Countdown John's Christie Journal

#76 – Curtain

Poirot invites Hastings to come to Styles Court to go hunting with him for one last time. He has identified five cases of murder, where the obvious suspect was arrested and often found guilty, sometimes even confessing to the deed, and yet he insists that they were in fact all carried out by a mysterious X who is one of their fellow guests. Poirot believes X is planning to kill again and hopes to forestall him but this time he may have met his match.

My somewhat negative thoughts about this book are perhaps rooted in the fact that I foolishly read the end of it for the first time in a secondhand bookshop as it was one that we didn’t have at home. I still have no idea why I did it and I really wish I hadn’t as I never appreciated its undoubted cleverness properly but psychologically I just don’t think things would have happened to these characters as they do.

All in all though, as Poirot’s final case, it is a must read, and a great improvement on some of his later cases.

Recurring Character Development

Hercule Poirot

His health has been deteriorating for some time. He is now crippled by arthritis and has to use a wheelchair.

Captain Hastings

His wife has died.

He has four previously unmentioned children. One boy in the Navy, the other married and running the family ranch in the Argentine. Grace has married a soldier and is living in India. Judith is staying at Styles with her employer and his wife.

Signs of the Times

Written in the early 1940s, although deliberately held back from publication until the 1970s, the story is set maybe at most five years’ after the end of WWII, which causes a problem given that Poirot continued his career well into the 1960s. Maybe this is what happened in a parallel universe?

References to previous works

As on his first visit to Styles, Hastings sees a woman gardening as he enters the grounds, not Evelyn Howard this time, but Mrs Luttrell.

There is a slight spoiler for “The ABC Murders” and slightly more for “Sad Cypress” although Hastings refers to Evelyn Carlisle when he means Elinor Carlisle.

#76 – Curtain – WITH SPOILERS

Unlike my normal spoiler posts, this includes spoilers the whole way through. You have been warned.

Poirot is so adamantly against murder (although he has on occasion let a killer go free or take an easier way out than the hangman’s rope) that I feel he should have been able to find another way. I do however enjoy the fact that Hastings becomes an unwitting killer by turning the revolving bookcase thus switching the poisoned cup back to Mrs Franklin.

All in all though, as Poirot’s final case, it is a must read, and a great improvement on some of his later cases.

Recurring Character Development

Hercule Poirot

His health has been deteriorating for some time. He is now crippled by arthritis and has to use a wheelchair.

Captain Hastings

His wife has died.

Signs of the Times

References to previous works

As on his first visit to Styles, Hastings sees a woman gardening as he enters the grounds, not Evelyn Howard this time, but Mrs Luttrell.

There is a slight spoiler for “The ABC Murders” and slightly more for “Sad Cypress” although Hastings refers to Evelyn Carlisle when he means Elinor Carlisle.

Poirot refers to an Iago type killer in “Peril at End House”:

“Such a jealousy as drove the Iago of your great Shakespeare to one of the cleverest crimes (speaking from the professional point of view) that has ever been committed.”

“Why was it so clever?” I (Hastings) asked, momentarily diverted.

“Parbleu – because he got others to execute it. Imagine a criminal nowadays on whom one was unable to put the handcuffs because he had never done anything himself.”

It is interesting that Poirot uses “when” rather than “if” in “Death in the Clouds” when replying to Inspector Japp who jokes that he is the murderer because the blowpipe was found down the back of his seat: “When I commit a murder it will not be with the arrow poison of the South American Indians.” Later Japp says ” Well, detectives do turn out to be criminals sometimes – in story books.”

They banter again in “Murder in the Mews” which leads Poirot to say: “My dear Japp, if I committed a murder you would not have the least chance of seeing how I set about it! You would not even be aware, probably, that a murder had been committed.”

The short story “The Dream” collected in “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” ends thus:

“I wonder of you’ll ever commit a crime, Poirot” said Stillingfleet.” I bet you could get away with it al right. As a matter of fact, it would be too easy for you – I mean the whole thing would be off as definitely too unsporting.”

