Wild Hearts Can't Be Murdered Monday

[evelyn_b]

It's only What I've Finished Reading this week, because I had to order Murder in the Mews and it hasn't arrived yet, and all my normal murder-reading time is still being eaten up by work, or rather, by my ongoing inability to manage time effectively. It was much easier when I could just sit at the cash register in an empty shop all day.

That said, Death on the Nile makes for an excellent re-read - this is actually Read No. 3 in about as many years, and it's lost none of its angsty, pulpy, nail-biting charm. Partly this is just because I have a bad memory. For about two-thirds of the book, I remembered that there was a twist, and which characters it involved, but not what it was, which gave all the clues a pleasantly scrambled half-legible feeling, as if I had been given a poem in Dutch and told it was English. Then about twenty pages from the end it clicked back into place and I could relax and watch the knots unravel.

All of the other characters are old friends by now, especially Salome Otterbourne (whose "cheap sex" books are due for a critical revival, or would be if they existed) and the straw Marxist, but I'd completely forgotten Colonel Race was in this book. This might be because I don't care about Colonel Race.

Anyway, Death on the Nile is still 100% recommended if you would like to enjoy English people being xenophobic and murderous on boats (but not necessarily both at the same time). There are also some rich Americans and some stereotypical foreigners who may or may not be too good to be true.

What I Plan to Read Next

Either Murder in the Mews or Appointment With Death, whichever arrives first. I've also got a Raymond Chandler collection I'd like to start on. I bought it for the title essay, "The Simple Art of Murder," but the rest of the book is short stories.

AND the new Murder on the Orient Express opens in less than two weeks! Am I going to be in the front row with a giant pretzel and a drink the size of my own head, grinning stupidly at every good and bad decision? YOU BET I AM.

Comments

[osprey_archer]

OH GOSH you'll have to tell us all about the new Murder on the Orient Express. I am afraid that I will be totally unable to come to grips with a non-David Suchet Poirot - it's the Pat of Silver Bush in me - but on the other hand, big-screen Christie! How can I miss it?

[evelyn_b]

To every stache there is a season, o_a, and a time for every Poirot under heaven. Don't worry, you'll hear all about it whether my thoughts are coherent or not.

(I still owe you several things, none of which I've forgotten about!)

[thisbluespirit]

I remembered that there was a twist, and which characters it involved, but not what it was, which gave all the clues a pleasantly scrambled half-legible feeling

Oh, I've done this so many times, and this is a lovely description of the feeling!

AND the new Murder on the Orient Express opens in less than two weeks! Am I going to be in the front row with a giant pretzel and a drink the size of my own head, grinning stupidly at every good and bad decision? YOU BET I AM.

LOL. And we expect to hear all about it and Kenneth Branagh being eclipsed by his moustache. I hope it is as enjoyably terrible and tacky but well-played as it looked in the trailer. (I probably couldn't trust myself to not to be obstreperous in the cinema because, argh, not-David-Suchet-blasphemy, but I look forward to seeing it in a few years time on TV when I can shout at it happily.)

[evelyn_b]

I can't imagine anyone making a Murder on the Orient Express movie that I didn't enjoy on some level (though maybe I just lack imagination), and the cast looks great, and Branagh + the makeup team have acted correctly in envisioning the greatest stache for the greatest detective. I think a good time is pretty much inevitable.

Having a bad memory is not great for most things, but it's a gift when it comes to enjoying mysteries. :)

[liadt]

I can't get over the giant tache!

Having a bad memory is great for re-reads! Bit rubbish when you're trying to stick to canon for fic though...

[evelyn_b]

I can't tell you how many times I've foregone writing fic because canon review would take too long and I'd have forgotten half of it by the time I was done. I can't tell you because I forgot. More than five, though.

A stache should be proportionate in magnificence to the magnificence of the wearer. Poirot is a titan among detectives even if he is a little on the short side for a human. His mustache, like his soul, is greater than the vessel that bears it.

[liadt]

I've written film reviews straight after watching and got the chronology of scenes muddled up:S One of the great things about Dr Who is fic is that an adventure can be written without making it fic into or pre/post canon. The rest is all wailing and gnashing of teeth and claiming it's an AU;p

Lol, I will of course be missing Suchet's collection of taches:)