Samantha's Agatha Christie Oeuvre Reading Challenge

I’ve long held the desire to read all of Agatha Christie’s detective novels and short stories in publication order. So this year, I’m just going to do it! I will be counting detective novels (66) and short stories (152) separately. I won’t review short story bundles, but each individual story separately. I will also re-read the books I’ve read previously and add an addendum to the already published review about how it holds up when re-reading the story.







During this challenge I will be following the reading order list from agathachristie.com.

Publications 1920-1945

1920 - The Mysterious Affair at Styles - 5 stars - Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp
1922 - The Secret Adversary - 4 stars - Tommy and Tuppence, Albert Batt
1923 - Murder on the Links - 4 stars - Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings

Reserved for publications 1945-1976.

Oh I keep meaning to do this too. Damn. Just not enough time to read!

I started slowly working on reading all of Agatha Christie's books a few years ago, so far I have been jumping around, maybe now I should continue on in publication order.

I've been re-reading her books in publication order very slowly over the last couple of years. At the rate I'm going (one every 2 or 3 months) it will take me several more years to get through the rest. I've got you starred so I can follow your progress.

4, majkia > No, there isn't - but since it'll also clear a lot of TBR books from my stack, I figured I should just do it.

5, DeltaQueen > Until now I've been jumping around too, but I've heard that reading them in publication order adds something to it - since you see the progression of Christie as an author as well. So I figured, since I'm going to be reading all her novels, I might as well do it this way.

6, cbl_tn > I don't think I'll go very fast either. Right now I'm planning on either 1 novel or 3 short stories a month. So it will take me several years to get through her oeuvre at that rate.

Can anyone recommend a nice set (or sets) of Christie's detective novels in print and available for purchase?

8> There are plenty of Agatha Christie novels available second hand and new on-line. Try Amazon, Bookdepository.co.uk, or Ebay.

9> Have you had your hands on any of the HarperCollins facsimile hardcovers? I'm considering picking up a batch. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0007265166/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&amp...

10 > No, I haven't, because most of my Agatha Christie's are in Dutch.

11> A reasonable explanation. :D

Meet Captain Arthur Hastings


Hugh Fraser as Captain Arthur Hastings

It’s funny that the very first character we meet in any of Agatha Christie’s writing is Hastings – the occasional sidekick of Hercule Poirot – and not the great detective himself. But Hastings is the narrator of Agatha Christie’s first book The Mysterious Affair at Styles. He met Poirot in Belgium before the happenings of the first book, and those who know Poirot will recognize the off the cuff remark of Hastings in the very beginning of the book. But when The Mysterious Affair at Styles first appeared, Poirot was unknown and it must have been a nice bit of foreshadowing that many readers might have overlooked.

Hastings was originally added to the book as a proper, British sidekick for the Belgian Poirot, and even Agatha Christie herself admitted that he was rather stereotypical. He’s an upper class British officer with a penchant for women with auburn hair, and he resembles Arthur Conan Doyles Dr. Watson in his role in the stories. But as Agatha Christie’s confidence in her writing grew, she had less and less need for Hastings, and as she didn’t much like writing him, she married him off and so he was out of the picture. He made some come-backs, most notably in the very last Hercule Poirot mystery Curtains: Poirot’s Last Case. In the end, Hastings appeared in only eight novels as well as a number of short stories.

Despite his few appearance in Agatha Christie’s writing, Hastings remains the most-loved sidekick of Hercule Poirot. This is mainly due to his frequent appearances in tv adaptadtions, which were either short stories where he had appeared in, or he was writing in the plot, like with the tv adaptation of Murder in the Mews. Hugh Fraser’s portrayal of Hastings in the ITV adaptations is perhaps the best one.

I love Hugh Fraser as Hastings. You may be interested in the many Agatha Christie audio books that are narrated by Fraser.

Another Hugh Fraser fan here. I can't think of Hastings without thinking of Hugh Fraser. I've listened to many of his audio narrations. Of course, he sounds "right" as Hastings since he played him on TV. He also does a wonderful Poirot voice that doesn't sound anything like Hastings!

