July 2021 - Sparkling Cyanide (1944) - SPOILER Thread

[Robin]

Tara wrote: "I suspected George for most of the novel, until of course he ended up as victim #2. While I am disappointed that I never figure out the murderer (although it seems obvious after the fact), I don't ..."

I just realised - what if George was indeed the murderer, with Iris as the intended victim. They return to the table, Iris sits in her new place, he does not realise that he is about to drink from the poisoned drink, last thoughts, ha ha now I have ridded myself of the second heiress...gasp. Oh dear!

[Sandy]

Robin wrote: "Tara wrote: "I suspected George for most of the novel, until of course he ended up as victim #2. While I am disappointed that I never figure out the murderer (although it seems obvious after the fa..."

Interesting ... but then wouldn't the aunt, mother of evil cousin, would have gotten the money?

[Rosina]

Sandy wrote: "Robin wrote: "Tara wrote: "I suspected George for most of the novel, until of course he ended up as victim #2. While I am disappointed that I never figure out the murderer (although it seems obviou..."

Unless Iris left a will. That I assume was the plan - I am not sure if it's explicitly stated that she hadn't bequeathed everything away from her aunt and cousin.

[Tara]

It seemed odd that the "uncle" left all of the money to Rosemary and none to Iris. While neither necessarily deserved the money since they weren't blood relatives, so it wouldn't be fair to expect anything, unless he had a particular dislike for Iris, why not leave her at least a small percentage? It seems like there was enough to go around.

[Diane]

Tara wrote: "It seemed odd that the "uncle" left all of the money to Rosemary and none to Iris. While neither necessarily deserved the money since they weren't blood relatives, so it wouldn't be fair to expect ..."

I just listened to the All About Agatha Podcast episode about this book and one of their listeners suggested that Rosemary could have been the "uncle's" daughter. The book said that he had been in love with Rosemary's mother so an affair producing a daughter would not have been out of the question. I'm going to have to reread that part of the book with that in mind to see if I find it convincing. It would explain the very odd will.

[Tara]

I read it as more of a reflection of Rosemary's power over men, as just about every other male character in the book falls in love with her, but that could be another explanation too.

[Frances]

Tara wrote: "It seemed odd that the "uncle" left all of the money to Rosemary and none to Iris. While neither necessarily deserved the money since they weren't blood relatives, so it wouldn't be fair to expect ..."

I wonder if that's on a par with the practice of the eldest son getting the entire estate, remaining sons getting much less or nothing-so there is less of a feeling in society at the time of things needing to be "fair" between siblings.

[Jennifer]

"Tara wrote: "I suspected George for most of the novel, until of course he ended up as victim #2. While I am disappointed that I never figure out the murderer (although it seems obviou..."

Something I love about her books is that they still hold up on subsequent re-reads. Even when I remember who the culprit was, I enjoy watching the construction of the plot come together.

[Tara]

Frances wrote: "Tara wrote: "It seemed odd that the "uncle" left all of the money to Rosemary and none to Iris. While neither necessarily deserved the money since they weren't blood relatives, so it wouldn't be fa..."

Thats a good point Frances, I hadn't considered that with the gender reversal. Although Rosemary seemed way too flaky to be a good "heir" to an estate.

[ChrisGA]

Just finished listening to this. I enjoyed everyone's comments and don't have anything new to add. I remembered vaguely from previous reading years ago about the waiter being significant but couldn't remember who or why.. Ruth surprised me even in reread.

[Sandy]

ChrisGA wrote: "Just finished listening to this. I enjoyed everyone's comments and don't have anything new to add. I remembered vaguely from previous reading years ago about the waiter being significant but couldn..."

Interesting as the waiter is what I remembered as well, further complicated by whether it was from the short story or the novel.