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

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

While I agree with the general comments that this is an early work and still rough around the edges, she does seem to capture the style and feel of the traditional country house weekend setting, at least to this Canadian's ear. As someone born and raised in middle-class (or lower) circumstances in New Zealand, has anything ever been said about how well Marsh portrayed the English upper class language and mores? Does the dialogue "sound" right to English readers?

Sue wrote: "One phrase I didn’t understand was the description of Charles Rankin who had “one of those twisted smiles that always reminded Nigel of a faun"

I missed that on the initial read, presumably some foreshadowing that he is not the avuncular character that Nigel may assume, and that he is in fact more of a libertine (and which we know will contribute to his becoming the victim in this case).

HI Daph-you could always post some comments on the recent discussion at
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

as the people who read it recently would probably still be interested in discussing.

Glad we're doing the Upson-I gave it a second look during the vote and thought it looked really interesting.

I'm reading Case Histories and really enjoying it.

Hi Adrian-if you look at the first message in this thread, Susan has listed the stories we are reading. I have a book The Complete Miss Marple Short Stories which has all the MM stories listed above (as well as 12 others) but is missing the two non-Marple tales. I suspect there are many other editions with different stories so hope you have the ones you need.

Hilary S wrote: "Hmm I am already thinking Allingham for 2019!"

I'll vote for that!

Oops, must have read too quickly over that part!

Good point,Judy-I thought that as well as soon as I read it (although I thought it was the missing young woman) and also wonder if I subconsciously remembered it from a much earlier reading. Roman Clodia-I agree that the plotting was still wonderfully tricky with lots of red herrings, but there were dropped things too-did we ever find out what was in the package Anthea sent away? Was that thread ever completed?

This was a new read for me (or if I had read it previously I don't remember it!) While I enjoyed the mystery/plotting, I was also disappointed that the coach tour rather fizzled out (and wouldn't it be strange just to leave for a couple of days to go stay with someone else!) Also, the comments around sexual assault (if Michael Rafiel had assaulted a previous girlfriend, well, he was young, she was probably asking for it, and it's not all that serious anyway was the general drift) and the complaining about young temptresses were rather unsettling, particularly in the current political climate!

I seem to recall reading an article in which someone had analyzed the style of Christie's writing over time-the variability of the nouns used, the complexity of the sentence structure, the degree of descriptiveness etc, and found a definite downward trend into her later years, suggesting a probable progressive dementia, at this point in its earlier stages.

Boxing day is definitely a holiday in Canada, and stores weren't allowed to open on Boxing day until relatively recently (their employees were entitled to a holiday too!) so in fact the "Boxing day sales" used to start on Dec 27th. So most Canadians get at least a 2 day holiday over Christmas, more if it is close to a weekend (so this year many people have a 4 day holiday-yay!)

I grew up on Boxing Day sales in Canada-Black Friday was imported from south of the border a few years ago (even though our Thanksgiving weekend is in October) but I'm too big an introvert to cope with the malls. We also have loads of Christmas Bazaars this time of year in all the local churches and community centres which I enjoy a lot more-home baking and loads of second hand books, clothes, crafts and bric-a-brac-heaven!

I really enjoyed this as well, although the actual murder plot was overly convoluted. I did like Miss Marple showing up because of her concern about Gladys, and how well she understands her character. I also appreciated the letter at the end-it was a way to reassure the readers that justice will be done (now there is photographic proof!) but also to show that Miss Marple would have been someone to whom her previous employee would have turned for advice and assistance.

As was discussed in the other thread, I also enjoyed the office scenes-the long lost typing pools!

Anyone else find it curious that Miss Marple, a total stranger, would have been invited to stay by Aunt Effie?

I just finished The Watchmaker of Filigree Street which I loved-Victorian London, a little magical realism, some timey-wimey stuff, some out-of-this-world clockwork, great characters. Also a great-looking book with a fantastic cover for those of you who read book-books.

I think that Gina and Wally have a good chance-I never felt that she didn't love him, just that she was quite happy to flirt with the other young men who adored her. I think Wally looked a little useless and hopeless with nothing to do around the estate, and when he finally decides this isn't the life he wants and declares that he is going back with or without her, she sees the man she fell in love with. Agreed about the stereotypes-although I think that Gina's "passionate Italian" might end up feeling more at home in America than in the UK!

Thank you all for your warm welcome. Sandy, I agree, but as a Harry Potter fan as well I don't mind the delay if it means more magical stories.

Hello-I'm Frances from Ottawa, Canada and I've loved golden age mysteries since finding a stash of yellowing Agatha Christies at a cottage we stayed in one summer. Over the years I've also enjoyed Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham and more modern favourites include Louise Penny, Peter Robinson, Robert Galbraith and Brenda Chapman, to name a few. I've been lurking for the reading of The Circular Staircase and hope to join in on the rest of the Christie reads.