascade down the front of the bodice. She had on black lace mittens, and a black lace cap surmounted the piled-up masses of her snowy hair. She was knitting – something white and soft and fleecy. Her faded blue eyes, benignant and kindly, surveyed her nephew and her nephew’s guests with gentle pleasure.

The description of Miss Marple is not developed any further; we learn about her skills as a detective through her approach to solving the mysteries presented to the group – much to the surprise of her companions that are eager to show their own prowess as crime solving.

Effectively the thirteen stories are separated into two parts; a regular Tuesday dinner party at the home of Miss Marple for stories 1-6 and a dinner party held by Mrs Bantry at Gossington Hall for stories 7-12, with an additional standalone story completing the collection.

Christie’s development of the Miss Marple character is presented through her solution of the mysteries. In each case Miss Marple relates her thoughts back to her knowledge and experience of life in the village and its inhabitants, having observed their behaviour over many years. After enjoying the reading of the first few stories it is obvious to the reader that it will only be Miss Marple that will be able to solve the mysteries correctly, but that does not spoil the pleasure of the tales and it is the method of arriving at the solution that is most enjoyable.

Christie would later take some of the ideas from these short stories and use part of them in a full-length novel or in the case of an included short story, The Companion, into a full-length novel in its own right - A Murder is Announced.

The thirteenth story in the collection, Death by Drowning, takes place sometime after the dinner party at Gossington Hall when Miss Marple finds out that Sir Henry Clithering is staying with Mrs Bantry and asks him to help in a local investigation surrounding the death of a girl in the village. Miss Marple bases her solution to the crime on the fact that Mrs Bartlett takes in washing as extra income, and on Fridays she takes it round in an old pram, returning it to the respective individuals.

The Stories in the collection:

1.     The Tuesday Night Club – told by Sir Henry Clithering

2.     The Idol House of Astarte – told by Dr Pender

3.     Ingots of Gold – told by Raymond West

4.     The Bloodstained Pavement – told by Joyce Lempriѐre

5.     Motive v. Opportunity – told by Mr Petherick

6.     The Thumb Mark of St. Peter – told by Miss Marple

7.     The Blue Geranium – told by Arthur Bantry

8.     The Companion – told by Dr Lloyd

9.     The Four Suspects – told by Sir Henry Clithering

10.   A Christmas Tragedy – told by Miss Marple

11.   The Herb of Death – told by Dolly Bantry

12.   The Affair at the Bungalow – told by Jane Helier

13.   Death by Drowning – a Miss Marple story

I have decided not to review the individual stories as the tales are quite short and there is very little insight into the leading characters, however, some appear in further Christie stories and are developed further as they help Miss Marple in her investigation into the murders that take place in the village, and while she is on holiday. Miss Marple appears in twelve full-length novels and twenty short stories. Rating: 5 stars

Dr James Sheppard

18 November 2016

Agatha Christie Royal Mail Stamps

Agatha Christie Royal Mail Stamps

Review of the six Royal Mail Agatha Christie stamps

Published by Royal Mail 15 September 2016

Royal Mail is celebrating the centenary of the writing of Agatha Christie’s first detective story and the creation of Hercule Poirot this year with a special stamp issue focusing on six of Agatha Christie’s works. After careful consideration, Royal Mail chose six of the sixty-six detective novels that Christie penned. These include Christie’s first published detective novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Other novels depicted on the stamps include, Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, A Murder is Announced, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Body in the Library.

In true Christie style each stamp, designed by Jim Sutherland and illustrated by Neil Webb, contains hidden elements relating to key scenes and principal characters from Christie’s mystery novels. Clues and features include a figure, half-hidden and wielding a knife, letters, the names of the suspects and Poirot himself. Use a mix of body heat, UV light and a magnifying glass to reveal all of the hidden elements – will you be able to discover them all?

Philip Park from Royal Mail said: “We are celebrating the genius of Agatha Christie with some mysterious and striking stamps. As the solving of mysteries is the focus of Christie’s art, it is fitting that the public have to turn detective to find the hidden words and images in each stamp.”

Visit Royal Mail to purchase a set of the Agatha Christie Special Stamps and use your detective powers to reveal the hidden elements within each stamp.

