From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1)

Agatha Christie

Start date: June 1, 2021

Finish date: June 30, 2021

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: Next in our Assorted Christies challenge.
[close] Next in our Assorted Christies challenge.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 166 topics — 7,786 comments total

Group Challenges

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 14 posts · 18 views

last updated Sep 02, 2025 12:08AM

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
By Susan · 6 posts · 17 views

last updated Sep 11, 2025 09:26AM

showing 5 of 5 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Mar 12, 2017 Damaskcat rated it really liked it

Anthony Cade agrees to undertake a commission for an old friend but he soon finds himself involved in something much more complex and more serious than he expected. A variety of people try to get hold of the manuscript which he is delivering to a London publisher in a variety of ways.

But all the plotting and planning leads the various protagonists to a complex denouement at a country house called Chimneys where Superintendent Battle and a man from the French police as well as various other peop ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Feb 01, 2021 Jazzy Lemon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, english-authors

Christie has done it again.

4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 20, 2013 Lynnie rated it really liked it

Shelves: conspiracy, read-in-1980s, read-in-2010s, read-in-2000s, golden-age-detective-story, read-in-2022

I'm rereading some of the older Agatha Christies. This was a quick and fun read, introducing Superintendent Battle. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2021 Jill rated it it was amazing

Shelves: agatha-christie

I liked this one of Christie's. I found the characters to be fun with plenty of humour. I have to admit I was guessing at people being a famous jewel thief. I thought I had the right person and then talked myself out of it, only to suspect the person again at a later time. Although Superintendent Battle was supposed to be the main detective I thought he kept rather a low profile in the case, and there were detectives cropping up all over the place, which was funny in it's way. The Red Hand gang ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 22, 2019 ShanDizzy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I am so happy that I stuck with this story! It started slowly (like the Richard Hannay stories) but it got truly interesting as it progressed. I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 06, 2021 Frances rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-series

Another Christie thriller mystery, the first to feature Supt. Battle. This one features lost jewels, a missing heir to a minor Balkan country (Herzoslovakia), a globe-trotting adventurer, a couple of tidy murders, a glamorous widow, and a cranky and put-upon stately home-owner. Good Christie fun, if not her most brilliant.

Like · see review

Oct 22, 2017 Becky rated it liked it

good!

Like · see review

May 03, 2025 Pranit rated it liked it

Shelves: agatha-christie, libby

When you see Agatha Christie on the cover, the expectations increase manyfold. This wasn’t one her finest but still a nice story keeping the reader till the very end as to who committed the different crimes and their motives.

Where there is smoke, there is a chimney! 🌹

Like · see review