The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley - February Group Read

[Bionic Jean]

This is the thread for our monthly group read for February. This time it is of a Golden English Age Mystery The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley.

It's a great title! Who's in for this one? We begin reading and discussions on 1st February.

[Lynnie]

I'm in !! It's been on my wishlist for a while and a book about chocolate in Valentine month is perfect! :o)

[Bionic Jean]

So it is Lynne; well spotted! 💕

[Rosemarie]

I read this last year so I won't be rereading it, but it will be fun to read the comments.

[Michaela]

I read this last year, so won´t re-read. Have fun! :)

[Bionic Jean]

Please pop in and join in the discussion if you like though, Michaela :)

[Michaela]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Please pop in and join in the discussion if you like though, Michaela :)"

Will do - if I remember lol!

[Phrynne]

I found a copy for a very reasonable price on Amazon so I'm in. And as Lynnie says it is very appropriate for Valentine's Day.

[France-Andrée]

I’m so glad to be able to join on this one!

[Bionic Jean]

I'm glad to see you can, as well as all the work on the Miss Marples you do, France-Andrée :)

[Tara]

I'm happy to read anything from the BLCC series. I just adore those covers!

[KelleReads]

I am listening to The Poisoned Chocolates Case on audio- it is a fabulous recording narrated video Gordon Griffin.

[Ra]

I'm glad to join in as well

[John]

KelleReads wrote: "I am listening to The Poisoned Chocolates Case on audio- it is a fabulous recording narrated video Gordon Griffin."

I have this on my Audible wishlist.

[Cynda]

Like others here, I am listening to Gordon Griffin narrate.
I am grateful for my years of watching and listening to Downton Abbey. I keep imagining that I am listening to Robert Lord Grantham using his London society voice. Although I doubt he would have had a society voice, still I hear some similarity in voices.

[J]

I just came across this group. I searched for the February book, but I was unable to find a copy locally. I have ordered a used copy from the UK, so it will be a week or two before I can join in.

In the mean time, enjoy. Just in case they are spoilers, I'll check in later.

Cheers

[Bionic Jean]

Hi J, and welcome! Do introduce yourself in the welcome thread, if you like :)

LINK HERE

We try hard not to include spoilers, and hide them under the spoiler tags when necessary. We begin this read in a couple of days :) Looking forward to your comments!

[Bionic Jean]

This read begins today! How are you finding it?

[France-Andrée]

I really loved it! I hadn’t read any of this series, but I’ve read Francis Iles who is the same author under a different name. I like the structure of this one. I listened to the audio within 24 hours so I failed at pacing myself. Didn’t like the new endings at the end of the audiobook by other authors, the original ending is superb.

[Ra]

I think the format is really interesting, I like the idea of a club like that. Does anyone have any ideas about who the characters are based on? I think the introduction mentioned E.M. Delafield (Diary of a Provincial Lady) as the novelist. Interesting reading this straight after 8 Detectives... I'm guessing the Thursday Murder Club might have some similarities as well, the idea of different people noticing different things.

Anyone got any ideas about the murder after the opening chapters explaining the scenario? Do we think the chocolate is a red herring? Do we think the wife is the intended victim? Or the original addressee?

[Devashree]

I have read the opening chapters and the first detective's theory. So far, it's turning out to be a very enjoyable read.
(view spoiler)[ And yes, I also think that the Mrs. Bendix was the intended victim. (hide spoiler)]

[Bionic Jean]

Just checking ... Devrashree - is this right at the beginning? Or it is something which should be under a spoiler tag, do you think?

[Devashree]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Just checking ... Devrashree - is this right at the beginning? Or it is something which should be under a spoiler tag, do you think?"
Hi Jean, I think the murder is talked about right in the opening chapter itself. The rest is just speculation (in answer to Ra Da's question). If it turns out I am right, then it might be more of a spoiler :)
But just in case, you are right, I'll add the spoiler tag.

[Bionic Jean]

Thanks Devrashree :) Both for the clarification and the spoiler tag. Now everyone can decide for themselves whether to look at your speculation :)

[France-Andrée]

I think who was the intended victim[s] changes with the different theories. One of the theories was exactly like mine, but since it wasn’t the last, I realized I had been fooled. I got it before it was revealed, but just one person before the one that was right. Hope I was ambiguous enough…

[Bionic Jean]

LOL France-Andrée, I'm pretty sure those reading it will be able to follow your thoughts, but please feel free to specify names, as long as they're under a spoiler tag :)

[Cynda]

The introducer says says on the audio book, this text has recently been re-released. This makes finding a character list difficult. Because I speak American English, and because we have few English names here in South Texas, I am having a bit of difficulty hearing names. I am catching a personality and part of names here and there. So I am listening in a more general way.

Next time I vote for a book, I will make sure that if I will have to listen from audio book, that I will have access to character list. I learn.

[Bionic Jean]

Cynda - Here are a few:

Sir Eustace Pennefather
Graham Bendix
Joan Bendix
Roger Sheringham

Hope it helps!

[Cynda]

Thank you Jean! I did not understand Sir Eustace's last name--or the Bendixes' first names. Now I do.

