Come, Tell Me How You Live

Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir 

by Agatha Christie Mallowan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Agatha Chistie's second husband was the renowned archaeologist Max Mallowan with whom she traveled on digs in Syria in the 1930s. He seems to have been a huge improvement in husbands for her. 

This book is a memoir of her time on one of these digs. It is charming and entertaining. I am a fan of the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters the later of which are set in the world of archaeology at the same time period (though in Egypt not Syria). It was also clear from this book where Christie got the details that made her novel Murder in Mesopotamia so vivid.

I am counting this book toward the What's in a Name challenge for a book with "you or me" in the title as this one has both. 

Another Collection of Cozies

These are all cozies that I have read this year but did not blog about. These all count toward the Cruisin' Through the Cozies Challenge and this list will help me keep track of my progress. I posted another cozy collection earlier this year. 

• Cheddar Off Dead by Korina Moss (Cheese Shop Mystery #1) When the local food critic--who never gives a good review--is found dead with a knife from Willa's brand new Sonoma-county gourmet cheese shop she is determined to find the killer.
• Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #13) The murder of the expedition leader on an Iraqi archaeological dig site compels Poirot to untangle the secrets of the woman's past. 
• Bowled Over by Victoria Hamilton (Vintage Kitchen Mystery #2) Conflicts and secrets from high-school days long past surface as our fearless (foolish?) heroine pokes around in a small town murder. 
• Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris (Dirty Business #1) A small Connecticut town is the setting for this mystery featuring a professional gardener starting her business with a big job for the local historical society which leads to her unearthing a dead body and long buried secrets.
• Sentenced to Death by Lorna Barrett (Booktown Mystery #5) A tragic accident hits the Stoneham, NH Founders Day celebration, but it just doesn't seem like an accident to bookstore owner Tricia Miles who starts asking her own questions.
• Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs (Tea Shop Mystery #3) Charleston society is shocked by a horrible accident at an engagement party. But it may not have been an accident at all and there may be a cat-burgler at work in the Historic district. 
• Bran New Death by Victoria Hamilton (Merry Muffin Mystery #1) When she flees her NYC life for the castle she has inherited in a small town upstate Merry Wynter finds more intrigue than she expected from such a tiny town.

These bring me to my goal of reading 20 cozies this year. However, I have not read one for each of the identified categories so I still need to read two more: a paranormal one and a holiday one.

 

Agatha Christie Novels Still TBR

The Top Ten Tuesday topic this week is "freebie" so I am listing 10 Agatha Christie novels that I haven't read yet. I have read lots of her novels, and love them. I plan to read all her books eventually, and these are probably the next 10 I will get to.

1. Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot, #10)
2. Death in the Clouds (Hercule Poirot, #11)
3. Dumb Witness (Hercule Poirot, #15)
4. One, Two, Buckle my Shoe (Hercule Poirot, #20)
5. Hallowe'en Party (Hercule Poirot, #32)
6. Elephants Can Remember (Hercule Poirot, #33)
7. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Miss Marple #8)
8. Sparkling Cyanide (Colonel Race, #4)
9. The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1)
10. The Seven Dials Mystery (Superintendent Battle, #2)

A Collection of Cozies

These are all cozies that I have read this year but did not blog about. These all count toward the Cruisin' Through the Cozies Challenge and this list will help me keep track of my progress. There will probably be another gathering of completed cozies later in the year.

• Thyme of Death by Susan Whittig Albert (China Bayles #1) An ex-lawyer who now runs an herb shop in a small Texas town doubts that her friend committed suicide and starts to investigate.
  
  
• Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen (Her Royal Spyness #4) Georgie accepts an invitation from the Queen to represent the royals at a wedding in Transylvania. But at the macabre-looking castle, Georgie finds the bride with blood running down her chin, and a wedding guest is poisoned. Only our intrepid heroine can sort it all out.
  
