December 2019 – Countdown John's Christie Journal

Review of 2019

Highlights of the year for me have been:

So That’s What All the Fuss is About Award: Jointly to The Dutch Shoe Mystery and The Crooked Hinge because that is when I “got” Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr respectively for the first time.

Lifetime Achievement Award: I’d read “Tragedy at Law” and “An English Murder” before but reading through the complete novels of Cyril Hare was a great pleasure, particularly one character’s journey from despair to happiness. Suicide Excepted was the stand out title.

Yorkshireman Award for Best Value for Money: Jointly to “The Derek Smith Omnibus” (Locked Room International) and “4 Novels by Anthony Boucher” (Black Box Thrillers – Zomba Books). Smith only had Whistle Up the Devil published during his lifetime but left us with the excellent novel “Come to Paddington Fair” and “Model for Murder”, a Sexton Blake novella, which could only have been improved by cutting out some of the more thrillerish elements which, having not read any other SB stories, I assume are essential to it being an SB story. All four Boucher books have different points of interest but overall I was most satisfied with The Case of the Seven of Calvary.

Best Unseen Novel Award: “She Died a Lady” by Carter Dickson. I picked up a secondhand copy having read a review sometime ago and forgotten all about it and deliberately did not read the blurb. Everything, including the identity of the victim and the nature of the impossibility, was therefore unknown to me which ratchetted up the tension of the first section.

Best Short Story Award: “The House in Goblin Wood” by Carter Dickson. There aren’t many must read short stories but this one definitely is. I got it in a secondhand copy of “Twelve American Detective Stories” edited by Ed Hoch from which I also especially enjoyed “The Age of Miracles” by Melville Davisson Post, “The Episode of the Nail and the Requiem” by C. Daly King, and “One Drop of Blood” by Cornell Woolrich. If you would rather have a new book, I’m fairly sure it can be found in “Murder in Midsummer – Classic Mysteries for the Holidays” published by Profile Books.

Best Novel Award: I didn’t review it at the time, but overall for the mix of puzzle, solution, and general enjoyment it has to be “Sealed Room Murder” by Rupert Penny. Douglas Merton, narrator, is employed by his uncle, an enquiry agent, to investigate which of Harriet Steele’s relatives is playing malicious practical jokes on her. The jokes turn sour when the mistress of the house is found stabbed to death inside (you guessed it) a Sealed Room. The eventual solution is one that I’ve not seen before and I can’t imagine that anyone has had the chutzpah to duplicate it.

Happy New Year and here’s to reading even better GAD in 2020!

#48 – Crooked House

Charles Hayward returns to England two years after the end of the Second World War to propose to Sophia Leonides. She won’t consent to marriage until her grandfather’s death by poisoning has been resolved.

Whilst it would be convenient if Aristide Leonides had been murdered by his second wife and/or her lover, Sophia suspects that a family member could be responsible.

Charles, as son of an Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard, has a semi-official role in the investigation and hopes to get close enough to the Crooked Family in the Crooked House, but he can have no idea of what he will ultimately find.

Another tale of a family who have been financially spoiled, not always to their betterment, but this was one of Christie’s favourites as she explains in the foreword that this was a pleasure to write, which is only the case for one book in six.

There is also this description of the Leonides library: “It was a big room, full of books. The books did not confine themselves to the bookcases that reached up to the ceiling. They were on chairs and tables and even on the floor. And yet there was no sense of disarray about them.”

Who wouldn’t enjoy a room like that!

Signs of the Times

The story is set in autumn 1947.

Charles’ father says “There’s not even a case to put up to the DPP so far”. In England and Wales the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions reviews evidence gathered by the police and determines whether it is sufficient to be taken to court. Often in GAD fiction although the reader is satisfied that a case has been solved, it is likely that in the absence of the killer’s confession, the defence counsel would tear the solution to pieces.

Edith de Haviland says “Not nice to think one has a Borgia sort of person loose about the house”. The Borgia family produced two 15th century popes and were suspected for a number of murders, often by arsenic poisoning.

Magda Leonides wants to put on a play about Edith Thompson. In 1923 she and her lover Frederick Bywaters were found guilty of the murder of her husband Percy, although only he was the only one to stab the victim and there was nothing to suggest that she knew about his plans in advance.

Magda reminds Charles of Athene Seyler (1889-1990) an English actress.

