Victoria’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2019)

Victoria’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Just finished this one tonight. I enjoyed this one. I had no idea who the photographer was but I did suspect the murderer. Something he said about the book in the library made me think he had at very least seen the book earlier.

But I don’t understand why he waited so long to kill her? He had years, why leave it so long? I don’t think Alleyn explains why he waited for years then finally picked that night.

Looks like a good selection. I’ll have to see which ones I have and which I need to acquire

Is Christie sharing her true feelings about Poirot with her readers?

In my copy of Dorothy L Sayers 'Striding Folly', there's an introduction which quotes Sayers as calling out a comment to Christie in a crowded room - "God, I'm sick of Wimsey. Aren't you sick of Poirot, Agatha?"

I'd say at the very least she used Ariadne Oliver's comments to mock all the mannerisms she gave Poirot. Ariadne makes a few other comments (maybe in the Pale Horse) about reusing her plots and most of her readers not noticing.

Rosina, didn’t they charge him on something like having a forged passport? Because of his fake name. And they were investigating his import business & expected to get something on him with that

Maybe I misinterpreted what Alleyn was saying. I’ve already returned the book to the library, so I can’t check. My impression was that ideally they’d like Chubb to give evidence, but if he didn’t, Alleyn would still try to keep Chubb out of it. Can’t deprive Sam of his servant!

Perhaps Alleyn ages at the same rate as Bertie Wooster? Bertie never seemed to get any older, but his books were published over 60 years.

It’s something I like about the Ian Rankin books, that Rebus has aged in real time.

I enjoyed this book, but didn’t like the idea of just letting Chubb go. I could accept Chubb cutting a deal for immunity, but it seemed like he would still get off even if he didn’t cooperate. And Alleyn’s conclusion that the Sanskrit siblings were snouts seemed too big a leap on the information available

I don't remember ever reading this one. I think I can find a copy, at one of the library's I have access to online. I'm glad I joined this particular library just before all the shutdowns, as it has a better range of mysteries than the other two I belong to

I just started this one last night. Only read the first chapter so far, so don't even have all the characters introduced yet.

Frances wrote: "Just starting this, and it does feel very familiar-either I've read it before or there is another mystery with a similar setting. Still, I do enjoy the journey!"

Triangle at Rhodes, one of her short stories. It has a very similar setup, but a different solution

In a few of the Drina books by Jean Estoril, teenage Drina was performing in plays, and had to have a chaperone with her all the time. They went into a lot of detail about the legal requirements around her performing. Not sure what era they were set in, but I’d guess 1960s-70s. Even these days, when my 12 year old was in a local musical theatre production, they had a chaperone for all the children at each performance and we had to pick her from the dressing room.

So it does seem like the Dolphin management should have been more careful with the boy, and not left him to meet his mother at the top of the street well after all the other actors had gone home.

I thought I’d borrowed this as an audiobook from my local library. But what I’d actually borrowed was Murder Under the Sun, a collection of Christie’s short stories 🤭.

From memory, there’s a Christie short story with a similar setup (Triangle at Rhodes), not sure if it’s in the collection or not.

I’m reading the Singing Sands by Josephine Tey. The only other book of hers I’ve read is Daughter Of Time, and that was many years ago. I’m enjoying the slow pace, but get the feeling it’s about to up a little soon.

Susan in NC wrote: "Annabel wrote: "This is one of those few Agatha Christies where I simply cannot swallow the solution at all. It seems to carry inventiveness too far. I will say no more in case not everyone has fin..."


I liked the idea of this one, but I just cannot believe that it could ever happen. I can't see how anyone wouldn't know.

Come, Tell Me How you Lived - just finished it last week. Loved it, it had such a great feel for the period.