Mini Reviews for #AgathaChristieSS24: October

THE HOUND OF DEATH

A man called Anstruther heard from his friend of an intriguing story about the blowing up of a Belgium convent, when some German soldiers invaded it during WW2. The locals said it wasn't caused by high explosive, but by a miraculous power of a nun who brought down a lightning bolt from heaven. What's left from the building was a wall with powder mark in the shape of a giant hound. The nun now lives with a doctor in Cornwall, and is often haunted by her dreams. Visiting the nun, Anstruther suspects that the doctor, who was medically studying her behavior, might not be fully honest. But the question remains, what had really happened? Has the nun been hallucinating, or does she really possesses supernatural power? The story was ended by another "explosion", and this revealed more or less of what had really happened.

This has prospects to become a gripping and intriguing story, but the end was somehow anti-climactic. It's more of a Halloween story than a mystery.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

THE VOICE IN THE DARK

Mr. Satterthwaite is tasked by his friend, Lady Stranleigh, to investigate her daughter's claim that their house, Abbot's Mede has been haunted. "Luckily" for him, Mr. Quin is staying at the inn nearby, and would be available anytime Mr. Satterthwaite needs a chat.

Margery, the daughter, reveals to Mr. Satterthwaite that the last two months she has often been hearing voices in the dark, while she is alone in her bedroom. The voice tells her to "give back what is not yours; give back what you have stolen".

Her mother's maid, Clayton, was Lady Stranleigh's fellow survivor of a shipwreck that took away her elder sister. She, Clayton, was the key to this mystery, which is not just about voices in the dark, but also a murder, as well as an attempt of murder. It's a wonderful one, actually, and Mr. Satterthwaite solved the mystery by himself, for once.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman #1970Club

Book Beginnings (hosted by Rose City Reader)

Mrs. Pollifax had attended church that Sunday morning, and her hat--a garden of pale pink roses and green leaves--still sat on her head as she ate lunch in the sunny kitchen of her apartment. She had a tendency to be absentminded lately about hats--in fact since beginning karate lessons she had become forgetful about a number of things--and since she would be going out again soon she had anticipated the problem by placing her hat where it could not possibly be left behind.

👒 If that opening lines can't intrigue you to read on, I don't know what can. Floral hats and karate lessons don't usually go together in one paragraph. But that's what Mrs. Pollifax is - if you haven't familiar yet with the series - unexpected. The first book in the series, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, is a strong proof.

👒 Still assuming you haven't read the series - what are you waiting for?? - Mrs. Emily Pollifax is a sexagenarian widow who loves gardening - hence her floral hat - but isn't prepared yet to lead a quite and monotonous life, alone in her apartment. So she went to CIA headquarters and unexpectedly got hired by a Mr. Carstairs to be... a spy! Well, not a proper, as she's unqualified, but she's done her first courier job perfectly in Albania, that Mr. Carstairs, her boss, was quite both surprised and amused.

👒 This time she was tasked to go as tourist to Turkey, to assist Magda Ferenci-Sabo, a defecting Russian spy and double agent to leave the country. She only have to arrive at an hotel at certain time, and be at the lobby with a battered copy of Gone with the Wind as a sign. It's sounds easy, but as usual, Mrs. Pollifax's innocent impulses and affectionate heart brought things to totally different direction; more dangerous, but also more exciting. And along the mission, Mrs. Pollifax found friendship with unlikely people and allies.

👒 Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews has recently reviewed this book, and I agree with her comment that it is even better than the first one. I see Mrs. Pollifax is becoming more adept to her new "profession" - she's been taking Karate lessons anyway - and in more than one occasion she quickly took initiative for further plans or actions. The writer, Dorothy Gilman, also brought more colorful characters to assist Mrs. Pollifax in her mission, including some gypsies. They helped brighten the story and some hilarious moments came from their encounters. But what I loved most is Gilman's picturesque portrayal of Turkey, especially the hilltop caves at Göreme where Mrs. Pollifax and co. used for hiding place, they were gorgeous!

(abandoned) cave dwellings at present-day's Göreme
National Park, Turkey

And here I quoted one beautiful landscape at night:

Friday 56 Quote (hosted by Head Full of Books)

They were passing over the Galata Bridge now, and the lights of moving tugs and boats slashed the glistening inky water with long ribbons of gold. Even at midnight the bridge was filled with traffic: miles, trucks, and donkeys bearing fruit and vegetables to the markets and merchandise to the bazaars. Pale moonlight etched out the silhouette of the mosque at the foot of the bridge and touched each passerby with a high light of silver.

👒 Needless to say, I loved this book! It has a perfect balance of mystery, suspense, comedy, love, and friendship, with a touch of cold war and exotic place.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

The 1970 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

The Dead Mountaineer's Inn by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky #1970Club

❄️ Published in 1970 in Russian, this book is a locked room mystery with a touch of science fiction. It follows a police inspector, Peter Glebsky, who is on vacation to the titular inn, in order to stay away from his job and family. Also staying at the remote inn and ski chalet, a bunch of eccentric people. There is a famous magician, Du Bramstoker, with his nephew Brun - an adolescent with indeterminate sex (what is it, a boy or a girl?). Then there's a physicist Simon Simone, a wealthy man Moses who's perpetually drunk, and his beautiful wife.

❄️ Then strange things start to happen. Small items are missing, but other stuffs appear mysteriously, voices are heard where no one had been. Are those only innocence though annoying pranks, or, as the inn owner indicates, a supernatural manifestation? He seems to believe that the dead mountaineer - whose legend inspired the inn's name - is still present.

