N or M? by Agatha Christie

In book three of the Tommy and Tuppence series, N or M?, the Beresfords are feeling sidelined by their age. It’s spring of 1940. World War II is raging and Tommy is too old for anything but government paper-shuffling jobs. As the story begins, he and Tuppence are reviewing past escapades and wishing they weren’t so “useless” for their country’s present needs. Happily, the opportunity arises for the two of them to become involved in a hunt for fifth columnists.

Aside from giving us a top-notch mystery, Christie also deals with deeper questions such as patriotism and prejudice.  Some of the characters wonder if loyalty to one’s country is worth dying for. Is ANYTHING worth dying for?, they wonder. Others discuss their hatred of the Germans and how it is easy to hate them as a whole, but harder when you think of them as individual mothers and shopkeepers, etc. The story was written in 1941 so I find it interesting that any sympathy for the Germans was expressed at all. 

I loved all the literary and biblical references. One woman is described as having a fiercely determined look like Jael as she drove the stake through Sisera’s brain (Judges 4:21). One of the key plot points is based on the story of King Solomon.

The spy was caught about 2/3 of the way into the book and I wondered how Christie would fill up the rest of it. I needn't have worried! I spent most of my Sunday afternoon listening to the last two and a half hours because I couldn't wait to see what happened. Those final chapters were full of surprises and the closing paragraphs were warm and funny. 

This is another remarkably clever book by Christie. I highly recommend the audio books in this series if you can find them. (They are on YouTube if your library doesn’t have them.) Be forewarned. There is more swearing in this book than in the rest of the series. You can skim over it in print, but not the audio. I linked to the single Kindle volume above, which is $5.99. Unfortunately, I can no longer find the deal of all five books for $1.99. 

Blessings,

Cozy Christmas Suggestions

Most of us will be having quieter Christmas celebrations this year. And that's okay. It's a good thing that we'll focus less on shopping frenzies and over-full calendars and have more time to pay attention to the real meaning of the season.

I am reading some Christmas-themed books (A Christmas Carol, Shepherds Abiding and Letters from Father Christmas). I also plan to listen to Hercule Poirot's Christmas on YouTube, narrated by Hugh Fraser. In my early days of blogging I wrote about two free audiobooks that you might enjoy.

We are getting ready for our annual viewing of the movie, The Nativity Story, reviewed here. I also have some suggestions for lesser-known holiday films here. Last of all, I'm enjoying quiet, worshipful music in addition to the peppier tunes. Another blog post from yesteryear highlights some of those songs. 

May you have a peaceful and blessed Christmas,  

Talking about Detective Fiction by P.D. James

I read to relax so gritty, modern books don’t appeal to me. Occasionally I will read detective writers of 100 years ago because they were able to spin a good yarn without all the gory details. So I was prepared to relish P.D. James' observations on the golden age of this genre in her book Talking About Detective Fiction.

Since I’m reading the Tommy and Tuppence series at the moment, I appreciated her insight into Agatha Christie’s skills: Above all she is a literary conjuror who places her pasteboard characters face downwards and shuffles them with practiced cunning. Game after game we are confident that this time we will turn up the card with the face of the true murderer, and time after time she defeats us. With a Christie mystery no suspect can safely be eliminated. Her clues are brilliantly designed to confuse. The butler goes over to peer closely at the calendar. She has planted in our mind the suspicion that a crucial clue relates to dates and times, but the clue is, in fact, that the butler is shortsighted. (p. 98)

James credits Edgar Allen Poe (his detective Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the great influencers of the detective novel. She mentions authors with whom I am familiar (G.K. Chesterton, Ronald Knox, Margery Allingham, etc.) but also lists many I’ve never heard of such as Nicholas Blake, Cyril Hare, G.D.H Cole, H.C. Bailey, Gladys Mitchell, and Michael Innes.

What I appreciated most was James’ explanation as to why detective fiction continues to endure: It confirms our belief that we live in a rational, comprehensible and moral universe.

A good detective story possesses certain qualities of harmony, internal organization and balance, which respond to certain needs of the spirit, needs which some modern literature, priding itself on being superior, very often neglects…. It confirms our hope that despite some evidence to the contrary, we live in a beneficent and moral universe in which problems can be solved by rational means and peace and order restored from communal or personal disruption and chaos. And if it is true, as the evidence suggests, that the detective story flourishes best in the most difficult of times, we may well be at the beginning of a new Golden Age. (p. 175)

I'll be investigating some of these new-to-me authors. Anyone have a favorite writer in this genre?

 Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in November

I am reading nine books, which is too many, even for me. Four are buddy reads. Two are for ministry-related projects. One is my morning exercise audiobook. The other is on my nightstand since I don't read on my devices before bed.The last book is my Bible, which might technically not be eligible for this list, but I read it every day. 

Because I'm reading and never finishing anything, I had several quick, escapist reads this month: The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart, The Lieutenant's Lady by Bess Streeter Aldrich, Mail-Order Bride: Tess by Rose Jenster, and The Flowering Thorn by Margery Sharp. (None were good enough for a complete review, but they are linked to my thoughts on Goodreads.) But I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook, N or M? by Agatha Christie (review forthcoming).

In the movie department, I watched the delightful Murder, She Baked series. I also watched The Virginian with Bill Pullman. I was enamored with it a few years ago, but this time the acting and script seemed stilted. I'm wondering if the new True Grit movie has ruined me for all other westerns. My husband and I also watched Henry V with Kenneth Branagh for the umpteenth time.

