Monday Night Murder

[evelyn_b]

"I do not play games. You know that. Murder is not a game. It is serious. And anyway, Hastings, you should not use that phrase -- playing the game. It is not said anymore. I have discovered that. It is dead. Young people laugh when they hear it. Mais oui, young beautiful girls will laugh at you if you say 'playing the game' and 'not cricket.'"

(Hastings is horrified that Poirot would read a suspect's letter upside-down as he was writing it. That's private! There is one kind of law for killing people and another for things that are just not done).

Lord Edgeware Dies was so good that it forced me to figure out the Dreamwidth spoiler code.

Skip this part and read Lord Edgeware Dies instead!

I can't believe that Christie pulled almost the same trick twice in a four-book period and I didn't even notice. That is, I can easily believe it, because 1) Christie is a genius, and 2) I'm far too trusting for the Murderverse. In retrospect, the misdirection that led me to dismiss my initial suspicion was too obvious for words, but what good is retrospect?

I love the letter the killer sends to Poirot post-conviction, but it's too much of a spoiler for this unreliable spoiler cut. You'll just have to read it for yourself. For one thing, the letter-writer complains, isn't fair for Poirot to be so clever, when he doesn't look clever at all! This imposes a serious disability on the enterprising murderer. :( But I don't see how Poirot can look any cleverer when he already looks exactly like HERCULE POIROT, the greatest detective! It's not his fault if you haven't done your research, murderers. Get it together!

What I'm Reading Now

We're up to 1934 in the Agatha Christie chronology! In 1934, Christie published two mystery novels, one Mary Westmacott, and two books of short stories. I should probably have saved Orient Express for last, but the library had it so I'm reading it now.

(1934 also brought us the first Inspector Alleyn novel! A Man Lay Dead is still uncertain early Alleyn, with Bolshevik anarchist cabals and out-of-character action sequences, but we've all got to start somewhere).

I think unlike Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express does lose a little on re-read, where I can see all the gears moving from the beginning - though it's hard for me to tell for sure, since I was spoiled for Ackroyd before I had the chance to read it, but not for Orient Express. If there is a difference, it's probably that Orient Express has an element of suspense that isn't part of the game in Roger Ackroyd.

. . . and this is the point at which my computer crashed, deleting all the extra commentary that I'd foolishly typed into the "update" box. Don't do that! There was something about atmosphere and a little more about re-reading and its effects. I'll put it back in next Monday, maybe. :\

What I Plan to Read Next

Red Harvest! Maybe Parker Pyne Investigates, maybe Aunt Dimity's Death, a cozy-looking mystery possibly involving a ghost?

Comments

[the_rck]

The Aunt Dimity books are very cozy, but they're not really mysteries. They're easy reads with no intellectual or emotional challenges. I enjoy them because they don't set off my anxiety, but I suspect you will find them frustrating if you approach them expecting mysteries.

[evelyn_b]

Oh, no worries! I'll just adjust my expectations to "coziness without the mystery!" I've already got one heading toward me, so I might as well give it a try.

[thisbluespirit]

Interestingly, the spoiler code works on your journal, but not on my reading list - I suspect I also need the code embedded and that I can't be bothered to do. (You might be better off with the traditional html whiteout/blackout that we used to do before LJ invented spoiler cuts maybe.)

I do think Orient Express and Roger Ackroyd both do suffer a little on re-reads. They still work, but they're the big two in terms of the big gimmick plot twist, whereas that feels less obvious in a lot of the more general ones.

(And, aww, first Alleyn! <3)

[evelyn_b]

Oh no! Well, it's a good thing I didn't quote the whole letter like I wanted to, then!

How do whiteouts work? Like this? If this doesn't work I'll have to go hunt down the HTML code, I guess.

I think I'm going to wind up feeling that Roger Ackroyd holds up a little better as a re-read for me because it has at least one memorable "outside" character in the narrator's sister, whereas from the very beginning of Orient Express you're too aware of all the characters as pieces in the puzzle. Or I am, anyway.

<3. I should re-read A Man Lay Dead to celebrate! Or maybe not, because it really isn't all that good. :\ Maybe I should re-read Death in a White Tie to celebrate!

eta Ok, it looks like I don't know how to make a whiteout with html! I'll have to poke around a little and find out.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm not sure either, but one thing I've learned is that Googling the html for whatever is usually pretty much guaranteed to provide the answer!

By the way, I found this on my PC and uploaded it. I think I must have come across it when looking at old newspapers for family history and saved it for you, because I thought you would enjoy it, given that you once told me you were v interested in Victorians and their ridiculous attempts to put poison in everything: http://s757.photobucket.com/user/lost_spook/media/poison_zpsrppjqqpe.png.html?sort=3&o=0

[evelyn_b]

Is this text white?

I do love Victorians and their poisons! But sadly I don't think I'm going to be allowed to see the image without logging in to my nonexistent Photobucket account. I keep getting just a glimpse and then my screen is filled with "A Friendly Security Reminder" that I can't get rid of. :(

[thisbluespirit]

That's odd! It should let you see the image, or what's the point of it anyway?

I'll try it in the comment but I don't know if it'll fit okay:

[evelyn_b]

It worked! :D Thank you!

I wonder how long it took to phase out the untrained or incompletely trained druggist's assistants - I feel like they were still around at the end of the century, but I don't know if that's accurate or not. And if the differently-shaped bottle thing ever caught on! Here in the present in the US, poisons are clearly marked, but I don't know that they necessarily come in distinctively shaped containers - which is not a bad idea, actually.

[thisbluespirit]

I believe they did, actually, at least with some of them by the end of the century.

[osprey_archer]

OH HASTINGS every time I think Hastings has reached peak Hastings you quote something like this and it becomes clear that there are even higher heights of Hastingness to which he can go.

I'm looking forward to hearing about Aunt Dimity's Death!

[evelyn_b]

<3

I'm looking forward to reading it! It looks. . . very resolutely cozy and a little strange. It should arrive in a few days!

(I haven't forgotten about Shirley, either).