❄️ Things then begin to get more serious; a murder, no less! The latest guest who has arrived right before an avalanche blocked the mountain pass, is found murdered in a locked room. Glebsky had no other choice than investigating the crime, albeit reluctantly. The deeper he investigates though, the more he's confused. There are too many strange unrelated things happening, which ones were pranks, and which were true? And who's telling the truth, who's been prankster? Was the murder a usual crime? Or was there aliens involved like what some of the guests have been incredulously insisting?

❄️ This is such an eccentric yet entertaining story. It's weird but funny at the same time. You'll keep wondering whether this is a clever and complex murder mystery, a huge joke, or a science fiction? And my advice if you want to read this book is, don't google or read any synopsis or blurb beforehand. Just read the book with open mind. It will be more fun. Knowing what it is before reading would totally ruin it! All I can say that I had fun reading it. The book was well constructed, and represented the vibes of the 1970s - that's why mystery novels of vintage era are always my favorite, when everything was still simple and, therefore, more meaningful.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

The 1970 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild #1970Club

🔶️ Margaret Thursday is an orphan, though, as she always tells people,

"I'm not properly an orphan. I was found on a Thursday on the church steps, with three of everything, all of the very best quality."

🔶️ She's actually a daughter of a respectable lady who had stubbornly eloped with her lover. When Margaret was a baby, the lady left her on someone's doorstep, inside a basket with those three of everything of the very best quality, which we will be reminded over and over again throughout the book. It's not that she's boasting, as I first was inclined to think, but it's the lady's way to plant in her daughter's heart that, despite of her demise, she is a special child who deserves respect from others. And this seemingly foolish way did work out. Margaret grows as a up high spirited girl with strong self confident, always believing she can become anyone she wants, that she can be a famous person, even. And most importantly, it gives her self respect and courage to stand on her own against people who would bully and belittle her throughout her adolescence.

🔶️ Margaret Thursday got her surname from the good people who had found her on a Thursday. It follows a nursery rhyme titled Monday's Child:

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
But the child that is born on Sabbath day,
Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.

🔶️ At first regular fund kept coming every year for her upkeep, but one day it had stopped. And the good people had no choice except sending her to an orphanage. It was supposed to be a good one - recommended even by the Archdeacon. But of course it's as bad as in Dickens' stories, with evil and greedy mistress, who starved the children, punished them severely, and all. But Margaret also found new best friends at the orphanage in Lavinia, Peter, and Horatio - siblings from a broken family.

🔶️ When things turned from bad to worse, Margaret arranged an escape from the orphanage with Peter and Horatio. Lavinia, meanwhile, had gotten a job as scullery maid at the manor house. But what could these little children do to save themselves? What would happen to them? Plenty of Interesting things, it turns out, from working as leggers in a canal boat, to performing in a theater!

Horse-drawn canal boat [pic: from Wikipedia]

🔶️ Their canal boat career is what interested me most. I didn't know that horse-drawn canal boats are mode of cargo transportation in England from mid 19th century to mid 1960s. The horse walked on the canal bank. A strong rope around its head was connected to the boat. The horse need someone to supervise and lead it along the journey, to walk beside it. This person was called a legger. Margaret and the two brothers shared many shifts to do this. And Streatfeild described the beauty but hard canal boat life with the simple but lovely people so vividly I felt like living there myself.

🔶️ On the whole, it's a beautiful and wholesome book, vividly written by Noel Streatfeild. This is my first children novel from her, but certainly not the last.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

The 1970 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

Mr. Niyogi's Last Audit (2024) by S.N. Rao #Netgalley

Thanks to Copperplate and NetGalley for providing me review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader):

I was feeling cold, so I opened my eyes to find myself in a cold room. It was unfamiliar room, and I could not recollect how I got here. The room was dimly lit. I did not know what time it was; the curtains were open, and it was dark outside. I needed to pee. I took a deep breath, turned onto my left side and pushed myself into a sitting position. My arms trembled with the effort, and I felt a pain in my left shoulder.

👴🏼In his 77 years of age, Mr. Vikram Niyogi is struggling with Parkinson's - the same disease my late father had had in the last years of his life (he passed away last year). That was the main reason I picked up this novel in the first place, a story I could surely well relate. Moreover, my father was also an accountant like Mr. Niyogi, before retirement. And it is a way, I hoped, to better understand the extend of what my father must have had through - something I hadn't fully appreciated at that time, as those were quite distressing times for me and my mother.

👴🏼 Mr. Niyogi is a retired accountant for an airline company of Bengaluru branch, India. He had been an invaluable member of the enterprise before retirement. Now that Parkinson's is eating away his movement as well as his dignity - causing him more dependent on his wife, daughter, and a caretaker - he felt more desperate to be useful in life. But what can he possibly do, when, even for basic activities like eating, walking, and peeing he can't do without help?

👴🏼 The answer came in two ways. His former company faced a serious money embezzlement, and only a senior accountant like Mr. Niyogi could trace it. Then his daughter Archana has a friend, whose son was hopelessly stranded on a small island in Maldives with 200 other miners, when their employer went bankrupt, with no one able to help as most institutions are focusing in recovery after Covid-19. It should not be of Mr. Niyogi's concern, however he starts hearing the stranded young man's voice, urging him to send for help. But what can he do? Maybe if he helps Saran airlines in his last audit for them, they in turn might be persuaded to send boats for the stranded miners. But that would be an impossible task for Mr. Niyogi - or is it?