14 & 15> I've never been a big Hastings fan, probably because he's always paired with Poirot and I've never been a huge Poirot fan. Don't get me wrong, some of the best Agatha Christie novels are Poirot stories, but as a detective I'd much rather have Tommy and Tuppence or Miss Marple.

Meet Hercule Poirot


David Suchet as Hercule Poirot

Hercule Poirot is perhaps Agatha Christie’s most famous creation. This Belgian detective started out as a police officer, but by the time of his first appearance in The Mysterious Affair at Styles he’s already a private detective. He ends up in England as a refugee from the First World War, and thus begins his illustrious career on the British Isles. Poirot is an arrogant, has many eccentricities, and is oh, so proud of his mustache! He’s also modeled after Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, as he too uses minute clues and his “little, grey cells” to solve a case. He’s also known for his rather dramatic revealing of the murderer, something he takes great enjoyment in.

Poirot was not a favorite of Agatha Christie to write – his many quirky mannerisms became annoying to her. However, she kept writing about Poirot. In the end, he appeared in thirty-three novels and fifty-four short stories. The last book he appears in is Curtains: Poirot’s Last Case. On Poirot’s death in 1975 he became the only fictional character in history to be honored with an obituary on the front of The New York Times.

Many tv adaptations were made of Poirot’s cases, and he was played by many actors. But despite this, David Suchet’s portrayal of Hercule Poirot is perhaps the most convincing. Agatah Christie herself never saw Suchet as Poirot, but her grandson Matthew thought him to be the best Poirot.

I agree that Suchet's is the best, most faithful portrayal of Poirot. I love Peter Ustinov, but thought his portrayal of Poirot was way off the mark. Apparantly, Christie's daughter,r Rosalind Hicks, was of the same opinion. And I'm still digesting Alfred Molina in the role (Murder on the Orient Express).

Meet Chief Inspector Japp


Philip Jackson as Chief Inspector Japp

Chief Inspector James “Jimmy” Japp is a Scotland Yard detective and a minor character in several of Agatha Christie’s novels. He first appears in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, but that’s not the first time he’s worked together with Hercule Poirot. With this last character added to Agatha Christie’s first book, the triumvirate based on Arthur Conan Doyle is complete: Hercule Poirot as Sherlock Holmes, Captain Hastings as Dr. Watson, And Chief Inspector Japp as Inspector Lestrade. I believe The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the only book where this is so clear.

Chief Inspector Japp is a competent detective, but always one (or more) step(s) behind Poirot. He greatly admires Poirot, but the reverse is not always true. Poirot likes Japp, but he’s not always impressed with his “lack of method.” Philip Jackson truly brought Japp to life on the screen.

Thanks for the mini-bios! I've put a hold on some of the older Poirot/Hastings adaptations from the library and seeing these pictures makes me wish the queue would move faster :)

20 > I'm seriously thinking about watching some myself :D.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1920) - 5 stars



The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the very first Agatha Christie story and features Hercule Poirot. It is set during World War One and Captain Hastings, an English officer, is invalided home. He stays with a friend at Styles Court and then the unthinkable happens – the wealthy owner Mrs. Inglethorpe is poisoned and dies. It’s a difficult case, but Hercule Poirot, a former Belgian police detective and now refugee from the war, investigates.

This first Agatha Christie novel is leaning heavily on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, as it too has a trio of investigators: Hercule Poirot, who looks for little clues, thinks things through and has his eccentricities, Captain Hastings, who chronicles the investigation and tries to do some detecting himself, and Inspector Japp, who is always one step behind Hercule Poirot. But on the other hand, The Mysterious Affair at Styles is also a great example of what would eventually be known as a classic Agatha Christie. It’s quintessentially English and the suspect pool is small – outsiders cannot have committed the murder, so it had to be one of them. This is a recurring theme in a lot of Agatha Christie’s novels.

