Agatha Christie - Destination Unknown

When a number of leading scientists disappear without a trace, concern grows within the international intelligence community. And the one woman who appears to hold the key to the mystery is dying from injuries sustained in a plane crash.
Meanwhile, in a Casablanca hotel room, Hilary Craven prepares to take her own life. But her suicide attempt is about to be interrupted by a man who will offer her an altogether more thrilling way to die... 

Comment: Here is one more book by Agatha Christie I had not read before. I thought this would be another whodunit, as usual, but it was surprisingly more of a thriller than a murder investigation.

Hilary Craven is a woman who feels she lost everything after the death of her child. Since then her life has been miserable and she decides she has no more will to carry on, and that is why she plans to travel to a warmer, more exotic country like Morocco, so she can say goodbye in a place where the memories aren't overwhelming.

However, her plans derail when a stranger, who saw how much sleeping pills she had bought in different places, approaches her and makes her a proposal. The thing is, several scientists have been disappearing lately and coincidentally, a plane had crashed the day before, but a specific person survived, but not for long and perhaps Hilary an be of an assistance...

I was really surprised by the turns this book took from the start. I was expecting a more similar novel to all the others the author is famous for, but it turns out that there is more to this novel than what it seems. Yes, it's not the most ingenious one, in terms of thriller, but it was quite refreshing to me anyway, and reminded me of other books with similar plots/intentions.

This isn't a big book, and the plot develops very quickly, with the reader having to read between the lines to follow some ideas and to understand the characters' motivations. In this regard, things aren't too different from the author's other books. Still, the situation with the scientists has a clear spying element to it and I will say that this isn't my favorite thing in books, but here it wasn't too bad because the point of the story was not the spying activity, but what is behind the disappearance of the scientists.

The development of the story to the point where Hilary's character becomes key in advancing things does set on many rather vague things. The plane travels between England and Morocco seem, somehow, so easy and mundane that one even wonders how much of a distance it truly is and how much bureaucracy really exists to allow for this to seem simpler than what it is. I know this doesn't have to matter but my brain kept thinking about it. I understand some elements have to be suppressed for plot's sake - many authors don't do this! - but the other side of this is that some characters feel underdeveloped.

In fact, this is the element I feel a little disappointed with here. The characters all play a role of course, and one could suppose to say the purpose of this novel was for the author to prove an idea and not that she really wanted to write such a novel. However, in the need to keep up the mystery, the suspense of what is really going on, most characters are quite superficial. In her whodunits we have more time spent on character dynamics and someone investigating, which helps us to see character development. 

Here, this felt secondary to the suspense... for instance, Hilary's actions at times felt so impossible but it was as if she could simply decide and perform that way. Thus, I assumed there was some hidden thing about her that would come to light later on and, incredible, all this makes sense now. Well, not really. I mean, I liked Hilary as a protagonist and I liked how the story ends for her, but she does come across as someone caught in this by pure chance and then she is just perfect in what she does.

In fact, to be fair, there is a twist at the end, not related to the main narrative, that did surprise me. I thought the big explanations had been given already and then we are told about one more thing regarding a certain character. It was not truly spectacular, but it was like a little extra, and I think the author just could not resist adding this little thing anyway,since she was primarily a writer of crime mysteries.

I was surprised by how much I liked this book, more than I imagined. It's not as great as my favorites by the author but it was very compelling.

Grade: 8/10

Agatha Christie - Murder is Easy

On her way to Scotland Yard to report a series of murders, an old woman is knocked down by a hit-and-run driver… Luke Fitzwilliam could not believe Miss Pinkerton’s wild allegation that a multiple murderer was at work in the quiet English village of Wychwood – or her speculation that the local doctor was next in line.
But within hours, Miss Pinkerton had been killed in a hit-and-run car accident. Mere coincidence? Luke was inclined to think so – until he read in The Times of the unexpected demise of Dr Humbleby…

Comment: One more book by Agatha Christie I had not read before. I got this book in Portuguese, several years ago.. since I had finished all I had planned for June and with only one day left in the month there wasn't time for any bigger books, I've picked this one, which didn't even have 300 pages...

