The Secret of Chimneys

Agatha Christie Graphic Novels #1

by François Rivière (Text, Adapter), Laurence Suhner (Illustrator)

Graphic adapatation of THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS

What connects Chimneys, a formidable country estate nestled in the English countryside, with the small Balkan nation of Herzoslovakia? If Anthony Cade had known the answer, perhaps the chance to earn a thousand pounds just delivering a parcel would not have seemd like such easy money!

Genres: Mystery, Graphic Novels, Comics, Crime, Agatha Christie, Fiction, Bande Dessinée

48 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Romancier et journaliste, il s’est fait une spécialité des adaptations en bande dessinée d'Agatha Christie chez Emmanuel Proust Editions. Chez le même éditeur, il a également publié Un Drame en Livonie, et les deux tomes de Voyage sous les eaux, d’après Jules Verne.

Reviews

[Littlerhymes]

This graphic novel adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel isn't very successful. It all feels like a big rush, the characters are very muddled, and the plot, which I assume is silly to start with, seems much sillier when laid out as a comic.

[Jean-Michel Fortier · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'ai rien compris.

[Anonymous · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wished to read it as it appeared in the newspaper today, on Agatha Christie's mention of Kohinoor. Then it occurred to me to search for the comics version. Fortunately i got my hands on this.
The artwork isn't spectacular but the visualisation helps in comprehension and cuts the length invested by a lot as well.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't read a graphic novel since I was a child reading comic books, I also haven't read the original Agatha Christie version of this story, and so found this graphic version somewhat confusing. Too many people pretending to be someone that they're not in this tale of 1920s espionage and intrigue. I did love the cartoon work though, it has a wonderful nostalgic charm, and is a bit hoky at the same time. I'll be interested to read more in this series.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 1st book in the Superintendent Battle series by Agatha Christie.
A great quick read with lots of twists and turns keeping you guessing until the very end.
At the request of George Lomax, Lord Caterham reluctantly agrees to host a weekend party at his home, Chimneys. A murder occurs in the house, beginning a week of fast-paced events with police among the guests.
This was an excellent read and as usual had me guessing all the way through and getting it wrong.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

FormNorm = selectively varnished = D.L.+A.I. 01/2003 = 10,50€

François Rivière is bd's Roy Thomas- which is a HUGE compliment! He is an expert at condensing prose classics into a whole different medium that demands shockingly less words into smooth reading with hardly any expositionary paragraph boxes. I find it so impressive that he's able to put an entire prose novel into one to two sentenced dialogue without me ever feeling as though I was missing anything important.

I viewed the art just above passable, but on my highly discriminating scale, that was pathetically presented to me with horrible color work. I hope that this was a very early gig for Blocteur because I felt like I was looking at a Superman from childhood with the awful half-blue hair, boring hues and an overall static flatness.

[Rahmadiyanti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Salah satu tantangan memindahkan novel ke dalam media grafis/komik adalah menjaga substansi cerita. Tentu, cerita harus dipadatkan. Cerita berbicara melalui gambar.

Dibanding novel grafis And Then There Were None yang pernah saya baca dan lumayan berhasil mengadaptasi novel menjadi grafis, menurut saya The Secret of Chimneys kurang berhasil. Bisa jadi karena tokoh cerita yang begitu banyak dan cerita yang terlalu mampat, sehingga saya tak menikmati. Gaya komiknya sendiri rada-rada kuno.

[Léa Moreau · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre pour son humour et sa légèreté. Même si le mystère n'est pas aussi bien ficelé que dans d'autres romans d'Agatha Christie, "Le secret de Chimneys" est une véritable gourmandise grâce à ses dialogues et les personnages haut en couleur qu'il contient (mention spéciale à Lord Caterham!).

[Adhit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baca versi bahasa indonesianya dan belum baca versi novelnya.

Yang saya rasa setelah baca ini, ceritanya rada loncat-loncat, entah karena faktor terjemahan atau emang komik ini ceritanya rada lompat-lompat biar gak ketebelan.

Tapi saya dapet sih point besarnya.

Masih ada dua lagi, komik yg mau dibaca Orient Express sama And Then There Were None

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting adaption of Agatha Christie's work. The art work had an old feel to it which I enjoyed and the story was interesting.

The only issue I had was some parts of the story did not translate as well to a graphic novel which made the story hard to follow at times

[Bert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a such fun mystery! Even with dead bodies, it almost feels like a comedic cozy mystery. By the end you know what is going to happen, but you want to hear the characters say it for themselves. The narrator, Charles Armstrong, was perfect!

Listened using Chirpbooks.com.

[Tapani Aulu · Rating 2 out of 5]

En tiennyt tarinasta yhtään mitään etukäteen ja täytyy sanoa, että en kyllä päässyt tähän sisälle kunnolla sarjakuvaversiona. Liikaa hahmoja ja liian nykivä ja hyppivä toteutus.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite Christie but I like the female character.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

it could really have done with being longer in my opinion because I felt like I didn't get time to learn who each different character was and I was so confused and not following the plot at all

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 stars
🌕🌕🌖

The story was a bit cliché for me. The artwork was a bit difficult to read sometimes. It was not that bad but was not that enjoyable for me.

[Books and a Brew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a good graphic novel. Characters are in distinctive and the text is confusing.

[Sarah Fairbairn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read this Christie story in its original form. But as a regular reader of a variety of graphic novels, I think they’ve done a fantastic job adapting it for the graphic genre.

It was an entertaining murder mystery. A quick read that followed well. A story of royal impersonation, jewel thievery and murder.

I will going to get my hands on more of these Christie adaptations, asap.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A crime mystery set at an old country estate.

I found this graphic novel a bit disappointing - the graphics were reasonable, but the plot was muddled.

Overall rating 2.5

[Muhajjah Saratini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sebenarnya, apa yang lebih penting dalam komik? Gambar atau kisah?
Gambarnya lebih mending dari versi Kereta Api Biru, maksud saya mending lebih realis dan jelas.
Cuma, tetep membingungkan buat yang belum pernah baca novelnya.
Susah memang sepertinya memampatkan novel ke dalam komik.
Tapi tetep bintang 3 karena saya hargai usahanya. Entah kalau nanti saya baca novel dan komiknya berurutan. Bisa jadi pendapat saya berubah karena pasti lebih kerasa perbedaan atau persamaannya.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of producing comic books on the works of Agatha Christie, especially as it may encourage individuals to read the full version. The Secret of Chimneys is rather disjointedly put together as a comic, most likely because the plot is very extensive; I did find that it missed alot out and had I not already read the full version, it would have been very confusing. Good illustrations.

[Helman Taofani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Adaptasi novel dalam format novel grafis. Bercerita tentang pembunuhan di mansion Chimneys yang berlatar konflik negara Balkan. Sayangnya, kinerja penerjemahan dan pemampatan detail menjadi membingungkan bagi mereka yang belum pernah membaca versi novelnya.

[Nadya]

Gak menikmati gambarnya euyyyy...

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lagi-lagi, gambarnya ituuuu...

[Alongdarkroad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing.
I liked the art but its too short, lot of characters, felt congested.

[Vandana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story. I haven't read much Agatha Christie, outside of her Poirot novel, but I enjoyed this. The graphic novel format was a lot easier to follow here than in the adaptation of "Death on the Nile". It was enjoyable and quick.