On the day of Aristide’s death Magda was in London, lunching at the Ivy and then having a drink at the Berkeley. The Ivy is a restaurant founded in 1917, possibly named after the song “Just Like the Ivy, I’ll Cling to You” and became a favourite amongst theatre stars, partly as it opened until midnight. The Berkeley Hotel started life as the Gloucester Coffee House at some time in the 1800s before taking its current name in 1897.

The police ask Clemency Leonides if she is working on the atom bomb. Although the UK had worked with the USA on the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bombs, cooperation ended after the Second World War. Post-war the British continued their own work conducting their first independent tests in Australia in 1952.

Aristides was painted by the Welsh artist Augustus John (1878-1961) and his wife by the American artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).

When she met Aristide, Brenda believed that she was “in trouble – just like some dreadful little servant girl”, a euphemism for pregnant outside of marriage.

Magda says that the drawing up of Aristide’s will was like “The Voysey Inheritance”. This is a 1905 play by Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946).

Discussing poisoners, Charles’ father says “Pritchard was a good mixer”. He is presumably referring to Dr Edward William Pritchard (1825-1865) who poisoned his wife and mother-in-law with antimony for which he was hanged.

He later refers to Constance Kent who killed her baby brother. Four-year-old Francis Kent was murdered in June 1860. His 16-year-old half-sister Constance was arrested the next month but was released without charge. Five years later she confessed to the crime and was sentenced to death which was then commuted to life imprisonment. She was released in 1885 and the next year emigrated to Australia to join her brother. She changed her name to Ruth Emilie Kaye and trained as a nurse. She retired in 1932 and died in 1944 at the age of 100. Despite suspicions that she confessed to shield somebody else (possibly her father or brother) she never recanted her confession, even after their deaths.

Charles asks whether it will be difficult to send Josephine to school in Switzerland with all the currency regulations. A relatively common them in GAD fiction is how to get the proceeds of crime abroad and it seems controls were generally a lot tighter then than they are now.

Josephine refers to The Brains Trust. This was a radio programme which ran from 1941 (originally under the name Any Questions? which was later used for a different programme) until 1949 when it transferred to television and ran until 1961. Listeners sent in questions which the panellists would debate both seriously and/or comically. Panellists included Aldous Huxley, C. S. Lewis, and Ellen Wilkinson, the Labour MP and author of the 1932 novel “The Division Bell Mystery”.

Magda is reading a new play cribbed from Arsenic and Old Lace. This is a 1939 play by Joseph Kesselring, filmed in 1944 by Frank Capra starring Cary Grant.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

Fulfils “How – Death on wheels”. This means I have now completed the pre-1960 challenge in full.

#48 – Crooked House – WITH SPOILERS

Whilst it would be convenient if Aristide Leonides had been murdered by his second wife and/or her lover, Sophia suspects that a family member could be responsible.

Who wouldn’t enjoy a room like that!

Signs of the Times

The story is set in autumn 1947.

Magda reminds Charles of Athene Seyler (1889-1990) an English actress.

Aristides was painted by the Welsh artist Augustus John (1878-1961) and his wife by the American artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).

When she met Aristide, Brenda believed that she was “in trouble – just like some dreadful little servant girl”, a euphemism for pregnant outside of marriage.

Magda says that the drawing up of Aristide’s will was like “The Voysey Inheritance”. This is a 1905 play by Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946).

Magda is reading a new play cribbed from Arsenic and Old Lace. This is a 1939 play by Joseph Kesselring, filmed in 1944 by Frank Capra starring Cary Grant.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

Fulfils “How – Death on wheels”. This means I have now completed the pre-1960 challenge in full.

SPOILERS

The One Where the Child Did It. Another one where a suspect is overlooked, although Christie wasn’t the first author to use a juvenile murderer.

The clues are there: everybody in the house had heard Aristide detail how he could be murdered and everybody had access, but as in Chesterton’s “The Invisible Man” we put our own restrictions on who “everybody” is.

Charles’ father even explains that murderers are children who haven’t grown-up.

The police don’t fare well in this case – Aunt Edith had her suspicions but these were only confirmed when she found the diary – and for some reason Charles’ father thought this might be the case and yet did nothing about it.

First and Last Lines – A Christmas Quiz 2019 – The Answers

If you didn’t see the quiz first time round, then click here, otherwise scroll down for the answers. How many did you get? Be honest now!