Luke Fitzwilliam is traveling by train but a mistake during a stop causes him to miss it and he needs to embark on the next one. That is how he sees himself in a conversation with mrs Lavinia Pinkerton and she shares with him the suspicion something is not right in her rural village of Wychwood. Luke agrees her best option is to visit Scotland Yard in London, yes, but he also believes she might be exaggerating. However, days after, he sees in the newspaper the news about her death and of another person from her village... coincidence, after all the other dead mrs Pinkerton had told him about? Luke decides to investigate and a friend tells him about the perfect disguise. Bit will Luke be able to keep an observant eye with several distractions the village offers?

I've lost count of all the titles by the author I've read, but since I had not yet read any of her books featuring miss Marple, I'm not close to finish, at all. Still, after so many attempts, after liking some more than others of course, I can say this one is probably middle of the pack. Enjoyable, but not the plot I'd say was the most successful one.

The start was very promising and the train setting led me to believe perhaps the choice of setting would have more importance but, it turns out, not really. Since the book is short (they all seem an exercise in restraint, which works out quite well for some stories, but can be frustrating for others) everything happens in a very precise way, without room for unnecessary flourishes. I do like this style but there are times where the hints and the subtlety of some messages simple gets lost.

Luke is the "hero" since he is investigating what mrs Pikerton had revealed and why she might have been killed, but he isn't such a distinctive character as others by this author (even putting aside Poirot, the greatest) that I felt eager to keep track of his thought process. Besides, he arrives at the village under a disguise and someone there is waiting for him,who knows what he is doing. Apparently this person, Bridget, is going to marry a rich man for security and Luke feels jealous, since he starts having feelings for her. Considering the fact this was published in 1939, the "romance" is incredibly frustrating but it does offer a novelty, for romantic situations in other books are never center stage.

As expected, most of the novel is spent in setting up the characters and their personalities while Luke investigates. Sometimes, the red herrings in this author's novels are so well done that anything could be important or vital, but in this book I'll have to say I struggled to find the urgency of the search for a culprit. I really think this plot wasn't written in a very engaging manner and the villain is a little obvious from a certain point on, more or less after half way. It's not that the author intentionally gives the information away but the killer's identity isn't hidden very well.

The killer is an interesting study in characterization and psychology, no doubt this is one of the author's strongest points in writing, everything always has a method and a reason. Nevertheless, while accepting this, I still have to say some explanations seem a bit simplified when the final reveals are shared. Of course most villains in Agatha Christie's books can't be immediately recognizable as evil, otherwise part of the story would never happen, but in this case, the secret behavior of the villain feels difficult to believe in because there are really no hints and when we discover the truth, some reveals are too flimsy.

This said, reading this was entertaining even if not very captivating. It's still more appealing than other books out there I had tried, so it is what it is.

Grade: 7/10

Agatha Christie - The Labors of Hercules

First published in book form in 1947, The Labours of Hercules comprises an even dozen mysteries starring Christie's most popular sleuth, the ever-dignified Hercule Poirot. The introductory chapter of the collection sets up the rest of the book. At a dinner party, another guest compares the labors of Poirot to those of Hercules, and the little Belgian is not amused. He has already decided to retire, but makes up his mind to take on 12 great cases - each somehow reflecting the labors accomplished by Hercules - as a farewell to crime solving. All of the cases are quite different from each other, from searching for a lost poet to hunting down a particularly ferocious murderer, from solving mysterious deaths of religious cult members to saving a young would-be politician from potential blackmailers.

Comment: By now I've watched all the episodes of the series based on the Hercule Poirot books, featuring David Suchet, which I think were quite well done (except one adaptation, which disappointed me because it was too different from the original, Cards on the Table), but I still have the episode based on The Labours of Hercules to watch and I have faithfully waited to read the book before watching. Now, I've finally managed to read the book.