👴🏼 I applauded S.N Rao for the writing. Either he has been dealing with Parkinson's patient before, or he has done a thorough research; painful dealing with Parkinson's disease were captured vividly throughout the story and become one of the strong points of this book. Mr. Niyogi's meal, for instance, was pictured in minutest detail from preparing the liquified food to the injection to his feeding tube. Or the procedure of various treatments given to Mr. Niyogi to ease his rigid muscles, were described in chronological detail that I felt like being trained as a nurse. It might bored some of you who dislikes medical or uncomfortable scenes in a book, but it's interesting if you want to know more about Parkinson's disease, and felt relatable for you who have dealt with it.

Quoted for Friday56 hosted by Head Full of Books :

I was nervous. Ever since I got Parkinson's, I hadn't been confident or sure of myself. I was not sure how I would do here, but I decided to give it a try nonetheless.

👴🏼 Most of Mr. Niyogi's symptoms were also experienced by my father. Once he came back from a grocery store (he went alone as he could still walk at that time) with treacle of blood flowing from his eyebrow, without remembering what had happened. I think he had experienced a combination of one-second blackout and muscle-freeze. Luckily it happened right in front of the store's glass door, so his forehead bumped the door instead of completely falling over. We never let him go alone after that incident.

👴🏼 Hallucination had also happened once to my father, he saw flowers everywhere, on the wall, on the bed, on the floor. He's really freaked out that he's going crazy, but luckily it never happened again. Mr. Niyogi's hearing the minor's voice is hallucination, by the way, if you've been wondering. My father also had throat muscle rigidity that his diet was limited to only very soft porridge and steamed egg custard (chawanmushi) or soft tofu during his last year. Thank God, except during his last days in the ICU, he never needed feeding tube. I can't imagine the trouble and cost we'd have to bear if it happened.

👴🏼 All in all, it is an intriguing novella about struggles and resilience, sacrifices and humanity, with an elaborate theme of Parkinson's disease. The writing style is a bit too formal to be an entertaining novel, but other than that it has quite a perfect balance on all sides.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2


** Mr. Niyogi's Last Audit has been published in August 15th, 2024 **

A Telegram from Le Touquet (1956) by John Bude

📬 The titular telegram from Le Touquet is indeed a center point of this mystery by John Bude. I have thought from the first that the telegram must be something to complicate the case - and it is. But the telegram is also the turning point for Inspector Blampignon from Surete to solve the murder of a wealthy widow called Gwenny.

📬 The story opens with Nigel Derry, who is vacationing at Aunt Gwenny's house, where he would find the girl he has wanted to marry: Sheila. Also coming for holiday several of Gwenny's lovers, for she's been notoriously picking up a lover after another. There are no less than three whom Nigel meets: two of her old lover/friend, and the latest one, a Frenchman. The atmosphere soon gets tensed - there's a knife fight, and Gwenny suddenly, and without specific reason, thwarts Nigel and Sheila's marriage. Nigel's vacation is abruptly cut short when Gwenny leaves for her cottage in France.

📬 But Gwenny never reaches her cottage. Or technically, her body reached the cottage, found inside her own big trunk, but she's been dead for three days. It's at this point that Inspector Blampignon steps in. After a couple days of interviews and investigations, he gets no further than the first day. The telegram which Nigel received from Gwenny, sent from Le Touquet makes things more complicated still. It's clear that the murderer is a man, and one who's close to her. But which one?

📬 The most interesting thing about this book is the denouement. Blampignon knew the murderer near the end, but I think, not how it was performed, nor the motive. We get to know that from the murderer himself. And it's such a clever elaborated effort that might puzzle many amateur sleuths. In fact, the motive is so simple I wonder if it's worthwhile considering the great effort the murderer has taken. I think, psychologically, it's not the suitable kind of murder he would have taken for the motive anyway. And the murderer was quite predictable, it's no surprise when Blampignon revealed it. But still, it's an entertaining mystery with an intricate method of murder, and listening to the audiobook had been fun.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

#MurderEveryMonday: Two Stories with Same Title

Murder Every Monday was created by Kate @ Crossexamining Crime and @ArmchairSleuth. Put simply, the plan is for readers to take a photo of a crime fiction book (novel or short story collection) which meets a given week’s theme criteria and to then share it online, using the hashtag #MurderEveryMonday.

This week's theme is:

Two crime fiction stories which share the same title

This title is the only one I remember, I have only read the one from Robin Stevens. But maybe it's time to take on the Daisy Dalrymple for the upcoming Christmas?
 

Have your read any of them? Which cover(s) do you like most?

If you want to participate, here's the list of the weekly theme.

Six Degrees of Separation, from Long Island to Vintage 1954

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme, now hosted by Kate @ books are my favorite and best.

On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

This month we start from yet another book I haven't read, though I have read the previous book in the series:

0. Long Island by Colm Tóibín

Long Island is the long awaited sequel to one of Tóibín's most memorable novels: Brooklyn. We are following again the fate of the heroine, Ellis Lacey. From Goodreads: "From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving and intense novel of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love, the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work, twenty years later." This reminded me of another book whose heroine name is also Lacey, though it is the first name, not surname, of the heroine.

1. Pretend You Didn't See Her by Mary Higgins Clark

Lacey Farrell is the heroine of this thriller - a murder witness placed in a witness protection program by the police, with new identity and new life. But originally she is a young woman works as real estate agent. Lately I have read another book, whose heroine shares the same occupation.