The one detail I don’t get while reading was the leap to strychnine poisoning. Right after Mrs. Inglethorpe dies, Hastings makes a brief visit to the library where he finds a medical book with details on that poison – it’s the very first mention of the poison in the book. And then Poirot, when coming with Hastings to the manor, says that “right now the word is that it’s strychnine poisoning” – where are they getting that? Poirot must have heard it from Hastings, that’s his only source of information right then, but where did Hastings get the idea? The doctor says that Mrs. Inglethorpe’s symptoms resemble tetanus, which resembles strychnine poisoning according to the 1911 version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Was this common knowledge in 1920? I don’t know, it might have been.

Other than that one small detail, I loved this book. For a long time I actually thought I might have guessed the murderer, only to be proven wrong at the end. Nice twists, and when Poirot does his dramatic reveal at the end, it all made so much sense! A marvelously crafted mystery and a great first novel.

Hm, I never noticed that detail before! Well spotted! Styles was my first Christie and I was horrified by the scene where Mrs Inglethorp dies: a very painful death in the middle of the night, when everything seems so much scarier. I'm getting chills down my spine just thinking about it. What a great book.

23> I think it's a detail Christie forgot to mention - or not so much mention as expand upon for the layman - because she was so knowledgable about poisons and medicines herself. The character Cynthia, who is young and works in the apothecary in the hospital as a volunteer, is (in my opinion) a bit modelled after Agatha Christie herself. She worked in the apothecary of a hospital herself as a volunteer during World War One. That's also where she acquired her extensive knowledge about poisons - and why her poison-mysteries are always so factual and realistic.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1990 TV adaptation)

Dramatized by Clive Exton

With:

David Suchet as Hercule Poirot

Hugh Fraser as Hastings

Philip Jackson as Inspector Japp


Hercule Poirot and Hastings investigating Mrs. Inglethorp's murder at Styles Court

Beware, this review contains spoilers for both the book and the movie!

The TV adaptation of The Mysterious Affair at Styles remains fairly faithful to the original book. Some characters were scrapped, like the poison expert – his knowledge of poisons is simply given to the village doctor. Lawrence is now working at the hospital, instead of just going on a visit there – I thought it was a clever way to cut out a scene, but in the end they never used the Lawrence plot at all, except for his relationship with Cynthia and what he did to protect her. We meet Poirot in a different way for the first time. This is a fairly amusing episode, showing what kind of a man he is, but not in the book. Also, some clues we get a little earlier, some a little later, and some not at all, but in the grand scheme of things this does not matter.

There were only two instances of change that I found puzzling. The first one is that they made Captain Hastings a Lieutenant. Why? There’s no good reason for this, why not leave him as a Captain? It might seem like a minor detail, but it continued to annoy me every time Hastings was called Lieutenant.

The other change actually had me confused – never a good thing, whether in a book or in a movie. For some reason, in the movie John Cavendish loaned Mrs. Raikes 200 pound. This loan was not in the book, and it seemed to me as if the movie did away with the affair and replaced it with the secret loan – which gave rise to the rumor of an affair. In the end, I’m still not sure if in the movie John actually had an affair with Mrs. Raikes. If yes, the whole money thing could have been left out and much confusion could have been avoided. If no, I think it was left out to make the relationship (and reconciliation) between John and Mary seem more romantic – but then it really wasn’t clear that he never had an affair and everyone just thought he did.

But, despite these two shortcomings, it was a good movie that remained fairly faithful to the book. Recommended for those who enjoyed the book.

Meet Tommy and Tuppence


James Warwick and Francesca Annis as Tommy and Tuppence

Tommy and Tuppence are a detective couple created by Agatha Christie, and in all of their aspects slightly different than anything else Christie wrote. The books – four novels and a short story collection – are never just mysteries. For instance, the first book they appear in, The Secret Adversary, has many things in common with a spy thriller. The short story collection Partners in Crime sees Tommy and Tuppence emulating famous literary detectives – including Hercule Poirot! And, unlike Agatha Christie’s other creations, Tommy and Tuppence age in real time. Each book is set in a very specific time – giving real historical flavor to them – and their ages and lives have changed accordingly.