This is a book with a collection of short stories, all linked by the theme of the labors of Hercules, so famous from the Greek texts and myths. Poirot is looking for to retirement and after a conversation with someone he decides that emulating the semi-god Hercules in his apparently impossible tasks will be a good way to start his exist from investigating crimes. 

There are, obviously, twelve stories, all seem to have some sort of connection to their titles, and one or two even have one or two details connecting them. I liked the book as a whole and I felt all stories were quite good, meaning that I liked reading them all and I agree why many consider them to be some of the best collections featuring Poirot.

In order these are the stories:

The Nemean Lion

Poirot investigates the theft of a Pekinese dog that belongs to a rich woman. The owner's assistant reported the theft, and someone demanded money to deliver the dig safely again.

The Lernean Hydra

A local GP's wife was murdered and now the blame seems to fall on the husband and his young assistant. But how did the rumors begin..?

The Arcadian Deer

Due to a random circumstance, Poirot meets a poor mechanic who asks his help. He met a maid once and she simply vanished. Poirot races all over Europe to solve the case... 

The Erymanthian Boar

On holiday Poirot is convinced to help finding where a criminal might be hiding and he does indeed, althpugh he is trapped in a mountain with several suspects.

The Augean Stables

Poirot is called in by the Government to clear the name of a retired Prime Minister and he has the help of someone who is very interested in solving this case.

The Stymphalean Birds

On holiday, Poirot meets an Englishman who doesn't know what to do when the ladies he had befriended are caught in a terrible murder case, and two terrifying looking sisters seem to be blackmailing them.

The Cretan Bull

A young woman asks Poirot's help when her fiance calls off the engagement because he thinks he is going mad. What Poirot discovers is that the truth is much deeper than what someone could think.

The Horses of Diomedes

A doctor who is a friend of Poirot asks his help to save a young woman from the drug dealers and the bad company she is friends with. When interviewing the girl's father, Poirot discovers the truth.

The Girdle of Hyppolita

Poirot helps a family when their daughter is found missing from the train which would take her to a school abroad. She is rescued later on without any clue on where she had been, but the truth is easy for Poirot to find...

The Flock of Geryon

The lady's assistant from the first story is back and asks Poirot for advice on how to help a friend who seems to be caught in a cult-like retreat. They devise an ingenious plan...

The Apples of Hesperides

A rich man asks Poirot to find a valuable missing chalice that belongs to him and this requires a lot of investigation but Poirot finally guesses where it might be.

The Capture of Cerberus

Countess Rossakoff is back, seems to be partner at a respectable club but there are rumors about drugs and jewel robberies there. With her past, is she guilty of this too?

All the stories were good in general. Probably, the ones I found less appealing, both in case and in the resolution Poirot presents, were the 5th and the 12th. All the others were more about the ingenious twists in how Poirot finds out the truth - as we would expect from a Poirot investigation - than the actual cases, which aren't that complex, at least not comparing to some of the full length stories which include many more red herrings and sometimes even some coincidence.

Since these are short stories, we don't have much time to guess and I should say I kind of knew who the culprits were or where the twist might in regards to three or four stories - not that much to go on - but often when it comes to mystery novels, it's not discovering the criminal/villain that matters or that challenges the reader, but the how.

The way some these little mysteries were solved was very well done, and ultimately, that is why I really liked this book as a whole.

Grade: 8/10

Agatha Christie - Third Girl

Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient secretary. The second is an artist.
The third interrupts Hercule Poirot’s breakfast confessing that she is a murderer—and then promptly disappears.
Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumors surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family, and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before the great detective can pronounce her guilty, innocent, or insane.

Comment: I finally managed to pick up this book. There aren't many left, out of the ones mrs Agatha Christie wrote featuring the detective Hercule Poirot, for me to read and I wish I could wait and savor one from time to time, but that will end at some point anyway...

