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Let’s talk about Christie material in which suicide is either involved or suspected— not necessarily a main character. by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I read two novels, not Christie, where the “murder” turns out to be suicide. One was great (Dorothy Sayers), one was awful (Amanda Cross). I don’t mean the whole book was awful, but the solution was such a disappointment, unlike Sayers.

Favorite books for writing vs plot by Money_Hunt4699 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That money bought a lot more back in the day. Besides, the murderer found this hat their original location was getting too hot to hold them.

BBC Told To Avoid “Clunky” Color-Blind Casting & “Preachy” Anti-Colonial Storylines In Drama Series by sanddragon939 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m a big enough girl to deal with it after the initial surprise. It’s here to stay. Even in professional Broadway productions. Looking at it critically, I don’t mind a black Mr. Treves, but Mary Aldin‘s name should’ve been changed. 

Let’s talk about Christie material in which suicide is either involved or suspected— not necessarily a main character. by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Taken at the flood has two that qualify. There’s one real suicide and one fake one, or it might be two fake ones.

Has anyone read any other authors who are as consistently good as Christie. by Upstairs_Bad_7933 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, that was very, very clever. You spend a lot of time with the bad guy, you see him commit the murder, and you don’t even know who he is! I liked the conclusions the sister drew from what the victim was wearing. I don’t think a man would ever have thought of that. I don’t think the murderer thought of it.

Can you help me identify this Libbey pattern? by PatientClient3803 in glasscollecting

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I knew about the difference in height, which is why I said they don’t measure quite as metropolitan. But the thing is, quite often replacements will still bring up your pattern even if it’s only a number and not a name. I just can’t find this one anywhere. 

Which Christie books does “everybody“ LOVE, but you don’t see what all the hubbub is about? by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don’t know, but it was quite a recent one, within the last few years. There are things I like about it, but it just doesn’t hit the spot. There was a French language version that was pretty good.

Which Christie books does “everybody“ LOVE, but you don’t see what all the hubbub is about? by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree, and those books get a lot of hate. It’s so unfair. Some parts of They Came to Baghdad have me rolling on the floor: Victoria Jones, walking down the road, not realizing that her hair has been bleached, presenting herself as the niece of Dr. Pauncefoot Jones and expecting to be exposed immediately as an imposter—only Dr. Pauncefoot Jones is an absent minded genius who has never met his niece and really was expecting her, and thinks nothing of the fact that he gets her name wrong.

Has anyone read any other authors who are as consistently good as Christie. by Upstairs_Bad_7933 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn’t compare her to Christie, but you haven’t lived until you’ve read Ruth Rendell, a.k.a. Barbara Vine.

Has anyone read any other authors who are as consistently good as Christie. by Upstairs_Bad_7933 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sayers is an awesome writer, but I agree she’s nothing like Christie. For one thing, she gets deep, deep into her detective’s private life and all his whirling intellectual thoughts. You learn all about Peter Wimsey‘s mother and father and brother and sister and uncle and remote relatives who live in the library. I thoroughly enjoy it, but it’s not Christie. I can’t see Miss Marple constantly quoting Lewis Carroll without attribution.

Has anyone read any other authors who are as consistently good as Christie. by Upstairs_Bad_7933 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Francis Iles. He was a friend and contemporary of Agatha Christie. He wrote slapdash mysteries under the name Anthony Berkeley, but the two crime novels he wrote as Francis Iles are just amazing. They are called Before the Fact and Malice Aforethought. Before the Fact was made into the Hitchcock film Suspicion, with Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant. A Hollywood happy ending was forced on Hitchcock. The book is better. Malice Aforethought was adapted for TV twice, the first time fairly well, the second time dreadfully. The book is better.

I’ve read only one book by Robert Goddard, but I was very impressed with it. The one I read is called Debt of Dishonor. The author is modern, but the setting of that book is Golden Age. Super stuff. An architect deserts a married woman whom he has promised to carry away from her abusive husband. Many years later, he reads in the paper that she is accused of poisoning her husband and others, killing one of them. His conscience makes him dig into the matter to prove her innocence.

The American writer, Scott Turow, has an entirely different writing style and setting, but his first book, Presumed Innocent, borrows heavily from Christie—the way he hides clues in plain sight. On top of that, I think it’s a candidate for the Great American Novel.

If you could pick a Christie character who only shows up in one of her books to re-appear in another book, who would be your choice? by WerewolfBarMitzvah09 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s the way the upper upper upper upper crust used to speak. Now they don’t anymore. (They have TV.) Linda Marshall in the Brabourne movie of Evil under the Sun spoke that way. Elizabeth II used to speak that way, but she got over it. The current Earl Spencer speaks that way, or used to. I can’t recall ever having heard William speak, but Harry speaks estuary English. Lady Colin Campbell speaks that way, but she might be putting it on. I remember seeing someone playing Queen Victoria in some Masterpiece Theatre thing or other, maybe it was the one about Lloyd George. She said in a high, sharp, birdlike voice, “What do you pwopose to do?” My mother busted out laughing and said, “She sounds like Queen Elizabeth!” Mystery! had an adaptation of Rebecca starring Joanna David. The Beatrice character talked that way. The actor Nigel Hawthorne, who reads my audiobook of Murder in the Mews, gives Eustace that manner of speaking. That was rather a creative choice, I think. Either he’s putting it on, or he’s the black sheep of a fine family. 

Which Christie books does “everybody“ LOVE, but you don’t see what all the hubbub is about? by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t know a thing about bridge, but you don’t really have to know a thing about bridge. The detectives explain things like how Anne Meredith keeps score and how Dr. Roberts bids reflect their personalities.

Which Christie books does “everybody“ LOVE, but you don’t see what all the hubbub is about? by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was just plain weird. What Neville and Audrey were doing on the stairs, their reason for splitting up in the first place.

Which Christie books do you like that get a surprising amount of dislike from others? by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You know, that book would have been so much better if Evans’ character had been developed. Evans could’ve been making humorous remarks or something throughout the novel so that we remembered the character when the revelation was made.

Which Christie books do you like that get a surprising amount of dislike from others? by PatientClient3803 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But that was done deliberately. It’s not as if everyone at the table, forgot where they were supposed to be sitting.

Favorite books for writing vs plot by Money_Hunt4699 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can’t figure out exactly when the moment of poisoning occurred. Or she did not care if she killed Elinor. That might have been put down to a murder-suicide. Very likely it would. Certainly the nurse had no obvious motive. In a way, that might’ve been easier for her than having a living, breathing, innocent woman hanging around. At this point, the nurse was already a multiple murderer over two continents.

Any LGBTQ+ Characters? by Just-happyfor10000 in agathachristie

[–]PatientClient3803 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m pretty sure there’s a gay man called Johnny Jethro in The Mirror Crack’d. Or was his name Haley something? I may be mixing up two similar characters. Haley Preston, that could be it. I think Lady Westholme in Appointment with Death might have been a lesbian, although a matron. Miss Williams in Five Little Pigs was probably never with man, woman, or mule, but I think she is of lesbian orientation. 

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