The first time the reader meets this detective couple, they are in their twenties and both single. Tommy Beresford is a former lieutenant that served in World War One. Tuppence, officially known as Prudence Cowley, is a childhood friend of Tommy and met him again briefly during Tommy’s stay in officer's hospital during the war. Both of them are unemployed now the war is over, and jobs are few and far between. Tuppence comes up with a scheme to make money – and so their adventures begin. Partners in Crime takes place six years later, and the detective couple is now married. In their middle years, we see them again in N or M?, where we learn they have three children who are all adults now and serving their country, something the couple also desires to do. We see them again thirty years later in By the Pricking of My Thumbs. The last novel, also the last novel Agatha Christie ever wrote (although not published), is Postern of Fate in which the couple is retired and can truly be called elderly – although still “young” enough to solve a mystery!

Tommy and Tuppence balance each other perfectly. Where Tuppence is impulsive, often even recless, she also has a great intuition and intelligence. Tommy, on the other hand, is much more staid and steady. He likes to plan and think things over. Both are right sometimes, and together they have all the qualities that make them work!

Samantha, I'm enjoying your exploration of Agatha Christie very much! I especially like the character sketches. it's a great way to keep all the various players in the various series straight.

27 > Thanks! Agatha Christie has many characters and re-used a lot of them, even if it's only in a minor role. It's easy to lose sight of that. There's much more continuity in her novels than you'd think!

Meet Albert Batt


Reece Dinsdale as Albert Batt

Albert is the faithful companion to Tommy and Tuppence ever since their first adventure. He comes into their lives as an elevator boy in The Secret Adversary, where Tuppence uses his love for cheap detective novels to get his help. In Partners in Crime he helps the couple out by posing as the office boy. In the other novels, he is both friend and butler to the couple. Like Tuppence he has intuition and often finds clues, but he also thinks up far too many wild ideas about criminals. He’s a bit of comic relief, often plays a minor role, but without him Tommy and Tuppence would be lost. It’s therefore not weird that Albert plays a part in all of the Tommy and Tuppence novels and short stories.

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (1922) - 4 stars



The Secret Adversary is the first Tommy and Tuppence novel and is not a traditional mystery. Although a mystery is central to the story, the story leans towards a thriller. Tommy and Tuppence, both in their early twenties, get involved in stopping a plot to bring revolution to the country. The key to it all is some documents, and the girl who knows where they are. But the girl, Jane Finn, is missing – which is where Tommy and Tuppence come in. The two friends are amateurs, but due to circumstances they’re in exactly the right position to search for Jane Finn, but the clock is ticking.

Some reviews comment on the believability of the storyline, and say that it’s not realistic. I don’t know enough about the time period in England to know exactly how believable the revolution scare is – but I’m inclined to believe it’s possible, given the state of Europe at the time. And once you know who Mr. Brown, the primary adversary, is, everything falls in its place and makes sense. Also, Tommy and Tuppence were young – around twenty years old – when World War One begun and they went from a quiet, provincial life to fighting for their country. With Tommy at the front and Tuppence in a hospital for wounded soldiers, both saw plenty of action and horror. Is it any wonder they thirst for adventure and action now that the war is over and they’re both out of a job? So all in all I think the storyline is believable.

There were some very nice moments in this. Inspector Japp, introduced in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, makes a small appearance – as in, he’s mentioned briefly. Albert, an elevator boy, gets involved through Tuppence and he’s always good for a laugh. Also, the identity of Mr. Brown was a nice little twist. However, this novel does have a downside. There’s definitely some stereo-typing in this novel, especially the American millionaire Julius Hersheimmer is turned into a bit of a caricature. For that reason, I’m only giving this novel 4 stars. But, on the whole, I liked this novel very much.

The Secret Adversary (1983 TV adaptation)

Adapted by Pat Sandys

With:

Francesca Annis as Tuppence

James Warwick as Tommy

Reece Dinsdale as Albert Batt


Tommy and Tuppence receive their assignment to find Jane Finn.

