Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Thorndike, hardcover, originally published in 1945
Genre: Mystery
Setting: 20th century London
My Impression: Colonel Johnny Race (who appears in four of Christie’s books) and Chief Inspector Kemp of Scotland Yard are the sleuths in this book, and get unexpected help from one of the suspects. We all know that Rosemary is for remembrance and, here, two crimes are being remembered and analyzed. In my opinion, this book suffers from the fact that Rosemary was an insubstantial person, who cheated on her husband, and that Iris, who has inherited her sister’s fortune, is young and colorless. However, the appeal of the mystery is that it is a variation (twice over) of the locked-room scenario where one of those present must be the murderer because no one else had the opportunity.
Without wishing to, Iris unwillingly let a picture of that evening flit across her mind.Everyone in Rosemary’s circle had a motive to kill her and Christie gives the reader a lot of clues but I guessed slightly wrong.
The round table at the Luxembourg, the shaded lights, the flowers. The dance band with the insistent rhythm. The seven people round the table, herself, Anthony Browne, Rosemary, Stephen Farraday, Ruth Lessing, George, and on George’s right, Stephen Farraday’s wife, Lady Alexandra Farraday with her pale straight hair and those slightly arched nostrils and her clear arrogant voice. Such a gay party it had been, or hadn’t it?
Colonel Race appears in one of my favorite Christies, The Man in the Brown Suit, as well as in Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile. He is affiliated with the British Secret Service and has known George through family connections for many years, although he is a generation older. He was supposed to attend the first dinner party and refuses to attend the second. When George shares his plan to unmask Rosemary’s murderer, Colonel Race disapproves and warns George not to do it:
These melodramatic ideas out of books don’t work. Go to the police – there’s no better body of men. They know how to deal with these problems. They’re professionals. Amateur shows in crime aren’t advisable.I find that last line pretty funny given that melodramatic ideas and amateur sleuths are Christie’s bread and butter! Of course, she is also an expert at presenting situations so mundane that they are completely overlooked – and thus do not arouse suspicion, as in this book.
This is one of my favorite mysteries by Christie, even without Poirot or Miss Marple. I do like Colonel Race a lot. This is a very nice review.
ReplyDeleteThe Man in the Brown Suit is one of my favourite Christies too but I've not read this third Colonel Race book. I adored David Niven in the Peter Ustinov version of Death on the Nile so that's how I tend to think of him. Whether he would've been approved of by AC herself would be interesting to know but she missed it by two years of course. I'll grab this one at some stage as I don't remember ever seeing it onscreen or reading about the plot.
ReplyDeleteI do like Colonel Race although he probably could have done more to stop the second murder in this book.
ReplyDeleteWeirdly, despite my great enjoyment of Christie, I am not sure I have seen Death on the Nile or even more than a few minutes of any adaptation. I watch so much sports on television that I never watched much else. That is how I missed Foyle's, although when someone said I would enjoy it, I got the first season or two from the library and really did enjoy. Currently, I am watching a show called The Unforgotten which I greatly enjoy. A few friends have said I should get BritBox which has a lot of British shows - I do think I will get Netflix at some point.