One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  One, Two Buckle my Shoe

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Hugh Fraser

Publisher: Harper Collins

Length: Approximately 5 hours

Source: Thank-you to the Kewaunee Public Library.  I checked this out using #Libby. 

Do you like nursery rhymes?  I always enjoyed them as a kid and reciting them with my own children.  I love how Agatha Christie incorporates them into her fiction.

Dead bodies turn up everywhere for Hercule Poirot.  He goes to the dentist one day and his dentist ends up dead.  Was it suicide or was murder involved?

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       I read One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie for my August selection for #ReadChristie2025.  The August theme is medicine or medical professionals.  The victim is a dentist, Mr. Morley.

·       This is the twenty third Hercule Poirot novel.  I think it would be fun in the future to read all the Hercule Poirot novels in a row.

·       Hugh Fraser was a great audiobook narrator as usual.

·       It was interesting that this novel has a nursery rhyme title like other Christie books.  The buckles on shoes do play a part in the plot! This novel was first published in the United States in 1941 as the Patriotic Murders and then in 1955 as An Overdose of Death before finally being published with the original UK title.

·       I did not guess the ending of this one.

Overall, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie was a short read that kept me intrigued.

 

 

Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie

 

What has been your favorite memoir?

Come, Tell Me How You Live is a lighthearted memoir about Agatha Christie’s adventures in Syria while her husband, Max, was on an archaeological dig in the1930s.  She gathered together her notes and vignettes afterwards to put together this interesting memoir.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie in July as part of #ReadChristie2025.  The overall theme this year is to explore Christie’s works through the canon of characters and their careers.  The career for July was archeologists.

·       Christie’s second husband Max Mallowan was a renowned archaeologist.  He was thirteen years younger than her, and they traveled the world together.  I love this for Agatha Christie after her disastrous first marriage.

·       There was not much in the memoir on actual archaeology, but more on the people, places, and trying to make a home in a new and foreign place.

·       My favorite vignette was unforgettable and disturbing.  Christie woke up one night to find her and her husband covered with mice.  He could sleep fine, but she could not so their beds were moved outside.  A cat was hired the next day who efficiently and methodically killed the mice.  Christie called it a “professional cat.”  I would have loved to see this cat.

·       Christie chronicled a lot of hatred between different groups of different religions against each other.  Some were told with humor such as driver that tried to run over people of a particular religious group whenever he saw them, but I didn’t think it was funny.  Sadly, this conflict hasn’t changed with time in the Middle East.

·       Christie did write this memoir with a lot of wit and humor throughout.  It was nice to read a different genre from Christie rather than a mystery.

·       I wanted to travel with Christie as she seemed like a very fun and charming person.  The site conditions didn’t sound so fun, however.

·       It was sad thinking about all these archaeological treasures being found and carted away from their homeland.

Overall, Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie was a great memoir filled with wit and humor.  This book gives one the experience of what it would have been like to live through an archaeological dig in the 1930s.

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  Murder is Easy

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Gemma Whelan

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 57 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.

How often do you read classics?

Luke Fitzwilliam is on a train when he meets Miss Pinkerton.  She is from a small English village, and she has quite the tale to tell him.  She said that there is murderer loose in her small English village of Wychwood and that she knows who will be murdered next.  Luke is sure Miss Pinkerton may be a bit batty, but after he reads of her death in a hit-and-run accident and that the next person she had stated would die has died mysteriously, he realizes that Miss Pinkerton may have been up to something after all.  He travels to Wychwood to investigate.  Will he be able to solve the crime?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I am participating in the #ReadChristie2025 Challenge.  The challenge this year is exploring Agatha Christie’s works through her characters and their careers.  The theme for June was amateurs.  Main character Luke Fitzwilliam is newly retired from overseas police work and is not a seasoned detective. 

·       This mystery also had a love story in it with Luke and Bridget who helps him on his investigation.  Bridget is also engaged to the much older Lord Easterfield.

