Tag: AgathaChristie

Dream Author Meeting

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

#AuthorLifeMonth has got to be the strangest daily post challenge I have ever participated in. I have to wonder, do you all really want to know all this about me?

OK, the easy answer to dream author meeting, Agatha Christie. Boom, done.

But that’s pretty short and boring, after all, she’s dead. It ain’t happening.

My cuz had an all female heavy metal band back in the late 80’s early 90’s. They got invited a lot of places in LA. She told me something I’ve always remembered. “When you meet a celebrity you can either have an autograph or an experience.”  Update that to today, selfie or experience.

And I get what she meant. When you meet a “star” and you ask for a selfie or an autograph you are putting them in the star category and yourself in the fan category.

By treating them like a human, you might get an interesting experience. Or they might blow you off, mileage varies.

So while I have met a number of “stars” over the years, I only ever once asked for an autograph and I immediately regretted it because other people saw the exchange and mobbed him and he had to leave the location. It was the first “star” I ever met. I never did it again.

And no, I won’t be sharing my experiences. LOL.

Agatha Christie Read-a-thon Week 4

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 3 Comments

Parting is such sweet sorrow. Our last week of the read-a-thon, this year anyway. Jay, over at This is My Truth Now, hosted this swarray in honor of the fabulous Agatha Christie, and he did it while launching his second book, Father Figure. So impressed with you James!

Now onto Murder…

Basic Summary (Courtesy of Amazon):

Colonel Protheroe, local magistrate and overbearing land-owner is the most detested man in the village. Everyone–even in the vicar–wishes he were dead. And very soon he is–shot in the head in the vicar’s own study. Faced with a surfeit of suspects, only the inscrutable Miss Marple can unravel the tangled web of clues that will lead to the unmasking of the killer.

 

My thoughts:

This book is so damn delicious. Miss Marple hasn’t solved any murders yet in this book. She’s solved a few village mysteries, the gill of pickled shrimp comes to mind. But she hasn’t garnered any respect. Coming on the heels of Body in the Library, where she’s already known as the one to watch out for, it’s frustrating to read the way some people treat her. Miss Marple is ever the same. Calm, polite, completely straight forward.

I adore the vicar who narrates this book. “At my time of life, you know the worst is usually true,” his answering thought to his wife who says Miss Marple draws the worst inferences from village happenings. I also love the way his wife explains she married him because her other suitors would have considered her a feather in their cap, whereas for the Vicar she’s more of a secret sin. LOL.

I haven’t talked much about the murder I suppose. I don’t think it matters in this book. I know, I know, this is a murder mystery. But….the murdered man is so odious, once he’s killed it’s like you can just relax back and watch the interactions of the village people. I’ve always thought the way she depicts human interaction was Aggie’s greatest achievement. Murder at the Vicarage nails it.

Agatha Christie Read-a-thon Week 3

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 6 Comments

Every body say hi to Jay over at This is My Truth Now. He’s hosting this month long love affair with the first lady of mystery, Agatha Christie. This week’s book was The Body in the Library.

The basics (Courtesy of Goodreads):

Colonel Bantry has found the strangled body of an exotic blonde bombshell lying on his library hearth – and the neighbors are beginning to talk! When Miss Marple takes an interest, though, things begin to move along nicely, and its all far more convoluted – and sordid – than the genteel Bantrys could have imagined.

A curmudgeonly financier, his self-absorbed adult children, a couple of pragmatic and clever hotel workers, tons of money and influence, a wild local lad, some smitten girls, the film business, mix into a classic Christie plot filled with twists, turns, and double-backs galore. Plus the glorious settings of A Great House, a fancy Hotel, and an excessively genteel little village, and let’s not forget Miss Marple…

 

My Thoughts:

This is one of my FAVE Aggies. I adore Miss Marple. She’s so straight forward in a lovely, polite, mid Victorian manner. Nothing people do shocks her. In fact, she can often guess what and why before anyone else because she knows people. Miss Marple insists everyone is much the same, human nature being so predictable. I often wonder if Agatha Christie was rather like Miss Marple in a large amount.

This book lays claim to awesome quotes like “fairly made the toe of my boot itch.”

The plot is amazing and to explain why it’s amazing I might have to spoil it a bit. So stop reading now if you hate spoilers.

The Body in the Library - Christie, Agatha

Just a little pic to break it up.

