Agatha Christie

Review: Taken at the Flood

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Cover image of "Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie

Taken at the Flood, Agatha Christie. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780062073846), 2011 (originally published in 1948).

Summary: A young widow and her brother inherit a family fortune, stirring family resentments until a mysterious figure threatens blackmail and is found dead.

Gordon Cloade was the benefactor of the Cloade family. During the war, he meets a young widow, Rosaleen Underhay on a ship, and marries her. Two days after they arrive in England, all but Rosaleen and her brother David, who has joined the household, are killed in a bombing raid. Cloade had not had time to change his will to provide for both wife and family. This meant that Rosaleen, for the duration of her life inherited the income from the capital of Cloade’s life, depriving the family of needed support.

But all may not be as it seems with Rosaleen. Her first marriage had been an unhappy one. Her husband separated and then was reported dead. But a conversation where a Major Porter was overheard by Poirot, while sheltering in a club from a bombing raid, suggests that Underhay never died, but was abroad under the name of Enoch Arden, a reference to a Lord Tennyson poem about one thought dead who was not.

Christie introduces us to the various Cloades, in various states of insolvency. Jeremy, the lawyer, has been pilfering funds, and a reckoning approaches. Lionel is a physician, and has become a morphine addict, to the detriment of his finances. Rowley has been able to eke by as a farmer but had hoped for more, particularly as he anticipates marrying the village girl, Lynn Marchmont, who has returned to live with her mother after Lynn’s service as a WREN during the war.

Needless to say, many wish Rosaleen dead, or at least her claim on the Cloade fortune disproven. Then a mysterious figure shows up in town, identifying himself to David, Rosaleen’s brother, as Enoch Arden, and threatening blackmail. When Arden is found dead, Rowley, acting in the family’s interests asks Poirot to confirm the identity of the man named Arden. He calls on Porter, who testifies at the inquest that he knew Underhay and that the dead man was Underhay, despite Rosaleen’s denials. David, as prime suspect is arrested.

There’s a tangled web that Poirot has to unravel before all becomes clear. Two more die along the way. Poirot will say one is accidental, one is a suicide, and one is murder. But which is which and how are they all connected is for Poirot to discover, as he talks to people and learns things, while those around him underestimate his abilities.

I thought this a cleverly written mystery that also offered an instructive tale on the follies of depending on the wealth of a benefactor–from family or otherwise. Along the way, there is a diverting subplot as Lynn, finding Rowley somewhat dull after her war adventures, is drawn by the allure of the roguish David. I’m not sure I like Christie’s use of partner violence in this plot. As a mystery, I think this one of her better efforts, written at the height of her powers in 1948.

Review: Passenger to Frankfurt

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Passenger to Frankfurt, Agatha Christie. William Morrow Paperbacks (ISBN: 9780062094452), 2012 (Originally published in 1970).

Summary: Sir Stafford Nye helps a woman in the Frankfurt airport by giving her his cloak, passport, and boarding ticket to England and finds himself caught up in a global plot.

Sir Stafford Nye is a middle aged diplomat on his way home from Malaya when approached by a woman claiming that the re-routing of her flight jeopardizes her life, and asks that Nye help her by giving her his cloak, passport and boarding ticket. To make it all seem plausible, she says she will drug his beer while he leaves behind the cloak with passport and boarding ticket to step away for a moment. When he returns, they are gone, he drinks his beer and is eventually wakened, holding the stuffed Panda he had purchased for his niece, Sybil. Panda will return!

He treats it as a strange embarrassment until a colleague in security tells him he saved Mary Ann, an important agent who is variously known as Daphne Theodofanous and Countess Renata Zerkowski. When his passport is returned, he places a “personal” and ends up meeting her at the opera Siegfried, where she leaves a program with an important clue. Before he knows it, he is involved with her in an espionage plot designed to thwart the rise of a fascist organization sowing mayhem in the world led by a child purportedly sired by Hitler, but masterminded by an obese Bavarian countess.