·       This is a standalone mystery that is not part of the Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot series.  Superintendent Battle shows up at the end of this novel, but I wouldn’t really call it a Superintendent Battle novel.

·       I did guess the ending of this one!  I just had a bad feeling about one of the characters and it proved to be correct.  There were a lot of red herrings as well.

·       I really liked the small English village setting.  Everyone was a suspect, and everyone had different aspects on the murder victims to share.  It was interesting just how easy murder turned out to be in this novel.

·       Gemma Whelan narrated this novel and did a great job.  It was a fun audiobook to listen to!

Overall, Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie is an enjoyable classic English mystery set in a small village.

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  Cards on the Table

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Hugh Fraser

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 0 minutes

Source: Audiobook from Amazon Music monthly allotment.

What is your favorite card game?  Mine is Euchre although it’s been long time since I’ve played.

Mr. Shaitana has a gathering at his London home.  He has invited four detectives as well as four other people of whom he has secret information about.  The four non detectives play bridge all night, but by the end of the night, Mr. Shaitana is dead.  Who killed him and why?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I am participating in the #ReadChristie2025 Challenge.  The challenge this year is exploring Agatha Christie’s works through her characters and their careers.  The theme for May was detectives.  This novel featured four detectives with Hercule Poirot, Colone Race, Superintendent Battle, and Ariadne Oliver all at the party and on the case. 

·       Wow!  This was one of my favorites Agatha Christie novels.  It was a great mystery with great characters and a great story.  The ending caught me totally off guard.

·       There was a lot about the game of Bridge in this story.  I have never played this game but have fond memories of my great grandparents hosting bridge parties.  Have you ever played bridge?

·       On the challenge website, it stated that Agatha Christie was not allowed to play cards on Sunday as a child so it it always felt slightly wicked when she did as an adult.

·       Hugh Fraser is a wonderful narrator of the Hercule Poirot novels, and I enjoyed listening to him again on this one.

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie was a wonderful mystery with complicated characters and a great story.  I loved how many favorite past characters came together to solve the mystery.

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  The Seven Dials Mystery

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Emilia Fox

Publisher: Blackstone Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 46 minutes

Source: Checked out with Hoopla through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

What book are you excited about seeing as a movie or TV series this year?  The Seven Dials Mystery is going to be a new Netflix movie this year which should be interesting.

I am participating in the #ReadChristie2025 Challenge.  The challenge this year is exploring Agatha Christie’s works through her characters and their careers.  The theme for April was butlers and I read The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie for the first time.  Tredwell the butler at The Chimneys keeps our main characters updated on the investigation. This book was published in 1929 and is the second book to feature Superintendent Battle, although he is more of a side character.

A practical joke goes wrong at a house a party at the Chimneys estate, which is being rented by Sir Oswald and Lady Coote.  Gerry Wade has a hard time getting up in the morning.  His friends set up eight alarm clocks to wake him up on morning . . . only he doesn’t wake up.  He has been poisoned! Why is one clock missing?  Will the killer be found before the next victim is murdered? 

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Eilleen “Bundle” Brent is the main investigator and a very independent and spirited young women.  She is an amateur sleuth.

·       This novel was different than typical Christie mysteries and was more of an espionage thriller focusing on secret societies.  I do like how Christie was always trying out something new with her writing.

·       I usually love when Emilia Fox narrates novels, but this narration was just okay to me.   I think it was more the storyline which didn’t capture my attention as much as other Christie novels.

·       This novel can be read as a standalone or together with The Chimneys.

·       I loved Lord Caterham and his daughter Bundles’ conversations.  They were very funny.

·       I felt claustrophobic when Bundle hid in a cabinet in the Seven Dials club to observe the secret society.  It was especially creepy that the Secret Society members wore hoods with clocks faces on them.

·       The ending was very surprising.

Overall, The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie was an interesting read, but not my favorite Christie read.

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  Three Act Tragedy

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Hugh Fraser

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 6 hours

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Do you have a favorite play?  I enjoy plays and really like mysteries.  I don’t really have one favorite play, although seeing A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare with my best friend Jenn at American Player’s Theatre twenty plus years ago was one of my favorites.