2. The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christone Féret-Fleury

Julie leads a boring, unwholesome existence in Paris as a real estate agent. She struggles to follow her routine life, because deep inside, she's an imaginative girl. And that's why her daily métro journey is the one sparkle in her otherwise dim existence. Her imagination brings life to her fellow passengers as if they are characters in her book. Julie instantly reminded me of another imaginative girl I have read about long ago.

3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Francie Nolan is a little girl who comes from a poor family in Brooklyn. Excerpt from my review: "In a way, her ‘dreamy’ father had a contribution to Francie’s imagination quality, and fortunately, she also inherited her mother’s toughness and practical way of living. With all these, Francie became the first of the Rommelys who could go to college and had a decent career." There is a very strong tree near the Nolans' house. "Now here is the resemblance of Francie and the strong-built Tree of Heaven. Throughout the story, you would be taken to witness how Francie strove from the poverty, the loneliness of being unique, and the strong need of love." This tree reminded me of another tree in another title which also becomes a crucial point of the story.

4. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

Six boys prepared to go for trick-or-treating, and found in front of a haunted house, a huge tree with branches, laden with Jack-o-lanterns - The Halloween Tree! That Halloween would be the one they'll never forget. Last year I have read another book by Ray Bradbury with adolescent boys as main character, about a summer one of the boys will never forget.|

5. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Dandelion Wine is Ray Bradbury's remembrance of his childhood. Quoting from my review, "[...] summer is Douglas' favorite season. During summer holidays Douglas and Tom, his little brother, used to stay at their grandfather's house, and help him preparing bottles of Dandelion wines. In Douglas' view, each bottle contains the essence of every event that had happened during that summer holiday, that he wishes not to forget." Another book where certain wine transported the characters to a unique experience is...

6. Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain

I'm glad this chain ended with one of my favorite authors. "The year 1954, wine and UFO. These are three elements that Antoine Laurain had woven into a fantastic time-travelling story set in Paris." Here is my complete review if you're intrigued.


Have you read those books? If you do #sixdegree, how it worked out for you this time?

The Upcoming #1970Club

October is here, and it means that the biannually reading club week is back! These fun weeks of reading are hosted by Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Karen @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings. This time they picked 1970 as the year we will be delving into! I was hoping 1971 would be picked up (it is my birth year), but 1970 is close enough. So, this post is a welcoming the upcoming #1970Club, which will be happening on 14 - 20 October 2024.

I have originally planned to read four books - had been switching off from title to title, but stuck eventually to these four. But, alas, approaching the time I need to start reading, I have only found out that only three were possible. If you haven't known yet, due to my eyesight problem, I've been limiting my reading from e-book and audiobook only. It came much cheaper option too, as I've been struggling for several years to make ends meet. Subscribing to Everand (formerly Scribd.id), therefore, is a Godsend! However, I just learned that at certain point (and I couldn't figure out the threshold), Everand would disabled our access to some titles until the next payment date. We can still access many other titles, of course, but it's still annoying when you have a certain reading plan. Hence, I am forced to abandon my plan of reading The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons for #1970Club, for I couldn't find any copy in Google Playbooks either.

But no worry, I still have the other three to have fun with. Actually I have read two of them - and loved them - and am now on the third. I won't reveal the titles yet - you would know only by my reviews when the time come! Meanwhile, here are some books I have read years before, if you need inspiration or encouragement to join the club...


Books published in 1970 that I have read before:

📖 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Dee Brown) - (non fiction) an eloquent history of the American Indian systematic destruction, beginning from Christopher Columbus’ arrival at San Salvador on 1492 to the massacre at Wounded Knee at the end of 1890.

📖 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff) - (non fiction), a beautiful but unexpected friendship between a freelance writer (Helene Hanff) and a second-hand book dealer in London. Written in correspondence style, it is short but deeply touching.

📖 The Naked Face (Sidney Sheldon) - a crime thriller by the inimitable Sidney Sheldon, read it when in high school or college. Can't remember the story, but it's fast-paced and satisfying.

📖 Passenger to Frankfurt (Agatha Christie) - a Christie I am sure I have read during high school, but as always with her less famous works, I don't remember what it's about. I would've reread it if I had time...

📖 The Second Lady (Irving Wallace) - read this before blogging era, a rather steamy, spy thriller consisting of high-level double identity - an actress substitution with American first lady.

📖 Man, Woman, and Child (Erich Segal) - again, read this before blogging era, and remember nothing of the story. Only remember I have read it because of the title.


If you wish to join the #1970Club, here's the first announcement. All that is required is just reading books published in the year, post your reviews during the week, then submit the link either in Simon's or Karen's blog. Have fun! ;)

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2024: OCTOBER #AgathaChristieSS24

The two stories we are going to enjoy this month are especially chosen to match the Halloween mood which will be coming soon. Hope you'll enjoy them!

THE HOUND OF DEATH

The first story is a non detective one. A young Englishman visiting Cornwall finds himself delving into the legend of a Belgian nun who is living as a refugee in the village. Possessed of supernatural powers, she is said to have caused her entire convent to explode when it was occupied by invading German soldiers during World War. Sister Angelique had been the only survivor. Could such a tall story possibly be true?

Occult and science fiction are two interests developed by Agatha Christie at that time. In an interview with Nigel Dennis in 1956, she professed her keen interest in science fiction. And there is that touch in this story. Interesting, right? Hopefully it's not one of Christie's zonk stories...