  
• Death on Demand by Carolyn G. Hart (Death on Demand #1) A group of mystery writers gathers at a mystery book shop in South Carolina for their weekly meeting and when their secrets are about to be exposed a killer silences the tattle-tale. Can the bookstore owner and her friends unravel this locked-room mystery?
  
  
• A Deadly Grind by Victoria Hamilton (Vintage Kitchen Mystery #1) The purchase of a classic Hoosier by a local aspiring-cookbook-author at an auction starts a series of dastardly attacks in a small Michigan town. How will Jaymie figure out who-done-it? Will she find a man who can take the place of the man who broke her heart?
  
  
• Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot) A wealthy old woman and the young relatives and friends who care for her make up the puzzle for Poirot to solve when people start dying.

The Hollow

The Hollow 

by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“What made Lady Angkatell dangerous, he thought, was the fact that those intuitive, wild guesses of hers might be often right. With a careless (seemingly careless?) word she built up a picture - and if parts of the picture was right, wouldn't you, in spite of yourself, believe in the other half of the picture?...”

This was a very cleverly constructed Hercule Poirot mystery. There were quite a few characters involved in the plot and they were more completely drawn than is sometimes the case in Christie's novels. This novel was first published in 1946 and is the 26th Poirot story published. I knew exactly who the killer was about 1/3 of the way into the book. I was wrong. 

I am counting this toward the Cruisin' Through the Cozies Challenge as my "freebie"

A Collection of Cozies

These are titles that I finished recently which count toward the Cruisin' Through the Cozies Challenge. 

The Second Confession by Rex Stout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the rare Nero Wolfe stories where Wolfe leaves the brownstone. It is one of the 10 cozies of my choice.




Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the last of the Sue Grafton mysteries (she died) which is sad. I have been reading them since the series began in 1982 and they are all good. Kinsey is a great character. I was very pleased that an ongoing plot line from an earlier book gets resolved by the end of this book. This is also one of the 10 cozies of my choice.


The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Classic Poirot and Captain Hastings is in top form in this mystery--making foolish mistakes, falling for pretty faces, and generally missing everything HP sees immediately.  Another cozy of my choice.

Murder at the Vicarage

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the final book I finished reading in 2018. It was the first book Christie wrote featuring Miss Marple and it was a delight.
The narrator of the tale is the Vicar of the St. Mary Mead village church and is a wonderful character, good and upstanding as a leader of his community but just wicked enough to be both human and appealing. His young wife is a bit of a mess but he adores her and his insights into the people around him help us untangle the puzzle that is the heart of this mystery. Naturally the victim is someone that no one liked and whose death benefits nearly everyone and a flurry of clues, some important some merely distracting, confuse the police, the vicar, and the reader. Miss Marple of course sees it all clearly well before anyone else does.

"My dear young man, you underestimate the detective instinct of village life. In St. Mary Mead everyone knows your most intimate affairs. There is no detective in England equal to a spinster lady of uncertain age with plenty of time on her hands." (p. 37)

This title is from my Classics Club list.

Labours of Hercules

The Labours Of Hercules
by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wasn't sure I would like this as I'm not a huge fan of short stories, but these were interconnected enough that the book was a coherent whole.
The stories are of Poirot's (presumably) last 12 cases which he decides he will choose to fit the pattern of the classical labors of Hercules. These are mostly cases of missing items or people, and several have clever twists to them.
There is a funny bit in the Cerberus story where Poirot is in the London tube and he is not pleased, among other things he comments on women knitting in the tube.

By the Pricking of my Thumbs

By the Pricking of My Thumbs
by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is a bit of a Nick &Nora Charles feel to the main characters in this book, though they drink much less and Tuppence is more independent than Nora. A very casual comment from a lady in a nursing home leads the pair--separately for much of the book--into a complex plot of robbery and murder. Well crafted with lots of red herrings to keep the reader off track.
I am rereading Something Wicked This Way Comes for a read-along and when I saw this title on the library shelf it seemed like I needed to read it too.

