The Tuesday Club Murders. Agatha Christie. 1932/2007. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. 256 pages.
I enjoyed The Tuesday Club Murders. While short stories are not my favorite, I prefer novels to short stories, I still enjoyed Miss Marple. This one may best be enjoyed one story at a time. There really isn't a need to rush through these stories all at once. There are thirteen stories in all: The Tuesday Night Club, The Idol House of Astarte, Ingots of Gold, The Blood-Stained Pavement, Motive v. Opportunity, The Thumb Mark of St. Peter, The Blue Geranium, The Companion, The Four Suspects, A Christmas Tragedy, The Herb of Death, The Affair at the Bungalow, and Death by Drowning. It wasn't so much that any one story WOWED me, it was more the fact that I enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of the stories as a whole. I liked Christie's writing and her characters. It was a pleasant way to spend my time. Read The Tuesday Club Murders
- If you like short stories
- If you like mysteries
- If you like Agatha Christie
- If you like Miss Marple
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
They Do It With Mirrors. (Miss Marple). Agatha Christie. 1952/2011. HarperCollins 224 pages.
Mrs. Van Rydock moved a little back from the mirror and sighed. Ruth Van Rydock wants her good friend, Jane Marple, to do her a favor. She's worried about their mutual friend Carrie Louise Serrocold. She has a feeling that Carrie Louise is in trouble or in danger. And so she's arranged a visit for Miss Marple. After a few small lies are told to smooth the way, Carrie Louise is happy to welcome her old friend into her home. Miss Marple is introduced to the STRANGE, STRANGE bunch of folks living or working on the estate. Her husband, Lewis. Her daughter, Mildred. Her granddaughter, Gina, and her husband, Walter. Her stepsons from her second marriage, Stephen and Alex Restarick. Her companion-caretaker, Juliet Bellever. Her husband's assistant, Edgar Lawson. (Carrie Louise has been married three times--and it shows. She's carried over wealth and property, but, also children and grandchildren, etc.) Her husband's pet project has him working with juvenile delinquents with part of the estate being converted into a school of sorts. I won't lie, it was a bit confusing at first to see how these characters connect to one another--if they connect to one another. It helps that almost every character seeks out Miss Marple in the days after her arrival. One by one they "unburden" themselves and complain freely about anything and everything.
Of course, it turns out that Ruth had VERY good reason to worry about her friend. And Miss Marple it seems arrived just in time for the drama. Soon there's a murder to be solved...can she solve it in time before more lives are lost?
I enjoy Miss Marple. I do. There is just something satisfying about reading Agatha Christie. While They Do It With Murders isn't my new favorite or anything, it is an enjoyable mystery. Not perfect. But definitely enjoyable enough to recommend.
Ruth to Miss Marple:
"You've always been a sweet innocent looking creature, Jane, and all the time underneath nothing has ever surprised you, you always believe the worst."
"The worst is so often true," murmured Miss Marple.
"Why you have such a poor idea of human nature, I can't think--living in that sweet peaceful village of yours, so old world and pure."
"You have never lived in a village, Ruth. The things that go on in a pure peaceful village would probably surprise you."
"Oh I daresay. My point is that they don't surprise you." (9)
Inspector Curry and Miss Marple:
"This is all very distressing I know. But we've just got to get the facts clear. Get it all clear."
"Oh yes, I know," said Miss Marple. "So difficult, isn't it? To be clear about anything, I mean. Because if you're looking at one thing, you can't be looking at another. And one so often looks at the wrong thing, though whether because one happens to do so or because you're meant to, it's very hard to say. Misdirection, the conjurers call it. So clever, aren't they?" (90)
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
A Caribbean Mystery. Agatha Christie. 1964/2007. Black Dog & Leventhal. 256 pages.
"Take all this business about Kenya," said Major Palgrave. Miss Marple is on vacation. And, for the most part, she's enjoying herself. Enjoying getting to know the other people staying at the resort owned by a husband and wife, Tim and Molly Kendal. When the novel opens, she is listening--or pretending to listen--to Major Palgrave. Little knowing that within twenty-four hours this man will be dead. Did he die because he talked too much? Could one of his stories have led to his death? Maybe. Miss Marple will have to investigate to know for sure. But she suspects that his story about having a snapshot of a murderer might be to blame. Since this snapshot is not found after his death.
I enjoyed this one. I wouldn't say it is my absolute favorite Miss Marple--I don't know that I could really choose just one for that. But it was certainly enjoyable! I enjoyed the unfolding mystery of this one. I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the setting. I enjoyed the dialogue! It was a fun read!
Miss Marple woke early. Like many old people, she slept lightly and had periods of wakefulness which she used for the planning of some action or actions to be carried out on the next or following days. Usually, of course, these were of a wholly private or domestic nature, of little interest to anybody but herself. But this morning Miss Marple lay thinking soberly and constructively of murder, and what, if her suspicions were correct, she would do about it. It wasn't going to be easy. She had one weapon and one weapon only--and that was conversation.
