All About Agatha (christie)

It's been a while since we've had the pleasure of dissecting a miniature Poirot mystery puzzle, and this one has almost all the classic Christie clue tropes we've come to love. We also enjoyed revisiting our beloved Captain Hastings and Felicity Lemon, as brought to life on an extremely early episode of the Suchet series. Come and revel with us in the Poirovian splendor of it all.

While the characters populating this Poirot novel almost all live up to its melancholy title, we're happy to report our reading experience did not, as we both quite liked this unusually structured Christie puzzle mystery... despite some glaring plot holes.

To say we loved this shockingly unsung short story is an understatement. We may even have lurved it. Come take a walk with us on the darker, dread-laden side of Christie....

Our final installment of the Partners in Crime series, in which we say goodbye for now to Tommy and Tuppence, and goodbye forever to the series that adapted the collection. As discussed in previous episodes, we don't love every aspect of Christie's married detective duo, but we found a lot to celebrate here nonetheless.

Another doozy from Mr. Parker Pyne! Someone ought to revise that final couplet of Romeo and Juliet, because we're pretty sure this story has more woe in it, albeit of the marital variety…. Join us in a discussion so far-ranging, it manages to incorporate creations by Cole Porter, Tennessee Williams, and Jerry Springer. (Yup, Jerry Springer. You've been warned.)

And then it was time to talk about the film adaptations (and one televised adaptation, too). We were lucky enough to have Dr. Mark Aldridge, author of Agatha Christie on Screen, back on the podcast for an interview about the many films based on this novel. We hope you enjoy... and that you also forgive us the telephonic tinniness of our voices. Alas, we could not fly to England to interview Mark in person. Maybe next year?

A bit of a supersized episode for a supersized novel! It is time, at long last, for And Then There Were None. Join us as we focus on the text only (film adaptations to be discussed next week), and revel in what many consider to be Christie's most glorious creation, outlier though it undoubtedly is when considered in the context of her overall canon. We also deal with the unfortunate original title, as well as the unfortunate allusions made in earlier editions to that problematic nursery rhyme. We will say this, however: as Christie's first novel to incorporate a titular rhyme, it's almost definitely her most successful. Consider it one more thing to celebrate in this gem of a novel.

We found quite a bit to mull over with regard to our titular character, that romance novel-reading, trivia contest-winning, accidental jewel-thieving Edward Robinson. Does he secure his, ahem, manhood by the end of the story? Did we as Twenty-First Century readers find the definition of said manhood in this story to be rather troubling? Yes and yes, naturally.

Tommy & Tuppence are ba-ack, so you know what that means: time to start digging for buried treasure! No, really. Join us for this Christmas adventure in July as we discuss, among other topics, the vagaries of keeping potatoes from spoiling in warm climates, and whether or not Tommy and Tuppence are in fact smug marrieds. (They are.)

So much happening at the "Bells and Motley" (let's dare not forget those quotation marks). This is a Mysterious Mr. Quin story, so we shouldn't be surprised that things get loopy, fast. But did you ever think a Christie story would directly reference the year 2025? We sure didn't!

Murder is easy... if you're a small-town serial killer with a whole host of deep-seated issues. But is this decidedly thriller-like puzzle mystery of Christie's easy to read? Or enjoy?

We all know diamonds are a girl's best friend, but are they a distressed lady's best friend? Let us discuss. (Also: if you were thinking to yourself that the one thing this podcast is missing is Marilyn Monroe, then boy are you in luck.)

Hoo boy, this one's a bit of a doozy, in that the mystery is unfortunately light and our amateur detective is unfortunately creepy. Join us as we sing a song of sixpence... none the richer, that is. (No, but seriously: what *is* a milky twilight?)

It's time to romp once again with our alliterative detective duo, and oh, what a romp we have here. Particularly in the televised adaptation, which we discuss at some length as the "mystery" of this one is rather... simple, shall we say? But not quite as simple as our poor, besotted "victim" Montgomery Jones.

It is in no way beginning to look a lot like Christmas, either in the real world or inside the pages of this novel. What it *is* looking a lot like is that rare creature, an honest-to-goodness Agatha Christie locked room mystery! Leave your crackers and crowns at home, but perhaps bring along a sponge or paper towel to help absorb the oodles of blood we encounter in one of Christie's more gruesome murder tableaux. Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him...?

We were honored to speak with Christie scholar John Curran, whose books we reference so liberally on our podcast! Despite some sound quality issues, we think you'll enjoy the insights and opinions he shared with us in a wide-ranging conversation about all things Christie.

At long last we complete our baker's dozen of stories within the Thirteen Problems, Christie's first collection of Miss Marple short stories. Get ready to go DEEP on issues of class--not quite as deep as our poor, pregnant (!) victim does in a river snaking through the woods of St. Mary Mead, but deep nonetheless. As we've come to learn by now, nothing is off-limits where Miss Marple is concerned.

Well this one has a lot of Sturm und Drang for what we've come to expect from the Beresfords! But really, when a story includes *both* a box of poisoned chocolates and a suspected case of ptomaine (t)poisoning, should we really be all that surprised when someone's bed goes up in flames?

There are mothers, and then there are MOTHERS. Mrs. Boynton definitely belongs in the latter category, as we explore in our latest novel, another "travelling" Christie--this one set in and around the Holy Lands, including an extended stay in Petra (Indiana Jones and affiliated grail hunting not included). Get out your Freud, your Jung, and of course your little grey cells as Papa Poirot goes deep--and we mean DEEP--into psychology to solve this rather elegant puzzle mystery.

That's right; do not adjust your screens; before she wrote her much more famous Death on the Nile, Christie wrote a short story featuring her "heart specialist" Parker Pyne on a trip up that same (in)famous river.... Join us as we plumb the depths of this neat little puzzle mystery, which features a glancing reference to a substance these two American readers found most intriguing of all: Bovril.