In this story we become as baffled as Hercule Poirot when a young woman arrives at his office and is uncertain of how to say she thinks she might have committed murder. Not giving herself enough time to explain, she leaves and upon some investigation, Poirot follows some clues about her and her family. That is how we learn that the girl is called Nora Restarick and she has shown some erratic behavior, perhaps due to the company she keeps. Something we also learn is that is a "third girl", meaning she shares a flat with two other girls, being her the third one invited. This might not be important but one of the other girls works for Norma's father and recently, someone in the building jumped or was pushed out of a balcony and Norma suspects she might have done it... but she can't remember anything...

Will Poirot be ale to help her or to solve the mystery?

Again, I was immersed in the cleverness of this author and how she planned such a complex story. I do think that for a modern reader, some things are just a little too much implied for we don't have access to all information until the very end and while this doesn't matter in some stories, such is the plot, I think in this book there is one or two key elements we miss and what is given might not be enough to guess the secret...but then again, I suppose it depends on one's ability to connect all the dots.

The book is very focused on Norma's character, described as a fragile young woman whose mental issues seem to be obvious and often she finds herself not aware of what she has been doing or what she should remember. I think the author's style is clearly elusive, and we are not given all the important clues at once, but it hard not to notice how Norma's lack of attention and cons«fused state in one or two scenes felt rather induced. With this I mean that she felt too confused and there was some talk of drugs she might have been given by her boyfriend, someone we see is not a good person right away.

At this point, I kind of guessed what this meant but the full explanation at the end of the book was not one I envisioned. Well, the reasons weren't very surprising but the wonder of Agatha Christie's plots is that, even though they seem unlikely at first, the explanation is perfectly plausible. Hercule Poirot was his confident self in this book, obviously thinking of himself as someone who can and should guess the truth and unlike one or two other novels (that I can remember now), he didn't seem to show any specific emotion...I do recall one or two books where his was rather sad, discouraged...

As for the secondary characters, they were portrayed ambiguously on purpose, so that we didn't guess right away what was happening, but I must confess one or two weren't that easy to "read" in the sense we barely registered they mattered and when we learn the truth, I still feel their roles weren't done in the best way. Well, for me it felt so, and comparing to other books - especially the ones I liked best - there was something lacking in their composition that failed to engage me.

This didn't make the plot any less impressive on its own, but some plot points weren't as easy to accept if the characters weren't up to match its complexity. When the final explanation comes and Poirot gives the reader the missing piece to solve the puzzle, I think everything was indeed clever but I also think it could have been even more impressive. 

I know there is a TV series with David Suchet as Poirot and I've seen some episodes and I must say the adaptation is often very well done, except in one case which changed the plot too much. I'm now eager to see the episode of this book, to compare, but something tells me that, if the plot points weren't changed, this might come across as more captivating visualizing it.
Grade: 7/10

Agatha Christie - Towards Zero

An elderly widow is murdered at a clifftop seaside house...What is the connection between a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a famous tennis player? To the casual observer, apparently nothing. But when a houseparty gathers at Gull's Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow, earlier events come to a dramatic head. It's all part of a carefully paid plan - for murder...

Comment: At this point, I believe it's unnecessary to say how much of a fan of Agatha Christie I am. This is only the 6th post commenting on a book by the author but way before I even thought about having this blog I had read plenty of her books and I feel I would appreciate them all even more now were I able to nowadays have time for re-reads.

In this story we find several clues which are presented to us by an apparent vast but unrelated set of characters. As each person is facing daily routines related to their personal lives, the reader is unaware that a murder is being planned and the it's finally executed while most characters are at Gull's Point, the house of an old woman who has no patience to mince words. Superintendent Battle has his vacation ruined but he cleverly devices a way to catch the killer...

The mastery with which Agatha Christie plans and develops her plots continues to surprise and entertain me. The clues are all there, everything we need to know is there but we just can't connect the dots without help. At least, this is the idea I keep repeating every time I read another one of her mysteries.

