The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman: A Short Story #AgathaChristieSS24

🔺️ Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are in the middle of conversation with their guest, a Dr. Hawker, when the latter's housekeeper tells him about a terrible phone call she's received from a Count Foscatini in Regent's Court, exclaiming that he's been murdered! Naturally, Poirot and Hastings follows the doctor to the count's flat.

🔺️ Jane @ Howling Frog Books has pointed out in her post, the fascinating idea behind the, then, modern flats which provided dinner-service. Indeed, it is a fascinating idea, I didn't know that was a thing back then! The system is providing dinner service for the residents by phone order. The kitchen, located at the top of the building, would then send down one course at a time, via a service lift. A very convenient arrangement for well-to-do bachelor gentlemen, indeed!

🔺️ When the three men arrive at the flat, the count is at the dining room, dead. The weapon, a marble statue, is there, as well as the remaining of dinner for three. The lift boy has told them that the count has entertained two guests that night, while Mr. Graves, Foscatini's manservant, was out. The dinner service would prove an important key in this murder case, as well as the untouched dessert of rice soufflé. At least, it is important for Hercule Poirot. Hastings, as usual, failed to see something amiss, as are perhaps, most of us.

🔺️ Short the story is perhaps, it is entertaining and delightful nonetheless. And another neat deduction process from Monsieur Poirot! Now, a light topic for discussion for #AgathaChristieSS24:

If you could afford it, would you buy/rent a modern flat with dinner service?

I will! I think it's a brilliant idea for working people living in apartments like me. Preparing meals and washing dishes really take time. All I want to do after work is just having a good shower, eating a satisfying dinner, and relaxed a bit until bedtime. I would be more than happy if those meal prep and washing dishes could be get off of me, not mentioning the menu planning and grocery shopping! Also, it's amusing to be served random dishes I don't know beforehand. Meal times would be rather adventurous.

What about you, what do you think?

The Wintringham Mystery (1927) aka Cicely Disappears by Anthony Berkeley

🕵️‍♂️ To me, our hero Stephen Munro, with his batman-turned-manservant Bridger, is a cross between Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey with his butler Bunter and Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster with his Jeeves. Steven Munro is as intelligent as Peter Wimsey, though much poorer. And the dynamic relationship between master and servant, is not unlike that of Wooster-Jeeves, though less comical.

🕵️‍♂️ The story begins when Steven Munro found himself without a penny. But for the amount of Bridger wages for the month, his wealth had exhausted to nothing - a situation which forced him to accept a job as footmen at Wintringham Hall, where his younger self used to be invited as guest. Surprisingly, he faced this calamity stoically, and was even a bit excited with the new adventure. Bridger, who had anticipated his master's new situation, has also secured a job as under gardener at the same house.

🕵️‍♂️ A dinner party is held that night, and we were introduced to the curmudgeonly Lady Susan, the proprietor of Wintringham Hall; her nephew, Freddie (also Munro's childhood friend); her distant relative Cecily, and companion Millicent; as well as some invited guests. Freddie insisted in having a kind of ritual or seance, where one of them would disappear, He also insisted upon Munro joining them to cite the rites. Cicely volunteered to be the one to disappear.

🕵️‍♂️ The silly fun soon turned to disaster when strange voices and even a scream was heard in the dark. And Cicely was nowhere to be found! At first they thought Cicely had cleverly pranked them, and she's hidden somewhere laughing at their ignorance. But few days had gone, and still, no Cicely. Now they were terrified. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong.

🕵️‍♂️ Steven Munro hadn't been a footman for long. The oily butler didn't like him, and got him sacked. Only to be "invited" later on as guest by Lady Susan, as she realized his true quality. Good for her and the household, because at the end of the day, he helped investigating the mystery, together with Pauline, his longtime sweetheart but now engaged with a hideous man.

🕵️‍♂️ This book a is the perfect old school Golden Age detective story. Interestingly, Berkeley first published it under his pen name: A. Monmouth Platts, as a serial in The Daily Mirror, along with a competition with prizes for those who could solve the mystery. Even Agatha Christie couldn't refrain from competing, and eventually won the second prizes. The mystery is puzzling, a combination of a missing person, stolen jewelry, double identity, superstitious, and of course... murder. Quite a jolly read for this rainy season!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Coming of Mr. Quin: A Short Story for #AgathaChristieSS24, with a topic of discussion!

♣️ This is the beginning of the beginning. Agatha Christie published her first short story in 1924, this story. And after that, she quite regularly published no less than 166 others, besides her novels, in the span of more than forty years.

