3 in 1 Miss Marple

I read three Marples recently while I was out on vacation, so please see below a 3 in 1 post about the same.

Books read:

1. 4:50 from Paddington
2. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
3. A Caribbean Mystery

4:50 from Paddington or What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw : Written by Agatha Christie and Published in 1957. 4:50 from Paddington tells the tale of  Mrs McGillicuddy who is travelling in a train to see her friend Jane Marple. On her way she sees a woman being murdered in a crossing parallel train. The Problem is that she could not identify either the murderer or the victim and the police are unable to locate the dead woman's body on the train. The Police think of this incident as hallucinations of an old women and curb any further inquiries. Mrs McGillicuddy  narrates this incident to Miss Marple, who hatches up a scheme to nab the killer.

The Problem of the Green Capsule aka The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr

 Plot: A mad man/woman poisons chocolates in a tobacco shop in the quaint village of Sodbury cross, which leaves a child dead and few others terribly sick. Marcus Chesney's niece is suspected of the crime but Chesney does not agree with these suspicions.

Marcus Chesney is a man with many idiosyncrasies. One of which is, he believes that eye witnesses are unreliable. Marcus postulates that people are poor observers and can seldom narrate simple incidents reliably. He wants to prove this to his family and friends, who often disagree with him.

To prove his theory he sets up an elaborate charade where he sets up everything as series of traps to confuse and vex the audience. During his Pantomime, an insect like man wearing dark glasses enters the stage and makes Marcus swallow a green pill. The audience think that this part of a preconceived plan. The only problem is that Marcus ends up dead after a few minutes and the person who was supposed to play the part of the Phantom or the man who looked like a "giant insect" is also found critically injured.

Chesney's theory becomes fact. There are witnesses but all have conflicting stories to tell and even the camera which caught the whole thing seems unreliable. Dr Fell is called in to solve the problem of the green capsule.

Review: Children getting poisoned, really? is this something that you would want to read. I mean this isn't something that happens only in fiction. Crimes against children are very common and in a recent TV program called "Satyamev Jayate" perhaps the eyes of a whole nation of hypocrites were opened. But we are not here to talk about real crimes we are here to talk about fiction. 

Trial and Error by Anthony Berkeley

Plot: Shy and reclusive Lawrence Todhunter is suffering a fatal heart disease and before he departs he wants to do a final good deed for his fellow man. Todhunter arranges a meeting of  his close acquaintances and coaxes them in a academic discussion of what should be done by a person who wants the world to be a better place. To his utmost surprise the unanimous verdict is to commit murder! removing a vile and unscrupulous person would mean helping multiple people whose lives are troubled by this ignoble individual. 

Todhunter takes up the advise and then searches for his victim. His search ends with Miss Norwood, a film actress who seduces men by the dozens and leaves them in destitution once she has ruined their lives. Todhunter commits a meticulously planned murder and shoots the "unlady" like Miss Norwood. Todhunter after committing this great act of valor and bravery goes off on a trip to Japan. but en route he receives news that a married man Palmer who was involved with Miss Norwood has been arrested for her murder.

Todhunter is appalled at this grave injustice and returns immediately to inform the authorities that they have arrested the wrong man and it is actually him they want, but the police think of Todhunter as dangerous as a box of kittens and dismiss him as a lunatic. Todhunter's desperate attempts to get Palmer exonerated end up in vain as he is found guilty and is to be executed for killing the famous actress.

Todhunter enlists a detective and a famous barrister to help him in prosecuting himself.

Review: The plot sounds fantastic, a man plagued by a fatal disease wants to do charity by committing murder. but his plan goes haywire when someone else is convicted for his crime and now he has to prove his own guilt which is not going to be easy. Is the fantastic sounding plot as good as Berkeley's brlliant novel The Poisoned Chocolate Case?

The Menagerie And Other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay

A few weeks ago I did the review of Picture Imperfect and other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay as part of the Global Reading challenge 2012. This led to the discovery of a good Indian author with nice and easy to read mysteries. I had of course heard of the Byomkesh Bakshi TV series which aired on Doordarshan back in the 90's, but never had the privilege of watching the exploits of  Byomkesh on TV.