I am participating in the #ReadChristie2025 Challenge.  The challenge this year is exploring Agatha Christie’s works through her characters and their careers.  The theme for March is performers and I read Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie for the first time.  One of the main characters is a famous actor, Sir Charles Cartwright.  He has other folks that are associated with the theatre over to his home.

Sir Charles Cartwright holds a dinner party at his home.  One of his guests is Hercule Poirot.  When the local vicar, Babbington, suddenly dies, Sir Charles is sure that he was poisoned.  Later, many of the same guests are together for a party when yet another guest dies after drinking port.  He was discovered to have been poisoned by nicotine.  Who is poisoning people in their drinks and why?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel was published in 1935.

·       I enjoyed the way this book was set up.  The First Act or part of the book was suspicion, the second act was certainty, and the third act was discovery. 

·       This mystery has a love story in with as Hermoine Lytton Gore (nickname Egg) loves Sir Charles who is thirty years her senior.  She tries to make him jealous by flirting with a younger man, and Sir Charles leaves the country much to her dismay. Sir Charles and Egg help Poirot with his investigation.

·       Hercule Poirot can’t help himself again.  He is retired and as a young child observes, you can only look at the sea so much.  He gives a history of losing the woman he love, coming out of retirement to work, growing rich and famous, and then retiring again.

·       At the end of the novel, Poirot discusses that he often uses a thick accent even though he speaks perfect English so that people will overlook him and be at ease.  I enjoyed these types of snippets that rounded out the character of Poirot.

·       I was totally caught off guard by the killer in this one.

·       Once again, Hugh Fraser was a wonderful narrator for this novel.

Overall, Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie was a solid and entertaining mystery.  I like how Christie tried out new formats and different ways to write her mysteries through time.

The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

 

Do you like to read short stories?  I have always enjoyed short stories.  Sometimes its just a perfect sized read when you are having a stressful day.

I am participating in the #ReadChristie2025 Challenge.  The challenge this year is exploring Agatha Christie’s works through her characters and their careers.  The theme for February was authors and I read The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie for the first time.  Miss Marple’s nephew, Raymond, is an author and he is present throughout this collection of short stories.

A group gathers at Miss Marple’s house and each member tells the story of a crime to entertain the gathering and for them to solve.  The teller of the story must have the real-world answer to see if they solved the crime correctly.  They are constantly surprised when Miss Marple always has the answer.  “The Tuesday Night Club” sounds like a fun group get together.

My thoughts on this collection:

·       I greatly enjoyed the short story format.  It was great escapism reading last weekend.  I like the ability to pick up the book and read a complete mystery story and move on to something exciting like chores afterwards.

·       This was the start of Miss Marple, and it was fun to read.  I feel that at some point, I need to read her mysteries in order.

·       I love Miss Marple.  She is sharp and can apply her observations of village life to new situations to solve mysteries.

·       The collection was entertaining and gave me a chuckle with a few of the stories – especially with Miss Marple having surprising answers and understanding of human nature.

Favorite quotes:

“’Aunt Jane,’ said Raymond looking at her curiously, ‘how do you do it?  You have lived such a peaceful life, and yet nothing seems to surprise you.”

“’I always find one thing very like another in this world,’ said Miss Marple.”

Overall, The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie was an entertaining short story mystery collection and a great introduction to Miss Marple.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

 

Are you participating in any book challenges this year?  One that I’ve participated in the past few years and look forward to participating again this year is the #ReadChristie2025 Challenge.  The challenge this year is exploring Agatha Christie’s works through her characters and their careers.  The theme for January was artists and I read the excellent Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie for the first time.

Hercule Poirot is approached by a young woman who is ready to get married, but she wants to know the truth of her parents.  Sixteen years earlier, her artist father was murdered.  Her mother was tried and convicted of the crime, but was she guilty?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This set-up of solving an older crime to help a daughter, seems to be a theme Christie enjoyed.  I just read a similar set up at the end of last year in Elephants Can Remember.

