Publication date: 1968
Summary: Tommy and Tuppence Beresford (now an aging couple in their sixties) find themselves mixed up in a puzzle from the past after visiting their Aunt Ada at the Sunny Ridge Nursing Home for Ladies. Tuppence is disturbed by the sudden disappearance of a Mrs. Lancaster and believes that the key to solving her disappearance is in a painting given to Tommy's aunt by the missing woman. After finding the house and exploring a churchyard, Tuppence gets coshed on the head and Tommy has to find her.
This interesting novel doesn't seem to know whether it's about robbery or murder. The book becomes muddled midway through and bogs down with the late introduction of several characters and possible plot lines. While it's always fun to see Tommy and Tuppence, the mystery here is pretty lacking.
The literary allusion to Macbeth is appropriate given the number of witch-like old ladies in the novel.
Body count: several children apparently
Detective/Sleuth: Thomas and Tuppence Beresford
Rating: 2.5 diamond-stuffed dolls out of 5
Commentary:
Friday, July 15, 2011
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Dear anskov or Matt,
ReplyDeleteI read this novel and I actually enjoyed the book. However there were several slow points in the novel. I like the scene when they go to see Aunt Ada (and how Ada can't stand Tuppence). When it got to Mrs. Lancaster's disappearance, her cryptic words about the child behind the fireplace and the painting it intrigued me and kind of reminded me of a Hitchcock movie where a odd comment is made or some object appears to be important. There were a lot of characters and hardly any suspects. Although I suspected either Amos Perry or Sir Philip Starke as having something to do with this. The novel did have intriguing areas such as Tuppence's attack in the graveyard, the mention of child murders, criminal gangs and robberies, and the doll stuffed with jewels. But what really shocked me was the ending. I hardly suspected the last person on earth Mrs. Lancaster to not only be insane, working with criminals, and even more shocking a child killer who commits her acts in the name of the Lord. The ending it what amazed all in all it was a good read. By the way did you ever get a chance to see the Suchet version of Murder on the Orient Express? Also I heard that someone is planning to do a feature-film version of one of Christie's favorites Crooked House with Julie Andrews as Edith and Matthew Goode as Charles. I also wanted to ask you are you planning to do a review of another mystery writer?
Cameron
P.S.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that even though her later books start to lose their originality or uniqueness she still manages to tell a good story and also do you think of her as an innovative writer.
Cameron
One of the characters also appears in Sleeping Murder.
ReplyDelete@Cameron: Thanks for the comments! Yes, so much promise with this novel but it sags so much in the middle. I do agree with you - the ending was a real shocker - Christie was always great at masking evil behind innocence - and usually it's because we (and Tuppence here) believe people are who they project themselves to be. Imagine Miss Marple in this novel; she'd never have been taken in.
ReplyDeleteAs for another writer, I had been thinking of doing Dorothy Sayers. Also I was thinking of reviewing Hitchcock's films.
@anonymous: Which character is in Sleeping Murder?
There is a link to Christie's book By the Pricking of My Thumbs, a woman in an asylum asking Gwenda "Was it your poor child", while drinking milk, possibly the character of Mrs Lancaster
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Murder
I've been following your blog for some time now and I really love it!
ReplyDeleteIt will be fantastix if you would do Dorothy L Sayers.I read only "Strong Poison" until now and it wasn't such a great thing.
But I think I'll give her another chance with "Cloud of Witness", "Murder Must Advertise" and
her longest and deepest book "Gaudy Night".
P.S. You have to post faster, there are periods of months between one book to another sometimes!
Hi, Just found this blog and am so excited about it! I've been reading Christie on and off for nearly about 30 years (!!)and I've set myself the goal of reading them all chronologically. Not doing too badly, but didn't think of chronicling the experience... Anyway, now will go back to reading the blog. All the best for the endeavour!
ReplyDeleteHello, I just found your interesting blog and will be working my way through it. I have read all the Agatha Christie Books and am in the process of collecting all the David Suchet and Joan Hickson movies. I don't appreciate it when the directors stray too far from the original story and these films remain faithful to the original. I do understand the difficulties in trasferring a story from print into a movie. Of Christie's books, my favorite is the first one I ever read, 'And Then There Were None. I've seen it twice as a stage play and it was equally enjoyable. My least favorite Christie is 'Elephants Can Remember'. The characters have speeches that drag on and on. Thanks again for an interesting blog.
ReplyDelete