Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Who is Evans?

Title: Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Author: Agatha Christie

ISBN: 0007122608 (ISBN13: 9780007122608)

Recurring Characters: None

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is packed with lots of thrilling, romantic and humorous scenes and the whole story is full of role playing acts. At one time, Bobby had to act as a passing motorist, a chauffeur and as far as impersonating Frankie's family solicitor! While Frankie, on the other hand, had to take the role of a clumsy driver and a political party representative. Throughout the story, Bobby and Frankie developed a romantic attachment to each other though Bobby was always strained by the social standing gap between him, a fourth son of a Vicar and Frankie, whom is a daughter of an aristocrat. A happy ending Romeo and Juliet story that just make me have to give a five-star rating for the exquisite plot!

A little bit of the story:

The thrilling (yet romantic) adventure of the duo amateur sleuths, Bobby and Frankie, to unveil the mystery of a dead man in Marchbolt begins with Bobby, playing golf on a misty day, heard a short cry from down a cliff. Upon arriving to where he suspected the cry came from, he saw a dying figure lying at the bottom of the cliff. While waiting for his golf-playing companion who went to look for help to come back, Bobby was left accompanying the dying stranger. Before going off to the next world, the man left Bobby with a curious remark "WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS?", which meaning was found out later at near end of the story, a simply dumbfounded fact.

The story advanced with a swap of a photograph, which Bobby had seen from the stranger's pocket, with an entirely different photograph printed on the newspaper, said to have been found among the stranger's belongings and a woman who came to claim as the subject of the photograph on the newspaper and identified the dead man as her brother,
Alex Pritchard. Bobby later confided his suspicion to his friend, Lady Frances (Frankie) after he encountered a series of intentional accidents and schemes to make him out of this world. Both Bobby and Frankie became certain that the dead man must have been murdered and Bobby must have seen or hear something from the dead man that would lead to the murderer. Was the dead man really Alex Pritchard? Who had killed him and who in the world was Evans?

The Seven Dials Mystery

Even if you are a born-to-sleep person, you should be able to wake up if your friends are playing a prank on you by putting 8 alarm clocks on your bedside, shouldn't you?

Title: The Seven Dials Mystery

Author: Agatha Christie

ISBN: 0007122594 (ISBN13: 9780007122592)

Recurring Characters: Superintendent Battle, Lady Eileen Brent (Bundle), Bill Eversleigh, George Lomax, Tredwell

I've never read about the other(s) but The Seven Dials Mystery is supposedly the second murder mystery that happened at Lord Caterham's estate, the Chimneys. The 300++ pages were full of thrilling moments filled with politics, espionage, crimes and romance and the ending is just perfect. Everything fell into place and when the whole truth came out, I, was simply dumbfounded. 

The story started with a weekend party held by the Cootes, who were renting the Chimneys at that time. Several young men and girls were invited and they had or should have a good time if not for the sudden death of Gerald Wade in his sleep, due to overdose of chloral. Ronny Devereux doubted that his friend had what the court verdict declared as "Death by Misadventure" and tried to convey his suspicion to Bundle, daughter of Lord Caterham, whom almost ran over him with her car. He was found shot and his last message was "Seven Dials..." and "Tell... Jimmy Thesiger". Bundle, who couldn't make heads or tails out of the message, went to Chimneys and discovered an unfinished letter written by Gerald to his sister, Loraine, mentioning something to do with a secret community called "Seven Dials". With the letter in hand, Bundle went to find Jimmy Thesiger, whom was also one of the invited guests and told him the whole story and Superintendent Battle from Scotland Yard reluctantly let Bundle to get involved in the case after Bundle made a few dangerous investigations herself. Will Bundle, Jimmy and Loraine find out who are behind this "Seven Dials" community and are they responsible for the death of their friends?

A Murder is Announced - Miss Marple #5

If you are a manga reader, you might find the image above familiar. Yes, it's the infamous red notice from the well-known Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango by artist Kamio Yoko. Today's post is not about the manga, though. I just find the danger notice above quite suitable for my recent reading below.

Title: A Murder is Announced
Author: Agatha Christie
ISBN: 0007120966 (ISBN13: 9780007120963)
Recurring Characters: Miss Jane Marple, Sir Henry Clithering, Inspector Dermot Craddock

A Murder is Announced, as the title suggested, an attempt of murder is openly indicated on an advertising column of the Friday morning local newspaper, the Gazette, at a peaceful village of Chipping Cleghorn. It is stated that a murder is going to happen at Little Paddocks at 6.30 pm that evening while the 6 residents of Little Paddocks themselves find the article very extraordinary as they have no idea who have come up with such an annoying joke. When the indicated time gets closer, curious neighbors of Chipping Cleghorn start "coincidentally dropping by" to Little Paddock to witness how the announced murder is going to happen. As the clock struck 6.30, lights go out, somebody breaks in, a bank robbery-scene like takes place, shots are heard, lights come back, hysterical screams go off and you know what to expect. The old Miss Marple has to come back with her ever so brilliant "grey cells".

The title intrigued me when I first saw it. I thought, okay, why would a murderer make this kind of stupid announcement when he/she is going to commit a murder? But of course, everything is necessary here. Even this curious murder announcement is needed to make the murder plan "complete". I kind of have guessed who the murderer is after reading the first few chapters (and I guessed it right!), nevertheless, I still find the plot awesome. The story twist and the behind-motive are what I would call as a very Agatha Christie's storytelling style (with her misleading clues), which I think, after reading a couple of her books, is the reason why I could guess who the murderer is right away!