·       Hercule Poirot thinks the five suspects from the house party fit the rhyme, the five little pigs went to the market and he can’t keep that thought from his mind.

·       This story was unique in that Poirot interviews each subject and then asks them to write up their memories in their own words.  The reader gets to read these written accounts.

·       The murder occurs during a very awkward house party where both the wife and the girlfriend are in attendance.  I know artists are eccentric – but it was a bit much!  I felt like the victim deserved to be murdered in this book.

·       I really thought I had this one solved again this time, but I was led astray by a red herring.

·       The house party setting had a limited number of potential murderers (five little pigs).  They were all interesting characters and had reasons they could have committed the crime.

·       I loved the cover of this novel.  It really captured the scene of the murder in the novel.

Overall, Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie is Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie at their best.  It was an excellent novel and mystery.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com.

Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie

 

Do you like to curl up to the fire with a cozy mystery, romance, or other type of genre? 

Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie is a collection of stories that was recently published in 2020 and contains a variety of stories that were originally published from the 1920s to the 1970s.  The stories have a holiday or winter theme. 

My thoughts on this collection of stories:

·       This was the November Pick for the Back to the Classics Book Club.  We all enjoyed it!  I’m also using it for a pick for #ReadChristie2024.  The challenge this year was exploring Christie’s works through the decades, which you can do with this collection as well!

·       My book club all liked the introduction which contained Christie’s memories of Christmas from her youth.  In the bibliography at the end, it looks like it was taken from her autobiography.

·       I enjoyed all the stories, but especially the first, “Three Blind Mice.”  It was longer like a novella and seemed to have more plot and character buildup.  Apparently, this later became Agatha Christie’s longest running play, The Mousetrap.  I still haven’t seen this play yet!

·       All the stories were different, interesting, and fun.

·       This was the first time I had read any stories involving Mr. Harley Quin.  We all thought he was interesting.  He only appears in Christie’s short stories but was apparently one of Christie’s favorite characters.  Two stories in this collection had Quin as a character.

·       While I was reading “The Plymouth Express,” it seemed very familiar to me.  It was later made into the full-length book, The Blue Train, which I had read earlier this year.

·       Tommy and Tuppence had a cute story in this collection and my fellow book club members enjoyed them as characters.  I highly recommend their full-length novels.

Overall, Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie was a great collection with stories that were unique, interesting, and fun.  It was a good Christmas read for my Back to the Classics Book Club.

Third Girl by Agatha Christie

Title:  Third Girl

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Hugh Fraser

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 59 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Which genre help you get out of reading slump?  Mysteries often get me out of a reading slump.

I read Third Girl by Agatha Christie last month for #ReadChristie2024.  #ReadChristie2024 has a theme this year of through the decades.  January – March were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1920’s, April through June were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1930’s, July through September were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1940s and 1950s, and October through December were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1960s and 1970s.   The Third Girl was published in 1966 and features Hercule Poirot. 

A mysterious woman shows up and tells Poirot that she thinks she murdered someone and then promptly disappears.  Poirot must figure out who the girl is and why she thinks she killed someone.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Hugh Fraser is such a great audiobook narrator.  He makes all the voices unique and in tune with their character.

·       Hercule Poirot is sad about being called old in this one.  As he has been retired since the books written in the 1920s and this one was published in 1966, I think he is doing well for his age.

·       Ariadne Oliver is a character in this one and is a great partner to Poirot.

·       Agatha Christie really seems to not like the youth of the day.  There is much talk about “dirty” and unkept youth, long hair, beards, drugs, and sex.

·       I learned what “third girl” actually means.  A first girl rents a flat and invites a friend (second girl), and then they place an ad for a third girl to share the rent.

·       Once a wig became involved in the story, I was suspicious, but I still didn’t solve this one on my own.

·       I thought it was interesting that it was the first novel in years where Hercule Poirot was present from the beginning to the end.

Overall, Third Girl was another good Agatha Christie mystery.  I think reading through the different decades was very interesting. 

