The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

The Thirteen Problems

The Thirteen Problems:  “Unsolved mysteries.”

Detective: Miss Marple

Published: June 1932

Compilation:  Short Stories

Length: 256 pages

Setting: St. Mary Mead, Downshire (fictional)

 

During two different dinner parties in St. Mary Mead, Miss Marple is host and guest.  There is a suggestion of the sharing of puzzling mysteries, where one person in the group tells a story and the others surmise its outcome or solution. Surprisingly, the small town spinster, Miss Marple, demonstrates her superior brain power and deductive skills.  As each dinner guest shares a puzzling mystery and the others surmise the solution, Miss Marple is able to navigate all the clues, both obvious and unexpected, to solve each mystery in her quiet yet practical manner.

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The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie

The Sittaford Mystery“Major Burnaby drew on his gum boots, buttoned his overcoat collar around his neck, took from the shelf near the door a hurricane lantern, and cautiously opened the front door of his little bungalow and peered out.”

Originally Published as: The Murder at Hazelmoor

Detective: Emily Trefusis with Inspector Narracott

Published: 1931

Length: 228 pages

Setting: Sittaford & Exhampton, Dartmoor

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The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

The Day of the Triffids“When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.”

It seems like eons ago that I read a book by John Wyndham …… The Chrysalids, I believe it was …. and I should have remembered that it was weird.  Just like The Day of the Triffids.  Meat-eating plants with poison stingers and an odd way of transportation, not to mention a world-wide calamity that leaves most of the population blind. What could be stranger?

 

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20 Books (or so) of Summer 2022

The weather is still so terrible that it’s difficult to think of summer but perhaps this wonderful challenge, 20 Books of Summer, will bring that elusive season to the forefront.  Wind, and rain, and really cold temperatures, especially at night, has been our present experience, however I feel warmer days are on the way. I’ve started learning to golf once again and am planting our garden.  Summer must come!

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Canadian Con~voy 2022 & A Little Canadian History

I was reading Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and composing my review while thinking about times in history that featured non-violent protests. I read Gandhi’s autobiography, My Story of My Experiments with Truth, and along with King’s letter, one of the main things that stood out for me was their concern for their fellow man.  While King is attempting to bring attention to racial injustice, the two main themes that ran throughout his letter were LOVE and BROTHERHOOD. And both men, while fighting peacefully for what they believed, actively tried to cultivate within themselves traits that would make them better human beings, traits that would foster unity, empathy, patience and love towards others.  With all the turmoil, division and angst all over the world, it was a joy to read a narrative that, in spite of addressing negative issues, was positive in its make-up.  Internally, I was lamenting the dearth of such leadership and sentiments today.  And nothing similar would never happen in Canada, a country full of very compliant, quiet, obedient citizens.  Until ….

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The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

“Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.”

There is a wardrobe in an old room.  Picture yourself opening the wardrobe door.  You climb inside it, carefully leaving the door cracked open slightly as you push your way back in amongst the antique coats, which smell of dampness and age and silent history.  But wait!  It is cold underneath you and, as you reach down, you grasp a wet, slushy substance that could only be snow!

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