agathachristieclubR3

The Secret of Chimneys | Agatha Christie

We‘re a week away from our next #ChristiesCapers discussion! I‘ve seen some good reviews posted so far; this one does get mixed reviews by Christie lovers. I like this one and plan to reread it this week to have it fresh in my mind for next Sunday.

Discussion questions will be posted by 12pm US East Coast time on the 29th! #AgathaChristieClubR3

janeycanuck, suvata, Aims42, MallenNC, Soscha, Cuilin, kspenmoll, BarbaraJean, PurpleyPumpkin, JenlovesJT47, Lizpixie, MariaW, elkeOriginal, AnneCecilie, Gissy, OutsmartYourShelf, mrp27, Larkken, Suet624, Cailey_Mac, Deblovestoread, ferskner, Marmie7, MaleficentBookDragon, majkia, Bookwormjillk, StayCurious, Teresereading, Laughterhp, Sace, RainyDayReading, Skygoddess1, Morr_Books, PathfinderNicole, dabbe, tdrosebud, MaGoose, kelli7990, TheAromaofBooks, Tineke, PageShifter, willaful, kimrenee, AnishaInkspill

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MaleficentBookDragon

And Then There Were None | Agatha Christie

I picked up 4 new Christies with 1970s covers (my favorites) through #pango.

We won't be getting to any of these anytime soon for #AgathaChristieClubR3 #ChristiesCapers.
@librarybelle

britt_brooke Fabulous covers! 1mo

Librarybelle Those covers are amazing! 1mo

CarolynM Great covers! 1mo

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LitsyEvents

The Secret of Chimneys | Agatha Christie

repost for @Librarybelle:

June‘s #ChristiesCapers is the first that features Superintendent Battle, who appears in a a few other books/stories. Discussion on June 29th!

All are welcome to join. Please let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the tag list. #AgathaChristieClubR3

Librarybelle Thanks for reposting! 1mo

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Librarybelle

The Secret of Chimneys | Agatha Christie

June‘s #ChristiesCapers is the first that features Superintendent Battle, who appears in a a few other books/stories. Discussion on June 29th!

All are welcome to join. Please let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the tag list. #AgathaChristieClubR3

Librarybelle @LitsyEvents 1mo

dabbe I had no idea she had so many different detectives! Color me clueless! 🤣 1mo

mrp27 @dabbe Same! I had no clue…. 1mo

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Librarybelle

Poirot Investigates: Hercule Poirot Investigates | Agatha Christie

It‘s time to discuss Poirot Investigates for #ChristiesCapers ! I have 5 questions posted as spoilers. They can be found by searching the book‘s feed, my feed, or the group‘s hashtags.

Our next read is The Secret of Chimneys, the first book to feature Inspector Battle. Official post tomorrow! #AgathaChristieClubR3

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Librarybelle

Poirot Investigates: Hercule Poirot Investigates | Agatha Christie

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5. Consider this a free-for-all post! What are some elements you read that you wish to discuss with the group? #ChristiesCapers #AgathaChristieClubR3

dabbe Some elements of detective fiction I enjoyed: Poirot enjoys a dramatic final reveal, gathering suspects to expose the culprit. They're fun, but they literally come out of the blue. Some of these mysteries almost had the “locked-room“ puzzle elements, where the crime seems impossible at first glance and perhaps quite far-fetched. And, like Sherlock, Poirot occasionally lets a culprit escape punishment if their crime was morally justified. 1mo

willaful I was a little irked by the character who was acquitted and couldn't be tried twice when he'd been arrested but had never gone to trial at all. I suppose the laws could be different wherever they were, but I think she made this same error in The Mysterious Affair at Styles. 1mo

suvata @willaful I think you hit the nail on the head. It would be so awesome if some author would take up these cases and show the legal side of the trials after the arrests. I like legal thrillers too. (edited) 1mo

willaful @suvata That would be interesting! 1mo

mrp27 I enjoy read Christie but with modern day sensitivities I can‘t help but cringe with some of the racism, stereotypes and misogyny. 3w

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Librarybelle

Poirot Investigates: Hercule Poirot Investigates | Agatha Christie

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4. Themes. The only overarching theme is Poirot himself. But, what are some thematic elements you found within these shorts?