The story was first published in the Oldhams Press edition of The Hound of Death in 1933, available only by collecting coupons from a magazine entitled The Passing Show. It was included in the US collection The Golden Ball and Other Stories in 1971, and was adapted for radio in 2010 by the BBC.

THE VOICE IN THE DARK

For our second story, we are back with Mr Satterthwaite, whose old friend, Lady Barbara Stanleigh, asks him to investigate her daughter's claim that the family seat is haunted. She appears to be hearing voices. Is it her imagination or is the sinister demand for something stolen a warning?

Mr Quin glides into the picture, dropping clues and setting Satterthwaite's thoughts along the right path, as always leading him towards a resolution. The story was first published in book form in the collection The Mysterious Mr Quin, published by Collins in 1930. 


How excited are you to start reading them? Have fun! ;)

#MurderEveryMonday: Cover with Drink On (or in the Title)

Murder Every Monday was created by Kate @ Crossexamining Crime and @ArmchairSleuth. Put simply, the plan is for readers to take a photo of a crime fiction book (novel or short story collection) which meets a given week’s theme criteria and to then share it online, using the hashtag #MurderEveryMonday.

This week's theme is:

Cover with a drink on (or in the title)

Have your read any of them? Which cover(s) do you like most?

If you want to participate, here's the list of the weekly theme:

Six Books Saturday #11: Books with Interrogative Sentence as Title

#SixBooksSaturday is my personal monthly bookish meme, inspired by Six Words Saturday, which I've stumbled upon @ Travel with Intent. It's basically to list six books of random category, which I'd decided on the spot. Anything is possible according to my whim. I post Six Books Saturday on last Saturday of each month. If you're interested, you are, of course, welcomed to join me. There's no rule, really. You can post six anything about books.

This week prompt is something I've just realized, that I have read quite a few books with certain similarity, here it is...

BOOKS WITH INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE AS TITLE

1. Madam, Will You Talk? (Mary Stewart)

A gripping romance-thriller novel, of which genre, Mary Stewart has always been the queen. The curious title was quoted from an old Chesire song lyrics:

“O will you accept of me a new silver pin
To wrap up your hair and your fine muslin?
Madam will you walk, Madam will you talk with me?”

2. How Do You Live? (Genzaburo Yoshino)

A coming-of age Japanese psychological fiction which the author wrote specifically for younger readers, to teach them the importance of free and rich culture to human progress. It was an essay that his friend offered the job to write at first place, but fortunately he wrote this deep and enjoyable novel instead.

3. Where Are You Now? (Mary Higgins Clark)

A classic suspense-romance from another queen from another era (the 80s): Mary Higgins Clark. A young property agent accidentally witnessed a murderer leaving the victim's house, and she was put into witness protection program. With a new identity, nobody's supposed to know where she was.

4. Why didn't they ask Evans? (Agatha Christie)

One can always trust Agatha Christie to get interesting idea for her book title. This one isn't quoted from nursery rhyme, as were with many of hers. But rather, it's a remark from the sleuths when they finally realized that the key to their puzzling mystery should have been in the hand of the person called Evans.

5. N or M? (Agatha Christie)

It's a Tommy & Tuppence mystery, so it's naturally about spy operations. N and M are the initials of two German spies whose identities Tommy and Tuppence must find out among the seemingly innocent guests at a seaside hotel.

6. Whose Body? (Dorothy L. Sayers)

This was my first Dorothy L. Sayers (and still is - I need to read more soon!) A bachelor architect found a dead body of a stranger in his bathtub one morning, and no one have any idea of the who and why. It's an intriguing mystery for Lord Peter Wimsey to solve!


Have you ever read books with interrogative sentence as title? What's your favorites?


Next Six Books Saturday: 26th October 2024.

Excellent Women (1952) by Barbara Pym #SpinsterSeptember

❤ Spinsters and clergymen seem to always be center in most of Barbara Pym's novels. My first Pym was Some Tame Gazelle, which I found suited my taste. Excellent Women, my last pick of this year's #SpinterSeptember (hosted by @pearjelly_) is no different.

❤ Mildred Lathbury is in her thirties, a spinster, and a clergyman's daughter. She rents a furnished room in a respectable household, and is counted as one of the excellent women of the parish. Excellent women here means the kind of women who perform small but meaningful duties in the service of churches and voluntary organization and are usually taken for granted (especially by men).

❤ The narrow and peaceful existence of Miss Lathbury is about to be thoroughly stirred by the arrival of three strangers: Rockingham (Rocky) and Helena Napier, and the young widow Mrs. Allegra Gray The Napiers live in the downstairs room of the same house where Mildred lives. Rocky is a charming man to whom women used to be drawn to, while Helena is a anthropologist - an interesting career of a woman in the field usually dominated by men, at least in 1950s. Mildred notices from the first that Helena is much more excited to discuss things with her colleague Everard Bone, than to converse with her husband. Her work seems to alienates her husband, who would usually visit Mildred where he expects to be offered a cup of tea or coffee.

❤ Unwittingly, Mildred becomes more involved in others' lives. The Napiers, Everard Bone - whom she disliked at first, but changed her mind when she met him at the church. More so, after he confided to Mildred that he doesn't really care for Helena. Gradually and very subtly Everard Bone attracted Mildred's attention - an awkward meeting at first, then tea, then lunch. I was relieved that Mildred could see Everard's deeper qualities and was immune to Rocky's charm and his casual teasing - not at first, but also not too late. Many inexperienced spinster would fall to Rocky's charm and the seemingly cold Everard.

