Detective: Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard

Published: 1925 (6th published book)

Length: 314 pages

Setting:  Bulawayo Zimbabwe, London, Chimneys

Written at: during a trip to South Africa, etc.

Well, what an extraordinary silly book!!  I must say I’ve been somewhat taken aback by the early works of Agatha Christie.  Being so used to Poirot and Miss Marple, I thought those types of mysteries comprised the majority of her works, but obviously during her earlier career she set sail on a different course and the focus on her two famous sleuths came later.  Who knew?

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Heroine: Ann Beddingfeld

Published: 1924 (5th published book)

Length: 381 pages

Setting: Marlow, London, Southampton, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Bulawayo, island in the Zambezi

Written at: during a trip to South Africa, etc.

The Man in the Brown Suit was Agatha Christie’s fifth novel published by Bodley Head, her contract of six books almost satisfied.  With it, she deviated from a pure detective novel, bleeding into the genre of a thriller which pleased some critics and dismayed others.  Some bawled for the return of Hercule Poirot while others admired her entertaining execution.  Personally, I thought the story was delightful, a page turner from beginning to end.

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Fresh from my first three Christie reads of A Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Secret Adversary and Murder on the Links, I then delved into a compilation of Poirot short stories called, Poirot investigates.  These stories comprise Christie’s fourth published book, published in March 1924.

I must say, after my disappointment with Murder on the Links, Christie has returned to her fine form.  Most of the short mysteries have a tight plot (probably necessary for a short story) and a well-crafted riddle. While Poirot’s little grey cells are in fine form, Hastings is his annoying self but at a level that is acceptable and even amusing in certain circumstances.  The stories run as follows:

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The Secret Adversary: “It was 2 p.m. on the afternoon of May 7th, 1915.”

Detectives: Tommy Beresford & Prudence “Tuppence” Cowley

Published: 1922 (Christie’s 2nd published book)

Length: 308 pages

Setting: London; Bournemouth; Holyhead, Wales; Kent

Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley are childhood chums who meet up after the war.  Tuppence, the daughter of a clergyman, wishes to spread her independent wings and Tommy, demobilized after the war, is looking for a new direction in life.  As neither is flush with money, they put their entrepreneurial brains together and decide to launch The Young Adventurers, Ltd.  Overhearing them, a man named Whittington follows Tuppence and claims he’s interested in her services.  Immediately wary, Tuppence gives her name as Jane Finn, the assumed name which she’d heard earlier from Tommy.  The appellation causes Whittington to react nearly apoplectically and the following investigation sends them on a whirlwind of adventure from which they are unsure if they’ll return alive!

The Ritz London ~ source Wikimedia Commons

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