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?

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?

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?

Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr

Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr

Dick Markham is one lucky fellow. He is a local celebrity and a successful play writer, he is also engaged to the beautiful, rich, 28 year old girl(who does not look a day over twenty) called Lesley Grant. Life could not get better for Dick. The two of them attend a local fair and Lesley insists on seeing the fortune teller alone. She is apparently unaware that the fortune teller is being played by Sir Harvey Gilman, the Home Office pathologist and expert on crime. After her conspicuous meeting with the fortune teller Lesley looks visibly perturbed. Dick confronts the fortune teller about the same and just as the fortune teller is about to make Dick Privy to a secret about Lesley Bang!  There is a shot fired and Sir Harvey Gilman is shot through the back accidentally by Lesley.

Later, Dick gets a call from the local GP's home. There he meets the convalescing Sir Harvey Gilman. Sir Harvey has dark deep secrets about Lesley. Sir Harvey tells Dick Diabolical tales about Lesley's Antecedence, he tells him that she has been married twice and engaged once and all three suitors were found dead in a locked room. All three of them committed suicide by injecting themselves with Prussic Acid. Woha! also the sweet innocent looking Lesley is actually 41 years old!

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.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The moonstone is a beautiful yellow diamond the size of a tangerine. It is the symbol of the moon god. The Moonstone is protected by Hindu Brahmins who for generations have been guarding it from invaders and thieves. The Diamond is said to be cursed, whoever lands up with it gets involved in terrible predicaments.

It gets stolen from Tipu Sultan's Palace in India by a an officer of the invading British Army and then lands up in Yorkshire in the lap of the beautiful Miss Verinder who is celebrating her birthday. under curious and mysterious circumstances the diamond is stolen from Miss Verinder's room. Thus starts the hunt for the diamond.


Review:
The name of the blog is Classic Mystery Hunt, and this one is truly a classic. It was written in 1868 and since I'm writing this blog in 2012 that makes this book 144 years old. The Moonstone is generally regarded as the first Detective mystery novel. and folks like Dorothy Sayers call it as the "finest detective story ever written".

So is all the hype well deserved?

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.

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

Michael Rogers is a young and handsome fellow, who one day dreams of owning his own house and living there with the women that he would love. The only obstacle in his dream coming true is that he does not even have a farthing. Michael does odd jobs and never stays at one job for too long, his life is aimless and stuck in an endless loop. But everything changes for Mike when he meets Ellie.

Ellie is a sweet, beautiful 20 year old who also apparently happens to be an American heiress to an oil empire. Ellie has lived a protected life and her overbearing family has never her let live freely, she wants to get away from America and has come on one of her escapes to England from her mundane life. A chance meeting between the two sets the ball rolling. Ellie and Mike meet at the Gypsy’s Acre a piece of land which both would want to be theirs. As they keep on seeing each other, they become more and more affectionate towards each other. They talk about Gypsy’s Acre and how they could have a brilliant house there once they get married. Sounds like a nice love story? Sorry this is “Agatha Christie” they don’t call her the Queen of crime for nothing.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Poirot has retired for the 100th time and is settled down in an obscure little town where he dreams of growing marrows and smoking his peculiar small cigarettes, but crime follows the Belgian Detective even if he does not go looking for it.

In this case Poirot has to deal with the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Ackroyd is a man whose life is shrouded with mystery and suspense, he knew that someone was blackmailing the women that he loved and before she took her own life she sent him an evening post detailing who the guilty party was. But Ackroyd was found dead in his study stabbed through the neck. We begin from here and as Dame Christie says in this 1926 book: "to punkie who likes an orthodox detective story, murder, inquest, and suspicion falling on everyone in turn"

Poirot Investigates the most famous case of his career.

Review: This was the first Poirot I read infact it was one of the first Detective novels that I have read and the book had such an affect on me that I can still do a detailed review and tell you the story chapter by chapter. so let's get to it; The mystery is invariably interesting, it is very well written, characters are well drawn and the best part of the book is that Poirot is less cocky then usual and also becomes the butt of jokes of the Narrator's witty Sister. Poirot does not hog the limelight he comes and goes in the book, he is not missed in his absence and neither it is felt that he is too overpowering over the other characters in his presence.

This book also corroborates my theory that the best Poirot books are the ones where he does not have a "Watson" i.e. he works alone. The affable Arthur Hastings who is Poirot's sidekick is not missed at all. I think that Hastings had become a channel for Christie to show her frustration over Poirot because I have observed that it is always Hastings that gives the impression that Poirot is more egoistic then he actually is.