First Lines

“Penny for the guy, sir?” Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie
It began, as a certain man remembered it, in a house in Pompeii. The Black Spectacles (a.k.a. The Problem of the Green Capsule) by John Dickson Carr
“You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?” Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie
From the very beginning the Khalkis case struck a sombre note. The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen
Warbeck Hall is reputed to be the oldest inhabited house in Markshire. An English Murder by Cyril Hare
Lije Baley had just reached his desk when he became aware of R. Sammy watching him expectantly. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
“Well, the war’s done one good thing at any rate. It’s got rid of all those damned railings.” Murder by Matchlight by E. C. R. Lorac
It all began one day in April when I went round to change a library book. The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons
To the unwary traveller, Didcot signifies the imminence of his arrival at Oxford; to the more experienced, another half-hour at least of frustration. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
In this narrative of mine I have departed from my usual practice of relating only those incidents and scenes at which I myself was present. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

Last Lines

“Pour moi, every time the central heating…” Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
“Tell him,” said Pettigrew happily, “to go and stick pins in himself.” With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare
“Just look at those two – actually holding hands! They’re rather sweet, aren’t they? We must do we all we can to make up to them for having such a dull time in the war…” N or M? by Agatha Christie
“I have committed another crime, Hadley,” he said. “I have guessed the truth again.” The Three Coffins (a.k.a. The Hollow Man) by John Dickson Carr
“Woof,” said Bob in energetic assent. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
“Sir, Our client, Lady Buntingford, instructs us most emphatically that she dispatched three undervests-” Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert
For as Mr Ferguson was saying at that minute in Luxor, it is not the past that matters but the future. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
“Let’s stab him and see if his ghost can come back and find out who did it.” Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate… Something like that. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
“That,” I said, “is Joanna’s little joke.” The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

First and Last Lines – A Christmas Quiz 2019

Do you know which book the following are taken from? They have all appeared on my blog this year so you can find a crib sheet of possible answers here.

This is just for fun so please don’t write any comments. I’ll post answers before New Year and you can mark your own.

Happy Christmas to you all!

First Lines

“Penny for the guy, sir?”
It began, as a certain man remembered it, in a house in Pompeii.
“You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?”
From the very beginning the Khalkis case struck a sombre note.
Warbeck Hall is reputed to be the oldest inhabited house in Markshire.
Lije Baley had just reached his desk when he became aware of R. Sammy watching him expectantly.
“Well, the war’s done one good thing at any rate. It’s got rid of all those damned railings.”
It all began one day in April when I went round to change a library book.
To the unwary traveller, Didcot signifies the imminence of his arrival at Oxford; to the more experienced, another half-hour at least of frustration.
In this narrative of mine I have departed from my usual practice of relating only those incidents and scenes at which I myself was present.

Last Lines

“Pour moi, every time the central heating…”
“Tell him,” said Pettigrew happily, “to go and stick pins in himself.”
“Just look at those two – actually holding hands! They’re rather sweet, aren’t they? We must do we all we can to make up to them for having such a dull time in the war…”
“I have committed another crime, Hadley,” he said. “I have guessed the truth again.”
“Woof,” said Bob in energetic assent.
“Sir, Our client, Lady Buntingford, instructs us most emphatically that she dispatched three undervests-“
For as Mr Ferguson was saying at that minute in Luxor, it is not the past that matters but the future.
“Let’s stab him and see if his ghost can come back and find out who did it.”
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate… Something like that.
“That,” I said, “is Joanna’s little joke.”

#47 – Taken at the Flood

Gordon Cloade omitted to make a new will after his surpise marriage and so his family, who he had been happily supporting, were left with serious money troubles following his untimely death during an air raid in 1944.

His widow Rosaleen inherited everything but the arrival in the village of Enoch Arden sets her and her brother against the rest of the Cloade family. The information he possesses, regardless of what it is, is of great value to both factions, but before he can share it he is found dead in his hotel from a blow to the head.

Enter Hercule Poirot, who happens to already have some information that could have a bearing on the case, but can he determine who Arden is and therefore who the murderer is?

This is a different take on the disinherited family from that normally seen in GAD: Gordon Cloade liked his family, supported them in their plans, and had intended this to continue after his death, yet by not updating his will was unable to do so. There is therefore some sympathy for the Cloade clan who are not a group of heartless, grasping individuals, particularly for Mrs Marchmont, who has worked hard during the war and is now exhausted, and for Jeremy and Frances who lost their only son and are now faced with financial ruin.