In this story the cast spends some time at a sort of house party and the reasons why they go there are explained with detail, which is a clue on itself. Why the place is the way it is and why we are given scenes from the POV of characters who seem to have noting to do with it before the actual arty begins is, obviously, another big clue. The setting up is clever and astute and when the crime is solved, it's no wonder every detail starts to make sense.

The author is known for her red herrings and misdirection so of course we also have secondary things put in our way, so that we can be distracted from the real killer's identity. I'm usually bad at guessing, I prefer to be immersed in the mystery than to look at it analytically (unless it's a very bad or very obvious scheme) and I didn't guess who the bad guy was. At some point I wondered but then some red herring came and I changed my focus... the author would find me certainly predictable!

I won't go much into it, the book isn't big, the author is point on in creating her plots without unnecessary fillers but I don't want to hint at anything that might spoil a new reader's experience. Suffice to say, the story is precise, linear and,a s always, the eye for the psychological side of everything, perfectly done. 

I think some details in the end were a little exaggerated, I also found some connecting points a bit forced to have felt natural... meaning some details have to happen a certain way and there were a few things that were obviously plot derived and didn't feel as integral to the overall story as they could. Nevertheless, I was captivated and couldn't put this down. I'll certainly space the other books by her I still haven' read...

Grade: 8/10

Agatha Christie - Mrs McGinty's Dead

Mrs. McGinty died from a brutal blow to the back of her head. Suspicion falls immediately on her shifty lodger, James Bentley, whose clothes reveal traces of the victim’s blood and hair. Yet something is amiss: Bentley just doesn’t seem like a murderer.
Could the answer lie in an article clipped from a newspaper two days before the death? With a desperate killer still free, Hercule Poirot will have to stay alive long enough to find out. . 

Comment: This is the first book I read in this new year.

Since I like Agatha Christie's style a lot, what better way to start if not with a book I knew i'd find enjoyable?

In this story we meet again an interesting cast of characters who somehow played a part or are linked to yet another murder and Hercule Poirot is invited to analyze the case. The police inspector who asks him to study the facts can't pinpoint why but he feels the man who was considered guilty of killing mrs McGinty doesn't have the personality for murder.

Hercule Poirot has been feeling rather  bored so he decides to travel to the little place where things happened and, with his usual style, starts to talk to everyone and gathers clues here and there that, once the whole setting is explained, make complete sense. However, before that happens, someone else dies and it does seem the best clue is an old picture recently re published in a sensationalist newspaper...

Juts as I imagined, this was a good story to read and if there is one thing readers really love about reading is to be entertained by a story.

Perhaps this might not be the best book to start if one wants to care about the author's style or if one wants to understand Poirot's best thinking but the author has a huge backlist and having read practically all installments in the Poirot's series, if one reads in order, the experience is certainly rewarding.

In this book we have all the basic premises of an Agatha Christie story: someone is dead, someone is considered guilty, Hercule Poirot comes to investigate and solve the crime as little clues and red herrings follow one another until the final explanation makes sense.

What probably makes this one all different is the little things, such as the fact the biggest catalyst in the story is actually a small picture in the newspaper about four women who got famous because of crimes associated with them. Now that many years have passed why would it be such a big deal? The thing is, the first person to be killed might have seen something in one of the houses where she was working as a cleaning lady. The question is, where and why?

I like investigation books, where we get to follow the clues about how things happened. Even in TV shows I like this, especially if it's things like CSI where what matters the most is how the clues make sense and not how evil or not the bad guys are. In this book I had the same feeling because Agatha Christie makes a point in how the characters' personality is of huge importance but the focus is on the investigation, on collecting clues and not on the violence itself nor do we spend countless pages in the bad guys' heads. I like this style of suspense/thriller books.

The story is not the most complex the author has created. It's certainly not up to the level of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd or Then There Were None. What makes this story alive is the little things, seemingly inconsequential, but that can make all sense if the right context is there for them to fit into.

I liked that we got to think about the fictional four women and how they might be different from that the paper portrayed them as and maybe they were quite dangerous then and still might be now.