“That,” said Poirot, “is a typical English idea.”

“The ABC Murders” includes the following prophetic exchange:

“I shouldn’t wonder if you ended by detecting your own death,” said Japp, laughing heartily. “That’s an idea, that is. Ought to be put in a book.”

“It will be Hastings who will have to do that,” said Poirot, twinkling at me.

“Ha, ha! That would be a joke, that would,” laughed Japp.

The Red Death Murders (2022) by Jim Noy

Jim Noy has been reviewing self-published crime fiction for several years on his blog, so in an unusual case of gamekeeper turned poacher, he’s self-published his own novel of murder. Given when he doesn’t like what he’s read he doesn’t pull his punches then either he’s got a lot of nerve or it must be at least better than average.

The story is seen through the eyes of Thomas, the thirteen year old servant of Sir William and Sir Marcus Collingwood. The Red Death, a plague spread through blood to blood contact, has swept the land and whilst the castle was once full of those who had responded to Prince Prospero’s invitation, hoping that he had a plan to combat the sickness, only a handful of men now remain.

Shortly after the Prince has been attacked by a figure dressed as the Red Death who then vanishes into thin air, Thomas finds Sir Oswin Bassingham dead in the locked privy and despite initial appearances it is clearly not suicide. And soon there are signs that despite all their precautions the Red Death has got into the castle.

Noy has taken the environment of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” (included with brief notes at the end as a bonus), expanded it into a world that feels real, chucked in a fistful of GAD tropes (including a six part Challenge to the Reader), given it a good shake and come up with something very clever indeed.

The hexagonal shaped castle deserves a set of floor plans but I completely understand why that wasn’t possible and whilst I’m fairly sure I understand the method used for the locked lavatory murder I’d like to see a YouTube video showing it actually happening, which from someone who experimented on “The Ten Teacups” shouldn’t be too much of a stretch, surely?

But these are minor quibbles and to conclude I am more than happy to say that it stands up to anything else I’ve read so far this year (including Brand, Carr, Christie, and Gardner) and I can’t recommend it highly enough. You won’t be disappointed.

Maigret’s World (2017) by Muriel Wenger and Stephen Trussel

Having read through the complete Penguin re-translation of the 75 Maigret novels it was inevitable that I would buy this book at some time. The following is what I took from it:

The very first point considered by the book is what is Maigret’s first name? Jules is the answer – except it isn’t. In “Lock No. 1” it is given as Joseph and the subject never comes up again until “Maigret’s First Case” when he becomes Jules. I assumed that in the new Penguin editions this would have been corrected but I was wrong. If publishers are going to change historic texts to remove potentially offensive language, then surely they should also be correcting errors like this?
Is a French sergeant senior to an inspector? Or is the translation of the ranks unclear? I’d vaguely thought about this before but Sergeant Lucas is definitely Maigret’s righthand man and, more importantly, he has his own room, whereas Janvier, Lapointe et al all sit in the inspector’s room. I’ve tried to look this up but with no success.
There is a whole section on which of his subordinates Maigret uses “tu” and “vous” with. The first puzzle of French lessons was the professeur beginning “Right so you will call me “vous” but I’ll call you “tu” unless there are two of you and then you’re “vous” too”. This is followed by discovering gendered nouns: le chien, le chat, le lapin, but la souris. This gives a misplaced confidence when starting German lessons: Ah, I know this, der Hund, der Katze, der Kaninchen – no, no, Katze is feminine – but in French it’s masculine, you mean gender is not consistent across languages? – yes, and by the way it’s das Kaninchen, German adds in a third gender, neuter – well if that isn’t the daftest thing I’ve ever heard!
We discover that Mme. Maigret’s often mentioned sister must actually be four separate women all with different husbands and offspring.

There is so much more than my personal highlights above: detailed analysis of the inspector’s habits (the pipes he smokes, what he wears, what he eats, and of course, what he drinks), his relationships, where he travels to, what the weather’s like, and even that a character’s first name can predict whether they are likely to be a killer.

A must for fans of the series.

