Frances’s Comments (group member since Aug 21, 2017)

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I've just finished reading this-classic Christie/Poirot-enjoy!

Did anyone else think the setting of the cottage where the opening death occurs sounded just like the setting of Peril at End House?

Good points.

So far, a major Slow Horse has been killed off in each book-I wonder if he can sustain this? I guess there's no end of the supply of MI5 screw-ups, but they need ones that will still fit in with some sort of skill for the group.

I've just finished this one and enjoyed it every bit as much as the first.

I thought the explanation, while particularly convoluted, held up with the presence of two separate operators joining forces to their mutual benefit. While River was in line for a second colossal screw up, he did manage to pull the plug on shooting down the airplane (which might have been shot down anyway due to Kelly not responding to security hails). I guess he triggered the emptying of the City buildings which, combined with the March, would paralyze the city. I wasn't clear on how Diana Taverner/Spider Webb managed to get their part in the whole thing covered.

Regardless, a great read and I'm looking forward to the next instalment!

I just finished this morning, and also really enjoyed the reread experience, knowing the final outcome ahead (which I did NOT guess on reading this for the first time many years ago, no doubt in my teens). I agree, what a treat to watch the clues being scattered about and watching Poirot question the many suspects. What an incredibly clever and devious author Christie was-I don't think I've ever solved one of her mysteries on first reading. I am enjoying this reread in chronological order.

I would certainly consider reading more of Cyril Hare, but unfortunately cannot even keep up with the series I have on the go already!

I am a bit late to the party, having just started this yesterday. I read this many years ago and have seen the Finney, the Suchet and the most recent film but already there is more detail in the book than the movies can put in. Looking forward to reading the rest over the holidays.

The opening chapter was bittersweet from a current perspective-it was fascinating to read about the Taurus Express that ran (runs?) through Syria and Iraq, but at the same time is was so sad to realize that many of the cities and towns mentioned-Aleppo, Kirkuk, Mosul-had been involved in devastating fighting during the recent conflicts.

Judy wrote: "Yes, I couldn’t believe in Camilla loving Robert either - and agree his fascism is all the more appalling after the war."

I also assumed it was affection rooted in earlier times together, and that perhaps she was cooling on him given his politics and her apparently more accepting nature (I think she was the one that was kind to Bottwink).

I agreed that poor Briggs was quite amusing-he was so annoyed with his daughter for marrying "above her station" and I'm sure was terrified about what Robert's father would say when he heard.

Roman Clodia wrote: "That jarring moment at the start when we realise that the prof has survived the Holocaust reminded me how overt politics tends to get overlooked in vintage mysteries to keep them cosy, but also that Poirot was himself a refugee in the first book.
."

Yes, and both Hastings and Holmes' Watson have been invalided out from the army but that fact is rarely mentioned.

Could we do another Josephine Tey? Miss Pym Disposes is not another Inspector Grant book, but

To Lucy Pym, author of a best-seller on Psychology, the atmosphere at the college where she is lecturing is heavy with tension. Beneath the so normal surface run sinister undercurrents of rivalry and jealousy. Then comes tragedy. An accident? Or is it murder? Respectable, law-abiding Miss Pym discovers some vital evidence - but should she reveal it?

is the Goodreads description.

I'll read this. Can anyone say if the Inspector Grant novels ought to be read in order?

I've decided to take up this series-not sure I'll be able to catch you up but will give it a try!

Judy wrote: "I've finished this one now and really enjoyed it - it certainly kept me guessing! I thought the killer was Bryan Martin and that he and the butler somehow changed places sometimes, because there wa..."

I did too-I wonder if that was an intentional plant, to keep saying they looked alike.

I'm currently reading Murder at the Mendel, the second in the Joanna Kilbourn series set in Saskatchewan, Canada.

I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to joining you for the next ones in the series. I wouldn't mind spreading them out a bit as there are now quite a few series I'm trying to follow!

Susan wrote: "I think we are meant to believe that people are killed, by whom we are not told. As I mentioned before, this is a realistic spy series. People in the series are in danger, they do get killed. In th..."

I was left under the impression that Sid might have survived-there was no trace left one way or another so she might have been "disappeared".

Judy wrote: "I've finished this now and am wondering, are we supposed to take it that Peter Judd had Robert Hobden killed?!

To be honest, I struggled with this a bit, but I am glad to have given it a try. I fo..."

That's how I interpreted it!

Susan wrote: "Later books include other ministers, such as Gove, but, yes, Peter Judd is very obviously Boris Johnson. It isn't really an unflattering portrait though, is it? He takes him seriously and I would i..."

Thanks for pointing this out-I probably wouldn't have got the reference but now it is so clear-and ?so prescient?. And this was written in 2010.

I'm just joining you and I'm about a third of the way in-enjoying it so far and certainly agree with enjoying the number of female characters.

Jill wrote: LovesMysteries wrote: "Jill wrote: "I just thought Lord Edgware didn't care about keeping his wife as he had found a handsome young man to take her place."

I have heard the theory that possibly Lord Edgware was in a rel..."

What Sandy said above. Also I believe , the wife also said he wasn't like usual men. So in was just the inference I took

I took that to mean Lord Edgware was cruel/sadistic in some way.

Very late to the discussion.

I think that Maggie was made insignificant intentionally, so that we never consider that she might have been the intended victim or have inspired the love of the dashing aviator.

I think that Poirot allowing Nick to commit suicide is a realistic touch-he had been fond of her, and the thought of her enduring a trial and hanging was probably too much to consider. It's interesting that those positive feelings persist, even knowing that so much of her apparent character was a put-on (as Pamela mentioned earlier).

I didn't realize that Hastings doesn't stick around for a lot of the later novels-however his personal situation in Argentina has been left somewhat ambiguous-is his wife still his wife/alive and if so why is he spending so much time in England? I guess Christie never worried too much about consistency from book to book (as happens with Poirot's and Miss Marple's ages).

I did enjoy this mystery, and am enjoying the sequential read.