Throughout, Nye tries to understand what is his part. He also learns rule number one in espionage–trust no one. Indeed, a traitor has infiltrated the intelligence organization directing “Mary Ann’s” efforts. At times, we wonder if Mary Ann is to be trusted.

Indeed, it was puzzling to me what role Nye plays beyond his initial unusual act of trust, other than his connection to his Aunt Mathilda who actually seems to have more to do with the denouement than Nye.

It’s an odd story, implausible at a number of points. The redeeming element is the mysterious Mary Ann. This was written when Christie had turned eighty and was the last of her spy stories. Perhaps the other element of the story is Christie’s prescient appreciation of the compelling attraction of fascism. Few would have credited this in 1970, when the horrors of fascism were still fresh. That aspect of this work is, sadly, far more plausible fifty years later.

Review: Evil Under the Sun

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Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot #24), Agatha Christie. New York: Harper Collins, 2011 (originally published in 1941).

Summary: While Poirot is vacationing in Devon, Arlena Marshall, an actress who attracts men like moths to the flame, is found dead of strangulation on an isolated beach.

Poirot is vacationing at a highly rated summer resort in Devon, accessed by a causeway submerged at high tide. Some of the other guests enjoying the sun and the sea include Horace Blatt, a big talking business type, somewhat shady, Major Barry, a retired officer, Carrie Gardner, a gabby woman and Odell, her longsuffering husband, Reverend Stephen Lane, a rather severe clergyman, who we learned had suffered a breakdown in the recent past due to an obsession with evil, Emily Brewster, an athletic single woman, and the Redferns–Patrick, a trim, attractive man, and his wife Christine, somewhat owlish, pale, a former school teacher who is devoted to her husband. Then there is Arlene Marshall, a sexy actress who attracts men as moths are attracted to a flame, her reserved husband Kenneth, and Kenneth’s daughter Linda, the offspring of a deceased wife once tried and acquitted for murder. Rounding out the ensemble is Rosamund Darnley, a fashion designer and one time love of Kenneth’s

Patrick Redfern is one who is drawn to Arlene, flirting and meeting in secluded locations with her. It turns out he had met her several months before and it is no coincidence that they are at this resort together. Despite Christine’s evident discomfort and displeasure, they keep carrying on. Poirot notes this and fears evil.

One morning, Poirot finds Arlena Marshall up early, taking a boat out on her own. He helps her get off, with her asking him not to say anything about her whereabouts, and shortly after encounters Patrick, who was plainly expecting to meet someone and is frustrated. He waits about for sometime and finally persuades Emily Brewster to go rowing. They head to a secluded beach, Pixy Cove, where they spot a woman sunbathing that looks like it is Arlene. Patrick goes to investigate and, to his horror, finds her dead. He stays with the body, sending Emily to fetch the authorities.

Local Inspector Colgate asks Poirot the help in the investigation. It appears that all the island occupants have alibis, even Kenneth, the husband, and Patrick, the lover. Kenneth was both heard by a maid and seen by Rosamond typing letters during the time the murder could have occurred. Patrick was either with Poirot or Emily Brewster until the body was found. A number of others could be suspects–Christine, the jealous wife, Linda, the resentful step-daughter, Lane, the overwrought clergyman obsessed with evil, Blatt, whose suspicious dealings may be connect with drugs found in the cave at Pixy Cove, and Rosamond, Kenneth’s former love.

But amid the various accounts, there are “pieces to the puzzle,” as Poirot explains it that remain to be fitted into the picture of what happened that morning. Emily described nearly being hit by an empty bottle thrown from a hotel window. A maid heard someone running a bath before noon, that no one claims to have taken. An in a cave at Pixy Cove, Poirot smells a scent worn by only two women–the deceased and Rosamond Darnley.

As in other Poirots, these “pieces,” an enquiry about other strangling deaths in the vicinity, and a picnic outing lead Poirot, after much pondering, to expose the murderer, and nearly be strangled himself! In the denouement, we discover some who are far more evil than they appeared, and others more noble than one would have thought. And we discover every piece matters in this well-crafted mystery.

