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One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
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I love this book as well. The end was amazing as usual.
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AKA The Patriotic Murders, and An Overdose of Death, for anyone who might have it under one of those alternate titles.
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Just read this. Very enjoyable!
I read this one prematurely, albeit recently. Hell of a book. Better than the gimmicky Roger Ackroyd and Orient Express.
I started this last night and read some more this morning. I'm enjoying it so far.
I just finished. Another one that I hadn't read in years, and I really didn't see the ending coming! Perfect! I have it under the title An Overdose of Death.
I have just finished rereading this one. I read it years ago but I had forgotten most of it. I really enjoyed it and really enjoyed the twists and turns in it.
I finally finished this. Looks like I'm in the minority, but it's certainly not one of Christie's best, IMO.
Elizabeth wrote: "I finally finished this. Looks like I'm in the minority, but it's certainly not one of Christie's best, IMO."It has happened that I've given AC books 2/5. I can kind of understand how you haven't like it.
I've just started this one.
Just finished it. I enjoyed it, but would have to agree that I didn't think it was one of her best.
I like this one. It has a large pool of suspects and shows Poirot in an unusual light; he has fears (of the dentist), he gets chewed out and he has a whole evening of self-doubt about his detecting abilities.
Just finished rereading this one. Even though it is not one of my favourites I haven't come across one that I didn't like especially a Poirot
Just finished this one, and really enjoyed it, as I wrote in my review. Interesting flavour of pre-WWII and the rise of political unrest and fascism. It must have been a strange time to live in.
I agree that this novel shows an unsettling time in England. England is losing its power, labor unions, communism and socialism were jockeying for power. I think Christie did a great job in portraying the unease and insecurities of this time. I also laughed at Poirot questioning if he is too old to accurately assess the clues around him. Most of the time he is arrogant and supercilious, but in this book, he is not.
I was thinking about this book yesterday while I was at the dentist's. I love how Christie starts with something so mundane as a visit to the dentist, and how it makes everyone uneasy, from financial wizards to great detectives.BTW, I had the hiccups while I was in the chair. Good way to stop the proceedings.
I really loved this one. I listened to it on cassette about 6 months ago.
I couldn't find my copy but I remember reading it years ago and thinking it was one of Christie's weaker books. To me the plot seemed convoluted and confusing.
The more I reflect on the novel, the more I feel that it was confusing with the number of minor character suspects but would also agree that the novel does give a fascinating insight into the uncertainty and unrest prevailing at the time.
I just finished this book and I do agree that the depiction of the atmosphere in 1941 gives the book a different feel. It doesn't feel as cozy as many of her other books.
I found it hard to get into the story. It has a different ambience than the usual Christie mystery. I'm halfway done, but I don't think I'll be forcing myself to speed read and read it completely. It's a DNF for me.
jennifer wrote: "I like this one. It has a large pool of suspects and shows Poirot in an unusual light; he has fears (of the dentist), he gets chewed out and he has a whole evening of self-doubt about his detecting..."I agree. Those aspects of the book made it unique and more interesting.
I'm getting my comment in just in the nick of time. I think we all have our favorite aspects of Christie, as well as our least favorite. I'm most fond of those Poirot books where he finds himself in close quarters with a predetermined group of people. I know it's traditional, but Christie is so good at delineating the characterizations of a closed circle of suspects. On a few occasions, like this novel, Poirot plays much more the traditional private detective, wandering from clue to clue, suspect to suspect, through the city and into the country. The result works for me in a Dashiell Hammett mystery, but with Christie it all gets foggy. The characters are all a muddle, and we really never get to know any of them very deeply, including the victim and the murderer. This is unusual for Christie. Finally, I have a feeling we don't do spoilers here, so I'll try and be vague. At its heart, Christie employs a much-used trick for her solution, and I think this is one of the weakest examples of it. (I'm happy to discuss this at length with other fans who have read the book!!) I do like the beginning of the book: Poirot's fear of the dentist is highly amusing. And I like that we stay close to Poirot throughout. But I miss the more colorful characterizations found in other novels, as well as the tighter plotting.