The Menagerie and Other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries are set in Post Independence Bengal as opposed to Picture Imperfect and other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries which was set in Pre Independence Bengal. I'm going to do capsule reviews of the 4 stories from The Menagerie like I did for Picture Imperfect. So, did Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay did better then his last outing? or our famous Bengali detective got lost in translation?

The Way Through the Woods by Colin Dexter

She was called the Swedish Maiden by the officers investigating her disappearance. She was a young, attractive Swedish Girl who went missing twelve months ago near Wytham Woods in Oxford, England. Now, the case has got a renewed interest with the appearance of Cryptic verses which someone has sent to the Police. The Police take the help of the general public in cracking the puzzle. The Police get an overwhelming response from the public who give them different solutions to the puzzle.

Meanwhile Inspector Morse is summoned from his holiday to take over the case which has seen no success in the last one year. Morse and his faithful Sargent Lewis hit gold immediately. They discover human remains in the Woods. Trouble is that the remains are of a male and the elusive Swedish Maiden is still at large. Morse and Lewis investigate a case of Sex, Lies and Photographs.

Review:

By far the most viewed post on my blog has been Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter, and since I gave it 3 stars out of 5, I decided to give Inspector Morse another try. So how did the supposedly best book in the series fare?

The Case of the Constant Suicides by John Dickson Carr

Dr Alan Campbell a Scot, who has never been to Scotland gets a letter inviting him to meet others members of his Clan following the death of a family member. The departed soul is of Angus Campbell, a man who has plunged to his death from the window of a  locked bedroom chamber atop a tower. The insurance agent calls it a suicide but Angus's relatives call it murder. The perplexing question to be asked is how can someone murder a man who is alone in a locked room bolted from inside, and the only window to the room is inaccessible from both below and top. The relatives come up with their own conundrum which is the discovery of a dog carrier bag under the bed of Angus, the relatives contemplate that something could have escaped from the bag that would have led Angus to jump in sheer fright from the soaring high tower.

Meanwhile these questions linger on, there is another suicide attempt off the tower and a third locked room suicide, making this a Case of Constant Suicides for Dr. Gideon Fell.

Review:

The Master of the locked room Returns! For me reading Carr books releases the same endorphins as sex or chocolates. His books have everything which a being like me wants to pass over time in this world full of  otherwise mundane and monotonous sources of leisure. An Impossible Crime, eccentric and aged detectives, hint of the supernatural, mystery and magic. Enough with the Carr encomiums, lets do the book review.

Murder must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers

Mr. Death Bredon has joined the seemingly unobtrusive firm of Pym's Publicity. Pym is an Advertising agency where Bredon has joined as the copy writer. But very soon Mr. Bredon discovers that Pym isn't exactly what it seems to be and the reader finds out even sooner that Mr. Bredon isn't who he says he is.

Few chapters in the book and you don't have to be Henry Merrivale(god help you if you don't know who he is) to deduce that Mr. Bredon is actually the Aristocrat Lord Peter Wimsey, who is also an amateur sleuth and has joined Pym in the garb of an overtly curious copy writer to investigate the death of Victor Dean and to bust a smuggling racket.

Review:

Dorothy Sayers along with Agatha Christie forms the female mystery authors duo of the Golden Age of detective fiction. Lord Peter Wimsey was to Sayers what Poirot was to Christie.  Sayers wrote a number of mystery novels involving Wimsey. so now lets get down to the book review.

Some buried Caesar by Rex Stout

Nero Wolfe, the famous New York Detective is travelling with his assistant Archie Goodwin to an Agricultural fair north of NY. In the way the meet with an accident and the Stout Wolfe somehow ends up in the path of Caesar, no not the man who created the Roman Empire from the Republic but a prized bull who is also the focal point of a great controversy in the region.

Caesar is owned by Mr. Pratt, who is a wealthy restaurateur and plans to BBQ the prized bull for publicity. This is vehemently opposed by the Guernsey League and Mr. Pratt's neighbor Osgood who thinks that this is a ploy by Pratt to humiliate the Osgood's. Clyde Osgood makes a 10 grand bet with Pratt that he won't be able to barbecue Caesar. A worried Pratt seeks the service of Wolfe to have Archie protect the bull from any malevolent machinations, which Wolfe agrees to.