Curtain - Hercule Poirot #39

No, not this kind of household curtain. It's that curtain, the one drawn at the end of a theatrical play marking the end of the play and welcoming a round of applause, yes, that big grand red curtain.

Curtain for Poirot, as you may have expected from the title, will be the finale of Poirot's tale.

Title: Curtain

Author: Agatha Christie

ISBN: 0007121121 (ISBN13: 9780007121120)

Recurring Characters: Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings, George

The last adventure for both Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings, a heartbreaking story with a twisted ending.

The story, for the second time, took place at Styles, the place where Poirot and Hastings solved their first murder case together (in the book The Mysterious Affairs at Styles) that had been turned into a guest house in this story. Hastings quickly learned that once again, he would to join his friend in a "murderer hunt game". Poirot presented the facts that there had been 5 unrelated murders committed in 5 different locations and someone had been seen lingering around the locations where the 5 murders took place. Poirot knew who that "someone" was but refused to confide with Hastings.

Poirot indicated that the suspect, X was among the guests at Styles and another murder was going to happen there. He didn't have the slightest idea who was going to be murdered and that made Hastings got even more nervous because her youngest daughter, Judith was there (as a possible victim and at the same time, a suspect).

Both Poirot and Hastings had to make haste in their investigations as Poirot was also racing with the time he had with his failing health.

"We shall not hunt together again, my friend. Our first hunt was here - and our last ... They were good days, Yes, they have been good days..." (extracted from Poirot's manuscript)

The Body in The Library - Miss Marple #3

What would you do if you found a mannequin dead body in your library?

Title: The Body in the Library

Author: Agatha Christie

ISBN: 0007120834 (ISBN13: 9780007120833)

Recurring Characters: Jane Marple, Colonel Arthur Bantry, Dolly Bantry, Griselda Clement, Sir Henry Clithering, Miss Hartnell, Dr. Haydock, Martha Price Ridley, Caroline Wetherby

This is my second book from Miss Marple and I just can't imagine how an old lady, a perfectly ordinary old lady you can find, to be so knowledgeable in human nature. Unlike her neighborhood peers, who (should) love to hear and exaggerate town gossips while enjoying their cups of tea and household chores, Miss Marple is very sharp and selecting when it comes to gossips and conversations.

Lesson learnt, never in your life, do you underestimate your old neighbor next door, moreover, if she's a harmless innocent looking spinster!

The Body in the Library started with a finding of a dead body of a beautiful young girl, later recognized as Ruby Keene, in Colonel Bantry's library. Both Colonel and his wife claimed that they had never seen the girl before and knew nothing about her. Disturbed and at the same time, thrilled with the unforeseen affair, Mrs. Bantry wasted no time and called in her good friend, Miss Marple to make a little investigation on their own to clear Bantry's name.

Elephants can Remember - Hercule Poirot #37

Another book from Agatha Christie's Poirot series.

Title: Elephants can Remember

Author: Agatha Christie

ISBN13: 9780007299652

Recurring Characters: Ariadne Oliver, Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Spence, Mr. Goby

Elephants Can Remember, although understood as an old saying of how elephants do remember things despite years have passed, is used by the mystery writer, Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, as a metaphor of people who know and remember certain events that once happened long time ago. Elephants Can Remember starts in a quite similar fashion as Five Little Pigs with Celia Ravenscroft, a young lady who wanted to know the truth behind her parents death 12 years ago. Her parents had been found dead, shot by a gun found not far from them. On the gun, other than the deceased's, no other fingerprints had been found and the case was closed and accepted as a double suicide by the court. Wanting to know the truth before starting a new family with her love, Desmond, Celia agreed to let her godmother, Mrs. Oliver and M. Poirot help her in revealing the truth and once again, Poirot has to go back to the past to trace all the evidence and "elephants" related to the tragedy. Was it a murder or was it, as everyone believed it was, a pact suicide?

Not a very thrilling plot as the case is a "past" case and a very straightforward one, no twist or anything unexpected. On top of that, the past tragedy doesn't really give much impact to anyone's life afterwards. It's like a "So I finally arrive at the truth and now I can marry happily" sort of ending for Celia.

Cards on the Table - Hercule Poirot #15

The blog may be filled with a lot of Agatha Christie's as I'm on my way reading all her works at the moment =)

I'll start with my recent reading, Hercule Poirot series #15: Cards on the Table.

Title: Cards on the Table

Author: Agatha Christie

ISBN: 0007119348 (ISBN13: 9780007119349)

Recurring Characters: Ariadne Oliver, Poirot, Battle, Colonel John Hugh Despard, Colonel Johnny Race

Four justice seekers against four suspects! A private detective, a mystery writer, an officer from Scotland Yard and a secret service come together to solve the murder of Mr. Shaitana, a rich man with a little twisted mind (or so I think).

I should say Cards on the Table is a book that has a good storyline with an unexpected ending if you are looking at it from a bigger picture. However, if you are a keen reader and you are not familiar with bridge card game (like me), you'll probably find this book less interesting because the whole psychology of the murderer lies behind the way the game is being played and the score writing system.

I should probably look up some information about this bridge game before reading this, nevertheless I gave it 4 stars out of 5.