One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (The Patriotic Murders)

First Published: 1940

Setting: London, Exsham

Starring: Hercule Poirot, Inspector Japp

Important Other People: Mabelle Sainsbury Seale, Alistair Blunt, Morley, Amberiotis

To me, this is another example of a murderer asking for help from Hercule Poirot. Seriously, what is wrong with these people?? I don't want to give anything away, but time and again people think they can outsmart Poirot, and time and again he proves them wrong. The plot of this book also pretends to be about so much more than it actually is. Once again, Poirot has to clear away the clutter to get to the heart of the issue- someone murdering someone else. No matter how else it is dressed up to be, it still is a murder committed by an evil person.

The underlying theme of the importance of politics and globalization in this book are a direct result of the events that were happening at the time. Even though there is thought that the book was written before the fall of 1939 (see below), the world was going through a tumultuous time, both politically and socially. I think Agatha was responding to that with the tone of the book, even though there are no real references to the war or what was about to happen in Europe.

Interesting facts: Although this novel was published during World War II, there are very few references to the war itself. Matthew Bunson, who wrote The Complete Christie, says that this puts the time period of the novel before the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939.

Favorite? Not at all. Dull and unnecessarily confusing.

Death by: shot, anesthetic, medinal

Body Count: 3; Cumulative: 79

The Count: Poirot-19, Miss. Marple-1, Tommy and Tuppence-1, Hastings-7, Japp-7, Colonel Race-3, Superintendent Battle-4, George-1, Goby-1, No Recurring Character- 3, Mrs. Oliver-1

Agatha's Life Lessons: Relations don't always know everything. In every profession and walk of life there is someone who is vulnerable to temptation. If a man feels a woman expects a lot of him, he tries to live up to her ideal of him. Don't trust the respectable people. You can't beat plain common sense. The gap between theory and practice is a wide one. One must not yield too soon- there is pleasure in the chase. Manners help you along in life. One doesn't like things one cannot explain (especially Hercule Poirot!)

Up Next: Evil Under the Sun

The ABC Murders

First Published: 1936

Setting: Andover, Bexhill-on-sea, Churston, Doncaster, London

Starring: Hercule Poirot, Hastings, Japp, Inspector Crome

Important Other People: Alexander Bonaparte Cust, Megan Barnard, Donald Fraser, Franklin Clark, Mary Drower, Thora Grey

I feel like Agatha wanted to take on a story about a serial killer, then realized that it would have to be about the human element (that she understands so well), and so made a serial killer with a twist story that we love so much. There is discussion in the book about the motivation for serial killers, which I don't know how much of I agree with. Poirot basically says that it is a very specific niche that serial killers fall into, so it's quite difficult to be a true one. It is far easier to find a murderer who commits a murder for their own personal motive- going back to the discussion on motives and why these crimes are committed.

Another aspect of this book that I really like is that it is very much in the public eye (in the world of the novel). I often wonder how much people know about these cases that Poirot deals with. Mention is often made about it being in the papers and people remembering various cases, but this is one that was made extremely public and, what's more, it was thought to be a homicidal maniac on the loose, killing people based on an alphabetical complex, and so there was a chance that people in other places could be affected by it (and not just relatives of the victim, as is usually the case with Poirot).

I enjoy the dual narrative of the story because we get to hear about the case from different points of view, which lets us have additional insight. I always enjoy when Hastings narrates because we get to see his thoughts on the case (which are remarkably similar to my own: as in, 'what's going on??'), but I like that we also get to hear about it from the point of view of the...murderer (kind of). A plot device from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, but different this time because we feel like we're getting two sides of the story, yet there still is something missing...

Interesting facts: Talks about Poirot's idea of a perfect murder- his "crime to order," with 4 people playing bridge ad someone gets murdered. Cards on the Table coming soon! Presented in a dual-narrative form. A VIDEO GAME was made based on the book- what??? Why have I never played it??

Favorite? Yes. (one of them)

Death by: Cosh, strangulation, stabbing

Body Count: 4; Cumulative: 41

The Count: Poirot-11, Miss. Marple-1, Tommy and Tuppence-1, Hastings-6, Japp-6, Colonel Race-1, Superintendent Battle-2, George-1, Goby-1, No Recurring Character- 2

Agatha's Life Lessons: Time is remorseless. Even the most sober person is liable to have his head turned by success. You can't catch a train earlier than when it leaves. Words are the outer clothing of ideas. A hobby is a great consolation to a man. There is nothing so dangerous for anyone who has something to hide as conversation. Speech is an invention of man's to keep him from thinking. Intuition is really an impression based on logical deduction or experience.

