Agatha Christie Re-Read Project #7: Books 24 - 27

Christie re-reads have been happening! I find them relaxing in between new books - gives my brain a rest of sorts, while still engaging me enough to be enjoyable. I'm no longer even pretending to follow any kind of order, I'm just reading to mood now :-)

I'm almost at the halfway point now (27 read from a target 57), and overall, my feeling is that the books hold up very well as mysteries, somewhat well as entertainment, and are a very mixed bag in terms of cultural and social expectations and norms (some having some truly awful moments). 

That said, I am feeling confirmed in my view that Christie is the Grande Dame of the Golden Age for a reason. Her vivid, clever and original plots jump off the page, and are just as twisty and fun in 2025 as they were in the 30s, 40s, 50s etc. 

I am really enjoying the process, and the deep comfort it brings me to slide into old favourites when I'm tired, stressed, or otherwise over myself. It's also been great fun to discover some titles that I must have either skimmed over or not paid attention to at the time, as I am seeing things I did not remember at all (including, in a couple of delightful cases, having forgotten the murderer and getting to experience the joy of the reveal as a fresh thing).

When I first read this Miss Marple from the 1950s, I remember thinking it was a fun mid-band Christie, and on re-read, I find that my first judgement was basically spot on. 

The mystery itself is a pretty classic Christie-styled puzzle whodunnit, with a bracing crop of murders; clever, but not unfair (all the clues are there if you pay attention). Miss Marple's involvement, while slightly implausible in the sense that real police would have been unlikely to welcome it, at least has a narrative sense to it, given that the murdered maid, Gladys, is actually a minor character in earlier Marple books (so it makes sense that Miss Marple would involve herself in the matter, feeling a sense of obligation). 

The book's cast of characters are all stereotypes of familiar Christie folk (the Unscrupulous and Unpleasant Financier Patriarch, the Staid Timid Businessman Eldest Son, the Black Sheep Charming Prodigal Son, the Slightly Neurotic Childless Wife, the Sex Bomb Gold-digger Wife, the Gigolo, the Enigmatic and Efficient Housekeeper, the Gentle Heroine Who Happens to be a Noblewoman etc), but they are all vividly sketched, and the action moves along at a good clip. 

There is very little, past the inevitable Christie classism, to raise hackles, and overall, it's an enjoyable one without having any features outstanding enough to make it a top-tier Christie. Liked it, didn't love it! 7/10.

From A Pocketful of Rye, I moved on to one of the purest classic-form whodunnits of the 1930s novels - the Poirot book, Cards on the Table.

This the book that introduces Ariadne Oliver, Christie's semi-avatar - the muddled, dramatic, but at heart very shrewd, detective novelist who becomes a friend of Poirot and appears with him in six novels, of which this is the first (and the occasion of their meeting). It also introduces four other characters who will recur in later Christie stories to greater and lesser degrees - Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, Major Despard, and Rhoda Dawes. As such, it is an important one to read for canon completionists, as it provides character back story that actually does matter later on.

It features probably the most straightforward of all set-ups - a man is murdered during a bridge party in a room with four other people. Each of the four has, based on heavy hints dropped by the man himself (the host, the slimy Mr Shaitana), possibly committed a murder in the past and gotten away with it. In another room, four representatives of criminal justice - Battle the policeman, Race the spymaster, Poirot the private detective, and Mrs Oliver the detective novellist - are also playing bridge. 

Four suspects and four sleuths equals a satisfying and engaging story that paces itself beautifully and manages to be fairly genuinely confounding for a fair stretch, which is impressive given the small size of the suspect pool. I remember really liking this one the first time I read it, and on re-read, I'm confirmed in that view. Very easy 8/10, might even have been higher except for the occasional racialised sneers at Mr Shaitana.

Next up was a Poirot from the 1950s, which made for an interesting counterpoint with A Pocketful of Rye (two post-war Christies side by side). 

The set-up for this one is mint Christie - Ariadne Oliver has been engaged by a nouveau-riche businessman, Sir George Stubbs, to design and run a murder treasure hunt as part of the attractions at a fete being held at the country manor he has recently purchased. Feeling uneasy about the whole set-up for reasons she can't quite enunciate, Mrs Oliver asks her friend, Poirot, to come down and give his opinion on the situation. In a a surprise to absolutely no one who has ever read a mystery novel, the faux murders become real ones, and we're off.