About the Mystery, it has one of the best twist endings of all time. This book is the true earth shattering book of the mystery genre which changed the rules of the Detective fiction, the paper back edition that I have has 360+ pages but I breezed through these especially through the end.

This book is not only one of the best Poirot's, it's also one of the best Christie's and also one of the best of the Detective Fiction genre. Strong Buy!!

Rating:

Where can you get it: http://www.flipkart.com/books/0007282540?pid=5kw3fajdme&_l=CJHVEqJO3veuHytbACc9dw--&_r=zWseKvNpSSCYGJ%20OVotaFg--&ref=14abe0fe-8180-4cc3-8a1d-69b8751d22dc

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

The Bantry's wake up to an unexpected visitor in their house. The servants have found the dead body of a platinum blonde in the Library, The Bantry's say they do not know who the girl is or how she got inside the house, but that denial by the Bantry's is no consolation to the wagging tongues of the villagers who accuse and start incriminating Colonel Bantry. Mrs Bantry realizes this fact and calls in the cavalry AKA the old St Mary Mead sleuth herself Miss Marple.

But then the Police find another body of a young girl whose is found burnt inside a car, is the body in the library in any way connected to the body in the car? Marple and the Police are confronted by a long list of suspects and a family whose head is a brave, crippled old man, but they all hide more then one secret.

Review: Dame Christie wanted to something sensational put a body of an unknown girl in the library of the most unobtrusive people and then unravel the mysterious puzzle from there. The characters are various in the book and all of them get a good amount of screen space, Christie puts them in situations where there personalities become vivid and colorful. I liked how she plays around with an old man and his muse, the idea of cripple age yearning for beautiful vivacious youth is appealing as a side story to the murder mystery.

This is another Marple book where we also see Sir Henry, I have read a few Marples and genuinely think her books on an average are better or as good as Poirot's, although the outstanding ones are from the latter. Also I have heard there is an inhouse joke about Poirot sorry but I couldn't spot it.

I will never ever agree to the way she solves crimes by giving some obscure village analogy and then using that to solve the crime it is just fantastic to believe that one can learn so much from a simple village life. but that said Marple mysteries are the de facto torch bearers of cosy mysteries and are very enjoyable.

This one starts out as a Cracker and ends in a whimper, figuring out the murderer is not very difficult. I was hoping to be proved wrong but was disappointed. I can't reveal much about that without giving something away. Read this one for the premise and the characters.

Where can you get this: Easily available online on FlipKart, Infibeam or any of the local stores, the cover is real nice go for it!

And So To Murder by Carter Dickson

And so to murder by John Dickson Carr was written in 1940 at the early stages of the second world war, this is NOT a locked room mystery and like many Carr books this also has a lot of Anti-Nazi themes (which is not surprising since Carr was a part of the English Governments propaganda for the Allies i.e. US, UK, France and the rest of the West), but the underlying theme of this book is not War but Movies and the Film Industry in merry old England, Carr takes us through movie sets and characters typical to the Film Industry.



Plot:

Monica Stanton, the pretty and rather naive daughter of a British clergyman, is the author of a surprisingly scandalous best-seller. As a result, she's been hired as a script writer for Albion Films, working with William Cartwright, a script writer from the world of detective novels.

However, she's not going to be working on her own novel—she's helping Cartwright adapt his latest detective novel, “And So To Murder”. Tilly Parson is a dumpy, bustling chain-smoking American woman in her early fifties who is the highest-paid scenario writer in the world, imported from Hollywood at great expense to adapt Monica's novel.

Glamorous movie star Frances Fleur, whose punctilious husband Kurt selects all her parts, will be the star. Against the backdrop of Pineham Studios and Fleur's current movie, a series of mysterious attempts on Monica's life begin—they are exceptionally nasty and completely inexplicable, involving sulfuric acid.

When someone poisons Tilly Parsons' cigarette and nearly kills her, Sir Henry Merrivale helps Chief Inspector Masters to bring home the crimes to their unlikely perpetrator.

Review:

To begin with I have a complaint with Carr, I think Carr broke a rule of the Fair play detection which is rule number 8 "The Detective is bound to declare any clues which he may discover", I think Carr cheated on this one by giving the murderer a very strong alibi and then falsifying the alibi, I can't reveal the exact details cause this is a spoiler free blog, besides that I thought the writing was poor and since there was no murder committed it can't be termed as a murder mystery and with all the talk about movies, Nazis and poisons this seems more like a James Bond novel then a John Dickson Carr, Carr should stick to Locked room mysteries, this is Carr at his weakest only good thing is the humor in the book especially between the idiotic Director and his Assistant.

Ratings: 2 out of 5

Where can you buy it: it's in print and you can get it from any online book selling website like Flipkart or Infibeam.