Beware, this review contains spoilers for both the book and the movie!

The short prologue of the movie – what little we see of the Lusitania as it’s attacked – really doesn’t tell us anything at all. This in contrast to the prologue of the book, which tells us enough to make sense of some things. The information we get early on in the book is not revealed until later in the movie, and I’m not sure that was a wise decision. I think a little more information up front could have helped the movie.

The story is much more smooth and streamlined in the book than in the movie – it sometimes felt as if they jumped from place to place. One scene was followed rapidly by another, with sometimes little rhyme or reason to it. However, if you’re not familiar with the book, you might not notice this abruptness. On the other hand, sometimes I got the feeling that knowing the book enabled me to follow the movie – never a good sign. This was only for the first part of the movie, it got better after the Tuppence goes undercover as a maid. But the feeling never completely went away.

Later in the movie, some more significant details are shifted around or changed, but it does not affect the story too much. It does give you pause if you’ve read the book, a kind of “wait, what?” moment every other scene. But the ending is true to the book, and in my opinion one of the best parts of the movie.

But the absolute best part were the costumes and décor. They’re are amazing! The whole movie really breathes that 1920s atmosphere and Tommy and Tuppence really come to life. Just for that I’d watch the movie, but when it comes to the storyline it sorely disappoints. The book is far superior to the movie, and I think the movie could have been much better. So in the end, great for creating a picture in my head for when I read the book again, but otherwise not a success.

Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (1923) - 4 stars



World War One is over, and Captain Hastings and Hercule Poirot are sharing an apartment in London. Poirot has started working as a private detective, and he’s hired by a wealthy gentleman. But when Poirot and Hastings get to France, it’s already too late – Poirot’s client has been murdered. Poirot feels honor bound to solve the murder. But with his investigation he pits himself against the famous French detective Giraud, a member of the French La Sûreté Nationale – the National Police, France’s version of Scotland Yard.

Poirot is not as annoying as I remember him. Perhaps because it’s only the second book he appears in and Agatha Christie’s third novel overall, she is not yet confident enough to truly make Poirot’s quirks take center stage. Or it could be because I was distracted by my annoyance at Hastings. Shouldn’t Hastings know – especially after the Styles case – that the unimportant things Poirot interests himself in usually are important clues? And the whole ‘falling in love at the drop of a hat’ thing he has going for him – in the last book, and now again – is annoying as well. I cannot say I mind that Hastings doesn’t appear often after this book. His clueless bumbling, without seeming to learn from his mistakes, will not be missed by me.

As for the mystery, I liked it. Some parts of the plot I actually figured out before the reveal, but most of it I didn’t – exactly how I like my mysteries. The competitive element between Poirot and Giraud is fun, especially considering their very different methods of coming to a conclusion. All in all, a good, strong mystery which I recommend.

Meet Colonel Race


James Fox as Colonel Race

Colonel Race is a character in four novels of Agatha Christie. He first appears in The Man in the Brown Suit, but is more known for his appearance in Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile as Hercule Poirot's friend. He's last seen in Sparkling Cyanide, where he's clearly older than in the other books.

Colonel Race is ex-army and now British Secret Service. He's MI5 and travels the world tracking down international criminals. He's an interesting character who gets most of his emotional depth in The Man in the Brown Suit.

What a fun idea! Agatha Christie is my favorite author of all time, and I have read all her books and short stories, but never thought of reading them in publication order. This may be something I have to try, as I love re-reading (and collecting) her books.

Col. Johnny Race is one of my favorite Christie characters. I would love to someday see a really good portrayal of him in film; David Niven in the feature film of Death on the Nile was just too dapper to be believable as Christie's "man of unannounced comings and goings," (if I'm recalling the phrase correctly).

I'm still working on reading all Agatha Christie's mystery novels and short stories, but I haven't read much at all this year. I'm planning to join Colonel Race chasing down The Man in the Brown Suit during January, though!