Review: A Caribbean Mystery

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A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple #9), Agatha Christie. New York, Morrow, 2022 (originally published in 1964).

Summary: A Caribbean holiday after an illness is just what the doctor ordered for Miss Marple, who helps solve a string of murders at a resort.

Miss Marple is recovering from an illness and her nephew Raymond sends her on a Caribbean holiday. Little did he realize how rejuvenating it would be as Miss Marple employs her polite nosiness and the insistence that only an elderly spinster can exercise, to solve a string of murders.

It all begins with Major Palgrave’s interminable and repeating stories. He begins to tell her one of a repeat murderer who had remained unapprehended. He was on the point of showing her a picture when he looks up, puts his wallet away and hastily changes the subject. When he is found dead of an apparent stroke the next morning, Miss Marple has her suspicions. It had been noised about that he had high blood pressure and a bottle of medications was found among his effects.

Except in the course of talking with different members of the party staying at the resort, run by a young couple, the Kendals, Victoria, a housemaid, claims not to have previously seen the medicine. That evening, she’s found dead of knife wounds by Molly Kendal, who has been acting more and more erratic, experiencing lapses of memory and agitation, and had been seen carrying a kitchen knife. Tim attributes her agitation to a family history She’s understandably quite upset, having found the murdered girl and even wondering if, in a fit of madness, whether she is the murderer. She is comforted by Miss Marple, who has her doubts.

Miss Marple’s fears are growing. There are other strange events going on, including finding rich old Mr. Raffiel’s assistant Jackson looking through his papers, and later through Molly Kendal’s cosmetics. People aren’t what they seem. The Hillingdon’s, a seeming perfect couple are sleeping separately, while he is caught up in an affair with “Lucky” Dyson, wife of nature lover Greg Dyson Meanwhile, Miss Marple’s suspicions about Palgrave’s death result in his exhumation and a finding that he was poisoned.

There is one more murder yet to occur and one narrowly prevented. It’s a case of a murderer who overlooks a couple of gossipy old women, Miss Marple and Miss Prescott, Canon Prescott’s sister, and the handicapped Mr. Raffiel. Appearing frail, among the “uglies,” they mobilize action at the right time to save a life and capture a murderer!

How can one not love Miss Marple! And how can one not be amazed at Agatha Christie who spins the perfect Caribbean holiday murder mystery, forty-four years after her first mystery in 1920. In this one, she was still at the top of her game as was her main character, a quietly gossipy busybody who knits her way to another crime solved!

Review: The Mystery of the Blue Train

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The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot #6), Agatha Christie. New York: William Morrow, 2005 (originally published in 1928).

Summary: A rich heiress carrying a rare ruby is murdered on the fashionable overnight train to the French Riviera on which retired detective Hercule Poirot happens to be riding.

Agatha Christie’s most well-known train mystery is Murder on the Orient Express (1934). This was preceded by a lesser-known train mystery, The Mystery of the Blue Train, published six years earlier. It wasn’t one of her favorites and one she struggled to write. But I thought it contained some interesting plot twists and a surprise ending that I wasn’t looking for.

The plot revolves around the murder of Ruth Kettering, daughter of American tycoon, Rufus Van Aldin. Just before departing for a trip to the Riviera on the Blue Train, a luxury, overnight train through France, she agrees to her father’s counsel to divorce her philandering husband, Derek Kettering, whose most recent “bit of stuff” is an opportunistic dancer, Mirelle. He also gives her the fabulous gift of a rare ruby, with a history of murder attached to it. Van Aldin tries to buy Derek off, which he refuses, even though he faces mounting debts with no income besides Ruth’s. The only way he will get anything from her is if she dies. He also knows Ruth has resumed an affair with the Comte de la Roche, who is a rogue and a swindler who thusfar has escaped the reach of the law.

