Tag: Flavour

Agatha Christie – Partners in Crime | Review

Title: Partners in Crime

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 352

Rating: 3.5/5

 

Agatha Christie - Partners in Crime

Agatha Christie – Partners in Crime

 

What we have here is one of Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence books, and so as such it’s not as good as some of Christie’s other work. I don’t think this should be discounted entirely though, because it’s an enjoyable enough read and I like the way that it was almost a cross between a novel and a short story collection.

Here, Tommy and Tuppence basically team up to form their own detective agency and then we follow them as they go from case to case. Some of them interrelate and some of them don’t, and some of them are much easier to figure out than others, but it’s still enjoyable enough. Plus I quite often found that the banter between Tommy and Tuppence was good enough to make the book worth reading in its own right.

That’s because the two of them were playing a game of sorts where they pretended to be detectives from their favourite crime novels, which means that Christie gets to play with tropes, reference Sherlock Holmes and even throw in subtle nods to her own novels, such as that certain Belgian detective with the little grey cells.
 

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie


 

At the same time, though, I also went through the last couple of hundred pages in a pretty much a blur, purely because it wasn’t holding my attention. It was okay, it just wasn’t the best, and it was nowhere near as good as the Miss Marple short stories, but it was still worth reading and I’m glad I can tick it off my list. The Tommy and Tuppence books are nowhere near as bad as people make them out to be, and they have a certain charm of their own that’s different to the Poirot and Marple books and which is almost like trying a slightly different flavour of a drink that you’ve always loved.

So should you read this? Absolutely, but only when you’ve already read a couple of dozen Agatha Christie books already. So yeah.

 

Agatha Christie Quote

Agatha Christie Quote

 

Click here to buy Partners in Crime.


Agatha Christie – Sleeping Murder | Review

Title: Sleeping Murder

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 304

Rating: 3.5*/5

 

Agatha Christie - Sleeping Murder

Agatha Christie – Sleeping Murder

 

I have kind of mixed feelings about this one because while I’m always going to enjoy an Agatha Christie book, I’ve definitely enjoyed some more than others. In this case, it was only a so-so story, although there were some near-supernatural elements that added a nice bit of flavour to the book, at least at the beginning.

Mostly, though, the story follows the story of a woman who’s convinced that she witnessed a murder and who won’t let the sleeping murder lie. Miss Marple is present throughout the book, but in her usual style she sort of manages it an understated way, subtly dropping hints until the case comes to its eventful conclusion. In fact, she constantly advises them to drop the investigation, but when it becomes clear that they’re going to press on with the investigation no matter what, she realises that she might as well stick her nose in.

Honestly, I didn’t like this as much as some of the other Miss Marple books, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. I think it might be my own fault as a reader, in part because I read the whole book in a day or so. I think if I’d spaced it out then it would have worked better, but I still wasn’t disappointed. An okay Agatha Christie book is better than most other authors at their best.

All in all then, I’d still recommend this book if you’re working your way through Christie’s back catalogue like I am, but it’s not worth going out of your way for if you’re new to her work. Either way, when you get to it you’ll still be able to enjoy a decent murder mystery.

 

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

 

Click here to buy Sleeping Murder.