There's a lot to like about this book. It's a clever, strong mystery plot, with lots of satisfying twists, and a reveal that I didn't pick at all when I first read it (although I remembered it very well, so I didn't get a surprise this time!) I am a Christie reader who enjoys Mrs Oliver (not all fans do, some hate her), and I really liked the interplay between the two of them in this story. The writing is vivid and the characters, easily recognisable caricatures in most cases, fit the action of the plot very well.

That said, it has quite a lot of yikes moments for contemporary readers, on race, disability, and class. In particular, some of the commentary around Hattie Stubbs' intellectual disability and family origins in the Caribbean are jarringly awful. They are very much of their time, of course, but they do sour the book for me on re-read. For that reason, I give it 7/10 (without the bad bits, it would've been an 8 or even 8.5).

This is a later Miss Marple, published in 1962, and I'm so conflicted about it, because I think it has a pretty strong plot, but is so saturated in really repugnant ableism that it is hard for me to put that aside and enjoy it. I can't really say much more about that without spoiling the reveal, so let me say instead that I equal parts enjoyed and was saddened by the winds of change that Christie shows sweeping through the village of St Mary Mead, with the new housing developments in town.

I liked Miss Marple in this book a lot. Despite (or perhaps because of?) her advancing age, she is sharper, drier and less tolerant of fools than she has ever been, and her intellect is less masked under the fluffy Harmless Old Dear cover that sometimes gets irritating in the earlier Marples.

Overall, I am going to give it 6/10, because the sour taste it left behind is just too strong to score it as highly as its plot and character work would otherwise warrant.

RUNNING LIST

Poirot books targeted (highlighted when read):

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920): 6.5/10
2. The Murder on the Links (1923): 6.5/10
3. Poirot Investigates (1924, ss): 4.5/10
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926): 8.5/10
5. The Big Four (1927): 4/10
6. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928): 7/10
7. Peril at End House (1932): 7/10
8. Lord Edgware Dies (1933) 
9. Murder on the Orient Express (1934) 
10. Three Act Tragedy (1935) : 6/10
11. Death in the Clouds (1935)
12. The A.B.C. Murders (1936): 8.5/10
13. Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
14. Cards on the Table (1936): 8/10
15. Murder in the Mews (1937, ss): 7/10
16. Dumb Witness (1937) 
17. Death on the Nile (1937) 
18. Appointment with Death (1938)
19. Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938): 8/10
20. Sad Cypress (1940)
21. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940) 
22. Evil Under the Sun (1941): 8.5/10
23. Five Little Pigs (1942): 9/10
24. The Hollow (1946) 
25. The Labours of Hercules (1947, ss)
26. Taken at the Flood (1948) 
27. Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952)
28. After the Funeral (1953) 
29. Hickory Dickory Dock (1955)
30. Dead Man's Folly (1956): 7/10
31. Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
32. The Clocks (1963)
33. Third Girl (1966)
34. Hallowe'en Party (1969)
35. Elephants Can Remember (1972)
36. Poirot's Early Cases (1974, ss)
37. Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975) 

Miss Marple books targeted (highlighted when read):

1. The Murder at the Vicarage (1930, Novel): 7.5/10
2. The Thirteen Problems (1932, short story collection featuring Miss Marple, also published as The Tuesday Club Murders): 8/10
3. The Body in the Library (1942, Novel): 8.5/10
4. The Moving Finger (1943, Novel): 5.5/10
5. A Murder Is Announced (1950, Novel)
6. They Do It with Mirrors (1952, Novel) – also published in the United States as Murder With Mirrors
7. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953, Novel): 7/10
8. 4.50 from Paddington (1957, Novel) – also published in the United States as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!
9. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962, Novel): 6/10
10. A Caribbean Mystery (1964, Novel): 5/10
11. At Bertram's Hotel (1965, Novel): 8/10
12. Nemesis (1971, Novel)
13. Sleeping Murder (1976, Novel)

Tommy and Tuppence and stand-alone books targeted (highlighted when read):

1. And Then There Were None (1939): 8.5/10
2. The Pale Horse (1961): 8/10
3. The Secret Adversary (1922 novel): 5.5/10
4. Partners in Crime (1929 short story collection): 6/10
5. N or M? (1941 novel)
6. By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968 novel)
7. Postern of Fate (1973 novel)