Sparkling Cyanide

A review of Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie – 250828

Also known as Remembered Death and originally published in 1944, Sparkling Cyanide features two deaths by cyanide poisoning, the first of Rosemary Barton, who at a dinner held in her honour with six guests at the Luxembourg, immediately collapsed and died after drinking a toast. Then, almost a year later at the same venue at a party in honour of Iris, Rosemary’s younger sister, George Barton, the widow of the first victim, succumbs to the same fate in front of the same guests. Curiously, while Rosemary’s death is passed off as suicide caused by profound depression following a bout of influenza, George’s is immediately deemed to be murder.

And thus we have an intriguing puzzle for Colonel Race, Christie’s occasional sleuth, to get his teeth into. There ae three major stumbling blocks for me with this story. Why would Rosemary choose such a public stage to commit a suicide which was dramatic, ugly, but mercifully swift? George had wind that from a couple of anonymous notes Rosemary’s death was not all that it seemed to be and the second dinner was intended to be a trap held on All Soul’s Day, the day of the dead, and with an ominous empty place at the table, to smoke out the culprit, but why would any of the guests agree to attend. Surely, too soon and at a place that provoked strong and unpleasant memories would deter anyone from accepting.

Thirdly, the howdunit aspect of the murder mystery is clever and an ingenious piece of legerdemain, but I wonder whether it really could have been pulled off in practice. That the ultimate victim was not the real target is a nice twist.

If you can get past all that, and with Christie I find it best to overlook the lacunae in the logic and psychology behind the plot, then this is a great read, one of her very best. The book falls into three parts. The first introduces the six guests at the original fateful dinner party and their reminiscences of Rosemary and their relationship with her. The second deals with George’s party at the Luxembourg and the third deals with the aftermath and the investigations conducted primarily by Race and Chief Inspector Kemp with a little assistance from Tony Morelli.

For a Christie the characterisations are pretty good and the use of the first part to shine the spotlight on each of the principal figures in the story allows the reader time to get to know them and understand their part in the complex spider’s web. All the ingredients are there for a good murder, which makes it even more surprising that Rosemary’s death was considered to be suicide.

There is the wronged husband, George, who is aware that his wife was having at least one affair, Iris, who stood to inherit a large fortune if her sister died unmarried, Stephen Farraday, a rising politician who is one of Rosemary’s paramours and is desperate to disentangle himself from it before it wrecks his career, Lady Alexandra Farraday, Stephen’s wife who has reason enough to dislike Rosemary, the intriguing secretary, Ruth Lessing, who is in love with George and dislikes his wife, and the charming Anthony Browne, a man with a shady past who has more than doffed his hat at both sisters. On the sidelines is the garrulous and credulous Lucilla Drake and her ne’er do well son, Victor, the latter whom we never see but who has more than a bit part in the denouement.

With a small number of possible suspects there are enough clues and hints in the story for the attentive reader to figure out what is going on, although the resolution is speedy, compared with the rest of the story, and melodramatically dramatic, allowing a dashing hero to save his beloved’s life and sweep her off. It is a story of tidy endings and there is much to admire in what is one of Christie’s stronger offerings.