I also think it's interesting how in this book it felt as if the characters had been arranged conveniently to a role and they played that role well. 

As always, there are some hints of what the author herself thought about mundane, realistic things in the way she put some characters thinking or doing certain things. I don't think this is always easy to spot but in this book it felt so, like how criticism is made of those who prefer flash to fidelity when adapting things to the movies or how young women should think well before leaving kind feelings like friendship and kindness to unknown adventurous when thinking about someone to be with.

Hercule Poirot seems to embody different ideas, though. Considering how his series ended, though, perhaps one could already read between the lines how he was made to look rather tired of the things he didn't enjoy.

After all the good little things about this story, the final revelation about who is the real killer comes and I must say it was quite ingenious but I think in terms of personality and suitability, there were other characters who could have be better choices. In fact, there is one or two details when some people are excluded from being the killer that didn't quite fit. I would say, based on this alone, perhaps the author went more for a shock factor rather than a reasonable one.

Nevertheless, it was a good story to read and I'm just glad there are still a few by her I haven't read yet.

Grade: 8/10

Agatha Christie - While the Light Lasts

Some of Agatha Christie’s earliest stories – including her very first – which show the Queen of Crime in the making…
A macabre recurring dream … revenge against a blackmailer … jealousy, infidelity and a tortured conscience … a stolen gemstone … the haunting attraction of an ancient relic … a race against time … a tragic love triangle … a body in a box … an unexpected visitor from beyond the grave…
Nine quintessential examples of Agatha Christie's brilliance are contained in this collection of early short stories - including the very first one she ever wrote - and provide a unique glimpse of the Queen of Crime in the making.
 
Comment: This book is one of the few by Agatha Christie I hadn't read yet. I've been writing down more titles by her I want to read too and one day I'll finish my collection. This one in specific wasn't such a priority for me for it was simply a good set of stories but I'm glad to have read them.

In this volume, we have a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie, written in different years and with different types of content, from just psychological content narratives to the investigation of incredible Poirot.

In my Portuguese edition, there were also a few notes after each story where we got to have some extra information about when the story was written, how it was connected to the author's career and where they were originally published.

The nine stories are the following, I'll just include a short summary, comment and grade on each one:

The House of Dreams

A young man has a boring job, is not considered important enough but the daughter of his boss is intrigued. Upon visiting he meets her friend and falls in love at first sight. However, that woman has a complicated family history when it comes to health and she refuses him. He travels to Africa and dreams about the house where they be living...

Very moody, more suggestive than creepy, quite dramatic.  6/10

The Actress

A famous actress is recognized by a man who used to know her when she was not famous and he knows a secret that might destroy her, so he decides to blackmail her. While proving she is really an actress and not just a beautiful woman who achieved her success through looks, she invents a plan and saves her reputation.

Using the "we only see what we want" notion, this is a study on how we can be influenced by our fears rather than logic. 7/10

The Edge

A "proper" woman who has waited for the man she loves to choose her, sees him marry someone who is not so reserved. One day she discovers that woman's secret and blackmails her by provoking comments here and there until the woman takes on a decisive solution.

Quite intriguing psychologically speaking and similar to the last story in terms of resolution to a problem. 7/10

Christmas Adventure

A story featuring Poirot and his clever and often simple deductions, where a crime is staged at a house party. Secrets, thievery, misleading plans...this is a more classical story in the lines of what the author is famous for. 6/10

The Lonely God

A man and a woman meet while admiring a little statue in a museum. The common interest makes them talk and it seems thy are falling in love until the woman disappears. Many years later they meet again.

This is supposedly romantic and a little dramatic, there's some paranormal clues if one reads it as such. Not the strongest story in my opinion. 5/10

 

Manx Gold

A couple participates in a treasure hut with two other family members so they can determine who gets their uncle's inheritance.

