All About Agatha (christie)

Well, this turned out to be rather a delightful read, despite a surprising number of unpleasant characters of the male persuasion. Perhaps that is the ultimate revenge of our plucky heroine, Emily Trefusis (not to mention Dame Agatha herself), in this, our very first standalone novel. So make yourself a hot cocoa (sans strychnine, please) and come enjoy with us the wintry wonders of Devon....

Irish brides, Chinese boxes, Dutch murders... this mini-thriller masquerading as a Poirot short story has it all! Except for clues. But what it is lacking in clues it makes up for in FUN, particularly in the Suchet adaptation.... Woe to those who find themselves in a cell block next to "Mad Dog" Poirot. It's only a matter of time before he figures out how to make a shiv out of that mustache comb.

It isn't often we're more critical than adoring of *both* a Christie story and its adaptation, but that seems to be the case here. I guess you could say where there's a missing will, there's a missing way. (Oof; just because you *could* say that doesn't mean you should....)We actually had a lot of fun exploring our different issues with each medium here. So put on your best suffragette-white outfit and come spend a spell with "new woman" Violet Marsh.

Introducing… Miss Jane Marple! We could not be more thrilled to have reached, at long last, Dame Agatha’s most celebrated amateur detective. Join us as we endeavor to untangle not just the rather traditional puzzle mystery we find in this novel, but the character of Miss Marple herself. Is she a cynical yet well-meaning old lady with a knack for problem solving, or is there something more devious, even sinister about her powers of observation and inference? Come take a listen before you too fall victim to “sleepy sickness” and turn into a completely different person. (No, seriously: that is a thing in this book. It’s very weird. And not at all a spoiler because it has nothing to do with... anything.)

This one is a comely little Christie puzzle that is definitely not going to win any awards for ingenuity, but it's pleasant enough to read. And to discuss. Warning: you might not want to sit down to this one with a cup of coffee. Or a rice soufflé. Or any food, really.... (That's not a spoiler: when Hercule Poirot stares at the remains of a meal for as long as he does at the beginning of this story, you know the meal has to be significant.)

This week's pleasing Poirot puzzle is noteworthy for a few reasons: 1) it features Agatha Christie's recitation of the different ways a person might disappear, written five years *before* her own disappearance; 2) the Suchet adaptation features a bit of delightful wordplay involving a parrot; and 3) that same parrot leads to perhaps the greatest Hastings putdown ever recorded. Poor, poor Hastings....

Join us as we frantically dig our way out of the grand old estate of Chimneys (last visited in The Secret of), like cartoon convicts shoveling our way to freedom.... This is the last of the early Christie thrillers, and if you haven't had your fill of secret societies, happily-ever-afters, or clock masks, you're in luck. There are actually some bright spots here; this may be Christie's most Wodehouse-ian novel yet.

This one gets pretty political! (Because if there's one thing we're missing these days, it's politics....) However, it's at least OLD politics (also known as history), taken from four discrete periods: 1918(ish), 1923, 1936, and 1990. Join us as we two Americans attempt to speak somewhat intelligently about what's been happening across the pond all these years.... Also, this may in fact be our most Irish episode; even Liam Neeson makes a guest appearance!

Back in 1925 Agatha Christie published a short story called "Traitor Hands," which would go on to spawn a successful play and several film adaptations, including the celebrated "Witness for the Prosecution" directed by Billy Wilder, as well as the rather luscious BBC miniseries that aired this past Christmas. Join us as we examine the original story alongside the original play while also taking a closer look at these two adaptations. Wanna kiss me, ducky?!

Tell people you're reading a Christie novel set on a train--a Poirot, no less--and they'll almost definitely think you're reading Murder on The Orient Express. And you might be! But you might also be reading The Mystery of the Blue Train, which predates its much more famous sibling by a few years.... Climb aboard with us and traverse not just the French countryside but a hybrid whodunit/thriller centered on murder, adultery, priceless jewels, and a 33-year-old woman who is apparently in the "autumn" of her life (!!). This one definitely was not Christie's favorite, but we found a lot to enjoy here.

We’re going true-crime for this one… or is that true-hoax? Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction, and Agatha Christie’s real-life disappearance for eleven days in 1926 is the perfect encapsulation of this phenomenon. Join us as we unravel the mystery as best we can, including its impact on our beloved author’s work and overall career. There’s also a movie from the ‘70s starring Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman that is… interesting. Let’s discuss.

Put on your thinking cap and solve this bare-bones locked-room logic puzzle with us. Then discard your thinking cap and revel in the theater-filled antics of the much more robust Suchet adaptation. Is "Pearls Before Swine" the best title, EVER, for a play? Undoubtedly. Is Poirot constitutionally capable of taking a proper holiday? Not a chance.

Do you believe in spirits? Well then M. Poirot believes in YOU. Especially if you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of a murderer willing to kill FOUR people (so... a serial killer) for the slim possibility of a hastily scribbled note passing muster in a probate court as a legitimate will. Join us on one of Dame Agatha's early, pre-Mallowan, archaeological digs.... Hope the sand and heat don't bother you as much as they do Poirot!

How do you fit a square peg in a round hole? Awkwardly! In this case the square peg is our beloved M. Poirot, and the round hole is one of Dame Agatha's breezy thrillers from her early years. And yet all is not lost: there is much to love in this episodic novel--and in its adaptation, aired during the final, sepia-tinted season of the Suchet series.... It's 2017 and our resolution is to read as much Christie as possible; let's do this.

What better way to celebrate the holiday season than with a very special Christmas-themed episode? Join Poirot as he partakes of a traditional English Christmas involving pudding, mistletoe, a fresh blanket of snow, a jewel thief, a drugging, and a possibly dead child atop said blanket of snow. You know, the usual.... But really, this one is quite lovely. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Toot, toot: all aboard the transatlantic steamer "Olympia," where a robbery has occurred. Or has it? Join us as we pick apart this elegant yet unfairly presented short story, and then revel in the maritime hijinks of the Suchet adaptation.... Hope you're not prone to "mal de mer" like poor Captain Hastings. Oh, Hastings.

Ah, finally, our first real classic. A great, inventive, rule-breaking classic. Before there was "Gone Girl," our inimitable Dame Agatha was playing the long narrative con. Plus, we get Poirot in all his masterful gamesmanship, sly as ever. A certain murderer may have wished that mustachioed Belgian had never retired and gone to grow vegetable marrows, but we (and justice seekers everywhere) are so much the better for his countryside foray.

We all know getting the flu isn't fun, but if you're Hercule Poirot, this dreaded illness has the extra side-effect of unleashing an un-chaperoned Captain Arthur Hastings on the world as replacement detective.... Let's review the hijinks together, shall we?

Are you a reader who loved "The Man in the Brown Suit" but found it sorely lacking in English country homes? Well, fear not, because this week's episode tackles a Christie novel overflowing with rose gardens, secret passageways, and... chimneys. Does the novel also bear a somewhat suspicious similarity to the plot of our last novel? It does! Join us as we explore this similarity, as well as the intricacies of fictional Balkan geopolitics, diamond thievery, and... chimneys... in this, Superintendent Battle's first case.

Call it what you will: a flat, an apartment, a love-nest, a pad.... A humble abode is hard to find--especially, apparently, if you live in early Twentieth Century London, where a cheap flat just may get you assassinated.... Come discuss this rather silly and shakily constructed short story, which redeems itself with yet another excellent Suchet adaptation.