(The statement above is taken from the Royal Mail website.)

https://shop.royalmail.com/issue-by-issue/agatha-christie/icat/christie

I thought it would be interesting to review the mysteries of each of the six stamps and solve the clues presented; each stamp requires a different approach to reveal the hidden elements. Each stamp also hides a single letter that spells out a significant word, but you will need a magnifying glass to uncover it: AGATHA

The stamps can be purchased in different formats:

1.     Mint Stamps AS 2010 - £6.98

2.     Stamp Souvenir pack AW034 - £8.80

3.     First Day Cover pack AF413 - £8.80

4.     Presentation Pack AP422 - £7.50

5.     Post Cards (six in pack) AQ241 – £2.70

6.     First Day Envelope AE367 - £0.30

Note: The First Day Cover pack was available with the cancellation stamp of the Talents House postmark, Poirot’s moustache, or the Alternative postmark, Miss Marple’s hat. The notes accompanying the Presentation Pack were written by Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie’s grandson. There is also a First Day Cover envelope, with a secret message written on it.

Stamp 1. Murder on the Orient Express

 

 This stamp requires body heat to reveal a hidden secret!

·      Use a finger to warm the curtain in the second window from the left to reveal a man with a dagger

·      The cloud of smoke billowing from the steam engine reveals a picture of Hercule Poirot, aided by the quarter moon as his eye

·      The names of all the possible murder suspects are written as the train's track at the foot of the stamp

·      On the sleeve of the man in the left window is the letter A in AGATHA

Stamp 2. And Then There Were None

 

 This stamp requires the use of a magnifying glass to unravel the clues.

·      The reflection of the quarter moon in the sea is depicted as the words to the rhyme used in the story (written upside down)

·      The island in silhouette is the face of an individual looking up into the sky.

·      The eye of the individual is the house on the island

·      The house shows a window lit up in yellow with the silhouette of the mysterious U.N. Owen looking out

·      The yellow window is reflected in the sea, but with the person represented as the letter A in AGATHA

·      The mini face in grey has the letter T in AGATHA on the forehead

Stamp 3. The Mysterious Affair at Styles

This stamp requires the use of a magnifying glass to unravel the clues and in addition, a link via the Aurasma APP triggers a 3D animation.

·      The parting of the curtains, aided by the two seated characters’ legs and the table cloth appear to show a skull

·      The two figures in the picture represent Poirot and Hastings

·      The bottle represents the poison used in the story

·      The whole stamp is reproduced in miniature as the label on the poison bottle

·      Enlarging the cup on the table reveals the letter G in AGATHA

Stamp 4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

This stamp requires the use of a magnifying glass to unravel the clues.

·      The high-backed chair presents itself with a shadow holding the murder weapon, a dagger

·      Roger Ackroyd is the character sitting in the chair; he is holding the suicide note from his fiancé which leads to his death and this can be read when turned upside down

·      The flames in the fire depict the face of Poirot; his left eye is the letter H in AGATHA

Stamp 5. The Body in the Library

This stamp requires the use of a magnifying glass and an ultraviolet light to unravel the clues.

·      The bookshelf lists the sixteen Christie book titles published prior to this book

·      The first book on the left of the bookshelf, with no apparent book title, shows the letter A in AGATHA

·      The ribbon on the book on the table, along with the glasses and the hat, represent Miss Marple

·      The use of an ultraviolet light reveals a blue question mark between the arms of the outlined body

Stamp 6.  A Murder is Announced

This stamp requires the use of a magnifying glass and an ultraviolet light, to unravel the clues.

·      The torch beam shining on the wall depicts the round face of a clock

·      The female character stands with her legs depicting the clock hands at 6.30 p.m.

·      The female character holds a copy of The Chipping Gleghorn Gazette with the advertisement that was placed in the newspaper

·      The use of an ultraviolet light reveals the hidden numbers on the face of the ‘clock’

·      The picture placed at three o'clock is that of Miss Marple

·      The picture placed at nine o'clock depicts the letter T in AGATHA

·      A man holding the torch is also holding a gun which was used in the story

First Day Cover Envelope

The ‘words’ beneath the name read: The Queen of Crime – when reading from the right.

