Agatha Christie in publication order #9: The Mystery of the Blue Train

First published: 1928. Christie's ninth book, eighth novel, and sixth featuring Poirot. Again, her life wasn't in the best place during its writing - she was still deeply affected by the breakup of her marriage and the death of her mother, and reportedly considered The Mystery of the Blue Train to be her least favourite of her books. 

Title: Pretty standard. Le Train Bleu was a French luxury night express train, favoured by the rich and famous, which operated from 1886 to 2003 between Calais and the French Riviera (thank you, Wikipedia).

Plot: It's a bit of an odd one. Numerous characters are introduced in the first part of the book, not all of whom will be ever mentioned again. First we're in the backstreets of Paris where an exchange of goods is taking place, then meeting a Greek antique dealer and a mysterious man with white hair known as M. le Marquis, then at the Savoy with a rich American (Christie's Americans are always rich), his daughter Ruth and her unsatisfactory husband. Then suddenly we're in St Mary Mead with Katherine Grey (but Miss Marple is nowhere to be seen). Then we're in the French Riviera with Lady Tamplin, her fourth husband and her daughter Lenox. (An unusual name, I thought. Ruth's husband is named "Derek", which I didn't know was popular in the 1920s.)

The eponymous Blue Train doesn't appear till around a quarter of the way through - neither does (the allegedly now retired) Poirot. To be honest, I forgot he was supposed to be in it for ages, though once he turns up, he does play a large role. Hastings is absent and unmentioned, aside from one passing reference.

Once all these disparate elements started coming together, I quite enjoyed it. Katherine is our heroine: a formerly penniless companion who has come into money, an intelligent and reflective young woman whose calm grey eyes seem particularly alluring to the various men she meets. An encounter on the Blue Train draws her into murder and mystery. 

The plot - jewel theft, murder, various comings and goings on the train - is a little complicated. I did suspect one person, but was still surprised when the identity of the "Marquis" was revealed.

There are hints of romance for certain characters, but it was impossible to predict exactly how it would turn out.

Poirot-isms: His avuncular relationship with Katherine is quite sweet. He's as self-effacing as ever, of course:

    "I am Hercule Poirot."

    "Yes, Monsieur?"

    "You do not know the name?"

    "I have never heard it."

    "Permit me to say that you have been badly educated. It is the name of one of the great ones of this world."

Acceptable in the 20s? I don't think there's anything too jarring. Some national stereotypes and unnecessary references to people being Jewish, but nothing majorly offensive. 

I enjoyed this description of Lady Tamplin's dopily amiable fourth husband, known as "Chubby":

    "He was one of those staunch patriotic Britons who, having made a portion of a foreign country their own, strongly resent the original inhabitants of it." 

Plus que change, etc.

 

Americans with Silly Names Watch: None. Rufus Van Aldin is this book's resident American millionaire, but his name isn't particularly ludicrous. There's a Frenchman called Armand de la Roche, which is rather marvellous. And the aforementioned Lenox Tamplin, but she's not American. 

Verdict: I liked it better than The Big Four, which isn't saying much. Christie herself deemed it her least favourite story, but I think there are more deserving candidates for the dubious accolade of her worst. Interesting to get an early reference to St Mary Mead - Christie clearly (and rightly) liked the name well enough to adopt it for Miss Marple's village. (It also marks the first appearance of Poirot's valet, George, or "Georges" as he calls him.)

Up next: Peril at End House. I don't remember this at all, though I've definitely read it.

Agatha Christie in publication order #8 : The Big Four

First published: 1927. Christie's eighth book, seventh novel, and fifth outing for Poirot.

Title: Moderately intriguing, I suppose. Who or what are the Big Four?

Agatha wasn't having a happy time during the writing and publication of this - reeling from both the death of her mother and the breakdown of her marriage due to her husband's infidelity. The book itself came out just a few weeks after her famous disappearance. 

I've been putting off reading it for a while, because I don't have especially fond memories of it (actually I barely have any memories of it apart from it being a drag to get through) and I'm really not keen on this particular species of Christie (even though it does in this case have Poirot in it, which is a minor saving grace). It's another one where there's a shadowy figure (or four, in this case) of extraordinary power behind all manner of world unrest, revolutions, etc. (Lenin and Trotsky, for instance, are "mere puppets whose every action was dictated by another's brain".) 

"Oh come," [protests Hastings], "isn't that a bit far-fetched?"

For once, I'm with the Captain on this one.

Anyway, Hastings is back from South America after eighteen months to carry out some unspecified business, and looks up his old friend Poirot. (His wife is left behind in Argentina for several months, so I'm not sure how she feels about that.) Following a rapturous welcome from Poirot, the two old friends are almost immediately caught up in danger and adventure, with the number four continually popping up right, left and centre.

It does feature Hastings briefly going undercover in the household of an American millionaire, which is fun. Ryland’s household includes a valet called Deaves with an “irreproachable manner”, surely a nod to the ineffable PG Wodehouse, whose similarly irreproachably-mannered and similarly-named Jeeves had been appearing in short stories for a number of years at this point. 

Oh, and Poirot is dead at one point. He has a funeral and everything.

Poirot-isms 

"But for my quick eyes, the eyes of a cat, Hercule Poirot might now be crushed out of existence - a terrible calamity for the world. And you too, mon ami - though that would not be such a national catastrophe."

"We are dealing with the second greatest brain in the world." [No need to ask who the first greatest is, of course.]

Americans with Silly Names Watch: "Richest man in the world" Abe Ryland is known as the American Soap King, but his actual name isn't particularly silly.

Acceptable in the 20s? The less said about the representation of Chinese people here, the better. Hastings’ comment that he can’t tell one “Chinaman” from another is in fact one of the less offensive stereotypes here, which probably tells you everything you need to know.