Turning Japanese #14: Death of the Living Dead (1989) by Masaya Yamaguchi (translated by Ho-Ling Wong)

Murder mysteries involving the undead translated from the Japanese are like buses: you wait ages for one and then two come along at once. But whereas Death Among the Undead involved zombies created from a single incident who then lose all sense of self and become part of a horde dedicated to making more zombies, in this book an unexplained worldwide phenomenon means that a number of people across the world have come back from the dead, retaining their personalities and the ability to act but with no detectable signs of life such as a pulse or brainwaves.

It is against this backdrop that we come to Smile Cemetery, Tombsville, New England, run by the Barleycorns, a typical dysfunctional GAD family headed by a dying patriarch who is about to change his will. Murder inevitably follows but in a funeral home there is plenty of scope for bodies to get mixed up, which is added to by the fact that the newly deceased may themselves be responsible for some of the confusion. Black comedy is laced through the narrative and the end of chapter 29 had me laughing out loud.

The explanation of everything that has been going on, when it finally comes, is brilliant and the clues were there, especially if the reader picks up on one key element of the solution. As a completely fooled reader I was very satisfied.

This book was named “King of Kings” by the Japanese Mystery Review Magazine when it ranked mystery novels from 1988-2018. Hopefully we will see more translation of Yamaguchi’s work, such as the award-winning “The Japan Mystery Case”.

Click here for more reviews of Japanese mystery fiction.

#75 – Poirot’s Early Cases

Summer 1974, the offices of the Collins Crime Club:

– What’s this year’s “Christie for Christmas” going to be then?

– Good point, she hasn’t submitted anything this year.

– What about that manuscript that’s been locked away for years? Can we do something with that?

– It’s only supposed to be published posthumously. She’s over eighty so there’s every chance that…

– Couldn’t we do something about that?

– Help things along you mean! Are you mad?

– I suppose that would be taking things a little too far. Hmm, how about getting in someone else to write a Poirot novel?

– That’s even crazier than your first idea! As if anyone else could possibly put together a plot worthy of Christie at her best. That’s never going to happen!

– Ah, weren’t there some short stories from the 1920s that have never been anthologised?

– Well, yes, but they weren’t considered good enough for “Poirot Investigates” so I hardly feel…

– Surely they’re better than “Postern of Fate” and we published that.

– Point taken. Let’s do it!

Eighteen stories, which don’t set the world alight, but which, as they were written fifty years before, make a welcome change to Christie’s output of the late 60s and early 70s. The Adventure of the Clapham Cook, The Lemesurier Inheritance, Wasps’ Nest, and The Veiled Lady are my pick of the bunch.

The cases presented are:

The Affair at the Victory Ball (VB) – the first ever Poirot short-story. He solves the case without visiting the scene of the crime as he can deduce certain properties that is must have possessed.

The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (CC) – Poirot investigates the seemingly unimportant disappearance of a domestic servant which leads him to a murderer. This was the chosen to be first episode of the David Suchet TV series.

The Cornish Mystery (CM) – Mrs Pengelly consults Poirot, confiding in him that she thinks her husband may be poisoning her. When he comes down the next day, she is dead. Poirot engages in a neat bluff to gain the murderer’s confession.

The Adventure of Johnnie Waverley (JW) – a ransom is demanded before a kidnapping has even occurred. Can Poirot prevent the crime from being carried out?

The Double Clue (DC) – to leave one identifying possession at the scene of a crime may be regarded as a misfortune; to leave two looks like carelessness. Marks the first appearance of Countess Vera Rossakoff.

The King of Clubs (KC) – a clairvoyant reading the cards sees danger from the king of clubs and (by a one in fifty-two chance) it is that card that leads Poirot to the truth.

The Lemesurier Inheritance (LI) – a tale of a family curse, this features an excellent first line demonstrating Hasting’s pomposity and a killer final remark.

The Lost Mine (LM) – Holmes occasionally told Watson of cases that pre-dated their acquaintance and here Poirot does the same for Hastings with this tale set partly in Chinatown.

