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

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Wow, Susan, I always thought the Suchet ones were pretty true to the originals so that rather shocks me!

Agreed that Hastings falling in love and acting like a fool was a bit OTT in this one, but I hope he stays around for the next few in the series before heading off to Argentina.

Well, I thought I remembered this one-I did remember the plot to fake his own death with his wife's connivance-but not that Marthe was the killer. Christie's plots are truly ingenious!

I also quite liked the idea that Jack and Bella will get back together and that he had been a fool over Marthe.

Is Dulcie the woman that Hastings marries? I remembered that he met his wife in one of the novels but didn't realize it would be this early. Also, does anyone have a sense of how old Hastings is in these novels? One has an impression of him being an older man from the Suchet/Fraser series but I suppose as a recently demobbed soldier he could in fact be quite young.

Agreed-very good points and the whole tonic thing seemed bizarre-that everyone would just brush off this woman pressing her concoctions on people (or would agree to drink them) seems a stretch.

I'm about half-way through and enjoying it, though perhaps not as much as Styles. I agree that the Poirot-Hastings relationship is fun, but I think Christie rather overdoes Hastings' dim-wittedness a bit! Having read this one before, it is fun to see the dropped clues which are easily spotted in retrospect but which I definitely missed the first time around.

Marcus wrote: "In fact, with this challenge I resumed my Christie’s readings. At the moment, I’m reading my first Tommy and Tupence."

Just a reminder that we are doing all the T&T's as a buddy read so you should find a discussion for them-we've done the first two so far.

I'm thrilled to hear all this info about Norwich as i'm probably visiting summer 2026 so look forward to reading about it (if a few hundred years ago).

I will be joining but have a couple of other books to finish first.

I was also completely fooled by this one-thought Hugh would be the hero and Fred the villain, and didn't suspect the body switch at all. I agree with ChrisGA, a greedy bunch of nasties, particularly as when you look at the trail of the money, it should in fact go to the french family as it was the French husband's money, the Barclays and Crowdens had nothing to do with the original earner.

I agree that while this one was light and fun, I'm not sure I would read further in the series.

It took me a while to figure out whether this was set in the UK or US-they used dollars but talked of places that are in the UK (although I assume there a places with the same name in the US). I'm only a couple of chapters in but enjoyable so far, although after reading so many will-centred mysteries it amazes me that anyone writes wills these days that profit someone if another person dies before a certain date or where money will go somewhere entirely different if someone dies before coming of age. Also, letting it be known that you are about to write a will which will change the inheritance is always a bad idea!

I will be joining for this one, but a little later. I have read it before, and agree that the vicar's wife does have similarities to the wife in Who Killed the Curate?.

I will also be reading this one but am also contending with several other reads this month so it may be closer to the end of the month before I get to this one.

This was a disappointment for me, but I think I just don't click with/get AB. Many of you have touched on the key issues for me-someone disappears for days and you don't call the police? Lady Susan being so changeable- her later persona didn't fit with her bullying of poor Millicent. I couldn't believe Millicent marrying Martin, falling tree branches as a murder weapon which then kills the murderer, the secret passage which Martin uses to visit Millicent, Stephen being on the one hand so bereft of friends and contacts that he works as a footman and on the other so popular with everyone that he is welcomed as a guest once fired as a footman and subsequently gets a job there-it was all too much even for a detective novel.

Also, the speculation thread with Pauline's father-does it really work out in the end? After speculating away a fortune, can we really believe that his latest venture is secure?

I rather gave up on trying to understand the mystery, and just enjoyed the ride and the happy ending.

I've just finished this and just didn't really enjoy it or find it particularly engaging. Having also given up on The Poisoned Chocolates Case I'm not sure I'll try any more AB-there are too many other writers I'd prefer to read or reread.

Oh that's too bad! It was available at my local library so I assumed that would mean it was fairly widely available. Abebooks has lots of copies which sit at around $7 US but that doesn't help those who'd like an ebook.

I'd like to nominate Family Matters, first published in 1933 and rereleased by BLCC in 2017. From the GR blurb

Robert Arthur Kewdingham is an eccentric failure of a man. In middle age he retreats into a private world, hunting for Roman artefacts and devoting himself to bizarre mystical beliefs. Robert's wife, Bertha, feels that there are few things more dreadful than a husband who will persist in making a fool of himself in public. Their marriage consists of horrible quarrels, futile arguments, incessant bickering. Scarcely any friends will visit the Kewdinghams in their peaceful hometown Shufflecester. Everything is wrong - and with the entrance of John Harrigall, a bohemian bachelor from London who catches Bertha's eye, they take a turn for the worse. Soon deep passions and resentments shatter the calm facade of the Kewdinghams' lives. This richly characterised and elegantly written crime novel from 1933 is a true forgotten classic.

I've just finished it and also really enjoyed it right up to the end-I agree, Jackie, the murderer just didn't seem believable and the madness just seemed to come out of left field. I was also unclear about the geography so couldn't see the river route to the murder spot.

I would also have liked to see more about Erica and Tisdall-they both seemed great characters and it felt as if things were left hanging there.

Grant is a really good main character-I like the humanizing touches such as his concern for Tisdall not reappearing after being cleared, and as ChrisGA mentioned his relationships with his staff also show his strength and intelligence.

I know we see Marta in other novels-was she in the first one or is this the first time we meet her chronologically speaking.

I've borrowed this one from the library but as I've read it a few times and do remember the outcome I may or may not reread, but will follow the discussion. I just finished listening to Curtain which is also set at Styles and calls up some recollections of that first case so looking forward to revisiting the tale where it all began-for Poirot and Hastings but also for Christie herself!

I've got the book from the library so hope to start it soon. I seem to be one of a very few readers who really disliked The Poisoned Chocolates Case but know that AB is one of the more popular GA writers so happy to give him another chance.

Unfortunately the GR notifications now seem somewhat random and unreliable-I get notifications on threads I'm not participating in for groups to which I belong, and no notifications from threads in which I'm active. So my answer has just been to check in regularly on things that interest me, but it is frustrating.

I've started this and enjoying so far. Interesting set-up and I've always enjoyed Tey-sure I've read this before but don't remember it so far.