Review: Endless Night

Endless Night by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel doesn't feature a detective, it is a more subtle story than Christie's typical detective tale. The tone of it reminded me of DuMaurier's Rebecca. The construction of this novel was brilliant. It doesn't seem like much at first, but when you get to the end and see the whole thing it dazzles.

Review: Towards Zero

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Modern mysteries--books by Elizabeth George or PD James for example--typically start off with a series of snapshots of different people who will come into the investigation so you know each of the players by the time the crime occurs. Christie's books (and those of other golden age authors) don't typically follow this pattern. This one does. We see what all the people who end up on the spot when the murder occurs are doing before they come onto the scene. A very modern and well put together mystery.

Review: Peril at End House

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A lovely young woman in danger draws Poirot out of retirement to untangle the mystery of who might be trying to do her harm. It is a twisty mystery full of misdirection and funny little outbursts from the world's greatest detective (self-described). Hastings is along for the ride which always improves a Poirot story in my opinion.

“You have a tendency, Hastings, to prefer the least likely. That, no doubt, is from reading too many detective stories.” ― Agatha Christie, Peril at End House

This title counts toward the What's in a Name Challenge as a book with a building in the title.

Review: From Doon with Death

From Doon With Death by Ruth Rendell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very well structured mystery with more psycological depth to it than most cozies. I didn't figure out the mystery until the very end, but all the clues were there. I'm looking forward to reading more of the Wexford novels.

"In the hated Agatha one finds a lot of normal, law-abiding people living ordinary, blameless lives, who suddenly decide to murder their aunt. Well, I don't believe that." -- Ruth Rendell (p. 217)

This edition has a bit in the back by Daniel Mallory about Rendell and her place in the literary world which was quite interesting, especially the failings she found in Agatha Christie's work. I like Christie's books, but I think Rendell's observation is correct.

Giving Thanks for Mystery Novels

Over Thanksgiving I read a stack of mystery novels. Cross-country airplane trips are good for that. Rather than post about each one I am listing them all here with brief notes.

Murder in the Marais by Cara Black
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not generally a fan of books about hunting nazi war criminals, which this was to a large extent. I did like the character of Aimee and her partner and the history and scenic detail about Paris was interesting. I will read another of the books in this series, hopefully the next one will have a different focus to the mystery.


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Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fair with baking contests and a rodeo bring murder to Our intrepid heroine once again. some interesting info about one of the men in H's life. Nothing deep here, but entertaining fluff with cookies and pie mixed in. Several recipes I want to try.
This book counts toward Foodies Read 2014 Challenge.

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Nemesis by Agatha Christie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good. Not my favorite Miss Marple, but I liked the one this is something of a sequel to and it was nice to revisit that story a bit.


 

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 Black Orchids by Rex Stout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is actually 2 cases and I found the second mystery more interesting. The first had lots of Archie lines and shenanigans though, which is the best part of NW stories.




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Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bit more romance than I prefer in my mysteries, but a very appealing romantic interest and a lot of insider book-binding info. The story is set in San Francisco and vicinity. The hippie Mom is quite entertaining and there were some good turns of phrase.
"he was indeed gorgeous as honey-baked sin..." (p. 60)
I will read another book in this series.

Review: A Caribbean Mystery

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There was a lot of Jane Marple in this book--being dottering, then being clever in her trademark fashion--and some other interesting characters for her to play off of. There were quite a few viable candidates for the murderer which made the mystery a challenge to figure out. The setting was very weird for Miss Marple, but the novel addressed that head-on and that kept the oddness of it from being a distraction to the story.

Overall an excellent Miss Marple mystery.

Review: The Moving Finger

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“I never can stand seeing people pleased with themselves,” said Joanna. “It arouses all my worst instincts.” 