Up Next: Murder in Mesopotamia

Death in the Air (Death in the Clouds)

First Published: 1935

Setting: London, Paris

Starring: Hercule Poirot, Japp, Jane Grey

Important Other People: Fouriner, Norman Gale, Mr. Clancy, the Duponts

The idea of the innocent being affected by a murder as well as the guilty is one which Christie explores in many other novels. Here, we see the characters go back to their lives after the murder, and we see what they experience as people associate them with the crime until the murderer is unmasked. That is especially interesting given that the murderer suffers a lot in their professional life after the murder, so one would wonder why they chose to commit it in such a public manner...but oh well.

Mr. Clancy is introduced as an absent-minded writer, a parody on Agatha herself, as well as a precursor to Mrs. Oliver. I like Mr. Clancy because I feel like Agatha just wrote about herself, and the character did not change throughout subsequent novels in the way that Mrs. Oliver did.

This is one of the first novels that introduces science as one of Agatha's passions. She has two archaeologists, and ends with them going off on an expedition, which is something Agatha herself was passionate about. Also, it leads us to Murder in Mesopotamia, coming up in a few...

Interesting facts: Ariadne Oliver (who has not yet appeared as Agatha's alter ego) in a later novel makes reference to a book she wrote once where she got the length of a blowpipe wrong, and many fans wrote to her to inform her of it. This one small detail, around which so much of the novel revolves, is actually kind of a big deal to get incorrect.

Favorite? I like it in that it happened in an enclosed space, and thus the suspect list is significantly shortened, causing Poirot to really have to use his little grey cells to find the answer (similar to Murder on the Orient Express, Cards on the Table, Death on the Nile, Murder on the Blue Train). I also like that the jury at the inquest finds Poirot guilty of murder...

Death by: Boomslang (rare poison), prussic acid (cyanide)

Body Count: 2; Cumulative: 37

The Count: Poirot-10, Miss. Marple-1, Tommy and Tuppence-1, Hastings-5, Japp-5, Colonel Race-1, Superintendent Battle-2, George-1, Goby-1, No Recurring Character- 2

Agatha's Life Lessons: Murder affects the innocent too. Knowledge is security, knowledge is power. Everyone keeps something back. It's no good to regret what is already done. An answer depends on the question that is asked. Girls have to be able to fend for themselves. Meekness doesn't pay. If there's one fellow after a woman, there's sure to be another as well. To men, that women grow old is the great tragedy of life. Nothing is too sensational. Even a nine-day's wonder doesn't last longer than 9 days. Sensationalism dies quickly, fear is long-lived. In one approaches a problem with order and method, there should be no difficulty in solving it. Everyone likes talking about themselves. When everything else fails, music remains. Science is the greatest romance there is. One needs much courage to live. Always start at the beginning.

Up Next: The ABC Murders

Thirteen at Dinner

First Published: 1933

Setting: London

Starring: Poirot, Hastings, Lady Edgware

Important Other People: Japp, Carlotta Adams

First of all: I will never understand why people in Agatha's fictional world constantly call Hercule Poirot in to look into some mystery, when they are the ones culpable in the end. Why do so many people think so little of him?? You think they would have learned by now. Sigh.

The plot of the book revolves around the personality of Lady Edgware, and how self-absorbed she is, to the point of total disregard of the rest of humanity. She is similar to Nick Buckley in that they both know what they want and they don't care who gets hurt so that they can get it.

This is the first of Agatha's books with what I call the "three death pattern." One person is murdered, for some specific motive, and then two other people are eventually killed, usually for safety reasons. Both the second and third murders in this book are purely for the murderer's safety, whereas the first murder is solely for gain. Many of Agatha's next books follow this three death pattern, and while it keeps the book moving and the plot full of twists, it becomes kind of a standard.

There are a lot of allusions to other books in this story. There is a mention of the one clue Poirot ever found, which happened in Murder on the Links. There is also the idea of a chance statement by a stranger leading to the discovery of the crime (The Boomerang Clue). We'll explore that in a few books.

Interesting facts: Dedicated to archaeologists who Agatha and her husband (Max Mallowan) were on a dig with at the time. There was some consternation over an expensive table she wanted to write the book on, and Dr. Thompson was not happy about it. He eventually gave way, which lead to Agatha dedicating the book to him. Also, according to her autobiography, a skeleton they dug up was named Lord Edgware. Oh, archaeological humor!

Favorite? Eh. I like the questions posed by Poirot, although it takes so long for them to get resolved!

Death by: Stabbing, veronal

Body Count: 3; Cumulative: 29

The Count: Poirot-7, Miss. Marple-1, Tommy and Tuppence-1, Hastings-5, Japp-4, Colonel Race-1, Superintendent Battle-2, George-1, Goby-1

Agatha's Life Lessons: People interested only in themselves lead dangerous lives. Every human being has the right to live. One will stand a good deal from a beautiful woman. Everyone has got to put up with something. The less said in life, the better. Each individual should develop his own powers to the utmost, not try to imitate those of someone else (even though Carlotta Adams was praised in the book for her imitation skills). It is a great misfortune for a man to have a wife who loves him. Sons never want to marry the girls their mothers want them to marry.