For instance, spiritualism is mentioned and will play a role in later novels in a variety of forms, from the supernatural and witchcraft to seances and hauntings.

I think there was a mention too regarding Poirot's penchant for only helping the rich??? #ChristiesCapers #AgathaChristieClubR3

dabbe Like Doyle in some of his stories, Christie plays on the early 20th-century fascination with foreign settings (Egypt, jewels from the East, mysterious foreigners). Also like Doyle, some portrayals reflect stereotypes of the time and show racist and biased viewpoints--even with racially-charged ethnic words (e.g., Middle Eastern or Asian characters depicted as exotic or untrustworthy; the use of the word “chink“ ...). 1mo

suvata I agree that spiritualism pops up quite a bit in her stories. It must‘ve been quite a fad in the 1920s. Also, a lot of her stories take place in a closed room situation. The ethnic bias is so obvious that I don‘t think these stories would be published in today‘s world without massive revisions. It‘s kind of sad because it‘s good to know how past generations thought of others. I have to remind myself that it was a much smaller world back then. 1mo

willaful I guess it was natural enough at the time, when English people traveled so much, but I think it's interesting that Christie started out writing the “exotic locale“ stories and then her second husband was an archeologist who gave her a lot of fodder for future books. 1mo

RainyDayReading I agree with everyone above. It‘s interesting how her stories reflect the ideas and attitudes of the time regarding “exotic” locations. Plus the attitudes and ideas regarding people from different cultures that would definitely not fly today but considering how often it appears in her stories I‘m guessing was fairly common for the time. 4w

mrp27 I like when she dabbles in the other worldly. Makes it fun and it‘s just the right amount of spooky for me. 3w

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Librarybelle

Poirot Investigates: Hercule Poirot Investigates | Agatha Christie

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3. Good old Hastings! We experience the Poirot stories through Hastings's voice, and I could not but help think yet again about Watson and Holmes. Hasting shows parts admiration, frustration, anger, and kind of jealousy over Poirot and his methods.

We've talked about Hastings in the past...has your opinion of Hastings changed? What are your impressions of Hastings's character as seen in these shorts? #ChristiesCapers #AgathaChristieClubR3

dabbe I'd say that these early stories by Christie were an homage to Doyle's SH and Watson. I find Hastings even funnier than Watson, though, and I love his dissing of Poirot--especially when Poirot makes him feel like a moron, something Holmes was also good at with Watson. Hastings' inserted opinions just crack me up! And I now know that he never met an auburn-haired girl he didn't like. Wonder if he likes titian? He needs to meet Nancy Drew. 🤣 1mo

suvata There is definitely a huge resemblance between Sherlock and Watson. Hastings' feelings are a blend of hero-worship, mild frustration, and genuine fondness, rooted in years of shared adventures and mutual trust. I don‘t think I appreciated Hastings in the first few stories as much as I did in this collection. Maybe it took a couple books for him to grow on me. (edited) 1mo

kspenmoll I too enjoy when he disses on Poirot- & he is a sucker for beautiful ladies! 1mo

RainyDayReading Didn‘t like him in the previous stories, still don‘t like him now 🤣 I think because even though he has spent, supposedly, a lot of time with Poirot, he still hasn‘t shown any growth in his deductive abilities. His constant leaping to conclusions without backing them up really annoys me. 4w

mrp27 I too like it when he disses Poirot and I find it funny that he always gets distracted by the pretty ladies. 3w

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Librarybelle

Poirot Investigates: Hercule Poirot Investigates | Agatha Christie

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2. Think about the short stories in this collection. Any standouts? Favorites? Disappointments? We'll talk about Hastings next! #ChristiesCapers #AgathaChristieClubR3