Note: this will be updated as necessary

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Review of the script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling.

Published by Little, Brown Book Group, 31st July 2016

Cost: £20.00 2016 (On offer £9.00 various UK suppliers)

ISBN:978-0-7515-6535-5 (Hardback Edition - 330 pages)

Book dedications read:

J.K. Rowling: To Jack Thorne who entered my world and did beautiful things there.

John Tiffany: For Joe, Louis, Max, Sonny and Merle … wizards all …

Jack Thorne: To Elliott Thorne, born 7^th April 2016. As we rehearsed, he gurgled.

Firstly, I think I should state that this is not a new novel by J.K. Rowling; it is a script in book form, for the play currently running at the Palace Theatre in London.

The play is in two parts; with Act One and Two in Part One and Acts Three and Four in Part Two. There are Nineteen scenes in Act One, Twenty scenes in Act Two, Twenty-one scenes in Act Three and Fifteen scenes in Act Four.

So, from the above, you can get the idea that there is a lot happening in the story, some scenes are very short, but are there to develop the story line, others are flashbacks that help the character understand his or her thoughts.

I do not intend to present any spoilers from the story line, but it would be impossible to discuss the script without some mention of the action that takes place.

If you are thinking that the script will be full of descriptions and give details of the settings then think again, there little or no description of the locations, the characters or atmosphere, everything you need to get your imagination going is from the spoken words of the characters as they act out the tale of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

At the start of the script we are told that Harry is a thirty-seven-year-old man, with him are two boys, James Potter and Albus Potter, on his shoulder is his daughter Lily and his wife Ginny is with them. The boys are off to Hogwarts and this is Albus’ first year; he is worried about being the son of such a famous person and how he will cope at the school of magic. He understands that making friends is very important.

For fans of the Harry Potter series, this tale is one that will have the reader reminiscing about the growing up of Harry Potter and the antics that he got himself into. The reader will rediscover all those familiar places, spells, teachers, and activities that Harry experienced, but can now relive through the eyes of Albus Potter. There are some new places where the action takes place, that were briefly visited in Harry’s time, but as the years have moved on, they need to be ‘spoken of’ in more detail. Remember, this is not a story, it is a script for a play. I have already started to reread the script, but my favourite piece is the bookshelf in the office of The Minister of Magic; it is very visual and it is a scene where the characters are very active so even reading the script it is a scene that presents itself well for the reader.

This is a wonderful script and having read it, I want to go and see the play being performed. Would I have preferred the tale to be another story in the Harry Potter series, yes, there is so much that could be done with the visual descriptions that as in script form must be left up to the reader. I have read and heard that there is a twist in the tale at the end of the script, I disagree, something happens and as an avid Harry Potter fan, I think the particular scene was only to be expected, and I would have been disappointed if it had not.

The story is all about a ‘Cursed Child’ and you will have to decide who that person is, do not think the obvious, even while reading the script. Does this tale give the opportunity for a further tale about Harry Potter, I think it must, that aspect is in J.K. Rowling’s hands?

A must read for all Harry Potter fans. Rating: 5 stars

Dr James Sheppard

2 August 2016

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

 

Review of the novel The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.

Published by Collins Crime Club, 30th October 1930

Cost: £6.99 1995

ISBN: 0-00-712085-0 (Paperback Edition - 379 pages, starts on page 7)

Christie's dedication in the book reads: "To Rosalind".

(Note: Rosalind was Agatha Christie’s daughter with Archie Christie from her first marriage.)

The Murder at the Vicarage is Miss Jane Marple’s first appearance in a full-length story, however, she was introduced in December 1927 in a short story entitled, The Tuesday Night Club which was published in The Royal Magazine. Five further short stories followed over the next five months. In total thirteen short stories were published in 1932 as a collection entitled The Thirteen Problems in the UK and The Tuesday Night Club in the USA. In these short stories, we learn of Miss Marple’s knowledge of St Mary Mead and its residents and how she uses this insight to solve crimes of murder and mystery.

