Christine PNW’s Comments (group member since Sep 14, 2016)

Christine PNW’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Frances wrote: "The first was atrocious from a Poirot perspective (He runs! He fights! He has a romantic past!) but I loved the scenery and the trains. The second they had mostly toned down the not-Poirot issues, and again I loved the scenery."

Agree with both points.

I read the linked article, and it appears that Branagh has really abandoned any pretense that he will be adhering to the story, as he says it is "inspired" by Hallowe'en Party. From that, I think it's pretty likely that it will be similar to Agatha Christie's mystery in the same way that La Croix is similar to fruit - i.e., there will be a hint of Christie, as though someone involved in the production was perhaps reading a novel by Agatha Christie in the next room.

Having said that, I will still go see it, complain about the parts I didn't like, but very likely enjoy it, overall.

Judy wrote: "Just saw that Kenneth Branagh is making another Poirot film - this time he has chosen Hallowe'en Party, but the setting has been moved to Venice and it is being filmed under the title ..."

I enjoyed both of the prior films, even with the elements that were non-canon (some of which bugged me more than others; Poirot mooning over "Katrine" was ugh). They were beautifully filmed.

But Hallowe'en Party is a quintessential English Country House murder. There is simply no way to move it to Venice without completely losing every thing about the book that makes it what it is. It would be like moving Death on the Nile to the Hudson River or something.

Roman Clodia wrote: "I've always loved those Fontana covers and keep an eye out for them in second-hand bookshops- they're creative and often include clues without giving away the plot, like a little in-joke once we've..."

Same. I'd like to have a complete set of her books with the Fontana covers, but it will probably take me years to acquire them. I have a few already, though:





And my favorite of all of the book covers I own because it is so crazy:

I just can't with Sarah Phelps any more.

The ABC Murders about sent me over the edge. At the big reveal, all I could do was repeat "oh no. No, no, no, no, no."

And Ordeal By Innocence. She changed the murderer. The ending was terrible.

I loved her adaptation of And Then There Were None - it was brilliant. But the newer ones have just been awful.

I am rereading The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie for my Christie publication order reread, which I have basically just begun!

I am also reading The Overlook by Michael Connelly, which is part of my HBU (Harry Bosch Universe) project.

Susan wrote: "Where is Ordeal by Innocence being shown? I am in American."

I think it's only available in Britain right now. It'll probably show up on Amazon at some point, which is where I saw both Crooked House and the new adaptation of And Then There Were None, and maybe on your local PBS affiliate.

I'm so jealous of all of my British friends who are getting to watch it! I am a huge Bill Nighy fan, and the cast looks amazing!

I just started The Dower House Mystery by Patricia Wentworth and am charmed so far! It's got quite a strong romantic subplot that is really delightful - reminds me a bit of Georgette Heyer.

Sandy wrote: "Recently finished The Language of Bees from the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. After complaining about books that leave the reader hanging, that's what this one did! Luckil..."

Sandy, this series is a major comfort read for me! If you enjoy audiobooks, the narrator, Jenny Sterlin, is magnificent as Mary Russell. I think that Justice Hall is my favorite of the books, but you do really need to read them in order. Certainly don't read Justice Hall until you've read O Jerusalem!

Along with Harry Potter and anything by Christie, this is one of the audiobooks I often have in the background when I am quilting or stitching!

Judy wrote: "I've started reading The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh - this is a British Library Crime Classics title and was available for me as a monthly choice from t..."

I've been eyeing that one myself!

I just finished Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne, which is one of the British Library Classic Crime printings. It's a "locked room" type mystery, and is one of the most enjoyable of the BLCC books that I've read so far. I gave it 4 stars - it has some problems but kept me on my toes and surprised me several times!

Judy wrote: "Moonlight Reader wrote: "Judy, I am so jealous that you have so much amazing Agatha ahead of you! ..."

I'm looking forward to reading a lot more, following on from the Miss Marples! Thanks for you..."

It isn't one of the best, but it's also far from the worst! Hercule Poirot's Christmas is a fun seasonal read!

Jan C wrote: "I have two all-time favorite Poirots - The A.B.C. Murders and Dumb Witness - okay, I'm a sucker for dog stories. But ABC provides the clue to many mysteries, especially in..."

Dumb Witness doesn't make it into my favorites, but the dog was cute!

Judy wrote: "Good question, Moonlight Reader - I really enjoyed reading your suggestions and have now moved those books up my list of Christies that I need to read. I've heard a bit about Sparkling Cyanide but ..."

Judy, I am so jealous that you have so much amazing Agatha ahead of you!

I've not been crazy about the Marple adaptations that I've seen. I've heard good things about the Hickson versions from the 1980's, but those are a bit more difficult to access (although I think that they are available on Amazon streaming with an Acorn supplemental subscription). The newer Marple series makes me actively peevish because they've stolen the stand-alones/Race/Battle books and wedged Marple into books where she doesn't belong.

I'm a Christie completist, well on my way to finishing her entire oevre, and I've read all of the full length Poirot mysteries. If you have not yet gotten into those, they are, IMO, even better than the Marples! My high-points of Poirot are:

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot 1)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot 4)
Peril at End House (Poirot 8)
Murder on the Orient Express (Poirot 10)
The ABC Murders (Poirot 13)
Death on the Nile (Poirot 17)
Appointment with Death (Poirot 19)
Five Little Pigs (Poirot 24)
Dead Man's Folly (Poirot 31)
Cat Among the Pigeons (Poirot 32)

Even though Roger Ackroyd is fourth, it's so unique that I would actually recommend waiting until you've read five or six Poirot mysteries before reading it. The ending of that book is completely mind-blowing.

I'm curious if there are other Poirot aficionados here, and wondering which books are your favorites?

