Agatha Christie

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Moonraker
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Moonraker »

I can also recommend the rather eerie stories featuring Harley Quin and Mr Satterthwaite. Very spooky.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Anne Henriette »

Oh yes, you're right! I forgot about Harley Quin ;) I don't remember Mr Satterthwaite though. Can you give me a title in which he appears?
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by pete9012S »

Bit more info here:
Harley Quin & Mr. Satterthwaite
If these stories could be described in any way, it would be the mystery story mingled with fairy tales. The Mysterious Mr. Quin is a collection of 12 short stories and The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories contains a short story, never published before in a Christie volume, about Satterthwaite meeting with Quin years later. Satterthwaite appears with Poirot in two cases: Three-Act Tragedy and the short story "Dead Man's Mirror." In her autobiography, Christie said that Quin and Satterthwaite were her two favorite characters. In fact, The Mysterious Mr. Quin was dedicated by Christie "To Harlequin The Invisible"

http://www.poirot.us/quin.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by floragord »

Moonraker wrote:
floragord wrote:we did enjoy a new-to-us
Marple, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY with Geraldine McEwan and Timothy Dalton on Tuesday evening.
I thought it a travesty. Do read the book, Flora, it is solved by a lovely young lady and her man, not a sign of Miss Marple to be seen.
Ooooh its not the dreaded Tommy & Tuppence is it, for some reason those two put years on me. If not I'll get a copy off Amazon and compare and contrast it to the "Marple" mystery :) !
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Anne Henriette »

Thank you, Pete, for the information. I really do not recall having read about Satterthwaite. I definitely have to read those novels you cited again :)

@floragord: I think you might be right about Sittaford Mystery being a Tommy & Tuppence case...
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by pete9012S »

The Sittaford Mystery (1931)

The narration is top-notch and very smooth. The story is classic Christie from the 1930s and is the first to feature the supernatural in her novels. For me, this novel has a "sense of urgency"--I couldn't put it down, wanting to keep reading to find a surprise. There is old-fashioned Christie deception and red herrings (nothing wrong with that, right?). I quite liked the use of the supernatural and seances in this story.

http://www.poirot.us/sittaford.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I really like this book,even though sadly Tommy & Tuppence are not in it.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

I have just started to read - They Do It With Mirrors - one of the books I bought in the set of 21. :D

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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by floragord »

Thank you, Anne and Pete, I'll have to acquire the book now I know T&T don't star! :wink:
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Re: Agatha Christie

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Thank you Pete for answering questions posed to me! :D

We watched the three-hour N or M, last night, and I was bitterly disappointed. For the first thirty minutes or so, I thought it was a different story. As for finding a wireless transmitter on the beach, that defied all logic. Please, can I urge you to read the book if you have seen the programme but not read it yet. Agatha must be turning in her grave. Tommy was a bumbling buffoon, of whom the Secret Service would have thrown out of the door. Tuppence was just an interfering idiot. Nothing like the wonderful couple who Agatha portrayed.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Courtenay »

That's sad, Nigel. I haven't read the books or seen the show, but now I know to read the books first if I'm going to at all. I do remember, though, when my mum was listening to an audio book of one of the Tommy and Tuppence mysteries, I was quite taken with Tommy's retort to his wife at one stage: "Tuppence, you're a congenital idiot!" :mrgreen: Does anyone know which book that was from?
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by pete9012S »

Image


 Partners in Crime (short story collection) 1929
Chapter 2. A POT OF TEA:

  "No?" said Tuppence. "Well, perhaps you're right. But I daresay Lawrence St. Vincent will swallow that sort of slush. He's full of romantic notions just now. By the way, I guaranteed results in twenty-four hours-our special service."    "Tuppence-you congenital idiot, what made you do that?"    "The idea just came into my head. I thought it sounded rather well. Don't you worry. Leave it to Mother. Mother knows best."    She went out, leaving Tommy profoundly dissatisfied.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by floragord »

There's an amusing piece in the Telegraph today entitled FAVOURITE CHRISTIE THRILLER IS UNMASKED. Apparently And Then There Were None has been voted the nation's favourite of her many stories, and the BBC is going to adapt it for television for the first time, starring Aidan Turner who recently appeared in the remake of Poldark, Charles Dance and Miranda Richardson, and to be shown over Christmas - apparently it is the best-selling crime novel of all time, with more than 100 million copies bought worldwide - second place went to Murder on the Orient Express and third to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Courtenay »

floragord wrote:Apparently And Then There Were None has been voted the nation's favourite of her many stories, and the BBC is going to adapt it for television for the first time, starring Aidan Turner who recently appeared in the remake of Poldark...
But will they find an excuse for him to go scything again? :wink:
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Anne Henriette »

I can understand that And then there were none (which I had to google cos not all French translations are similar to the English original*), I can understand that this novel is the best-known of her works. I think it was the second one I read when I was a teenager and I have to admit that it held me awake at nights cos the suspense was just to much to bear :D

*I see that the title has been politically corrected from "Ten Little Niggers"... That's why I didn't recognize it immediately.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Moonraker »

I have an original edition of Ten Little Niggers. This was an old rhyme, and the crime took place on Nigger Island - so called as it resembled the shape of a negro's head.

To me, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is Agatha's masterpiece. This title came third in the poll.
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