The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Emilia Fox

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 26 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Do any “famous” people live in your neighborhood?  The children’s author, Patricia Polacco, lives in my hometown of Union City, Michigan.

I read The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie last month for #ReadChristie2024.  #ReadChristie2024 has a theme this year of through the decades.  January – March were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1920’s, April through June were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1930’s, July through September were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1940s and 1950s, and October through December were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1960s and 1970s.   The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side was published in 1962 and features Miss Marple. 

Movie star Marina Gregg has moved into Miss Marple’s neighborhood.  The neighborhood is excited when she holds a fundraiser for the local community.  Heather Badcock is excited to meet her idol and tell her a story, but she dies immediately afterwards.  As the murder is investigated it appears that Marina Gregg was the target.  Will Miss Marple solve this mystery?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel is firmly set-in post-war England.  St. Mary’s Mead is growing with new neighborhoods and a grocery story.  The new people have changed the make-up of the community.

·       I liked how Miss Marple is in her 80’s with a nurse and the nurse drives her crazy.  Miss Marple still wants to be about and about solving murder mysteries. 

·       The characters in the novel were great.

·       I was not sure how to feel when the novel had Miss Marple and another lady discussing Hollywood orgies.  That is something I never thought I’d hear Miss Marple talking about.  I think it was Christie’s attempt to make the novel more modern.

·       It was interesting how some of the Hollywood aspects are still true to life.  Marina, the star, has had many marriages.  She always wanted a child but was unable to have one.  She has heard that if you adopt a child, you may be more likely to have a child.  She adopted three children, and then abandoned them a few years later when she was pregnant with a biological child.  The adopted children were taken from their families, raised in privilege, paraded before the press, and then forgotten.  It was cruel.

·       I enjoyed this mystery and its twists and turns.  I thought I had this mystery solved, but I was wrong.

·       I loved the audiobook narrator, Emilia Fox.  She had a nice British accent and great character voices.

Overall, The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side was another great Agatha Christie mystery.

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  Elephants Can Remember

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Hugh Fraser

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 36 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Do you like to read more than one book at once?  I am usually reading a physical book, ebook, and audiobook at the same time.

I read Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie last month for #ReadChristie2024.  #ReadChristie2024 has a theme this year of through the decades.  January – March were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1920’s, April through June were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1930’s, July through September were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1940s and 1950s, and October through December were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1960s and 1970s.   Elephants Can Remember was published in 1972 and was the last novel written to feature Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver.  Curtain:  Poirot’s Last Case was published after this but was written in the 1940s.  This is the December selection for #ReachChristie2024, but my hold came in October so that was when I read it!

Author Ariadne Oliver is at a literary luncheon when a strange woman, Mrs. Burton-Cox states that her son Desmond is engaged to Ariadne Oliver’s goddaughter, Celia.  She wants to know, did Celia’s mother kill her father or did her father kill her mother?  Both were shot with a revolver, found between them, with both of their fingerprints, and none other on them.  This sparks Ariadne’s curiosity, and she starts to investigate the cold case.  Will she be able to solve it using other’s memories from twelve years ago?  Will her friend, Hercule Poirot, be able to help her out?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I like how Ariadne is the primary investigator in this novel with help from her friend, Hercule Poirot.

·       The phrase “elephants can remember” comes up a lot.  People state it discussing how elephants remember everything.  This novel deals with memories and how they play into being interviewed, and oral testimony.

·       Always trust the dog, the family dog bit Celia’s mother the month before her death.  Why?  I liked that the mystery was partially solved by the actions of the dog.

·       This book features twins.  I always like when twins are in a mystery.

·       This book again brings up adoption and “real parents” and “real kids.”  This type of language made me uncomfortable.

·       This time I did mostly figure out the conclusion, but I still enjoyed the journey and explanation from Hercule Poirot.

·       Hugh Fraser is a great narrator for Agatha Christie’s novels.

Overall, Elephants Can Remember was an interesting Agatha Christie mystery dealing with memory set in the 1970s.