 An apparently idyllic English village is tormented by poison pen letters. Who is sending them? When the letters lead to murder the police step in but they can't unravel the mystery until Miss Marple comes along to sort everything out. The novel is told from the point of view of a young man who has left London temporarily so he can recover from an airplane accident. He and his sister Joanna are fish out of water in the tiny village and their fresh perspective on the place, and private remarks to each other about the people around them, add a lot to the novel. Miss Marple doesn't turn up for over 100 pages and when she does she is still far from the center of attention. There is also a bit of romance thrown into the story which fit in quite nicely. This isn't a challenging book in any way, but it was a good solid story and the role of the letters in the crime was an intriguing twist. 

I am counting this book toward the  Postal Reading Challenge 2014.

Ten Most Influential Books

Random Ramblings challenged readers to create a list of ten books that have been most influential in their lives and to provide no explanation of why (thus giving you the reader an opportunity to be influenced or not in your own way). Roof Beam Reader and Brona's Books compiled lists. 
Here is mine (in no particular order):

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. The Illustrated Treasury of Poetry for Children edited by David Ross
4. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
5. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
6. Getting Things Done by David Allen
7. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
8. Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
9. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
10. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

For the record, just because I think a book influenced me it doesn't mean I liked it or even that I finished it.

Review: The Mystery of the Blue Train

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A complicated plot with many solid suspects and tons of odd little facts being squirreled away by Poirot.  I have read a lot of Christie mysteries and I always forget to watch for the inconsistencies pointed out about characters who can't possibly be involved in the crime. Inevitably those people are the perpetrators, but I get so pulled into the sordid affairs of the obvious suspects that I neglect to watch closely. 

There is an excellent example of a cranky old lady in this novel, Miss Viner. I really think that no one can craft a better old lady than Christie. Her summaries of the characters of people are also wonderful.

"There is something queer about Derek. All the family are a bit potty--mad gamblers, you know. In the old days they used to gamble away their wives and their estates, and did the most reckless things just for the love of it. Derek would have mad a perfect highwayman--debonair and gay, just the right manner." (p.118)

My only quibble with the novel is that Hastings and Japp appear only as brief references.  A solid example of Hercule Poirot at his most brilliant and ridiculous. 

This book counts toward the Colorful Reading Challenge and the Vintage Mystery Challenge (in the category of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles).

Bout of Books - Thursday

Report on day 4 of Bout of Books 7.0

Thursday was a very productive readathon day. On the social front I visited  3 new-to-me book blogs on Thursday and left some comments. I also participated in my first BoB Challenge.

I only managed about 20 minutes of audio-book listening (more of Bill Bryson on Australia) because I worked from home today. 

I finished Lord Edgware Dies which makes 2 books finished so far in the readathon. Then I moved on to Anne of Green Gables and read about 1/3 of it. I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but am really enjoying it and finding Anne (with an e) quite funny.

TRR finished reading Path of Daggers and began NOS4A2. He read a total of 98 pages on Thursday. Friday doesn't look promising for finding much time to read.

Review: Lord Edgware Dies

Lord Edgware Dies
by Agatha Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was also published under the title 13 at Dinner. I think this title is better, partly because there is a bit in the book where a character says "Lord Edgware Dies" and then comments that it would look well in a bookstand. This was classic Poirot with Captain Hastings fretting about what was happening and Japp claiming to have known all along what each fact was as soon as it was proven. I thought I knew what was going to happen back at page 40, but by mid-way I was totally uncertain and at the end I was surprised.

A few words from Inspector Japp (p. 154) for my lawyer friends:

"There's any amount of men that have hanged themselves by being too eager to make a statement. Well, no one can say as we don't warn them! It's all fair and above board. And the more guilty they are, the more anxious they are to pipe up and tell you the lies they've thought out to meet the case. They don't know that you should always submit your lies to a solicitor first."
"Solicitors and coroners are the worst enemies of the police. ... Lawyers you can't object to so much, I suppose. They're paid for their artfulness and twisting things this way and that."

This title counts toward the Vintage Mystery Challenge in the category of Malicious Men: a book with a man in the title.