I'm hoping to finish up most of the books mentioned above by the end of the year as well as complete two trilogies. We'll see how that goes! Are there any books you are hoping to read before the end of the year?

Blessings,

Murder She Baked Mystery Series

I gave myself a treat this month by finally watching all the Murder, She Baked movies in order. They were available in Portuguese on YouTube so I kidded myself that I was improving my language skills. I'll give a brief synopsis of each film and explain why they are some of my favorite cozy mysteries. (The titles are linked to each movie's preview.) 

1. Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery - In this first installment, we are introduced to baker Hannah Swenson, her meddling mother, her best friend/sister, Andrea, and two handsome rivals for her affections, Norman the dentist, and Mike the detective. Just to keep things interesting, Hannah finds two dead bodies and feels Mike's ire over her interference in both cases. 

2. Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery - The second movie takes place at Christmas time. Hannah finds another body and Mike tries to keep her out of danger. There are lots of suspects and it doesn't always make sense who is who. But who cares? Half the fun is watching Hannah relate to all the people in her life. Her mom strongly urges her to choose Norman while Andrea favors Mike. 

3. Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery - Someone opens a bakery across the street from Hannah's and, yep, she finds another body.

4. Murder She Baked: A Deadly Recipe - Hannah is putting together a community cookbook to raise funds for charity. Someone submits a recipe calling for one teaspoon of a mystery ingredient. It's fun to see the gals trying to discover the ingredient. Oh, and Hannah finds another body. The romantic triangle continues.

5. Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts - The background story is a televised bake-off. This time someone else finds the body. But Hannah's sleuthing leads her to the killer. She finally makes her choice between the two eligible bachelors.

This is the second time I've watched these movies and I vaguely remembered the identity of the killer in each one, but solving the mystery is not the only reason I enjoy these movies. I like Hannah as a heroine. She's smart, pretty and capable, but just insecure enough to gain your sympathy. There is something endearing about how she talks to her cat about her troubles. I loved the family dynamics between mother/daughter/sister. What's not to like about the gorgeous food shots? And I appreciated a sweet romance without the syrup (or the drama) of the regular Hallmark movies. They always make the third person in the love triangle look like a complete jerk, but that was not the case in these films. The other guy was nerdy, but handsome and likable.

These movies are based on the cozy mysteries written by Joanne Fluke. There are 27 of them, but I tried to read the first one and found the characters much less likable than in the movies. 

Has anyone else enjoyed these? Any other cozy mysteries to recommend? (book or film)

Blessings,

Reading as an Addiction - quote by W. Somerset Maugham

Some people read for instruction, which is praiseworthy, and some for pleasure, which is innocent, but not a few read from habit, and I suppose that is neither innocent nor praiseworthy. Of that lamentable company am I. Conversation after a time bores me, games tire me, and my own thoughts, which we are told are the unfailing source of a sensible man, have a tendency to run dry. Then I fly to my book as an opium-seeker to his pipe. I would sooner read the catalogue of the Army and Navy stores or Bradshaw's Guide than nothing at all, and indeed I have spend many delightful hours over both these works.... Of course to read in this way is reprehensible as doping, and I never cease to wonder at the impertinence of great readers who, because they are such, look down on the illiterate. From the standpoint of eternity, is it better to have read a thousand books than to have ploughed a million furrows? Let us admit that reading with us is just a drug that we cannot live without. Who of this band does not know the restlessness that attacks him when he has been severed from reading too long, the apprehension and irritability, and the sigh of relief which the sight of a printed page extracts from him? And the sigh of relief which the sight of a printed page extracts from him? And so let us be no more vainglorious than the poor slaves of the hypodermic needle or the pint-pot. 

(W. Somerset Maugham, from his Collected Short Stories, Volume 4; quoted on the Literary Life facebook page by Wendi Lord Capehart)

[photo courtesy of Annie Spratt at Unsplash]

Blessings,

Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie

I continue to plow through my favorite series of 2020. Unlike the other two Tommy and Tuppence novels, which were based on a single crime, this one is a series of short stories involving the detective agency that the Beresfords set up in the first novel, The Secret Adversary. I think that makes it perfect for reading aloud since each crime is solved in two or three chapters. 

I am a fan of vintage literature so I loved Agatha Christie's nod to dozens of other mystery writers from the "golden age of detective fiction". In almost every chapter of Partners in Crime, Tommy decides which of these detectives he will try to imitate. Will it be Sherlock Holmes (by Arthur Conan Doyle), Father Brown (by G.K. Chesterton), Inspector Howard (by A.E.W. Mason) or Inspector French (by Freeman Wills Crofts)? She even pokes fun at her own creation, Hercule Poirot and his "little gray cells." I enjoyed the humor in that and it also made me want to investigate the dozen or so authors she mentioned who I haven't yet read - especially the story "The Old Man in the Corner" by Baroness Orczy (of Scarlet Pimpernel fame.)

Solving the mysteries is fun, but the real reason I enjoy these books is because of  the playful, affectionate banter between the protagonists. I highly recommend listening to this series. This book, Partners in Crime, is narrated by Hugh Fraser on YouTube.

If you prefer reading, I found all five novels for $1.99.

Blessings,