♣️ The Coming of Mr. Quin is also the beginning of our acquaintance with the charismatic but elusive Harley Quin. He was Christie's most favorite character, inspired by her fascination of theater and performance - in particular - the Italian Commedia dell'arte, as well as the supernatural. It is also the first appearance of old Mr. Satterthwaite, the connoisseur of human nature.

♣️ It's New Year's Eve, and Mr. Satterthwaite is guest in a dinner party at Royston Hall. The night is dark and cold. Near midnight there's a knock on the door. A tall and dark stranger by the name of Mr. Harley Quin enters. His car has caught a problem, and while his chauffeur's repairing it, he invites himself to the warmth of a glass of drink and the blazing fire.

♣️ The conversation soon drifts into the death of Royston Hall's previous owner some years ago. Derek Capel had committed suicide, seemingly without reasonable cause. He had even got engaged to a mysterious woman whose identity he never revealed. Mr. Quin unwittingly guides the other guests to review the sequence of events around the suicide (all the guests and the host were present on that fatal night). While Mr. Satterthwaite, with his deep understanding of human nature, and with the help of Mr. Quin's hints, solves the mystery.

♣️ As usual, it's a simple solution. The key to get to the answer is just connecting the (seemingly) uneventful events as pieces of a puzzle. Once you put them into place, then voila... you get the solution. After years of reading Christie, I know that she won't put something, no matter trivial it is, if it's not important to the case; every detail counts.

What an appropriate story to kick off our fun #AgathaChristieSS24! Now, I have a topic for discussion for this one:

We know what Mr. Quin meant for Agatha Christie, but I'm curious... 

What do you think is Mr. Quin's role in this story?

(and in more stories to come)

Be creative, imaginative, think out of the box, and all that.

I personally like to think Mr. Quin as the embodiment of chronological and analytical thinking - a quality which great detectives should own. Mr. Satterthwaite has a quality of being good detective. His understanding of psychology and attention to details are great. He also has the ability to detach himself from the scene, and view it from outsider's perspective. Unfortunately, Mr. Satterthwaite is too imaginative, and lacks of chronological thinking. Hence, with a little prompt from Mr. Quin, he'd eventually see the truth. In a way, the combination of both men would result in the character of Hercule Poirot.

And you, what do YOU think? You can slip the answer in your post(s), if you hadn't done any, or just leave your thoughts on the comment box below. :)

You just found out about #AgathaChristieSS24 and would have wanted to join in? There's still plenty of time for you to read and post the January stories! Or, if this month would be too hectic for you to read one or two short stories, you can always join in anytime of the year - no strings attach, and just have fun!

This is the initial post, if you want to know more about this event, and this is the January post where you can leave link to your post(s) for this month.

#MurderEveryMonday: Covers with a Car (or more)

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 car on

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 Tomorrow... to The Murder on the Links

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:


0. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

"In this exhilarating novel, two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality." -- Goodreads

It's about a reunion between a young man and woman, who were childhood friends, and now joined forces in a project. This trope instantly reminded me of a book from Agatha Christie. Then, something clicked inside my head. Haven't I said before that I would love someday to create a chain of only books from Christie? I think this is the perfect time to do it. So, here it is...

The first link, with the same childhood friends reunited to work together, is:

1. Why didn't they ask Evans?

Bobby Jones and Lady Frances "Frankie" Derwent investigate the murder of a golfer, whose last sentence before his last breath was: "why didn't they ask Evans"? Here's my complete review.

Another book with detective partner and also a question in the title is:

2. N or M?

Excerpt from my review:
"A British secret agent approached Tommy, asked him to go undercover to a hotel in the seaside Leahampton called Sans Souci, which was believed to be the camp of German spies and fifth columnists. They were male and female, whose initial were N and M." Here's my complete review.

As usual, Tuppence (the brightest of the couple) is the one who solved the mystery. The important clue was from an unexpected minor character. And so does the one in the next chain:

3. Dumb Witness

Excerpt from my review:
"I loved it mostly because of one character: Bob, the dog. Yes, he is the fox terrier you usually see on the cover [...]. Does it mean Bob IS the dumb witness in this story? I wish!! [...] But unfortunately, no. Bob just lends his careless habit of putting his toy ball on the top stair to inspire an accident." Here's the complete review.

The accident that befell Emily Arundell was a murder attempt, which was soon followed by the actual murder. Christie had also used the same trope for another book (with a little alteration):

4. Peril at End House

Short excerpt from my review
"...One of the best plot twists from Agatha Christie, after the one in The Murder of Roger of Ackroyd." Here's the complete review.

Obviously my next link would be:

5. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

My review (with a huge spoiler)

Roger Ackroyd was stabbed from behind his neck. My last chain would be another story with death by stabbing.