Based on a request Christie has accepted on behalf of her husband to promote tourism in the Isle of Man, this was predictable and a little boring. 6/10

Within a Wall

An artist becomes famous for some paintings until he does one of his wife that he dislikes. Their daughter's godmother financially provides money even when that puts her in debt. When she dies, he discovers the whole truth regarding her and his wife expensive habits but is unable to escape an unbearable situation. 

Very intriguing, psychological interesting about only knowing things too late and, again, not recognizing what's in front of you. Interesting subjects to debate. 6/10

The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest

Another Poirot story, also included in another collection of tales, this is a smaller version of a man murdered, a wife worried and her male friend accused of the crime. Wanting to help save him, she asks Poirot's help and the solution is quite simple in the end. 7/10

While the Light Lasts

A woman goes back to Africa, where her great love died. She later married another man but upon returning, she discovers he is alive and they meet and he plans on being with her again, if she leaves her current husband. She seems to initially agree but is later reluctant and he wrongly assumes why, something she does not explain properly. He solves the matter but at a high price.

Very thought provoking, more psychological and dramatic than mysterious. 7/10

❃All stories have good points, I obviously preferred some to others. The ones I liked most had some sort of read between the lines vibe, some hidden meanings and explanations and things that characters could have avoided "if only".

The psychological aspects of the novels is what made them interesting but in their majority they don't fit with what readers more often expect of this author's work. 

Nevertheless, this was a good read, the writing is in most of them well done and I did like the time spent reading the stories.

Grade: 6/10

Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence

Recovering from amnesia, Dr. Arthur Calgary discovers that he alone could have provided an alibi in a scandalous murder trial. It ended in the conviction of Jacko Argyle. The victim was Jacko's own mother, and to make matters worse, he died in prison. But the young man's innocence means that someone else killed the Argyle matriarch, and would certainly kill again to remain in the shadows. Shaded in the moral ambiguity of murder, the provocative psychological puzzler of guilt, vengeance, and blood secrets is among Agatha Christie's personal favorites.

Comment: Just a shorter comment about this title by Agatha Christe, an author I quite appreciate. This book is one of those where the investigation isn't led by any specific character (like the Hercule Poirot collection or Miss Marple) but we still have quite an intrigue.

In this story we follow the story of a family whose matriarch was murdered. For a long time, everyone thought the killer had been her youngest son, Jacko. However, when the story begins, we realize there was a witness giving the killer an alibi but now Jacko is dead and his family feels knowing this only brings out problems. The reality is that, since Jacko is dead, it can only mean the real killer is someone else in the family as they were the only ones in contact with the victim the day she died...

I liked this story because the intrigue was well done, although when it comes to complexity, there are books that are stronger in that regard. When the mystery is solved, it's quite easy and obvious, unlike others where the plot took unexpected turns.

As always, the fun part is the character analysis. All characters have a bit of motivation for the crime and for not having done it. The real killer has a more psychological reason to kill than financial - very often the reason why a death happens - but it's fascinating to imagine how someone can be led by several reasons to the point of actually committing the crime.

We, the reader, are taken through many rel clues and red herrings but there is always some little detail that just can't make it too obvious.

The relationship between the characters is an element on itself. The man behind all the changes recovers from an accident which didn't allow him to testify on time, much less in a way that would exonerate Jacko even if everyone liked he was considered guilty since he just fit that role well. But of course we know appearances can be deceiving.

We also have many clues about the characters' personal lives and choices. I think the author was an amazing characterizer and her characters always seemed very complex, especially if we aren't supposed to think much of them. I do like these mysteries for their deceiving simplicity and old school settings, not unlike some weird contemporary stories that exaggerate everything.

All things considered, not my favorite (nor her best I'd say) but still very entertaining.

I'm looking for to read more of Agatha Christie books besides the ones I already read and thankfully she has a great collection.