However as Poirot says “What happens to the ivy when the oak round which it clings is struck down?” This reveals the family in their true colours and the various levels of wrongdoing to which they will stoop to preserve what they believe to be their due.

Since “N or M?” which is set during the first year of World War II we have had six contemporary novels set pre-war but now we are finally post-war and it can be seen in almost every page.

This is a lesser known Christie, but is definitely a minor gem featuring many of her usual touches, which are still as light but deadly as ever.

Recurring character development

Hercule Poirot

Has a young friend, Mellon, who is a member of the Coronation Club.

An article about him has appeared in “Picture Post”.

Is slightly acquainted with Superintendent Spence of the Oastshire police. Spence has heard Chief Inspector Japp speak of Poirot and his “tortuous mind”.

Goes to church to pray.

Signs of the Times

Mellon teases Major Porter that he may be sued for slander “For he enjoyed creating alarm and despondency in such places it was not forbidden by the Defence of the Realm Act”. Shortened to DORA, this was legislation created in 1914 at the start of the First World War which was re-adopted for the Second World War. It included the following: “No person shall by word of mouth or in writing spread reports likely to cause disaffection or alarm among any of His Majesty’s forces or among the civilian population”.

Mrs Lionel Cloade bought a copy of “Picture Post” instead of her usual “New Statesman”. The former was a photojournalistic magazine published between 1938 and 1957 and was a UK equivalent of the US “Life” magazine. The latter is a political magazine first published in 1913 and is still issued weekly.

Lynn Marchmont was a Wren during the war, that is a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, which existed 1917-1919 and 1939-1993.

Lynn searches through the adverts in the newspaper which as well as having “former Wrens” seeking work also mention “Ex-W.A.A.F.” This was the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, created in 1939 and re-named the Women’s Royal Air Force in 1949 until 1994 when it was merged with the Royal Air Force.

It is mentioned several times that taxes have increased since the start of the war with the Marchmonts’ fixed income (presumably from investments) being halved as a result. However precious stones have doubled in value.

Mrs Marchmont had worked with the W.V.S. during the war. The Women’s Voluntary Service was created in 1938 to recruit women into local Air Raid Precautions Services. It has undergone several name changes and is now the Royal Voluntary Service which helps people in both emergencies and with long-term needs.

Jeremy Cloade has “all those old Stanley Weymans in his bedroom”. Stanley J. Weyman (1855-1928) wrote historical romances, often set in France, such as “The House of the Wolf” (1889) and “Under the Red Robe” (1895).

David Hunter served in the Commandos. They were formed in 1940 as Winston Churchill desired that the British military forces be able to make quick in and out attacks on German-occupied Europe.

David and Lynn both think of “Home is the sailor, home from the sea, and the hunter home from the hill” which is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Requiem”.

Lynn thinks of the line “life and the world and mine own self are changed” which is from the poem “Mirage” by Christina Rosetti.

Clothes rationing is still in place but Lynn has extra demob coupons and so will be able to get more than just “new undies” which most brides have to make do with.

Petrol is rationed but the police have discretionary powers to allow additional use where necessary.

Kathie Cloade has (what I assume is) a cat called Madame Blavatsky named after the founder of Theosophy, a vague nineteenth century religion.

Rowley plans to install an Aga or an Esse in the kitchen. The Aga cooker was designed in 1922 by Nobel-prize winning physicist Gustaf Dalén. He was blinded by an explosion and thus forced to stay at home where he found his wife was exhausted by cooking. As is the way with men, rather than just helping with the cooking, he designed a better cooker to reduce her workload! The Esse stove was created in the nineteenth century. Both brands are still going today.

References to previous works

Enoch Arden chooses to stay, on Rowley’s recommendation, at the Stag rather than the Bells and Motley. “At the ‘Bells and Motley'” is one of the Harley Quin short stories.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune” is from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” so fulfils “What – Title with a literary allusion”.

#47 – Taken at the Flood – WITH SPOILERS

Enter Hercule Poirot, who happens to already have some information that could have a bearing on the case, but can he determine who Arden is and therefore who the murderer is?

Since “N or M?” which is set during the first year of World War II we have had six contemporary novels set pre-war but now we are finally post-war and it can be seen in almost every page.

This is a lesser known Christie, but is definitely a minor gem featuring many of her usual touches, which are still as light but deadly as ever.

