The Listerdale Mystery: Philomel Cottage and Other Stories - Agatha Christie

Another Train, Another Murder.......The Mystery of the Blue Train

Advantages: Good plot twists. Well written. Classic Who-Dunnit.
Disadvantages: Slight formulaic feel, too similar to other Christie books in parts.

Agatha Christie, widely accepted as the Queen of Crime, was a prolific writer. Only outsold by Shakespeare and the Bible, she has sold over a billion books in English and a further billion in other languages. Her most famous creations are Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, representations of whom can be seen regularly on our television screens. This book features Poirot, the dapper little Belgian detective with his superior powers of deduction and moustache-twirling tendencies. The plot of The Mystery of the Blue Train did feel slightly formulaic to my mind. A rich American beauty is married to an impoverished English cad, a man with expensive taste, trying to sustain his champagne lifestyle on his ?shandy? income, including financing a high-maintenance and demanding mistress. The American, after persuasion ...

carcraig 31.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Mystery Of The Blue Train - Agatha Christie

The mystery of the famous mystery writer

Advantages: Fascinating biography of one of the best-loved British authors of her age
Disadvantages: A little too much quotation from the subject's own writings

Agatha Christie, the creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, was one of the select few ultra-successful, very prolific authors who became an institution within her lifetime. She was much read, widely adapted for television, cinema and stage, and often criticised for her sometimes formulaic plots as well as eagerly sought-after by those who had loved her earlier books and were always eager for the next 'Christie for Christmas', something her publishers never hesitated to exploit. Yet she was a shy woman who disliked publicity, was always selective about accepting interviews with the media, and remained very much an unknown quantity. Laura Thompson's biography goes a long way towards unravelling what one might call the mystery of the 20th century's most popular mystery writer. On the face of it, one might ask whether an author who ...

JOHNV 20.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Agatha Christie: An English Mystery - Laura Thompson

The Sittaford Mystery "Is there anybody there"

Advantages: Classic Christie Characters
Disadvantages: Longer ending

If ever one of her books could be described as a classic Agatha Christie then "The Sittaford Mystery" would be vying right up there with her other well known tomes like "Murder on the Orient Express", "Death under the Sun" or "Ten little Indians." A small cast of archetypal characters, an isolated and remote location and of course of perplexing and puzzling murder all come together to set the scene for a piece of timeless Christie writing. Captain Trevelyan is the retired military man living in the snow bound village of Sittaford on the wilds of Dartmoor. He lives in the main house of the village whilst the half dozen cottages connected to the manor house are occupied to an array of opposing figures. When Captain Trevelyan receives an offer to let his house for the winter from a mysterious South African ex-pat he takes Mrs Willett up ...

etala 24.07.2006 · Read full review
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Review of The Sittaford Mystery - Agatha Christie