❤ Other than Rocky and Everard, many people around her have thought she would eventually marry their unmarried vicar, Julian Malory, who lives with his also unmarried sister Winifred at the vicarage. The siblings are Mildred's close friend, and she often visits the vicarage. But then, enter Mrs. Gray - a young beautiful widow - who rent the attic room of the vicarage. It's not a surprise to anyone, perhaps, when Julian announced his engagement to Allegra Gray.

❤ Those two implications, so to speak, disturbed the two spinsters: Mildred and Winifred, rather severely. What will happen next? Will everything come to normal again, or will there be huge changes to their world? Whatever the end will be, it was a witty and gentle read, which is surprisingly quite relevant to our modern time. How many people unjustly suppose that unmarried women always lead an idle and trouble-free life, and thus the perfect end receiving of other married people's burdens?

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mr. Finchley Discovers His England (1934) by Victor Canning

🚲 A story about middle-aged solicitor's clerk taking an adventurous holiday for the first time of his life is quite irresistible for me. And this book is just about that. No plot or story line, it's just a series of Mr. Finchley's hilarious, and often absurd, adventures around the countryside and little towns of England. The result is a refreshing and entertaining read!

🚲 Mr. Finchley's life can be accurately described in two words: regulated and rules. He's been working for years as clerk, and has never taken holiday from work. When his boss instructed him to take a three weeks summer holiday, Mr. Finchley was quite confused. But he bought a ticket anyway for a journey to a seaside town.

🚲 But Edgar Finchley never reached the town. For just from day one he always met with unexpected complications that thwarted his original plans. And these events and people he met are often comical; most of them very absurd. They are ranging from good to bad people. A Gypsy couple, a car thief (that's how he deviated from his original plan in the first place), and a male version of Miss Havisham are only a few I can remember. Along his journey, which he took either by foot or by bicycle, he was alternately kidnapped, on the run from an asylum, on the boat helping a smuggler, working at a gas station, and helping at a street show. Not to mention being chased by either the police or the angry gypsy because he thought Mr. Finchley had pinched his wife!

🚲 On the whole, this is a light read with cheerful tone, silly and charming. Overall I liked Mr. Finchley's adventures, though I was a bit uneasy when he just brushed off the smuggler's occupation just like that as if it's not wrong - because a crime is still a crime, though the criminal is kind and warm towards you, right? I know that in his position he couldn't do anything for his own sake, but I would feel troubled had I experienced the same. Excepting the game of cricket - which was too long and boring - I loved this book.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/5

A Far Cry from Kensington (1988) by Muriel Spark #CCSpin

💜 #CCSpin brought me a novel by a-new-to-me author: Muriel Spark. A Far Cry from Kensington is a reminiscent of post war London in 1954-1955 by a young widow: Mrs. Hawkins. At first I thought Mrs. Hawkins was in her late thirties or even early forties. She seemed matured, motherly, and loved to dispose advises. But it turned out she was quite young, only twenty nine. I think it's because of her large body, as well as her personalities, that made her seemed older and unattractive.

💜 Mrs. Hawkins lived alone in a rooming house (boarding house) in South Kensington, and worked as editor in a struggled publishing company. Also residents in the house are William, a medical student; Kate, a nurse; and Wanda Podolak, a Polish dressmakers. The later is the first center of Mrs. Hawkins' story, the other is an aspiring writer called Hector Bartlett, whom she used to call a "pisseur de copie" due to his books which were of rubbish quality.

💜 Wanda Podolak is the kind of hysterical and nervous woman. She's a good dressmaker and had many clients, men and women. One day she received an anonymous letter, threatening her to pay her taxes, or else, prison. This is just the beginning of Wanda's declining. Mrs. Hawkins and the rest of the house thought it just a bully, but Wanda, being an immigrant and hysterical in nature, took it very seriously. It didn't help too when she began taking to radionics - a pseudoscientific form of alternative medicine in the shape of a black box, which was actually a historical event in the early 20th century. The writer of the letter became an exciting mysterious puzzle that was only be solved near the end.

💜 Hector Bartlett also proved to be thorn in Mrs. Hawkins's flesh due to her rude but honest appellation of him. Besides these complexities, Agnes (or Nancy) Hawkins, thirty years later, reminisces her days in the publication world, the eccentricities of her fellow residents and neighbors, as well as her efforts to be a better self - diet is one of them. And it is a thinner and much more contended Nancy Hawkins who told us this amazing story thirty years later from Italy - a far cry from that 1955 Kensington.

💜 I am so glad I had the chance to come upon this book. It seems a short and ordinary story, but it has many layers that intrigued me long after finishing it. Muriel Spark is a brilliant author to capture the depth of humanity in the post-war, but which also applies and is relevant in any era.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Mini Reviews for #AgathaChristieSS24 - September

 
The Herb of Death

🌿 It's another story told around a dinner table of Colonel and Mrs. Bantry. Same as in The Affair at the Bungalow, the guests are Sir Henry something, ex-Scotland Yard or something, a doctor, an actress who "provided" the story in The Affair at the Bungalow, and of course, our dear Miss Marple. This time, Mrs. Bantry told an intriguing event when the Bantrys were guests at Clodderham Court.

🌿 The duck they had for dinner was wrongly cooked with foxglove leaves instead of sage, and everyone was ill from digitalis poisoning. But one girl, Sir Ambrose's ward, was dead. It was supposed as an accident, but of course it's a murder. Everyone gave their opinions from every angle, but in the end, it's Miss Marple who guessed correctly.