The Murder at the Vicarage is narrated by the vicar of St Mary Mead, Len Clements, who lives at the vicarage where the murder takes place. The story opens:

It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the vicarage. The conversation, though in the main is irrelevant to the matter in hand, yet contained one or two suggestive incidents which influenced later developments.

The problem with the vicar narrating the story is that we see the tale through his eyes, and for me, there are aspects to the mystery that seem to be missing and may have helped the flow of the story and the reader to understand more about the village of St Mary Mead.

The vicar and his young wife, Griselda, have different thoughts about Miss Marple who is due to tea at the vicarage at four-thirty, very early on in the story. The vicar begins the conversation:

          ‘I rather like Miss Marple’, I said. ‘She has, at least, a sense of humour.’

‘She’s the worst cat in the village,’ said Griselda. ‘And she always knows every single thing that happens – and draws the worst inferences from it.’

And so sets the scene of the story. However, to help the reader understand the locations in the village, where much of the action takes place, the reader is provided with three maps, early in the book: a map of St Mary Mead; a map of the vicarage and surrounding properties; and a map of the study at the vicarage, where the murder takes place.

A few pages into the book, Christie describes the scene that will play a significant part in the story; ‘when the vicar lifts his head up from the table in his study, he notices the clock on the writing table pointed to a quarter to five, a sign that it was really half-past four, he makes his way to the drawing-room’ and we are given the first description of Miss Marple:

‘Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle, appealing manner – Miss Wetherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two Miss Marple is much more dangerous.’

Later when the vicarage is apparently empty, it is the vicar that discovers the body in his study and he describes the situation, but as we might expect from Christie, there is little gore in the description of the deadly scene:

Colonel Protheroe was lying sprawled across my writing table in a horrible unnatural position. There was a pool of some dark fluid on the desk by his head, and it was slowly dripping on to the floor with a horrible drip, drip, drip.

In this story, Christie introduces Inspector Slack as the police officer assigned to the case, and he is described for the reader’s benefit by the vicar:

All I can say of Inspector Slack is that never did a man more determinedly strive to contradict his name. He was a dark man, restless and energetic in manner, with black eyes that snapped ceaselessly. His manner was rude and overbearing in the extreme.

No matter Slack’s manner, he is soon to value the thoughts of Miss Marple.

As the story progresses, Christie describes the village and its characters and entwines more than one plot into the story, revealing just enough to let the reader be led astray, yet providing sufficient clues and red-herrings to keep the reader guessing and wanting more. We discover further details about Miss Marple, as she has been observing a golden crested wren through binoculars from her garden. I wondered why Christie had introduced this particular bird, rather than any other. A little research provided the following information: ‘Pine forests are the best places to see goldcrests, but they range around in flocks of other small birds during the autumn and winter. They’re widespread and common across the whole of the UK; in autumn, large numbers arrive on the east coast from Scandinavia and make their way across dunes to more suitable habitat – rspb’. Is Christie trying to tell us something about the location of St Mary Mead?

Understandably, Christie is keen not only to introduce Miss Marple, her new detective, but the village of St Mary Mead and it villagers. We learn, through the interaction of the villagers, about the murdered Colonel Protheroe, his character, and pompous nature. It is the young lovers and a mysterious archaeologist, that Christie manages well, and I ask myself if she has put a little of herself into the story. The age difference between the vicar and his wife results in faltering conversations when they interact, and the question is, are they really in love or is Griselda just a tease? However, it is the ability of Miss Marple to observe people and their behaviour in the village that adds a further dimension to the story; one such example is when she discusses the activities of one of the villagers:

‘My dear Colonel Melchett, you know what young women are nowadays. Not ashamed to show exactly how the creator made them. She hadn’t so much as a handkerchief in the top of her stocking.’

As Miss Marple interacts with the other characters we discover her ability to recall historical incidents that have taken place in the village and relate them to the current story line, thus enabling her to see the solution to the murder that most others have missed. We learn of Joe Bucknell, Major Hargreaves, Miss Hartnell, Elwell’s daughter; the list continues. But it is Christie that wants the reader to return to the appearance of Miss Marple on more than one occasion. The vicar describes her towards the end of the story:

She had a very fine Shetland shawl thrown over her head and shoulders and was looking rather old and frail.

