The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie

 

What types of books do you like to read when winter weather keeps you indoors?

The Sittaford Mystery was the #ReadChristie2021 selection for December.  The theme was 'A story set during bad weather.'  I didn’t get a chance to read it until the end of January, but I’m glad that I did.

On a Friday night with a winter storm brewing, six neighbors have a séance.  The message from  beyond is that “Captain Trevelyan … dead…murder.”  His friend Major Burnaby rushes through the storm only to indeed find Captain Trevelyan dead.  Captain Trevelyan may have lived a low-key life in a rural village, but there seem to be plenty of people with a motive to kill him.  Was it his mysterious nephew, Jim Pearson, who arrived in town the day of the murder?  His other nephew that is supposed to be in Australia?  Who are the mysterious tenants that have leased his home?  Clues are around every corner and Inspector Narracott, reporter Charles Enderby, and Jim Pearson’s fiancée Emily Trefusis are on the case.

I enjoyed this mystery, and it was a perfect winter weather read.  I really loved the character of Emily Trefusis.  She had spunk and was the driving force behind the investigation.  Her wit and humor made the novel for me.  I once again did not figure out the murderer in this one.  I was surprised at the end, but it all did make sense. 

The characters were all fun and interesting in this novel, except for Emily’s fiancé Jim Pearson.  We don’t learn much about him and Emily’s descriptions of him make him seem easy to manipulate.  I was rooting for Charles and Emily to end of up together.

The Sittaford Mystery is a standalone Christie novel.  I started watching a Miss Marple episode titled, “The Sittaford Mystery,” that is from 2006.  I only made it about twenty minutes into the episode. Besides the book not being in the Miss Marple series, the plot up to that point had nothing to do with the novel.  The music for the episode was also quite terrible. Are there any other films or shows of this mystery that are more enjoyable?

Overall, The Sittaford Mystery was another enjoyable Agatha Christie mystery.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com