Up Next: Murder on the Orient Express

The Big Four- Day 8

First Published: 1927

Setting: England, Paris, Belgium, Italy

Starring: Hercule Poirot, Hastings

Important Other People: Japp, Countess Vera Rosakoff, The Big Four, Achille Poirot

One thing I do appreciate about this particular book is that, because it is a novel about spies, secret societies, and an international mystery, there should be plenty of dead bodies lying around. Many accidents are mentioned (like the submarines sinking), so we know that the Big Four is at work outside of what we read, but Hercule and Hastings also become directly involved in a number of deaths. I count 11 for sure deaths in this book- the most, I think, of any of her novels.

One main annoyance: Poirot goes on about what a wonderful actor Number Four must be that he is able to assume all of these different characters. We see him as an asylum worker, a butcher, a doctor, a manservant, a chess master, and idiot son, a man who plays with salt on Hastings' plate, and a tourist. Out of all of these different disguises, I find it hard to believe that there are barely any similarities Poirot and Hastings notice about the man (aside from the one tell). His appearance is said to be medium and fair, which means it's easy for him to change what he looks like, but I can't imagine there are no physical features that they can recognize about him.

At the end of the adventure, Poirot tells Hastings that he will retire now that he has solved this most illustrious case, and that he will go grow vegetable marrows in the country (a vegetable marrow, by the way, is a squash). Something is out of sequence here then, since he went and grew marrows in Roger Ackroyd.

Interesting facts: This book came out right after Agatha's husband had ditched her for another woman, her mother had passed away, and she had mysteriously disappeared for a few days. So, a rough time in her life, but she still made it through!

Favorite? So-so. It is entirely different from almost all of her other books- international intrigue abounds.

Death by: Prussic acid (Mayerling), Stabbing (Whalley, Ingles' servant), Poison (Paynter), Electrocution (Wilson), Run over (Flossie), Drowning (Ingles), Explosions (The Big Four)

Body Count: 11 (that we know of for sure); Cumulative: 20

The Count: Poirot-4, Miss. Marple-0, Tommy and Tuppence-1, Hastings-3, Japp-2, Colonel Race-1, Superintendent Battle-1

Agatha's Life Lessons: What you think is always so important to yourself (Poirot to Hastings). One must not permit oneself to be obsessed by one idea. Forecast the probable result of the deal. If one is prepared in advance all is simple. It is the greatest mistake to underestimate your adversary. A man who keeps calm has always a great advantage. Everyone has his price.

Up Next: The Mystery of the Blue Train

The Mysterious Affair at Styles- Day 2

First Published: 1920

Setting: Essex

Starring: Poirot, Hastings

Important Other People: John and Mary Cavendish

In The Mysterious Affair at Styles, we are introduced both to Hastings and to Poirot. The time period is after the first World War, during which Hastings had been injured and Poirot had fled to England from Belgium. We also find out that Hastings and Poirot knew each other even before this time period, and that Poirot "had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police." Meaning, of course, that Poirot is past his prime, which lets me know that in the 70s, when the last books are published, that Poirot is at least 50 years past his prime. But I don't really care about the timeline, since Poirot has some supernatural elements about him anyways.

Styles also introduces us to Enquire Within Upon Everything, a book that I wonder why is not in everyone's household these days. Regardless, it's on its way to being in my house so that I can learn all about how Victorians solved all their problems.

Agatha makes use of her extended knowledge of poisons to show how a murder can be successfully committed, although I don't understand why so many regular people know so much about strychnine. Everything I know about poisons I learned from Agatha, so I can't imagine that too many people know all about poisons. Maybe I'll get that knowledge from Enquire Within.

There is one thing about this book that bothers me very much. Why does Hastings consistently belittle Poirot's skills, only to reassert over and over again that he guesses he hasn't actually lost his touch? It's so annoying. Obviously Hercule never loses his touch and never will, but Hastings thinks he does over and over again. I know Hastings is supposed to be kind of an idiot, but come on. It gets old and this is only the first book.

Interesting facts: Poirot has Belgian roommates (where do they go after this book?) Japp's first name is Jimmy.

Favorite? Of me, no, but probably because it's not the first one I read. If it had been, I think I would have appreciated the plot twists more. BUT, it did ensure that I would have a nearly endless supply of books to read throughout my lifetime. Of Agatha, I think so.

Death by: Strychnine

Body Count: 1

The Count: Poirot-1, Miss. Marple-0, Tommy and Tuppence-0, Hastings-1, Japp-1

Agatha's Life Lessons: A tragedy can ignite or reignite true love. Don't propose to someone because you feel bad for them (cough, cough, Hastings). The obvious person is often the culprit, no matter how sneaky they are.

Up Next: The Secret Adversary