MariaW I don‘t like the Davenheim and Cheap Flat stories that much because they seem very far-fetched to me. I liked the Million Dollar Bond Robbery and Kidnapped Prime Minister, they were just more exciting. 1mo

willaful @MariaW I think I'm kind of the opposite, I prefer the more domestic stories to the world affairs ones. 1mo

dabbe These stories all ran together in my head. The only thing that stood out for me was in pretty much every one of these, the ending came out of left field, making it impossible for the reader to even have a chance of solving the mystery. We don't stand a chance next to those “little gray cells“ of M. Poirot! 🤣 1mo

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willaful @dabbe yes, she didn't really bother to try to be fair to the reader in the shorts. The novels are more satisfying that way -- you can't guess, but you feel like maybe you could! 😂 1mo

suvata They were all very good, but I did have a few favorites that I mentioned in the first question. Christie is unique in that. I usually don‘t like short stories because they don‘t seem to have an ending that kind of wraps everything up but that‘s not true of Christie. They read like a full novel. They‘re like “bite-size Poirot“. 1mo

Sace I liked the The Million Dollar Bond Robbery, but honestly none really stood out. The bond robbery is really the only one I can remember the details. 1mo

willaful @Sace It held my attention more than most, though I was struck by how lucky it was that the maid left the room exactly twice! A lot of her plots rely on chance. 1mo

kspenmoll I liked The Case of the Missing Will & The Million Dollar Bond Robbery 1mo

RainyDayReading Even though I finished this a few days ago, I don‘t really remember any of the stories 😅 Weirdly I feel like I‘ve read the story regarding Egypt and the curse before but for the life of me I can‘t think of where I would‘ve read it from. The one involving the cheap flat kinda lost me a bit…and I remember liking the one with the pearl necklace…aside from that they didn‘t really stick. 4w

mrp27 The first story was my favorite, the curse of the diamonds. I agree I tend to like the more domestic stories over the adventure stories. 3w

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Librarybelle

Poirot Investigates: Hercule Poirot Investigates | Agatha Christie

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1. Welcome to our first short story collection by Christie! This first collection includes stories featuring Poirot, making this the 3rd Poirot book we've read.

Which do you prefer...the short stories or the novels (thinking specifically about the two other Poirot novels we have read so far)? #ChristiesCapers #AgathaChristieClubR3

Deblovestoread Definitely the novels. Short stories rarely work for me although these were ok. 1mo

MariaW I prefer the novels as well, even though the short stories have been an easy read inbetween. I‘m always wondering how those short stories keep on being adapted into one and half hour long episodes for TV series. 🤔 1mo

willaful I also prefer the novels. I dunno, I've read this several times before but it seems like no matter how many times I try, my eyes just glaze over and I don't absorb anything that's happening for most of them. 🤣 1mo

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dabbe For me, it depends on how good the story is, whether it be a novel or short story. These stories were in the average range, IMHO, so I definitely would prefer a novel to these selections. But then, my favorite short story involving Poirot is “(TAo) The Christmas Pudding,“ and very few Poirot novels would beat that short story. Does that make sense? 🤔 1mo

suvata I think I prefer the long form stories, but she does a really good job with short stories as well. In this collection, my favorites were The Adventure of the Cheap Flat and The Case of the Missing Will. The problem with short stories is that I probably won‘t remember them after a while. Novels seem to stick in my little gray cells much longer. 1mo

Sace I‘m just jumping in this month. It‘s been a while since I read one of the Poirot novels so I don‘t think I have a strong preference. As far as these stories go, I‘m glad I‘m not the only one who was a little underwhelmed. Although that might have been partly because I went the audio route and I never quite appreciated the narrator. 1mo

kspenmoll I think I prefer her longer stories. These were underwhelming, & seemed to be a vehicle for showcasing Cap. Hastings as rather a dope. Maybe that was her intention? 1mo

RainyDayReading I‘m not usually a short stories person but I really enjoyed this! I think almost more than the longer stories at the moment and that‘s simply because of Hastings. I felt like he was much easier for me to stomach in these shorter bites than he‘s been in the previous books. If Hastings wasn‘t a factor I would definitely say the books. 4w

mrp27 I think I like her short stories better, less convoluted! 3w

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