(This article discusses over a dozen novels by Agatha Christie and is rich in spoilers. If you are only a casual reader of her work, I would advise you to read on with great caution as numerous murderers will be exposed.) A wise man once said, “We all go a little mad sometimes,” just before … Continue reading ” . . . CRACK’D FROM SIDE TO SIDE”: Madness in Christie
Agatha Christie
PODCAST MANIA, PART I: Five Little Pigs
“It’s psychology that interests you, isn’t it? Well, that doesn’t change with time. The tangible things are gone – the cigarette end and the footprints and the bent blades of grass. You can’t look for those anymore. But you can go over all the facts of the case, and perhaps talk to the people who … Continue reading PODCAST MANIA, PART I: Five Little Pigs
DEATH – AGAIN – ON THE NILE
Christie purists, we’ve had our day! Actually, that day lasted for quite a few years, through most of the 1980’s right into the millennium. You got your Warwick/Annis Tommy and Tuppence adventures and Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. You got your Poirot . . . well, most of him. And now it’s time to face the fact … Continue reading DEATH – AGAIN – ON THE NILE
WHO YOU GONNA CALL . . . ? POIROT!
Well, hellooooo, Agatha! How are you, Mrs. Christie? I haven’t seen you in my dreams written about you in the longest time – since December 13th actually, when I offered up Twelve Christies for Christmas. Keeping the “dozens” theme in mind, I would like to offer up twelve cases that Christie wrote and then gathered together in … Continue reading WHO YOU GONNA CALL . . . ? POIROT!
DID ENID BLYTON INVENT Q-ANON?: The Twyford Code
As voracious a reader as I have been since the age of six, I didn’t pick up a book by Enid Blyton until my fifties, when I discovered her fifteen-book series about The Five Find-Outers, privileged children who, from 1943 to 1961, spent each school holiday solving mysteries and calling their leader “Fatty.” My British … Continue reading DID ENID BLYTON INVENT Q-ANON?: The Twyford Code
IT’S PODCAST TIME AGAIN: After the Funeral
Over six years of blogging, I have written dozens of times about my favorite Poirot novel, After the Funeral, perhaps most specifically here. I always enjoy wax flowers, er, waxing over the intrinsic joys of the Abernethie clan, the brilliant fakeout, and the fabulous murderer/motive that wraps up this late, great entry in the Christie canon. … Continue reading IT’S PODCAST TIME AGAIN: After the Funeral
BOOK CLUB FROM HELL!!! The Five False Suicides
I hate to start the new year with a sad fact, but reading, and the enjoyment thereof, has become a rare commodity. When I taught high school, I was disheartened by how few of my students carried around a book for pleasure. Maybe it’s the solitary nature of reading, or the lack of bells-and-whistles flummery … Continue reading BOOK CLUB FROM HELL!!! The Five False Suicides
TWELVE CHRISTIES FOR CHRISTMAS
You probably have heard of the phrase “A Christie for Christmas,” but I lived through it, at least through some of my most formative years. Beginning in 1968 with By the Pricking of My Thumbs, my late, beloved Aunt Rosalie presented “A Christie for Bradley” on my birthday (December 16) in the form of a hardcover … Continue reading TWELVE CHRISTIES FOR CHRISTMAS
FOR CATHERINE
“He got on to the bed, and wrenched open the lattice, bursting, as he pulled at it, into an uncontrollable passion of tears. ‘Come in! Come in!’ he sobbed. ‘Cathy, do come. Oh, do – once more! Oh, my heart’s darling! hear me, this time, Catherine, at last!’” (from Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte) When I … Continue reading FOR CATHERINE
HALLOWEEN PARTY HEARTY WITH FLEX AND HERDS
Recently I played along with the genial hosts of the Australian podcast, Death of the Reader, where each week Flex and Herds tackle a wide array of mystery tales, both classic and modern. Their most recent guest, one JJ von JJ (my pal, who created The Invisible Event and the podcast In GAD We Trust) … Continue reading HALLOWEEN PARTY HEARTY WITH FLEX AND HERDS
Ah Sweet Mystery! 