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. 

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  Plot: Dr. Watson has returned to London from a brutal war in Afghanistan, broke and convalescing from his injuries, Watson needs a place to stay. Soon, Watson meets the eccentric and brilliant Sherlock Holmes with whom he will share his residence at Baker Street. Dr Watson finds out the Holmes is a consulting detective and is a polymath whose skills in deduction are unmatched.

Police Detectives are frequent visitors to the Baker Street resident, where they seek Holmes advise on unusual and tenebrous crimes. On one such faithful day, Holmes gets a letter from the Police about a most perplexing murder. A man was found dead in an abounded house without an injury on his body but there are marks of blood in the room and "RACH" is written in blood on the wall.

Lestrade and Gregson want Holmes to help them in the case where the next victim of the murderer is the Prime suspect.

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?

Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie

Plot: Imhotep is a Ka-priest in Ancient Egypt. A man with immense power and wealth who is both hated and loved by his family. Imhotep who is a widower is smitten by the beauty of Nofret and takes her as his concubine. Nofret is the immediate target for the hate of Imphotep's family.

Norfet thanks to her vituperative tongue makes too many enemies in Imhotep's house and when the Ka-priest is away for business Norfet is found dead at the foot of a cliff. Imhotep's family somehow convinces Imhotep that Norfet died in an unfortunate accident. But there is another unfortunate accident when Imphoteps' eldest daughter in law is found dead at the same spot.  Then what follows, is a series of horrible murders.

One by One Imphotep's family is getting murdered, but by whom? The evil spirit of Norfet seeking revenge or someone more insidious

Review: Death Comes as the End came highly recommended, and I have always enjoyed recommendations of other mystery lovers. So how did this recommendation turn out?


After you have read a few Christie novels you can identify Christie "Formulas".

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 Curse of the Bronze Lamp aka Lord of the Sorcerers by Carter Dickson

It is said that a Curse will fall on those who disturb the undead of Egypt.

Lady Helen and her Father Lord Severn excavate a tomb in Egypt, very soon one of their party dies from a Scorpion Bite. Then Lord Severn falls ill and induces his daughter to go back to London.

Among other things found out of their excavations in Egypt there is a  Bronze Lamp. Lady Helen now intends to take this lamp back to England and place it on the mantelpiece of her bedroom to prove that the curse is a farce. On her way a Seer declares that anyone who takes the bronze lamp outside Egypt will be blown to dust.

Lady Helen reaches London and then with a couple of friends proceeds to Severn Hall where she has planned to dispel the myth of the curse. On reaching Severn Hall, Lady Helen jumps out of the car, turns the knob of the door and goes inside.
After a brief moment her two friends follow her inside and see no one in the hall except two old and faithful servants approaching them. The Butler eager to meet his mistress enquirers about her, but he is told that she has already entered. then where did she go? she could not have gone outside as all the windows were watched by gardeners, she could not have gone upstairs as there was a plumber working there. A search of the whole house is ordered immediately but it is in vain, apparently Lady Helen has vanished, she opened the door went inside but was then blown to dust just as the Seer predicted.

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (a graphic novel)

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (a graphic novel)

Old Colonel Protheroe was by no means a popular man. He was hated by more people the Osama Bin Laden. even his young and beautiful wife wanted him dead and thought the world would be a better place without him.

One day the colonel is found shot dead through the head in the Vicar's study. Miss Marple solves her first case.

Review:

This is going to be a short review because I read this one as a Graphic novel and the it turned out to be 47 pages. So how did the portrayal of Miss Marple in a graphic novel go?

Best Hercule Poirot books

   As promised in my post of the Best Agatha Christie books. I have finally come up with a list of Hercule Poirot's top 5 books. But for those of you who have been living on Pluto and don't know who Poirot is. He is a fictional   detective who was created by Agatha Christie and debuted in 1920 in The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Poirot is perhaps the most famous fictional detective after Dr Watson's best friend. He has appeared in books, radio, cartoons, comic books, movies, Television and even in Video games.

Poirot started his career with Belgian police and ended it with an obituary in the NY Times. Poirot's use of the "little grey cells" is legendary among Classic mystery buffs. I was first introduced to the Belgian detective who is often mistaken as French in the movie "Death on the Nile" which was brilliantly portrayed by Peter Ustinov.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Arthur Hastings who is convalescing from his injuries that he has incurred during the great war, is invited by an old friend to stay with him at Styles, Essex. Styles is ruled by the old but kind Mrs Inglethorp who has recently married a young guile man called  Alfred Inglethorp. Soon Hastings discovers that Styles is filled with Conjugal and financial problems.

One fateful night Mrs Inglethorp is taken seriously ill, her body goes through violent convulsions and she dies. later, a doctor confirms that the old woman had been poisoned through strychnine. Hastings suggests to the remaining family members to call in a detective. A detective who is an old friend of Hasting and would investigate the matter discreetly, A detective who is a Belgian, A detective whose green eyes light up when he has an idea and is living in the village because wherever he goes murder follows. can you take a guess who?

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?