🌿 Agatha Christie "strikes" again with a poisonous murder, which is always her forte, and which I always love for its simplicity.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Bird with the Broken Wing

🕊 Here is my most favorite Mr. Quin's story so far. On a seance, Mr. Satterthwaite "received a message", apparently from his old elusive friend, Mr. Quin. It instructs him to go to Laidell, where he was initially invited but thought of skipping. But now he decided to go, as something would surely  happen.

🕊 An "enchanting" girl was strangled by her ukulele string. Everyone thought it's a suicide, but Satterthwaite knew otherwise; though he couldn't say to the police about Mr. Quin, but still... Moreover, the girl had confided to him that night, that she was very happy - that something is coming that would make her happy. So suicide is beyond question. But who's the murderer? Mr. Satterthwaite knew whodunnit, as well as I, though I didn't guess the how.

🕊 A very enjoyable mystery, and that, I guess, is because of Mr. Satterthwaite's confidence. Mr. Quin's involvement is almost zero; he only appeared in the end after the mystery's solved. That is just the right amount for me...

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Rhine Journey (1980) by Ann Schlee #SpinsterSeptember

🚢 Rhine Journey is not only a journey on a steamer through the river Rhine in Germany. More than that, it is also an internal journey of an unmarried 19th century woman, from repressed spinsterhood, to independence. Charlotte is the spinster, and she is the reason Nora @ pear.jelly_ picked this book for a group read during #SpinsterSeptember.

🚢 Charlotte is an English woman, and she goes on the journey to Germany with her brother's family - Reverend Charles Morisson, his wife Marion, and their teenager daughter Ellie. On board the steamer Charlotte sees a man who resembles and reminds her of her youth lover, from whom she was separated by her brother and sister in law because they felt he didn't suit her. The man was Charlotte's only passport to happiness. Instead, she was forced to live as a retainer of the family - someone invisible and whom no one ever noticed.

🚢 It turns out the man isn't her ex lover, but a husband and a father. She begins to be infatuated with the man, even fantasizing and dreaming about making love with him, whom, in her dream, reciprocates her feeling, and treats her like how she had wanted to be treated. Then something happens that ends those fantasies, and it is at that point that Charlotte's change begins.

🚢 Charlotte had actually received a fortune, bequeathed by a Mr. Ransome, to whom she had been a caretaker. She could have had her independence then, but I think the repression of her brother and sister-in-law had been too much that she felt helpless to start an independent life. Charlotte's life had been regulated to the family's needs for too long for her to begin a new one which is her own. Loneliness is also an issue she's afraid to face.

🚢 On the whole, it's an intriguing novel, without much plot or action, as the biggest "turmoil" is happening inside Charlotte's mind. It's not an easy read for me as sometimes the line between reality and fantasy or dream is blurred. I think that's what the writer had intended it to be, and it worked. Ann Schlee captured the Victorian spinsterhood repression beautifully, though the story feels more like in the late 1910s or even 1920s.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye (1928) by Brian Flynn

💎 It all began at the Hunt Ball at Westhampton, where it was rumored that a royal personage would attend. A mysterious man, wanted to be known as Mr. X, arrived, danced, and infatuated by the pretty Sheila Delaney. Then a string of incidents took place.

💎 Private Investigator Anthony Bathurst was hired by the Crown Prince of Clorania to solve a blackmail case. While almost at the same time, Chief Detective-Inspector Bannister - only months before retirement - abruptly ended his holiday over a murder of a girl at a dentist office. One thing that connects the three events is that the parties concerned were all related to more than one of the events. It also means that Bathurst and Bannister must work together to solve both cases.

💎 This is a classic Golden Age mystery, ingeniously crafted by Brian Flynn. At first it seemed like a simple case, a murder by injecting cyanide to a dentist patient while the dentist was locked at another room. But with each revelation, the case got more complicated. First of all, the murdered girl wasn't the girl they supposed at first, but another. On what purpose did the murderer use the false identity? Then there's the bank notes the murdered girl withdrew from the bank, which were missing.

💎 What about the titular Peacock's Eye? You've guessed that it has something to do with some Oriental jewelry, right? That made up the final complication of the case. And the murderer? That's the beautiful plot twist of this book. You'll have several suspects along the way, but I doubt it if you'll ever guessed it correctly. Unlike Christie, who often scattered clues and hints blatantly throughout a book, Flynn put it there so subtly that you mightn't have noticed it at all. On the whole, it's a totally engrossing story with a clever and satisfying twist.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Miss Buncle's Book (1934) by D.E. Stevenson #SpinsterSeptember

✍🏼 September is the month dedicated for #SpinsterSeptember, a Twitter and Instagram reading event created by Nora @pearjelly_. The idea is to read books in which the main characters are spinsters. My first contribution is a brilliantly written novel by D.E. Stevenson. In Miss Buncle's Book, Stevenson wrote a book about a woman who writes a book about a woman who writes a book. Confused? Let me elaborate...

✍🏼 Miss Barbara Buncle is a spinster in her late thirties, who lives in a small town of Silverstream. When the dividend, on which she was depended her financials, was decreased in both quantity and frequency, Miss Buncle was forced to do something. This something turned out to be writing a book. But Miss Buncle has a handicap - she doesn't have imagination. Thus, she wrote a book about what she knows well - Silverstream and its residents.