Recurring character development

Hercule Poirot

Has a young friend, Mellon, who is a member of the Coronation Club.

An article about him has appeared in “Picture Post”.

Is slightly acquainted with Superintendent Spence of the Oastshire police. Spence has heard Chief Inspector Japp speak of Poirot and his “tortuous mind”.

Goes to church to pray.

Signs of the Times

Lynn Marchmont was a Wren during the war, that is a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, which existed 1917-1919 and 1939-1993.

David Hunter served in the Commandos. They were formed in 1940 as Winston Churchill desired that the British military forces be able to make quick in and out attacks on German-occupied Europe.

David and Lynn both think of “Home is the sailor, home from the sea, and the hunter home from the hill” which is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Requiem”.

Lynn thinks of the line “life and the world and mine own self are changed” which is from the poem “Mirage” by Christina Rosetti.

Clothes rationing is still in place but Lynn has extra demob coupons and so will be able to get more than just “new undies” which most brides have to make do with.

Petrol is rationed but the police have discretionary powers to allow additional use where necessary.

Kathie Cloade has (what I assume is) a cat called Madame Blavatsky named after the founder of Theosophy, a vague nineteenth century religion.

References to previous works

Enoch Arden chooses to stay, on Rowley’s recommendation, at the Stag rather than the Bells and Motley. “At the ‘Bells and Motley'” is one of the Harley Quin short stories.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune” is from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” so fulfils “What – Title with a literary allusion”.

SPOILERS

Whilst we are looking at Enoch Arden and wondering whether or not he is Underhay, we ignore Rosaleen Cloade and the possibility that she might not be who she says she is.

Mrs Marchmont, referring to David Hunter, says: “If he really is her brother” when the question is actually “If she really is his sister”.

We think when Rosaleen says the money is not hers, that this is a moral question, when actually it is a legal one.

When finding a body the detective must always ask “Accident, suicide, or murder” it is delightful that we have all three within the same story.

It’s not possible to discuss the most serious aspect of this story outside of spoilers as it occurs too near the end. Lynn Marchmont tells Rowley Cloade that she no longer loves him and wants to marry David Hunter instead. His reaction is “But he’s not going to have you, do you hear? If you’re not for me, then no one shall have you” and he proceeds to strangle her and would have killed her but the arrival of Poirot.

Lynn’s eventual conclusion is that “When you caught me by the throat and said if I wasn’t for you, no one should have me – well – I knew then that I was your woman”.

This is the classic story of how domestic violence has been justified from time immemorial, and continues to be justified today – that a lover is a possession and that violence is a viable reaction to the possibility of losing that item. Rowley has reasons to be angry, but how he uses that anger is indefensible: both in punching Arden and strangling Lynn.

If you are involved in violence with someone close to you, either as recipient or perpetrator or even both, then I urge you to seek help and put yourself into a place of safety for your own sake and of those who love you. May we all know peace this Christmas.

Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert (1952)

Cyriakos Coutoules is an unpopular man and his death is not a complete surprise. Neither a financial tycoon nor an unscrupulous blackmailer, he is not your typical GAD victim, but then set in an Italian prisoner of war of camp, this is not your typical GAD novel.

The body of Coutoules, a suspected informer, is discovered by the first digging shift of the day inside the Hut C escape tunnel. But how could he have got there when it takes four men to open the shaft?

Although Coutoules is no great loss, the prisoners want to know who is responsible to prevent their captors taking action against the wrong man and so Captain Henry “Cuckoo” Goyles is tasked with investigating what has happened and realises that:

“He was in a position which, as a reader of detective novels, he had often imagined himself occupying without ever really expecting to do so…His suspects, although numerous, were closely gathered together, within the walls of one small piece of the earth’s surface, measuring not more than two hundred yards in any direction.”

He undertakes his inquiries against a backdrop of continuing escape activity and a shifting military situation as the fall of Italy becomes imminent.

They say write what you know and that’s definitely what Michael Gilbert does here. His introduction to “The Detective Stories of Cyril Hare” explains that when he was confined to “the cooler” for thirty days he and his cellmate read through “Tragedy at Law” rationing themselves to a few chapters day (think about that next time you wolf down a book in one sitting) and he draws on his own experiences of captivity to create an authentic setting populated with a range of characters, from those prisoners content to “sit out the war as comfortably as possibly” spending their time playing sport or putting on plays, to those who are determined to escape. These different mindsets create tension when the latter frequently requisition items belonging to the former, starting with the bedboards needed to shore up the tunnel before moving onto other bespoke items.

