Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde
This is THE Catherine Ryan Hyde book, the one she is famous for. I thought I had read it before, but it turns out I had just heard the concept or watched the movie or something, because if I had read THIS book before I would have remembered.
This is a lovely story.
Fiction by Agatha Christie
Fiction by Agatha Christie
This story, starring recurring characters Tommy and Tuppence Beresford (see The Secret Adversary and N or M?) was not as engrossing as most of Agatha Christie's stories. Still, there was a good mystery and a surprising ending.
I also read recently by this author: At Bertram's Hotel
Fiction by Agatha Christie
Bertram's Hotel in London is a respectable place where British aristocracy and American tourists alike can get a taste of Old England luxury, for a price. But when Miss Marple visits, she thinks it all looks too good to be true...
This story had good characters and a good-enough mystery, but it's not quite as excellent as Agatha Christie's normal standards demand. Still, it's a solid story.
I also read recently by this author: Third Girl
Fiction by Agatha Christie
Norma Resterek is a Third Girl; she lives with two other girls in a London flat, sharing expenses. But Norma is a little odd. She forgets things. In fact, she is concerned that she may have forgotten committing a murder!
Norma goes to the famed detective Hercule Poirot with her story of possible forgotten murder, but then changed her mind before telling it. M. Poirot takes the case anyways, but his first question is ths: Is Norma indeed a murderer, or is she a victim?
Fiction by Agatha Christie
At the beginning of this story, discovered in the front room of a blind woman's house, we have: a shorthand typist, several stopped clocks set to exactly 4:13, and a murdered man. The woman herself has no idea how any of those things arrived. They certainly weren't there before she went out shopping that afternoon.
This book is listed at the 34th Hercule Poirot mystery, which is an amazingly high number! However, the famed detective is not a prominent character this time; he shows up in time to solve the case, but mostly stays out of the action. (This is a good thing in my opinion; I like his solutions but he can be a tiresome character.)
I also read recently by this author: Appointment With Death
Fiction by Agatha Christie
This story begins when someone says, "You, see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?" Hercule Poirot overhears this remark one night in Jerusalem and doesn't think it particularly significant. However, when he later encounters the speaker in Petra, and when someone subsequently IS killed, he must reconsider...
This was a great story with really good characters, and a surprise at the end.
I also read recently by this author: A Caribbean Mystery
Fiction by Agatha Christie
At the beginning of this book, a retired British Army Major is telling Miss Marple a lot of boring stories while they relax at a resort in the Caribbean. The next day the Major is dead. Is his death suspicious? Miss Marple thinks maybe so…
This was a very good mystery story!
TWO THUMBS UP
I also read recently by this author: The Mirror Crack'd
Fiction by Agatha Christie
I've been re-visiting the classic Agatha Christie stories in sequential order, listening to them on audiobook. I have read them all before; however, much of the time I can't remember what the final solution to the mystery was until I get to the end of the book.
In this book, though, I remembered the end almost immediately for some reason. I still kept listening, of course, and it gave me the opportunity to watch for the real clues in a way that I'm not usually able to do. It's amazing how the author weaves in both important and unimportant information to both obscure and also hint at the killer's true identity.
This was a really good mystery, as usual.
Fiction by Agatha Christie
Fiction by Agatha Christie
In this classic murder mystery, a serial killer is stalking England and sending taunting anonymous notes to semi-retired detective Hercule Poirot about it. Will M. Poirot discover the murderer's identity before his next victim dies?
As always, this was a great mystery story and the ending was a surprise!
Fiction by Agatha Christie
Fiction by Dorothy Eden
This was an old-fashioned Gothic novel: naive English girl falls in love with handsome but unscrupulous foreigner and marries him in haste, only to discover her mistake too late when she is trapped in his family mansion in the middle of nowhere.
It was a pretty good story; it reminded me of romances I read from my grandmother’s bookshelves as a kid.
(I found this while looking for a different book of the same name; see The Shadow Wife by Diane Chamberlain.)
Fiction by Zora Neale Hurston
Fiction by Agatha Christie
Father Gorman is called from the local Catholic church to hear the last confession of a dying woman and leaves her house troubled and preoccupied. He doesn't even hear the person who sneaks up behind him on the way home and bludgeons him to death.
Meanwhile, Mark Easterbrook has been hearing of The Pale Horse, a mysterious place where they claim to be able to get rid of anyone you might want out of the way, without ever even going near them. It's like magic, they say; available for a price, of course.
What do these two things have in common? And is it really possible that someone can be killed by magic?
This is a classic Agatha Christie story with an ending you won't suspect, and NO detective either.
I also read recently by this author: Miss Marple: the Complete Short Stories
Fiction by Agatha Christie
These were all great stories. As usual, my only complaint is that short stories are too short!!
Fiction by Agatha Christie
This is the kind of Hercule Poirot mystery I like best: one in which the celebrated detective doesn't show up until the story is well past halfway over. He swoops in and solves it at the end, but we don't have to hang out with him the whole book or anything.
This story involves missing jewels, a mysterious Arabian prince, and... an English girls' school.
Fiction by Agatha Christie
This is an Agatha Christie classic that has been recently made into a movie and therefore re-recorded for audio by actor Kenneth Branagh.
I thought Mr. Branagh did a great job with the reading, and the story is a masterpiece. However, I didn't personally enjoy listening to this one as much as I usually do with Mrs. Christie's mysteries, for the simple reason that I remembered the solution too well. But that's no ones' fault but mine.
Fiction by Patricia Highsmith
This is a classic novel, first published in 1955, that I have heard of but never read.
Tom Ripley is a young American a little down on his luck, but he's quite willing to use his charm and good looks to get ahead in life. He's the type to move boldly forward and deal with the consequences later. This trait will both serve him well and get him into trouble throughout this story.
This was a really good story, although I didn't much like Mr. Ripley...
Fiction by Agatha Christie
Ariadne Oliver, mystery-story writer, is setting up a "murder hunt" on a country estate for a village fete. She is caught up in making the clues (and the solution!) as interesting as possible, but she keeps feeling like something is wrong. What if the planned pretend murder somehow turns into a real one? She calls on her friend Hercule Poirot for help.
Although Poirot doesn't prevent the murder that the reader knows is coming (alas!), he does solve the case in the end. And you'll never guess!
I also read recently by this author: After the Funeral