6. The Murder on the Links

My review


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

Eleven Huskies (A Dr. Bannerman Vet Mystery #3) by Philipp Schott

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

🐕 Dr. Peter Bannerman, the vet-turned-sleuth, is back in this third mystery of the series. Peter received a call to attend the sick sled team of huskies (eleven of them) belong to a fishing lodge in northern Manitoba, where Peter and his family planned to spend summer holiday on a canoeing trip. It turns out to be a poisoning case. Who would do that, and why? Was there a connection between the dog poisoning with the plane crash which had happened at the same time?

🐕 Three people were dead from the plane crash. It was caused by a shot aimed originally to the pilot. As usual, Peter is involuntarily wondering what is the motive? But, of course, his main attention right now is in the huskies. That, and the upcoming canoeing trip with Laura (his wife), Kevin (his brother in the police force), and Stuart (Kevin's boyfriend). Last but certainly not least, Pippin the dog, Peter's great sniffer who has helped him in previous cases, will accompany Peter in this trip, which would be one they'll never forget!

🐕 It's refreshing to see Peter and Pippin out from New Selfoss, their home village, on this adventure. Following their canoeing trip in the forest and on the lake felt like having the trip myself. Moreover, Schott described the landscape beautifully, it added a nice experience in the reading. It's also packed with suspenseful actions involving huge wildfire, where Pippin appeared to be the hero again.

🐕 All in all, it's an entertaining cozy mystery. The murder mystery itself isn't too intriguing. Something the murderer had said several chapters before last instantly told me who the murderer most probably be, and I wasn't wrong. In fact, we didn't get to know the suspects very well to be able to guess, and but for that "revelation" I wouldn't have any clue. But it's a cozy anyway, and I guess I'm more interested to know whether the lead dog of the eleven huskies would make it at the end or not, than who the real murderer was.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5


**Eleven Huskies will be published in 14th May 2024**

Holiday Reads: A Children Classic and A Golden Age Mystery

My last Christmas holiday reads consisted of two books, one was a readalong with my mother, and the other was a book I've intended to read for #DeanStreetDecember, but I ran out of time to review it. So, here they are...

A mother-daughter semi-readalong of
Little House on the Prairie (1935) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Watching Little House on the Prairie on TV was a family tradition in my childhood. I remember how we (my parents and me) sat in front of our black and white television after Sunday lunch, patiently waiting for the series to play. My mother and I, especially, keep the happy memories to this day.

Mama is 82 now, and her eyesight is declining with every year. For years she can't read or watch movies anymore, and even performing daily tasks is becoming more difficult these days. Early this year, I have read (listened to) Little House in the Big Woods, and casually told the story to Mama, which, surprisingly made her so happy. So, this holiday I have prepared to do what I called a "semi" readalong of Little House on the Prairie.

Everyday I listened to the audiobook (narrated charmingly by Cherry Jones), for 45 minutes, each session covering a chapter or two. I took notes of some important events, and some little details which I know my mother would love to hear. It's usually the household chores details, or of the meals. Then, during our mother-daughter-time each afternoon, I told it to my mother. Though I'm not a good storyteller, Mama cherished each second of these moments, which made me so happy. I know that one day I would be much grateful that I had made the efforts!

For me personally, it's a reread. Here's my review of the 1st read. Listening to audiobook made a different impression of the story. It feels like I'm living the same life of a settler with the Ingallses. My favorite moments would be the one when Charles was encircled by a pack of wolves while riding a horse. That's a horrifying scene! Then, of course, there's the Christmas story where Mr. Edwards (their bachelor neighbour) took mighty efforts to cross a roaring creek to bring presents for Laura and Mary - who were afraid Santa Claus won't come - pretended that he acted as Santa Claus' courier. It's heartwarming and very wholesome to read!

The Murders near Mapleton (1929) by Bryan Flynn

I have originally read this for #DeanStreetDecember - an event hosted by Liz @ Adventures in reading, running and working from home, of reading books published by Dean Street Press. I have actually finished it around Christmas, but with one thing or others, I couldn't write the review until after New Year.

It's my first Bryan Flynn, and I was pretty impressed by the intricate plot. The story is set in a usual English countryside, on Christmas Eve dinner, hosted by Sir Eustace Vernon, and attended by his niece, as well as several of his friends. After dinner he went away after receiving a very bad news, and never came back. His body was later found near train station by Anthony Bathurst - the amateur sleuth who would investigate the case. A red bon bon was found on Sir Eustace's clutched hand. The same was also found on his butler's dead body, which was proved surprisingly to be a woman!

It's a proper Golden Age murder mystery with intricate plot red herrings, one-on-one interview with each suspect, and all that. Quite the perfect read for the season.

How's your holiday been, reading wise? What kind of books you usually enjoy during holiday?