The Plymouth Express (PE) – a woman’s body is found in a train compartment and her jewel case is missing. This was expanded into the novel “The Mystery of the Blue Train”.

The Chocolate Box (CB) – Poirot relates a case set in Belgium when as a young policeman he failed. “Chocolate box” is to Poirot what “Norbury” is to Holmes.

The Submarine Plans (SP) – Poirot is asked to find out who has stolen secret documents. This was expanded into “The Incredible Theft” collected in “Murder in the Mews”.

The Third-Floor Flat (TFF) – Poirot investigates a murder that has taken place in his own apartment building.

Double Sin (DS) – reluctantly going for a day trip in a motor coach Poirot finds himself on a busman’s holiday.

The Market Basing Mystery (MBM) – on holiday with Hastings and Japp, Poirot discovers a devious killer.

Wasps’ Nest (WN) – My namesake is helped by Poirot in a nasty case of poisoning.

The Veiled Lady (VL) – Poirot turns burglar to help a damsel in distress.

Problem at Sea (PAS) – despite his well known mal de mer Poirot takes a voyage which ends with a murder to solve.

How Does Your Garden Grow? (GG) – the evidence is not tidied away neatly enough and that is what leads Poirot to the murderer.

Recurring character development

Hercule Poirot

Has a bank balance of four hundred and forty-four pounds, four and fourpence and the only shares he owns are in the Burma Mines Limited (LM).

Assisted Ebenezer Halliday in an affair relating to bearer bonds (PE).

For unexplained reasons he takes a flat in the name of Mr O’Connor (TFF).

Once loved a beautiful English girl, but she could not cook (TFF).

Can speak English confidently with a slight Cockney accent (PAS).

Captain Hastings

It is specified that he was wounded on the Somme (VB).

His overdraft never seems to grow any less (LM).

Inspector Japp

Is an ardent botanist in his spare time (MBM).

Signs of the Times

Poirot is going to lay aside his winter coat “in the powder of Keatings” (CC). Keating’s Powder was advertised with the slogan “Kills with Ease, Bugs & Beetles, Moths & Fleas” – it would have made a significant change to the story of Julian Donaldson’s “Superworm”!

The cook’s trunk was taken by Carter Paterson (CC). This road haulage firm was founded in 1860.

References to previous works

David MacAdam, subject of “The Kidnapped Prime Minister” collected in “Poirot Investigates”, still holds that office and that case is explicitly referred to (SP).

He Died With His Eyes Open (1984) by Derek Raymond

The dead man was so low on the social scale that his case is immediately passed to the unnamed narrator, a detective sergeant of “A14 – Unexplained Deaths” who “work on obscure, unimportant, apparently irrelevant deaths of people who don’t matter and who never did”. At least that’s the view of outsiders – to the narrator and his colleagues “No murder is casual to us, and no murder is unimportant, even though murder happens all the time in a city like this”.

The D.S. is a loner who works alone, and so despite being official, follows in the private eye tradition. He gets to the know the victim through the latter’s cassette tape monologues – extracts of which seem to be building towards something of significance for the plot but which ultimately lead nowhere – and he makes his way through his family and acquaintances to try to find the murderer.

I thought this was going to be a tougher read than it was – maybe I was thinking of what I had read about a later book in the series – but what is found in a suspect’s house is repellant and just weird.

It’s safe to say that if the narrator of the Factory series was not included in the 100 Greatest Literary Detectives that I wouldn’t have given it a second glance. I did try to keep an open mind but as I expected this wasn’t my cup of tea. As the reference book itself says his “attempts to catch these killers do not rely on any extraordinarily acute investigative skills, on deduction, or on the accumulation of evidence” – so why was he even included on the list? Anyway, I’ve ticked him off now – the only way now is up.