Something goes wrong the same night Clyde Osgood is found dead in the Pasture and apparently he has been gored to death by Caesar. The case is simple enough Clyde went in to steal Caesar in order to win the bet but instead got Gored to death. Two people don't believe this Clyde's father and Nero Wofle. Osgood Senior hires  Wolfe to find out what really happened.

Review:

Mystery book sellers voted Some buried Caesar as one of the top 100 favorite mystery books of the 20th century. Why not? It has everything a gripping plot which is also comical. A hardboiled Detective and his eager and impetuous Assistant, beautiful women and a decent mystery. so did it work for me?

Last bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter

A beautiful, young blonde is found raped and murdered outside a bar in Woodstock. It is discovered that the victim and a friend had earlier hitched hike to the bar in Woodstock in a red car. but neither her friend nor the
person who gave the ride are to be found, and with no witnesses to the crime The murder in Woodstock becomes an enigma.

The case is handled by the eccentric Inspector Morse and the scrupulous Sergeant Lewis. The two work meticulously to uncover modicum clues and secrets and found out that the murder could have been committed by a perverted voyeur, a cheating husband, a depressed house wife or even by one of the staff at the office where she worked.

Review:
After hearing a lot about Inspector Morse and the writing prowess of Colin Dexter, I decided to give this one a try and I chose the first book in the series. There are in total 13 books in the Inspector Morse series and a very popular and successful TV show which its acolytes swear by.

How did I find the book?

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

A pair of siblings move to a sleepy English Town to find peace and solace in the country side. but the city slickers dream turn sour very soon. The town's folk are the victims of malicious machinations by a crazed lunatic who sends anonymous hate letters to these people, very soon one of these letters proves to be fatal as the wife of a lawyer takes her own life after being accused of adultery in one of the letters. The police start a hunt for the person responsible but Miss Marple thinks that this might not have been a suicide after all.

With a truck load of suspects and with endless Red Herrings. We get a classic Agatha Christie.

Review:

This is one of the best Miss Marple's I have ever read. Without a doubt this one would feature among the best Agatha Christie novel's of all time. Like all Miss Marple's this is a light read, it's enjoyable and has an excellent red herring.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie

The Lee's have gathered at their father's home for Christmas. A millionaire twice over Simon Lee evokes strong passion among-st his children. When Simon lee a day before Christmas announces his desire to change his will to include new members it is evidently not taken well with his family.

While the Lee's are having dinner and coffee downstairs they suddenly hire a blood curling cry from the floor above. They all rush towards their father's chamber but the door is locked from inside. They break down the door and find Mr Lee's throat slit and his blood splattered all over the room.

Luckily Poirot is at hand to help the local police solve the crime.

Review: I have often stated that the best Poirot books are the one's where he works alone where he does not have his Watson around i.e. Arthur Hastings. This one is another example in support of that deduction.

The Poisoned Chocolate Case by Anthony Berkeley

Sir Eustace is a playboy who changes mistresses like ordinary people change clothes. He is not reticent about his lifestyle and over a course of time has made more enemies then Saddam Hussein. Somebody sends him a box of liquor chocolates which he passes to someone else and who in turn passes them unto his wife. The wife is found dead after consuming the chocolates; it is discovered that the chocolates had each contained a lethal poison.

The Crime remains unsolved. Who sent the poisoned chocolates? Becomes an obscure question for the Scotland Yard. Enter the Crime Club, A club of 6 criminologists; each member is an expert and well-known name in their fields. The Crime Club takes this puzzle as a challenge and all the six members start there independent investigations into the case and then each one provides a solution to the murder mystery. The club meets every evening for six consecutive days so that each member may provide their solution to this intriguing case.

Review:

Mr. Berkeley debuts on my humble little blog and boy what a debut! This is one of the best books and not just a mystery book that I have read for a long time. The Language in the book is very clean, there is no racism or digs at any community. Also the language it is so very pure, I got to learn a new word on almost every third page. My vocabulary is not bad but after reading this one I feel like I must have learnt 40 new words. The book is full of humor, I had many laugh out loud moments in the book which frankly speaking you are not expecting out of a murder mystery. The writer I felt was totally in command everything worked for him from the humor to the mystery and the depth of the characters.