Ruth is accompanied by her new maid, Ada Mason, who after her death, tells authorities that Ruth asked her to leave at Paris and stay at the Ritz. Katherine Grey is a single woman who has been an elder companion, whose service meant so much that she was left a sizable sum by the woman she cared for. She has decided that there are things to see and experience that are now possible. She has been invited to stay with her cousin, the Viscountess Tamplin and her daughter, who also hope to benefit from Katherine’s new found wealth. And Poirot, retired and seeking to enjoy the world, is also on the train, talks wisely to Katherine, who thinks detective stories are just something fictional people are part of. It turns out she will end up far more involved than she could have imagined. Poirot agrees to assist, as well as to work for Van Aldin, and his quiet, war veteran assistant, Major Knighton.

The case revolves around the time between when Ada left Ruth in Paris and who the tall male was seen entering and leaving Ruth’s compartment before the train passed through Lyons. Initial suspicions center around Ruth’s love, the Comte de la Roche, in league with a jewel dealer. Was this just a jewelry theft gone bad or something more? Yet Poirot is not so sure and suspicions turn to Derek. A cigarette case found in the compartment is thought to be his. Then Mirelle, who Derek has decided to ditch in his interest in Katherine, goes to Poirot and tells him that she saw Derek leave Ruth’s compartment at about the time the murder was purported to occur. Katherine also saw a man around Ruth’s compartment and possibly enter it.

One other detail troubles Poirot. Why did Ruth’s murderer not only strangle her but also strike her face with a disfiguring blow. Could Derek have done that? Katherine, who is now being pursued by both Derek and Major Knighton is drawn into Poirot’s counsels. At the risk of looking “past it” with Van Aldin, Poirot keeps looking, and particularly for a shadowy figure known as the Marquis.

As I mentioned, I wasn’t expecting the ending, which made this all the more fun. Poirot and Katherine match each other in very different ways in their own self-possession. I would have liked to see them together again–and perhaps Poirot would have as well–but she makes a different choice that, depending on your perspective, may seem “safe” or alternatively reflect a mature self-understanding. I think the latter and found her one of the most interesting of Christie’s characters, in her understated way.

Review: The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side

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The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side, Agatha Christie (Miss Marple #9). New York: HarperCollins, 2011, originally published 1962.

Summary: A harmless busybody dies of a poisoned drink intended for a famous actress, the beginning of further threats, and murders that follow.

Marina Gregg, a celebrated but temperamental actress and her husband, Jason Rudd have re-habilitated a Victorian mansion once owned by a friend of Miss Marple, Dolly Bantry. They host a reception for distinguished guests and neighbors. Heather Badcock, a local do-gooder and busybody, who earlier had rendered assistance when Miss Marple had fallen by her house, eagerly greets the actress and tells the story of how she had met her years earlier, rising from her sickbed to get the actress’s autograph.

Subsequently she is jostled, spills her drink, and Marina Gregg offers hers. Minutes later Heather Badcock is dead, poisoned by an overdose of a tranquilizer used by everyone connected with the house, it seems. It dawns on both that the poison was meant for Marina. Subsequently, a cup of coffee intended for Marina is laced with arsenic. Then a secretary dies of an atomizer filled with cyanide as does a dress designer. The question is how the killer who is threatening Marina is gaining access.

And Miss Marple? Out of caution for her age, she has an overly-protective live in attendant, who she has to elude. Her doctor thinks she needs to do some “unraveling.” This case allows her that opportunity as her adopted “nephew,” Chief Inspector Craddock, seeks her perspective. As usual, she pays close attention to details–a stained dress and the “help” who saw the accident, the stories in the celebrity gossip magazines and the look on Marina’s face as she talked to Mrs. Badcock, from which the book takes its title, the look on Lady Shalott’s face when she saw the “mirror crack’d from side to side.” What was this look, and what caused it?

This was a delightful read and as always, it is fun to admire Miss Marple’s “spunk.” The ending surprised me, adding to the satisfaction. Side characters like Dolly Bantry, Dr. Haycock, and even Cherry, the housekeeper add to the pleasure. Agatha even sneaks in some commentary on the new “developments” and their lack of personality. No wonder they called Christie “the Queen of Mystery.”