Now back to the spoiling. The whole book it’s forced on you that only two people have a reason to kill Ruby and they both have air tight alibis. All that forcing makes you think it must be someone else right? A forced card like that provokes a reaction. But…

It is actually one of them. And the alibis are for naught as there is a second dead body, a little switcharoo.

Brilliant!

Agatha Christie Read-a-thon Week 2

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 9 Comments

Once again the delight of an Agatha Christie read-a-thon this April is being hosted by the amazing Jay over at This is My Truth Now.  This week’s Agatha gem was Peril at End House. You can check out what other readers had to say here.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of Goodreads):

Hercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckly. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, an imposing structure perched on the rocky cliffs of St. Loo.

Poirot has taken a particular interest in the young woman who has recently narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just mere coincidences or a spate of bad luck. It seems all too clear to him that someone is trying to do away with poor Nick, but who? And, what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And, this time, Nick may not escape with her life.

My Thoughts:

Full disclosure. I don’t like this particular Aggie. I don’t. I know. Shhh. Just breathe and it will pass.

This one makes me sad. So many people die, so needlessly and for the dumbest of reasons. Yes, Poirot is brilliant. Yes, I believe people actually act this dumb. Yes, I buy his deductions. There’s nothing wrong with the writing. Or the plot. Or the characters.

But it just leaves me worn and sad for the state of the world. A little heartbroken for young lovers who deserve better. A bit nostalgic for an old fashioned hero who took great risk just to prove he could and was cheered by the world for doing so. sigh

I clearly missed my time period. LOL. I think I’ll just pop back to the 40’s and enjoy it all first hand.

Agatha Christie Read-a-thon Week 1

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 10 Comments

I have been a huge fan of Agatha Christie as long as I can remember. Seriously, my mom saved a Christmas list from when I was eight and I asked for all the Agatha Christie books I didn’t already have. LOL. Of course, I didn’t quite realize I was asking for 80 plus books for Christmas.

Jay is hosting this love fest for the Grand Dame of Mystery. Our first book is The Secret Adversary. The first in the Tommy and Tuppence series.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of Amazon):

Agatha Christie’s first Tommy and Tuppence is a thrill-packed novel of international intrigue and murder with all the Christie hallmarks of suspense and ingenuity. Tommy and Tuppence, two young people short of money and restless for excitement, embark on a daring business scheme – Young Adventurers Ltd. Their advertisement says they are ‘willing to do anything, go anywhere’. But their first assignment, for the sinister Mr Whittington, plunges them into more danger than they ever imagined!

My thoughts:

How disappointing that summary is. Goodreads had almost the same one though. I suppose given it’s Aggie, she doesn’t need much pomp and circumstance to sell books. Tommy and Tuppence are good fun as a mystery duo. I suspect they were quite fun as parents as well. In the later books they have grown children and I can only imagine Tuppence’s pluck balanced with Tommy’s stolid practicality made for an interesting time.

Agatha frequently works in her political opinions in her books. But I’m always much more interested in the way people relate to each other. She gives her characters such complicated inner workings but paints it with such a light hand.

One of my absolute favorite exchanges comes when Julius goes off to procure a Rolls Royce because Tuppence has said she wants one. She has told him it will be impossible, people wait ages. But he comes back in 35 minutes with the car.

“How did you get it?” gasped Tuppence.

“She was just being sent home to some bigwig.”

“Well?”

“I went round to his house,” said Julius. “I said that I reckoned a car like that was worth every penny of twenty thousand dollars. Then I told him that it was worth just about fifty thousand dollars to me if he’d get out.”

“Well?” said Tuppence, intoxicated.

“Well,” returned Julius, “he got out, that’s all.”

I laugh every time I read it. I think that’s the true joy of Christie novels: no matter how many times I read them, I laugh, I cry, I find new little bits that I never noticed before. It’s rich and layered even if she breaks all the “rules of good writing.”

Tuppence and Tommy come out on top, of course. The baddies get their comeuppance.

Next week we’re reading Peril at End House. It’s not too late to join us.

 

 

Wednesday Words 3.28

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 13 Comments

I’ve been mulling over titles for quite some time. I’m thinking I want to give a little homage to the first lady of mystery, Dame Agatha.

Something like:

Murder at Whispering Pines Academy

Body in the Pool

Death at Midnight

 

But then I get crazy ideas like…

It All Started With Melted Ice Cream

 

Or maybe a little play on the lead detectives names,

TnT Explodes on the Scene

Ok that last one is silly, I know.

 

When you think of good mystery titles, what intrigues you?