Old ladies were given to a good deal of rambling conversation. People were bored by this, but certainly did not suspect them of ulterior motives. It would not be a case of asking direct questions. (Indeed, she would have found it difficult to know what questions to ask!) It would be a question of finding out a little more about certain people. (46)
"Conversations with you might be dangerous," he said.
"Conversations are always dangerous, if you have something to hide," said Miss Marple. (142)
"I've been wrong about her," said Mr. Rafiel with characteristic frankness. "Never been much of a one for the old pussies. All knitting wool and tittle-tattle. But this one's got something. Eyes and ears, and she uses them." (148)
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
At Bertram's Hotel. Agatha Christie. 1965/2007. Black Dog & Leventhal. 272 pages.
In the heart of the West End, there are many quiet pockets, unknown to almost all but taxi drivers who traverse them with expert knowledge, and arrive triumphantly thereby at Park Lane, Berkeley Square, or South Audley Street.Is Bertram's Hotel too good to be true? Miss Marple senses something is not as it should be. She senses that there is something unreal about this place. It's in the little things, really, and it's hard to put into words almost. But the hotel seems more like an act, a show, a theatrical production, than a proper hotel. Miss Marple is on vacation in London. And she's as observant as ever--which proves useful as a mystery begins to unfold concerning the hotel and its guests. (One guest ends up missing! One clerk ends up dead!) The novel focuses on a broken relationship between mother and daughter and the race car driver that may just come between them in the end.
Though it stars Miss Marple--a character I've come to love and adore--I did not love and adore At Bertram's Hotel. I found it confusing. The shifts in narration. The introduction of new characters, new stories, new mysteries. It felt so chaotic, so unconnected. I knew if I kept reading, it would make sense in the end. I knew that all these elements would come together nicely. That Miss Marple would be Miss Marple and all would be right with the world. And I was right. I did find it compelling by the end. Still. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't love through and through.
Miss Marple seldom gave anyone the benefit of the doubt; she invariably thought the worst, and nine times out of ten, so she insisted, she was right in so doing. (119)
"I learned (what I suppose I really knew already) that one can never go back, that one should not ever try to go back--that the essence of life is going forward. Life is really a one way street, isn't it?" (194)
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
© Paula Pertile
Another one done with Polychromos and mineral oil (I decided to just refer to the baby oil as mineral oil, since that's what it is, plus 'fragrance'.)
This one is 5 x 7 on illustration board.
I almost think I like working on Stonhenge paper better, but its a close call. I do find that there is a certain amount of finessing required when painting on the oil, and if there is too much pencil layered up it can make 'muck' very easily. So its not as dainty and easy as it may seem.
Funny, the thing that gave me the most trouble was my signature. I realized that I don't usually sign things, and decided I'd better start. I was never one to sit and practice my 'art signature' like a lot of folks in school did. I usually just went with my first name on things, and that was good enough. I was reading somewhere (someone's blog no doubt, and who's I can't remember now, so if it was yours, please speak up) about how important your signature is, and how you really do need to have both names on there so that future generations will be able to identify the work.
So this one started in color, and its was TOO MUCH, so I erased it, but it didn't erase well, being colored pencil, so then I put oil over it, on and on, and finally settled for a signature over the stained bit. It will have to do, since anything else at this point would just make it worse. Luckily I can photoshop it out if I use it for anything. But if someone buys it, they'll be stuck with it. Maybe some artful matting can cover it up.
I'm thinking of putting small pieces like this up on ebay again, and/or maybe a separate blog. Can't decide tonight, but sometime this week hopefully I'll figure it out. I really do like making these small pieces, they're very satisfying and scratch an itch I have that doing a whole illustration doesn't. Illustrations take sooooo much longer to do, and there is no immediate gratification. With these, I can spend an afternoon and have a finished piece. That feels good.
This morning I worked out the better part of a sketch for a new children's book self promo piece, then I needed a break and switched over to this. Tonight I will knit while I watch Miss Marple.
Tomorrow the cable man is coming to switch my phone over. I can't believe how complicated these things are now, and all the wires and cables and connectors and what all I have streaming into my house. Or at least it feels complicated. I can remember (said in a shaky old person voice) back when I had just one phone line, and no cable or anything, and it was a big deal to have the phone guy come and install a second line for that newfangled contraption, the fax machine. Recently I just had them delete my second line, and the dead fax machine is sitting on a pile of stuff that's trying to decide where to be buried. I do not feel old, no....
I do love some AC on a rainy fall evening. Maybe I need to pick this one up!
I've read a few of her books, but never knew she had a short story collection. I'm intrigued now.