Grade: 7/10

Mini Comments

Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is in Hollywood! She's hanging out with celebs . . . or at least she will be, once her husband Luke introduces her to his new A-list client Sage Seymour.
Becky sets her heart on a new career – she's going to be a stylist to the stars! And when a chance encounter thrusts her into the limelight, she grabs her opportunity. But in between choosing clutch bags and chasing celebrities, Becky loses touch with her family and her best friend . . .
Caught up in the whirlwind of Tinseltown, has Becky gone too far this time?


A man returns from the dead, and the body of a mysterious stranger is found in his room…
A few weeks after marrying an attractive young widow, Gordon Cloade is tragically killed by a bomb blast in the London blitz. Overnight, the former Mrs Underhay finds herself in sole possession of the Cloade family fortune.
Shortly afterwards, Hercule Poirot receives a visit from the dead man’s sister-in-law who claims she has been warned by ‘spirits’ that Mrs Underhay’s first husband is still alive. Poirot has his suspicions when he is asked to find a missing person guided only by the spirit world. Yet what mystifies Poirot most is the woman’s true motive for approaching him…

Comment: Well, one more round of mini comments to speed up the commentary around here. These two books are very different but since I don't have a lot to talk about them makes this "mini" tactic quite useful.

Taken at the Flood is one of many books by author Agatha Christie featuring the amazing detective Hercule Poirot. I've loved his adventures since I read the first book at the library by the author decades ago. All the books present us a cast of interesting characters, a crime and how Hercule Poirot interviews the suspects, reunites proves and with only following the logic and the clues he manages to solve what others wouldn't. In this book we see it again, this time the crime points out to a certain suspect but is he and his sister the true culprits? I always find fascinating how things that appear simple can be built on so well and in a way that leaves readers guessing what can possibly be happening and why. The fun part is to get our own ideas and face them with the obvious explanations by Poirot at the end of the book. How such things can be so obvious after we see how! I liked this story and its conclusion, although the pace in the middle wasn't the most intriguing. The amount of time setting up the crime and the characters was a bit too much, and in some other novels it feels not as long so it's more time for Poirot to investigate and I always like that better. Nevertheless, a good entertaining story.

Grade: 8/10

Shopaholic to the Stars is the 7th installment in the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. This is the type of book you can only read from time to time because it's both ridiculous and repetitive. After 7 books and so many close calls because of her addiction to shopping, Becky still hasn't learned her lesson. What saves this however, is that Becky has a good heart and many of her actions come from a lack of attention. It's really sweet to think about the good, positive and heartwarming scenes that, like hidden gems, we can glimpse during the reading. But Becky also gets herself in situations that only a comedy could justify.... well, if things were too different, then it wouldn't be Becky nor this particular series but.... part of the evolution of a series is to see characters change, become better, overcome difficulties...Becky just doesn't always seem to do it. In this book she gets into certain situations in Hollywood, too bad some of them don't seem to match or fulfill the expected "lesson learned" at the end. I think that in terms of presenting dilemmas and character growth this wasn't the best book in the series but I have to admit I laughed out loud three or four times and that counts as well...

Grade: 6/10

Agatha Christie - And Then They Were None

Ten strangers are gathered together on an isolated island by a mysterious host. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die...

Comment: This was a re-read. I've read this book along time ago, years ago to be more exact.
I've re-read it for both the portuguese book club and the challenge I'm participating in this year as the author is obviously from Europe.
The book tell us the story of ten people, all invited to stay in an island, and somehow they all start showing up dead. There's no connection between them, they don't know any of the others and there's no reason why anyone might want to kill anybody else. It's a mystery full of litle details and all the answers are, as always, in the characters themselves.
This a clever book by the author, one of my favourites by her, a book whose plot is the most amazing onea nd the end is completely unimaginable.
But more than the way everybody dies or why, there's the how on one of the deaths, the last one, that really made me think, even after a second reading. I can't explain it without spoilers, but it's surprising how one's inner guilt can be a powerful weapon.
I recommend this book to everyone. It's a classic of how the psycological can be the main reason to do something instead of only the circunstance.
I don't have many things to say about this without spoilers, but the author is indeed an expert in the human mind and actions leading the motifs. A great book.