Turning Japanese #13: The Village of Eight Graves (1951) by Seishi Yokomizo (translated by Bryan Karetnyk)

In 1566 eight samurai fled to the countryside following the surrender of their daimyo taking a great quantity of gold with them. The villagers who initially welcomed them soon betray them and the men’s dying leader places a curse upon them and their descendants. Six months later the ringleader, Shozaemon Tajimi, goes berserk killing seven people before taking his own life. To appease the spirits of the dead the villagers re-bury the eight men and create a shrine to them. They live in peace for the next few centuries but they never find the gold they had murdered for.

In the 1920s Yozo Tajimi, deserted by his abused mistress Tsuruko, goes on a rampage of his own, killing thirty-two people before fleeing into the mountains, never to be seen again.

In the late 1940s narrator Tatsuya Terada, son of the now deceased Tsuruko, is contacted by a lawyer on behalf of the Tajimi family, who because of the poor health of his half-siblings wish him to return to Eight Graves and become heir to the estate. Before he returns he receives a note warning him not to return home as that will only cause further bloodshed and then his maternal grandfather, sent to fetch him, is poisoned.

Undeterred, Tatsuya leaves the city behind him, but death follows him to Eight Graves and he is soon defending himself from the superstitious villagers and the police.

The story is related in the Had-I-But-Known style, which I am not that familiar with, but I do know that a male narrator in these cases is unusual. As a prime suspect in the case, Tatsuya is not taken into the confidence of the police or series sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi, and so we don’t see enough of the latter, which for me makes this the weakest of the three Yokomizo’s I’ve read. There are some good pieces of deduction, particularly in relation to the third murder, but these are few and far between until the final explanation is given.

There is far too much (ROT 13) ehaavat nebhaq va gur pnirf and quite how the feeble and fearful Tatsuya has guerr jbzra ehaavat nsgre uvz is a mystery.

Hopefully “Gokumon Island” due to be published in English in the summer will be better fare and more akin to the excellence of “The Honjin Murders”.

Previous posts in this series:

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada

The Moai Island Puzzle by Alice Arisugawa

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada

The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo

The 8 Mansion Murders by Takemaru Abiko

Death in the House of Rain by Szu-Yen Lin

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji – WITH SPOILERS

The Red Locked Room by Tetsuya Ayukawa

Ellery Queen’s Japanese Mystery Stories

Lending the Key to the Locked Room by Tokuya Higashigawa

Death Among the Undead by Masahiro Imamura

#74 – Postern of Fate

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford have just moved house and Tuppence is going through some old books when she finds that someone has underlined letters in a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Black Arrow” which spell out the message “Mary Jordan did not die naturally. It was one of us. I think I know which one”.

This is a good hook and comes at the end of the first chapter entitled “Mostly Concerning Books” which will resonate with any book lover.

However from thereon it is downhill all the way. Rambling conversation follows rambling conversation. Characters appear once and then never again.

Somehow all their new neighbours know about they did in the war. Tommy has to very pointedly remind Tuppence (and the reader) who Betty is. Tuppence says “It’s a crime we’ve got to solve. Go back to the past to solve it – to where it happened and why it happened. That’s a thing we’ve never tried before” which completely ignores “By The Pricking of My Thumbs” (it makes sense therefore that this is the only of their previous cases which is not mentioned).

I often add a separate spoiler post, but here this isn’t applicable as I couldn’t even tell you what was supposed to have happened!

There’s a (surely) unintended ironic criticism of the novel in the penultimate chapter:

“All those clues,” said Andrew. “You could make a story out of them – even a book.”

“Too many names, too complicated,” said Deborah. “Who’d read a book like that?”

“You’d be surprised,” said Tommy, “what people will read – and enjoy!”

This is another of the handful of late books that are for completists only. You’d be better off reading any of the books mentioned in the book than the book itself and the Christie estate would do well to cease publishing it immediately on the grounds that it is unrepresentative of the great lady’s work and could put a first time reader off for life.

Recurring Character Development

The Beresfords

They previously lived at Bartons Acre.

Their London house was bombed in their absence during WWII.

Tuppence had an Aunt Sarah.

Tuppence is over seventy.

Their daughter, Deborah’s, twins turn mentioned halfway through have metamorphosed into Andrew, fifteen, Janet, eleven, and Rosalie, seven, by the end of the book.