I finally watched the new adaptation of And Then There Were None with my daughter (we are a multi-generation Christie fan family) and thought it was exceptional. Charles Dance as Wargrave was perfect, and Aidan Turner was disturbingly attractive as Lombard. My quibbles were just quibbles, nothing major, and I thought that they did an exceptional job building the suspense.

Someone wondered if Christie was having a resurgence, and I think that the answer to that is yes. The estate and the BBC have signed a contract to do 8 new full-length adaptations, which is going to include Ordeal by Innocence (mentioned above), as well as Death Comes As the End and The ABC Murders. I'm less excited about The ABC Murders because Poirot already has a solid adaptation of all of the Hercule Poirot tales.

I am really hoping for some legitimate adaptations of some of standalones, Superintendent Battle and/or Colonel Race books. Which ones are your wishlist for a good adaptation? Mine would be:

1. The Sittaford Mystery - I love Emily Trefusis, and this would be the perfect adaptation for a Christmas holidays release.
2. Sparkling Cyanide - I want all of the Colonel Race books adapted, but this one most of all.
3 (&4). The Secret of Chimneys/The Seven Dials Mystery - the Bundle Brent duology could be absolutely delightful on screen. Can I just put in a plug for Aidan Turner as Anthony Cade right here, right now? And Carey Mulligan as Bundle Brent.
5. Appointment with Death - while I am generally a proponent of the Suchet adaptations, this one was a huge disappointment to me. They changed the ending, including the identity of the killer.
6. Towards Zero - another Superintendent Battle mystery that I would love to see adapted.

Next up is Chapter 5 - Miraculous Murders

I am a huge fan of "locked room" style mysteries. Prior to starting the project, I read the BLCC anthology titled Miraculous Mysteries: Locked-Room Murders and Impossible Crimes, which was quite good. With the noteworthy exception of one total clunker, all of the stories were fairly enjoyable!

For this square, I am participating in a buddy read over on a different social media site, and we are going to be reading Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne. I am starting this one today!

I decided to start with Chapter 8 - Capital Crimes (mysteries set in London), and have read:

Murder in Piccadilly by Charles Kingston, which I rated at 2.5 stars. I enjoyed about 85% of the book, but didn't like the ending, which dragged down the entire experience for me.

Murder in the Museum by John Rowland, which I rated at 3.5 stars. This one has mixed reviews, but I ended up really enjoying it. It's a bit madcap and silly, but enjoyable for me.

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie, which was the best of the three that I read, even though I would not rank it as a top Christie. One of the side-effects of reading "lost" golden age authors has been to highlight Christie's skill. I have yet to find a reissue that is even close to a middling Christie. This was a reread for me - I read all 40 of the Poirot mysteries back in 2015. I can reread Christie endlessly, though, because she is just that good.

my last planned read for this square is the Edwards edited anthology Capital Crimes: London Mysteries, which I plan to buy tomorrow (it's payday).

I won't necessarily read multiple books for each chapter, but I have a weakness for London mysteries, so it was easy to do here!

Thanks, everyone! I did have fun creating the card - I am generally in love with the covers that the publisher is putting on the British Library Crime Classics series, so I was able to crop out details from a number of them! For the other square, it was fun to check out all of the editions of a particular book and decide which details might make a good bingo square.

Sandy wrote: "What a great idea! And quite an attractive board. Do the books in each category come from the Edwards book?"

Sandy, that's my plan!

I'm working through a "bingo" game using the chapter headings in Martin Edwards The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books.



Each number refers to a chapter in The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books. The images are a detail from the cover image of a book mentioned in the chapter, with the exception of Chapter 3. I couldn't resist an image of Hercule Poirot for a chapter called The Great Detectives!

1. A New Era Dawns: cover detail from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
2. The Birth of the Golden Age:: cover detail from The Mystery of the Red House by A.A. Milne
3. The Great Detectives: Hercule Poirot as played by David Suchet
4. Play Up! Play Up! and Play the Game!: cover detail from The Hog's Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Croft
5. Miraculous Murders: cover detail from Miraculous Murders anthology, edited by Martin Edwards
6. Serpents in Eden: cover detail from Serpents in Eden anthology, edited by Martin Edwards
7. Murder at the Manor: cover detail from Murder at the Manor anthology, edited by Martin Edwards
8. Capital Crimes: cover detail from Capital Crimes anthology, edited by Martin Edwards
9. Resorting to Murder: cover detail from Resorting to Murder anthology, edited by Martin Edwards
10. Making Fun of Murder: cover detail from Ask A Policeman by The Detection Club
11. Education, Education, Education: cover detail from Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay
12. Playing Politics: cover detail from The End of Andrew Harrison by Freeman Wills Croft
13. Scientific Enquiries: cover detail from Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg
14. The Long Arm of the Law: cover detail from The Long Arm of the Law anthology, edited by Martin Edwards
15. The Justice Game: cover detail from Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate
16. Multiplying Murders: cover detail from The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon
17. The Psychology of Crime: cover detail from Payment Deferred by C.S. Forester
18. Inverted Mysteries: cover detail from Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith
19. The Ironists: cover detail from Family Matters by Anthony Rolls
20. Fiction from Fact: cover detail from The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
21. Singletons: cover detail from Darkness at Pemberley by T.H. White
22. Across the Atlantic: cover detail from Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
23. Cosmopolitan Crimes: cover detail from Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon
24. The Way Ahead: cover detail from The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake

This is an open ended project - no deadlines! I'll probably read a lot of the British Library Crime Classics as part of it!

I recently made my way through The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards, which caused my TBR to explode! Has anyone else picked this up? There's no plot, but it's an overview of classic crime that includes information about much more than the 100 books he chose as representative of his categories!