“So that’s what that pile of planks was…”

This book is an engaging detective story and a tribute to those men for whom the war was most definitely not over.

The book was filmed in 1959 as “Danger Within” with a cast including Richard “Guy Gibson” Todd, Bernard “M” Lee, Richard “Big X” Attenborough, and an uncredited Michael “Harry Palmer” Caine and based on the story and that cast list I need to get a copy.

If you enjoy either the book or the film then I can also recommend Billy Wilder’s 1953 film “Stalag 17” for which William Holden won the Best Actor Oscar.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

This book won the 1955 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière International Award so fulfils “Why – It won an award of any sort”.

The Murderer is a Fox by Ellery Queen (1945)

Twelve years ago Bayard Fox was found guilty of murdering his wife, Jessica. In the present, his son, Davy, a decorated war hero, returns home to Wrightsville into the arms of his grateful family.

This happy homecoming is short-lived as Davy, suffering from severe PTSD (this surprised me given this was published so close to the end of the war) has a deep-seated desire to kill his wife. He might be able to overcome this urge if only he wasn’t convinced that he is genetically pre-disposed to murder. And so Ellery Queen returns to Wrightsville to re-open the cold case, hoping to save the son and redeem the father.

It was only after I’d finished and was mulling over writing this post that I realised this is Queen’s take on the same subject covered by Agatha Christie in Five Little Pigs. However there is a greater importance to this investigation – Caroline Crale had already died in prison and her daughter’s life would not have been that impacted if Poirot had not been able to clear her mother’s name – here Davy’s sanity and marriage hinges on the outcome and if Bayard is found innocent and is to be released then someone else will have to pay the price.

Whereas Poirot interviews his suspects individually, Ellery is able to reconstruct the fateful day with the aid of all participants in the previously boarded-up house, and although Poirot is lied to, Ellery is physically hampered by someone who does not want the original verdict overturned. There is one particular parallel which I would be interested in discussing with anyone who has read both books but which impinges on the solutions of both so I won’t disclose it here.

While there are no specific spoilers for the first Wrightsville book “Calamity Town” mentions of certain characters would eliminate them as suspects so reading in order is definitely recommended.

As with “Calamity Town” the characters are once again flesh-and-blood people who act like normal people – in stark contrast to those in the intervening “There Was an Old Woman” who serve to forward the plot – and yet Ellery, once he has the necessary piece of information, is still able to use his established method to deduce a long chain of reasoning. I look forward to returning to Wrightsville in 2020.

What Else I’ve Been Reading Recently

A Long Shadow by Celia Fremlin – recently widowed Imogen is awakened by a late-night phone call accusing her of killing her husband. Then once her relatives descend on her for Christmas strange things start to happen within her home – could her husband still be alive? Imogen is not sure what is going or why and neither is the reader – has a crime been committed? Is a crime going to be committed?

This was the second of my good quality charity shop finds – definitely worth £1 but to me definitely not worth full price, but I would give Fremlin another go secondhand. Kate’s more detailed and very positive review at crossexaminingcrime can be found here.

#46 – The Labours of Hercules

Following a discussion with a Fellow of All Souls, Poirot reads up on his mythological namesake. He is unimpressed with Hercules, the man of brawn, and decides that before his final retirement he will undertake twelve labours of the mind and so we are presented with the following short stories:

(1) The Nemean Lion – in which Poirot investigates a dog-napping.

(2) The Lernean Hydra – there is the smoke of gossip but is there the fire of murder?

(3) The Arcadian Deer – in which Poirot investigates the disappearance of a lady’s maid.

(4) The Erymanthian Boar – in which Poirot ascends to new heights.

(5) The Augean Stables – in which Poirot undertakes a cover-up.

(6) The Stymphalean Birds – in which Poirot helps an Englishman abroad.

(7) The Cretan Bull – in which Poirot deals with a madman.

(8) The Horses of Diomedes – in which Poirot investigates a dope ring.

(9) The Girdle of Hyppolita – in which Poirot investigates a missing masterpiece and a missing schoolgirl.

(10) The Flock of Geryon – in which Poirot saves the lambs from the slaughter.

(11) The Apples of the Hesperides – in which Poirot lets others do most of the work.