Hastings has some unreconstructed views on women scientists:

"It has always seemed to me so extraordinary that a woman should go so far in the scientific world. I should have thought a purely masculine brain was needed for such work."

But as the woman in question is described by Poirot and others as an incredible genius, it’s clear the Captain is in the minority here and his views on this, at least, probably don’t reflect the author’s.

Final verdict

Slightly more enjoyable than I expected, after detesting The Secret of Chimneys so much. It feels more like a Tommy and Tuppence than a Poirot, but he’s probably its saving grace.

Next up: The Mystery of the Blue Train

Book review: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Cover yet to come!

A new Sally Hepworth novel has to rocket straight to the top of my reading list – she’s a great storyteller.

Eighty-one year old Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick lives a quietish life on Kenny Lane, but what her neighbours don’t generally know is that Elsie was once the notorious Mabel Waller – the youngest person in Australia ever to be imprisoned for murder. Dubbed “Mad Mabel” from an early age, bodies piled up around her throughout her childhood.

From the outset, when Elsie/Mabel tells us she’s always liked to think she was special, because elderly women and little girls aren’t expected to commit murder, we’re led down a path of thinking she’s a bit of a monster. She’s certainly not particularly nice to her neighbours, including a little girl determined to befriend her. Only her old friend, Daphne, sees a different side of her.

However, Mabel’s real story, once it gradually unfolds – in past and in present – is a bit different from the one the public has grown up with. From a friendless child to a lonely teenager and beyond, is Mabel really the villain of her story?

There are some great characters here – as well as Mabel herself there’s persistent young Persephone and her mum Roxanne, Aldi-obsessed neighbour Peter (“Pete the Greek”), and in the past, the magnificent Cess and Ness (Cecily and Vanessa).

I was left with a few unanswered questions, mainly around Mabel’s father, but that’s okay.

The ending is both shocking and moving.

Mad Mabel was an absolutely cracking read which I can highly recommend. My only complaint is that it wasn’t long enough! Thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

Book review: Fallout by Eleanor Anstruther

This was a blast from the past. I've actually been to Greenham - a few years later than Bridget and co (I'm a little younger), but still. A lot of this rang true, though I wasn't there for long.

Fifteen-year-old Bridget - no friends, deeply uncomfortable in her own body, feeling strongly that nobody at home understands her - finds a new world opening up when she forges a parental note to accompany her teacher and others to Greenham. A dirty, muddy, often dangerous new world, granted, but one she takes to with alacrity.

After all, what's home got to offer? Her father Ray, busy building a fallout shelter in the downstairs loo, regards the Greenham women with contempt. Her dinner lady mother Janet, beset by domestic duties, is viewed by her daughter as boring and stupid. Little brother Paul is just there.

Bridget's actions, though, will detonate a bomb under her family life, bringing secrets into the open and changing lives irrevocably.

The narrative follows not only Bridget's story, but those of several other women who spend time at the camp. None of these characters are really there because of the missiles, which is not to say they don't care. Bridget is seeking independence and identity, community and belonging. Art teacher Annabel is seeking a lover. Middle-class mother of five Kate, wanting a safe world for her children to grow up in, is perhaps most driven by the cause, but is also seeking a life beyond domesticity. Janet - well, Janet is first seeking her daughter, and later exploring her own horizons.

While Ray's story is a sad one and should certainly provoke our sympathy, I'm not entirely sure it belongs here (and the ending is perhaps a little too rose-tinted).

A great read, which will resonate with those who lived through the era and inform those who didn't.

High and Low by Amanda Craig

I love Amanda Craig's books, but this did take a little while to get into. There are a lot of characters, many of them writers, many of them not very nice. Once it got going, though, it was riveting.

Tensions in this very mixed part of North London are running high, and when they become focused on a hostel for asylum seekers, things start to boil over. Violence, rioting and looting suddenly controls the streets and shops of the neighbourhood. A disparate group of people - writers, and others - are trapped inside a cafe. Meanwhile a young boy, Zahi, is running away from big trouble....

Amanda does a careful job of representing - non-violent - views on both sides of the "asylum seekers" issue, avoiding any temptation to demonise. 

She's great at the state-of-the-nation stuff, but there's also a lot in here about writing and the writer's life. Or death, in some instances....

Amanda's novels are all interlinked to some extent and I've resolved to read them all in order from the beginning - I've already started her first, Foreign Bodies. I know some of the characters in High and Low have featured before - at least one of them in aforementioned Foreign Bodies. 

Excellent read.

Please Help Me by Gytha Lodge

Wow - this was an absolutely cracking read! I loved it.

Fourteen year old Sadie, on holiday with her family in Cyprus, spends her days crushing on an attractive lifeguard, resenting having to look after her little brother, and wishing something dramatic would happen. Then it does - she gets a message from an unknown girl asking for help. The girl has been abducted, she says, and the people she is with aren't really her parents.

Meanwhile, detective inspector Amanda is also holidaying there with her young son, Otis. When the police become involved - including abduction specialist Zak, with whom Amanda has a personal history - she soon finds herself also deeply involved in the case, as the police race to identify who the girl could be. 

There's not a lot of great parenting on show - I felt badly for many of these girls. The ending was emotional, though, and I did have a tear in my eye. 

There are some great women characters - Mariliza the lifeguard, military police officer Sona, and Amanda herself are all thoroughly badass characters. Sadie is a believable teenage girl - opinionated, judgy of adults, but basically very awesome and no doubt has a great future ahead of her.

The ending seems to leave space for further outings for Amanda and Zak, and I'd definitely be in favour of that.

Highly recommended. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review!