However, it is Miss Marple that is given the opportunity to set up a plan to trick the murderer to reveal him/herself and solve the murder at the vicarage. The solution is more than a surprise to a number of individuals and Miss Marple is left to explain her solution.

This is a great story and introduction to the much-loved Miss Marple. In this story, Christie has used a very different approach to that of her other detective Poirot, and presented a leading character that her readers have warmed to for almost 90 years.

A must read for all Agatha Christie fans. Rating: 5 stars

Dr James Sheppard

11 July 2016

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

The Mystery of the Blue Train

Review of the novel The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie.

Published by Collins Crime Club, 29^th March 1928

Cost: 1s 6p 1949 [£2.50 1995]

ISBN: 0-00-675134-2 (Paperback Edition - 232 pages *starts on page 7)

Christie's dedication in the book reads:

"To the two distinguished members of the O.F.D. - Carlotta and Peter".

This is Hercule Poirot's sixth full-length story. The novel also features the first description of the fictional village of St. Mary Mead, the home of Christie's detective Miss Marple – introduced in December 1927 in the short story, The Tuesday Night Club.

The Mystery of the Blue Train is based around a murder that takes place on the fabulous Blue Train, officially known as the Calais–Paris–Nice Express. It is the train for the wealthy to travel from London to the French Riviera. The first time we are introduced to Poirot is on page 67, when he talks to Katherine Grey, who is having her first winter out of England, after having inherited a huge sum of money. They chat about the detective story Katherine is reading;

‘Perhaps they give one the illusion of living an exciting life,’ she suggested.

He nodded gravely.

‘Yes; there is something in that.’

‘Of course, one knows that such things don’t really happen,’ Katherine was continuing, but he interrupted her sharply.

‘Sometimes, Mademoiselle! Sometimes! I who speak to you – they have happened to me.’

She threw him a quick, interested glance.’

‘Some day, who knows, you might be in the thick of things,’ he went on. ‘It is all chance.’

A short while later, Katherine is helping the police with their enquiries regarding the death of Ruth Kettering, who has been strangled and the renowned ruby necklace known as ‘The Heart of Fire’ has been stolen.

There is an intrigue of lovers, rogues and a dealer who trades in priceless jewels. The French Police Commissioner believes the murder is a simple case of robbery by the dead girl’s lover, but Poirot is not convinced. Before long it is the husband of the dead woman who is tried and found guilty of the murder. Once again Poirot is not convinced and continues with his own investigation. With the help of Katherine and those around her, Poirot is able to solve the crime but has little interest in the finding of the necklace (although he declares where he has recently seen it).

The novel is based on the short story The Plymouth Express, which had previously been published in a periodical. Expanded into a full-length novel, five years later, The Mystery of the Blue Train, has a very similar plot, but with names and details changed.

Christie plays with the idea, which she uses in a number of her stories, that nobody takes looks at a servant. They are able to act discreetly in the background and carry out dastardly deeds!

The novel, The Mystery of the Blue Train, was written at a low point in Christie’s writing career; in 1926, the death of her mother, her husband's infidelity and her breakdown and ten-day disappearance. She felt she needed to start a new life on her own. She and her daughter, Rosalind, take a holiday, staying at the Hotel Oratava in Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1927, and make significant progress with the full-length novel. Christie writes in her autobiography; ‘Really, how that wretched book came to be written I don’t know. … I was driven desperately on by the desire, indeed the necessity, to write another book and make some money.’ She suddenly became aware that to generate an income she would now have to become a professional writer for a living. Christie states: ‘I have always hated The Mystery of the Blue Train, but I got it written and sent it off to the publishers. [However] I cannot say I have ever been proud of it.’

I enjoyed reading the story, but with the tale of The Plymouth Express in my mind, this fuller story did not captivate me as I might have hoped. Christie gets into her stride with clues for the reader and some miss direction, but, as she states, it is not one of her best stories. The character of Poirot is not fully utilised to what we later welcome during his investigations. Other characters lack the full Christie detail, as does the Blue Train and its compartments. I feel the need to quickly get back into reading one of her more famous novels. Rating: 3 stars

Dr James Sheppard

11 May 2016