Albert

His wife , Amy, died some years ago.

Signs of the Times

Though there are contradictory references to when things happened in the past, for example when Tommy says that the events of “The Secret Adversary” were “…at least sixty of seventy years ago. More than that, even” when we know that was set in 1920, it seems most reasonable that the census relevant to the death of Mary Jordan was in 1911 and that the recent census “only last year, or was it the year before last” was in 1971. This idea of being able to get information on a historic crime because it happened at the time of a census is actually really good, although as Tommy says you would need to know the right people as the granular data is sealed for one hundred years.

Tuppence remembers reading “Androcles and the Lion” by Andrew Lang when she was eight. Lang (1844-1912) edited The Langs’ Fairy Books which comprised 25 volumes (1889-1913) and this particular tale was in The Animal Story Book (1896).

Tuppence refers to “Mrs Molesworth, The Cuckoo Clock, Four Winds Farm-” Mary Louisa Molesworth (1839-1921) has been called “the Jane Austen of the nursery”.

She also refers to “those stories about schools, where the children were always very rich – L. T. Meade, I think”. Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith (1844-1914) was primarily known for her books for young people such as “A World of Girls” (1886) but for fans of detection she is remembered for her work with Clifford Halifax and Robert Eustace.

Tuppence remembers Carter’s Little Liver Pills. This was a patent medicine invented in 1868 by Samuel J. Carter of Pennsylvania. “Liver” was taken out of the name in 1951 as the Federal Trade Commission said it was deceptive. A common saying was “He’s got more (fill in the blank) than Carter has Little Liver Pills”.

Tuppence refers to books by E. Nesbit including The Amulet (The Story of the Amulet – 1906) and The Psamayad (Five Children and It – 1902).

Beatrice refers to “the Marlborough House set”. This was the group of people associated with the future Edward VII when he lived there.

References to previous works

Christie has already used the quote about the gates of Damascus in the Parker Pyne short story “The Gate of Baghdad”.

Mention is made of “the Jane Finn business” from “The Secret Adversary”, Mrs Blenkinsop and Sans Souci from “N or M” and also a spoiler for that book.

Tommy has heard rumours about the events of “Passenger to Frankfurt” which links together what are by far Christie’s worst two novels.

The 5 False Suicides (2021) by James Scott Byrnside

Gretta Grahame receives a disturbing phone call from her Uncle Scotty who informs her of his sister’s recent death from taking an overdose. This brings back uncomfortable memories for Gretta as that is how her mother also died. Scotty goes on to explain that his father put a curse on his own family and that thirteen members have died at their own hand leaving only the two of them alive. They arrange to meet but when Gretta goes to his hotel a few days later she finds that he is already dead, apparently having taken an overdose.

In his final letter he tells Gretta to seek out Boroqe Risezak, the witch who helped grandfather Andrew, but who has now renounced his evil ways and will help her break the curse.

Gretta goes to visit Boroqe and he tells her that the curse can only be broken by visiting Heaven’s Gate, an island off the coast of Maine. So her murder-mystery book group accompany her for a weekend trip from which some of them will never return.

The opening chapter where we meet the MASONS (Murder-mystery Appreciation Society of New Sweden) is a delight as they discuss possible choices for their next read (Ngaio Marsh does not come out of this well although I agree with Gretta’s more positive view of “The Nursing Home Murders”) and then impossible crimes in general. Alice’s opinions on violence and gore are amusing given the author’s previous works are not short on horrific events, although they aren’t dwelt on, and this book is also no exception.

Not content with giving us a series of suicides that may be murders (or vice versa) JSB throws in a serial killer and the threat of wildfires. By about page 50 I knew I wasn’t going to bed until I’d finished so make sure you set aside a suitable time to read this in one sitting as once you’ve started you won’t want to stop.

The title is a clear nod to John Dickson Carr, which shows a great deal of confidence, but the final section of the book shows that it is well-placed. This is a brilliant homage to the Golden Age of Detection but done in JSB’s own distinctive style.