[Cynda]

Thinking of what the Bendixes do with the chocolates--keep eating in spite of the tingling/burning sensation. I remember my lifelong friend and I doing things that "hurt so good". More than once. More than a few times. But we were girls. These are adults. They make me laugh.

[Marie]

This is a re-read for me, but I can't remember how it all turns out so I am enjoying it. Perfect for Valentine's Day this month.

[France-Andrée]

I’m a little like Cynda though I understood the names since I didn’t see them written, they have flown from my mind. (view spoiler)[My theory was the same as Roger Sheringham, but while Miss Dammers (?) was debunking his theory, everything fell into place for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Ra]

What I found interesting, plot wise

(view spoiler)[ Several committee members have direct personal connections to the suspects. While I think Roger 'pretending not to be a gentleman but still a gentleman' Sheringham purports to be entering into the experiment in good faith, surely the police must be using this set up to monitor a wider pool of suspects by claiming to be stumped? I think Sheringham's private interview with the policeman after the opening meeting suggests as much. This would be taking the usual private investigator trope to its logical conclusion; they may feel entitled to the police letting them in to investigate the case because they are of the established upper middle classes and crime buffs, but the police want to take them in for questioning because they move in similar circles to the victim and they don't want to signal they are on to them.

In real life, if you casually admitted, like Miss Dammers does, to being both an ex-flame of Sir Eustace, but that also, the night before an attempt was - maybe - made on his life, you saw his soon--to-be ex-wife in Paris, some alarm bells would maybe ring? I think I would start questioning members of the committee, alongside questioning their thesis - the club aspect is in the very polite English style, but it must surely break down at some point? Again, a bit of a subversion of the English country house mystery, when the guilty party breaks down and confesses really easily when Poirot accuses them. Instead, they could all start semi-accusing each other.


Tallyho! (hide spoiler)]

[Ra]

Cynda wrote: "Thinking of what the Bendixes do with the chocolates--keep eating in spite of the tingling/burning sensation. I remember my lifelong friend and I doing things that "hurt so good". More than once. M..."

I'm guessing this is an ironic comment on British gastronomy here? Insert sarcastic Poirot-esque remark here about British people not being able to taste the difference between British liqueur and poison!

Although now it makes me question whether it actually happened the way Bendix said it did...

[Cynda]

No France-Andrée. I don't know enough to make ironic comments on British gastronomy. I simply saw the similarities between mine and friend's less-than-wise actions and the Bendrixes'. Childhood may never be far behind. An innocence that led to death?

[Phrynne]

France-Andrée wrote: "I really loved it! I hadn’t read any of this series, but I’ve read Francis Iles who is the same author under a different name. I like the structure of this one. I listened to the au..."

I finished it rather quickly too and I agree with you about the endings. They seemed an unnecessary addition.
The structure was fascinating and helps maintain the readers interest. I believed each person as they made their case. I would be a dreadful detective.
There was a nice thread of humour throughout which I enjoyed very much.

[Lynnie]

I've just finished this and found it very entertaining. It's the first time of reading Anthony Berkeley and I shall definitely be reading more.
I also enjoyed the epilogue by Martin Edwards.

[Pam]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. The fact that the author was instrumental in starting the Detection Club in 1930 in real life added to the enjoyment. I loved the way that the writer ridiculed the way that writers of mystery fiction use 'clues' and 'facts' to their own literary ends. There was humour throughout and I enjoyed the alternative endings, as the whole story was a series of alternative endings.

[France-Andrée]

Not sure where I made a comment about gastronomy, I was referring to listening to an audio…

[C.J.]

How many people "read" this in book form vs audio? I finished it last night in paperback, & my copy didn't have the "endings" referred to by several other readers. I was impressed, in fact, that we were left to put the final pieces together ourselves.

I really started enjoying it around 1/3 through the book, in somewhat the same way I like writing mysteries or sonnets & used to enjoy doing geometry proofs -- the challenges of the quasi-mathematical structure. The first few chapters were quite off-putting to me because of Roger's gargantuan sense of entitlement -- his pleasure in pulling strings, manipulating friends he doesn't really care for, patronizing the detective who's obliged to keep an eye on these nosy dilettantes. Like Pam, I loved Berkeley's inside jokes about mystery writing.

[Rosemarie]

I read this in book form, but I don't remember if it was a paper book or an ebook. Our library system has a good selection of ebooks available on Libby, which is great if I'm in the mood for reading one at weird hours.
I'm a visual learner, so I don't do audiobooks.

[Lynnie]

C.J. wrote: "How many people "read" this in book form vs audio? I finished it last night in paperback, & my copy didn't have the "endings" referred to by several other readers. I was impressed, in fact, that we..."

I read the British Library Crime version on Kindle - printed in 2016. It had both the alternative solutions, which were fun additions but I was very satisfied with the original ending of the book,

[Bionic Jean]

I feel like Lynnie. I'm interested in alternative endings in an analytical sense, just as I like to know a little about the background of the author and the novel, but it isn't essential - unless the author has included it as part of the novel itself. (There are a few like this.)

[Bionic Jean]

Archiving but leaving open.