✍🏼 Mr. Abbott, the publisher, read Miss Buncle's manuscript, and loved it. He agreed to publish it under title of Disturber of the Peace. The title became a prophecy when, intrigued by this new book penned by John Smith (Miss Buncle's pseudonym), the Silverstreamers procured and read the book, and.... found themselves in it! Peace has been disturbed alright. And it is the chaos the book has stirred that forms the center of this amusing book.

✍🏼 The best part of the book is learning how different each individual's reaction is towards the Disturber of the Peace. Yet, it is easy to remark that their reactions are always in accordance with their personal characters. It can be said that their reactions reflect their true characters. Mrs. Featherstone-Hogg is the strongest opponent of Disturber of the Peace. She hated both the book and the writer, John Smith. So much so, that she went to London to bully Mr. Abbott into withdrawing the book from publication - which at this point had become a bestseller - and regarded it as libel. Of course Mr. Abbott refused to do that and there's no lawyer willing to take the case. Mrs. Featherstone-Hogg was so adamant, that she decided to take the matter by herself. She invited some residents whose name were included in the book, to gather and discuss the real identity of John Smith - for they realized that he/she must be their fellow resident - and what they'd do to punish this person. 

✍🏼 This action only revealed Mrs. Featherstone-Hogg's true personality: hypocrite. She recognized the character in the book as herself, but she denied vehemently that there is any similarity between the character and herself. Funny, right? But there are also those who saw the book as amusing, like Colonel Weatherhead. The book even inspired him to do something he would have never thought possible, but in the end it actually made him happier. To another male character, the book had opened his eyes of his wrongdoings towards his family, that he tried further to correct it.

✍🏼 In short, this is a hilarious story that satirized the hypocrisy in any society in our world. What we see outside is not always the same with what lays inside. People see Miss Buncle as a rather foolish or stupid woman, that they never suspect her as John Smith. Among the Silverstreamers, only Sally Walker, the 17 years granddaughter of Miss Buncle's neighbour, who really appreciate Miss Buncle as she is. Interestingly, Sally is the only one who could describe Disturber of the Peace in accordance with its literary merit. The moral of the story is, that sometimes it's good to see one's reflection from other's mirror - there might lay the truth one doesn't often realize about one self. However, only they who are conscientious enough who can see it as it is. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
 

Six Degrees of Separation, from After Story to The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme, now hosted by Kate @ books are my favorite and best.

On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

This month we start from yet another book I haven't read, but one I'd love to someday:

0. After Story by Larissa Behrendt

Summary from Goodreads:
"When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother Della on a tour of England's most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and help them reconcile the past.

Twenty-five years earlier the disappearance of Jasmine's older sister devastated their tight-knit community. This tragedy returns to haunt Jasmine and Della when another child mysteriously goes missing on Hampstead Heath. As Jasmine immerses herself in the world of her literary idols – including Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters and Virginia Woolf – Della is inspired to rediscover the wisdom of her own culture and storytelling. But sometimes the stories that are not told can become too great to bear."



I started the chain with another book I've read this year, where the main characters are dealing with disappearance of a family member:

1. Sunbirds by Penelope Slocombe

Excerpt from my review:

"This is not a book about birds, but about people. People who long for freedom that seems to be possessed only by birds. People who, just like birds, fly high, leaving the present place to another, whenever it likes to, without responsibility, without reserve. The question is, is it possible for human being to take the same way of life as of birds?"

It's about a disintegrated family when the 18 year-old son left home for a spiritual journey to Himalayan, and never returned. You can read more about it on my review.

The long for freedom in this books' characters reminded me of a similar kind of longing in the next book of the chain...

2. Blue Hawk by Chloe Turner

Excerpt from my review: "It is a wonderful journey of a woman's struggles in the men's world, it is also an insightful story of family, jealousy, pettiness, and friendship. All is beautifully written and thoroughly well researched."

If you love historical fiction, Blue Hawk will amuse you with its vivid description of clothier and dyeing business in the 17th century of England. The protagonist is a wonderfully strong and courageous young woman who loved the color blue.

My next link is another book that also centers around the color blue.

3. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

Summary from Goodreads:
"Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin—two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family’s French ancestry. As the novel unfolds—alternating between Ella’s story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier—a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very last page."

Another book with the Virgin in the title is..

4. Vivaldi's Virgins by Barbara Quick

Summary from Goodreads:
"Abandoned as an infant, fourteen-year-old Anna Maria Dal Violin is one of the elite musicians living in the foundling home where the "Red Priest," Antonio Vivaldi, is maestro and composer. Fiercely determined to find out where she came from, Anna Maria embarks on a journey of self-discovery that carries her into a wondrous and haunting world of music and spectacle, bringing eighteenth-century Venice magically to life."

Another historical fiction from the author (Barbara Quick) I've enjoyed is...

5. A Golden Web by Barbara Quick

Summary from Goodreads:

"Alessandra is desperate to escape.

Desperate to escape her stepmother, who's locked her away for a year; to escape the cloister that awaits her and the marriage plans that have been made for her; to escape the expectations that limit her and every other girl in fourteenth-century Italy. There's no tolerance in her quiet village for Alessandra and her keen intelligence and unconventional ideas.

In defiant pursuit of her dreams, Alessandra undertakes an audacious quest, her bravery equaled only by the dangers she faces. Disguised and alone in a city of spies and scholars, Alessandra will find a love she could not foresee -- and an enduring fame."

This chain will be closed with another historical fiction about extraordinary struggle put up by a strong intelligent courageous young woman...

6. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Summary from Goodreads:

"Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones. With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger.

As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century."

Have you read those books? If you do #sixdegrees, how it worked out for you this time?