About the characters: they are so well written and so life like (I know it’s a clique but so true in this case) that I feel like I know them in real life. The six members or other characters in the book are so vividly described that you connect with them instantly.

The mystery in itself is simple its murder by poisoning, it is not an Impossible crime. But the identity of the murderer is not simple and as each member of the club comes up with their solution of the crime and the identity of the murderer the case becomes more and more mysterious and funny. Each member when concludes their dictum you feel that this one is correct and the mystery is solved but it obviously isn’t. Till the time the last speaker concludes we get probably one of the most shocking twists in the history of detective fiction. This is six mysteries packed in one, buy your copy today.

Where can you buy this? It is in print and available at all book stores like FlipKart, Infibeam, Landmark and Om Book Shop for less than Rs 500.

She Died a Lady by Carter Dickson

Carter Dickson is the Pseudonym of John Dickson Carr, Carr wrote this in 1943 at the height of the second world war and the overtones of the second world war cannot be missed in the book. There are constant references to the fuhrer of Germany in the story and the impending doom of the arrival of the Nazis on sleepy English villages acts as a tension builder in the novel.

Plot:

Rita Wainwright is having an affair with a man fifteen years younger then her, she and her lover decide to commit suicide by throwing themselves over the edge of a cliff but when there dead bodies are found it is concluded that they have been shot at close range through the heart, there are only two set of footprints on the spot of the alleged suicide and no way of anyone climbing behind them from a 70 foot cliff, did they commit suicide? or were they murdered by someone who floats in the air?

Henry Merrivale is at hand to Investigate.

Review:

Another baffling mystery by Carr, this one has loads of humor as HM is confined to a motorized wheel chair after hurting his big toe and has many jocular incidents where he is cursing and bumbling in his invalid state. The mystery is intriguing and very well written, certainly one of Carr's most loved works and less gimmicky.

The solution in the end is satisfactory and well explained, also guessing the murderer is not easy, if someone has read "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Agatha Christie then the identity of the murderer might come to them like it did to me(this is not a spoiler). You have to be vary careful with Carr he leaves clues in the story line and he leaves them in a such way that you are sure to miss them and then it turns out that those clues lead to the murderer, it will be a very careful reader who will guess Whodunit

Ratings:

Where can you buy it - This is in print and you can get it for Rs 550 from flipkart or infibeam

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie married archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930 (she was 40, he was only 26 -- Go Agatha!) and thereafter spent months at a time every year (with the exception of some years during WWII) in the Middle East on digs. She wrote many of her novels in a small mud closet with only a card table to hold her typewriter and a wooden chair to sit on. The locals actually considered her very extravagant for this. She also helped clean, sketch and photograph the artifacts they uncovered.




she now used her experience in Iraq to write a character study of the interplay of personalities on an archaeological dig. The characters of Dr. Eric Leidner and his wife Louise were based on people Christie knew in real life, famous archaeologist Leonard Woolley and his wife Katherine.

Plot:

Louise Leidner--"Lovely Louise," as she is known in Iraq--is a compelling woman. She is beautiful, intelligent, and confident--but she's also a bundle of nerves. She hears tapping on her window, sees ghostly faces hovering outside, and receives threatening letters which may or may not be written by her supposedly dead former husband. Nurse Amy Leatheran--sensible, experienced, kind but tough, has been hired to be her companion, and acts as our narrator as well.

It's really no surprise when Louise is murdered early one afternoon. After all, this charismatic woman has been adored and reviled in equal measure--often by the same person!--by everyone on her husband's archaeological dig. All have a motive, all have the opportunity...and most have an alibi.

What's the local constabulary to do but call in Hercule Poirot, passing through on his way to Baghdad. Poirot, always up for an intriguing case, enlists Nurse as his assistant, and together lead to a most surprising conclusion.

Reviews:

Christie attempts a locked room mystery with this one, and to me her solution leaves a lot to be desired, this is not Christie's strongest work. I for one could not believe when the murderer is revealed not only is the hidden identity of the murderer improbable but also illogical, I mean Louise would have to be blind to not have noticed who the person behind her grievances is and also the book talks about tension among the group in the dig but the tension is never felt in the book by the reader, although I liked the characters in the book and pace of the novel but the revelation in the end is absurd.

Ratings: 2.5 0ut of 5