(12) The Capture of Cerberus – in which Poirot descends into Hell and finds an enormous dog.

This is a fun collection (although there is a lack of the red meat of murder) particularly (1) and (10) with the same guest character who could be said to be Miss Marple gone wrong and has some similarities to Dorothy L. Sayers’ Miss Climpson.

Recurring character development

Hercule Poirot

One of his early successes was the case of a soap manufacturer of Liège who poisoned his wife (1).

Contrary to the David Suchet portrayal, enjoys (presumably) a “hearty lunch of steak and kidney pudding washed down by beer” (2).

His car is a Messarro Gratz (3). This doesn’t seem to be a real car but (minor spoilers) there is this interesting idea on the Agatha Christie forum.

Knows and respects Lementeuil, the Swiss Commissionaire of Police (4).

Uses the alias “Poirier” and claims to be a silk merchant from Lyons (4).

Does not admire the artist Rubens (9).

Has a file labelled “D” which contains the entry “Detective Agencies – Reliable” (11).

He takes the tube i.e. London’s Underground Railway and finds it an unpleasant experience.

Miss Lemon

Having previously worked for J. Parker Pyne (Parker Pyne Investigates) she now works for Poirot.

Signs of the Times

With the mention in the Foreword of retiring to grow marrows it feels as if this should be between The Big Four and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd however in (11) we have a theft that has taken place ten years’ earlier in 1929, setting these stories around the time of original publication (they were first published as one book in 1947). The timing is further confused in (12) where it is twenty years since Poirot last saw Countess Rossakoff, which would have been at the end of “The Big Four” in 1923, putting the final story in 1943.

Poirot should only have had to undertake ten labours, which was Hercules’ original task; two of his were disqualified leading to twelve in total.

In the context of poisoners, Armstrong is mentioned (2). Herbert Rowse Armstrong (1869 – 1922) was tried and executed for the murder of his wife by arsenic poisoning.

Former Prime Minister John Hammett’s characteristic object is an old raincoat (5). This is compared with Baldwin’s pipe and Chamberlain’s umbrella. Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister three times (May 1923-Jan 1924, Nov 1924-Jun 1929, and Jun 1935-May 1937) and was succeeded by Neville Chamberlain (May 1937-May 1940).

Mrs Chandler was painted by Orpen (7). Major Sir William Orpen (1878 – 1931) was an Irish portrait painter and also an official First World War artist.

“It is practically impossible to live in Mertonshire unless you have an income that runs into four figures, and what with income-tax and one thing and another, five figures is better” (8). How the value of money changes – this just emphasis what a fortune over a hundred years earlier Mr Bingley’s £5,000 a year and Mr Darcy’s £10,000 a year actually were.

“We have first, as your so admirable Mrs Beeton says, to catch the hare” says Poirot (8) in response to General Grant’s plans for the drug pusher. This phrase does not actually appear in “Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management” (1861). Although I always expected her to be a middle-aged matron, Isabella Beeton actually died at the age of 28. Her husband Samuel founded Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1860 which in 1887 included the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes “A Study in Scarlet”.

Sir Henry Merrivale is referred to (10). He is the main series’ sleuth of Carter Dickson a.k.a. John Dickson Carr.

The Master (10) says “In my Father’s House are many mansions…” which is from John 14:2.

During her trip (10), a lady sees that the people around her have grown larger and says “Like trees walking…” which is what the previously blind man says when Jesus starts to heal him in Mark 8:24.

Poirot gives a spoiler for a Sherlock Holmes story whose title he misquotes when he is discussing possible hiding places for stolen treasures (11).

There is a character called Paul Varesco (12). “The Crime Conductor” (1931) by Philip MacDonald includes a character called Paul Vanesco.

Japp thinks it is silly to call a dog Cerberus “after a packet of salt” (12). He is getting mixed up with the company “Cerebos” who also created “Bisto” gravy powder.

An appropriate quote from Japp (12) given the upcoming general election: “Devil of a job being a Labour Minister, you have to be so careful. Nobody minds a Tory politician spending money on riotous living because the taxpayers think it’s his own money – but when it’s a Labour man the public feel it’s their money he’s spending! And so it is in a manner of speaking.”

References to previous works

Dr Burton mentions Poirot’s brother, Achille, who appeared in The Big Four.

Poirot is holidaying (6) in Herzoslovakia, a country that first appeared in The Secret of Chimneys.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

Fulfils “Why – Author from your country”.