Brad wrote: "I'm getting my comment in just in the nick of time. I think we all have our favorite aspects of Christie, as well as our least favorite. I'm most fond of those Poirot books where he finds himself i..."I think you make some very good points, Brad. This is more of a thriller and less of a family/village murder. Despite that, I think she shows some real insight into characters even here.
Victoria_Grossack wrote: "Brad wrote: "I'm getting my comment in just in the nick of time. I think we all have our favorite aspects of Christie, as well as our least favorite. I'm most fond of those Poirot books where he fi..."Victoria, SPOILER ALERT! There are some nice character sketches, especially of the women, like Mr. Morley's sister and Mabelle Sainsbury-Seale.
It does seem that most of Christie's mysteries are intimate mysteries rather than things of national importance or even related to the current political climate. It definitely changes the feel of the book for the subject to be a person of such power in society. I'm sure that's why many readers list it farther down their list of favorites. We tend to like our cozies, well, cozy. This one doesn't feels more open to the public than cozy.
Randee wrote: "It does seem that most of Christie's mysteries are intimate mysteries rather than things of national importance or even related to the current political climate. It definitely changes the feel of ..."Good point, Randee. The irony is that, ultimately, this ISN'T a mystery about politics but a cozy, with a cozy ending. However, since the list of suspects isn't particularly cozy, it feels incomplete, somehow...at least to me!
Brad, you can do spoilers with HTML. I am going to replace the brackets that you need to use with parentheses so that I don't turn my example into a spoiler, but you just need to put(spoiler) at the beginning of the text you want to hide, and (/spoiler) at the end. If you know HTML, you will know the kind of brackets you need to use in place of the parentheses, but if you don't, they are the ones on your comma and period keys.From your comments, I think you will prefer our next book - Evil Under the Sun, about Poirot on holiday at a hotel on an island. I started reading last night, and although I still remember whodunnit from past readings, I confess that I don't remember the motive and at least that is puzzing me!
Denise wrote: "Brad, you can do spoilers with HTML. I am going to replace the brackets that you need to use with parentheses so that I don't turn my example into a spoiler, but you just need to put(spoiler) at t..."Thank you, Denise. Ironically, EVIL UNDER THE SUN was the reading a month ago on my OTHER AC group, so I just reread it for, like, the 5th time. I look forward to discussing it with all of you. (I DO like it more than One Two, Buckle My Shoe!)
Brad, you might want to take Denise's suggestions and use the spoiler alert in Comment 28.
☯Emily Who Wonders Why GR Is Silent wrote: "Brad, you might want to take Denise's suggestions and use the spoiler alert in Comment 28."Emily,
I went in and used Denise's instructions, and the "spoiler" part disappeared. My question is, who CAN see it?
Did you do the spoiler marks? You put these symbols <> at the beginning of the item you want hidden. Inside those symbols you write the word spoiler. When the spoiler is over, you use the same symbol but with a / before spoiler. If you do it correctly, (view spoiler)
I read this under the title "One, Two, Buckle my Shoe," and I was always waiting for a connection between the nursery rhyme and the title. I think the title "The Patriotic Murder" is a better one for the story, even though there is little patriotism involved unless you count his defense of his actions.I enjoyed the book; always enjoy Christie. I found it to be about the same as others I've read with Poirot able to solve the mystery with seemingly few clues and making the connections where I see none. Although, as others have noted, we see a different side to Poirot in this book with his wavering self confidence, his fears.
Didn't see Poirot as a church-goer, another surprise, although he is a good house-guest.
Since Christie spent time on the issue of the shoes, I figured they'd play a role in the solution. I, too, didn't see the ending coming, and I enjoyed being surprised.
Overall, liked the book; always fun to read Christie and see how she'll solve the mystery.
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Agatha Christie Lovers
Books mentioned in this topic
An Overdose of Death (other topics)The Patriotic Murders (other topics)
A dentist's suspicious death leads Poirot to drill the good doctor's patients, partners, lovers, and friends.
What reason would an amiable dentist like Dr. Morely have for committing suicide? He didn't have emotional difficulties, money problems, or love trouble. What he did have was an appointment with Hercule Poirot, who is not persuaded by the suicide story and has therefore taken it upon himself to questions the good doctor's patients, partners, and friends. All he's come up with is the numbing fear that Dr. Morely wasn't an unlikely victim at all. Nor the first