What a mind puzzle this one is! Even before the story begins, Agatha Christie sets us up. In her foreword, she tells us there are only four suspects, and “any one of them, given the right circumstances, might have committed the crime. The twist is,

They are four widely divergent types, the motive that drives each one of them to crime is peculiar to that person, and each one would employ a different method. The deduction must, therefore, be entirely psychological, but it is none the less interesting for that, because when all is said and done it is the mind of the murderer that is of supreme interest.

The premise is simple: Mr Shaitana hosts a dinner party where he hosts four murderers (Dr Roberts, Mrs Lorrimer, Major Despard, and Miss Meredith) and four detectives (Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, and Ariadne Oliver). Before the end of the evening, Mr Shaitana is killed. Which of the four murderers did it?

(I should note that the four suspects are only alleged murderers. None have been convicted, and in fact, their appeal to Mr Shaitana is that while he believes all four are guilty, none of them have ever actually been accused of the crime.)

Starting my adventure with hot chocolate and a brand new chapter in my detective notebook

As part of my project to solve Agatha Christie mysteries, Cards on the Table is structured perfectly for the task. Each of the four suspects is interviewed in turn, and all four detectives openly discuss their clues and theories with each other. Even the chapters make it easy to keep up: each chapter is titled with the name of the suspect currently being interviewed or the name of a side character giving a new clue. In fact, a major challenge for this project was knowing where to stop before I locked in my final guess.

I accidentally read a fairly pivotal late-chapter reveal that made me rethink my main suspect and motive, but at least Poirot was right there acting as confused as I was. As I write this, I’ve stopped reading, because something else was revealed, and I realize I’m in the end zone. So far, Poirot’s responses seem to be aligned with mine, so that gives me hope that perhaps I’m on the right track. All to say, I’m ready to lock in my answer, and will share my thinking below the SPOILERS tag.

Conclusion

Bahhhh foiled again! At least I was close? 

Okay, Dame Agatha, well-played. I had all the cards, but ultimately, I read them wrong. 

For anyone keeping track, the score is currently Literary Treats 1, Agatha Christie 2. So I’m on the board, at least, and honestly, this was a lot of fun! I enjoyed the methodical way this case unfolded, and the tricky mind games I kept trying to untangle. 

***SPOILERS BELOW***

My Theory / My Detective Big Reveal:

Continue reading →

I know better now, I said. The Queen of Crime will not best me twice, I said. Besides, I said, look at those yummy tea cakes on the cover! How hard can solving this mystery be?

Very hard, it turns out. Very hard indeed. I’d thought The Moving Finger simple at first; I was even confident for much of the book that I knew who the baddie was and why. It was only later in the book that I realized my theories were no longer holding up, and my chances of solving that mystery may be rather slimmer than I’d initially thought. (You can read my entire pride-before-the-fall journey with that Marple mystery here.)

At Bertram’s Hotel had my head spinning from the get-go. There was a gorgeous Edwardian-style hotel where everything feels genteel yet an undercurrent warns that things aren’t quite as they seem. There are a number of personalities staying at this hotel, some of whom have rather intriguing connections to each other. There’s a team from Scotland Yard investigating a series of highly sophisticated robberies where respectable persons seem to be involved until an ironclad alibi reveals them innocent. And there’s Miss Marple, enjoying a fortnight’s vacation in a nostalgic childhood fave, unable to shake the uneasy feeling that something’s off somehow and that she must intervene in some way, but she isn’t quite sure how.

Fuelling up with coffee and optimism as I turn to a brand new chapter in my detective notebook!

This mystery is Agatha Christie at her very best, full to the brim of complex psychologies, shrouded intentions, and a little old lady taking everything in whilst knitting in a corner. At around the 80% mark, all I could think was that this mystery was super convoluted. There are many clues that I think are clearing things up, but I also felt more confused than ever. In fact, the only salve to my ego is that Miss Marple seemed as in the dark as I was; she had her ‘feelings,’ but I don’t think she’s figured stuff out yet? (Yes, I know, it’s very likely she already knew it all at that point, but let me have this bit of consuelo de bobo for my ego, okay?)

I kept reading in the hopes of finding more clues to help clarify things, and then at the 87% mark, Chief Inspector Davy calls Miss Marple back to London and I’m like, “Aughhhh all right, the big reveal is coming, which means I gotta figure out my guess now.” (Spoilers after the “Read More” tag / boldface SPOILERS tag, where I explain my guess and what the reveal actually was.)

Conclusion

So…did I solve it? Have I outwitted the Queen of Crime?

Oh my god, I did. Not perfectly, of course, I would give myself maybe 75% of a win? I guessed the villain/s and the crimes, but I didn’t completely figure out the details of who did what, and what their motives were. But I guessed the Big Bad! I guessed part of the motive! And I guessed a couple of key elements in one character’s disappearance and another character’s death.

OH MY GOD!!!

Seriously, when trying to solve a Christie, a 75% win is A WIN. As in, if I were the detective on this case, I would’ve made the right arrest. My detective team and the lawyers would’ve had to clear up the details and pieces of evidence before the court case, but I WOULD’VE MADE THE RIGHT ARREST!

Okay, I’m SUPER giddy and proud of myself right now. OH MY GOD!!!

Hair flip, detective notebook at the ready, bring on the next case, Dame Agatha!

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

My Theory / My Detective Big Reveal:

Continue reading →

Inspired by this YouTube video, where a book vlogger named Emmie decided to try solving The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, I decided to give the project a go myself. Roger Ackroyd is one of Christie’s best-known mysteries, and while it’s not one of my personal favourites, I knew it for its history-making big reveal, and part of the fun was watching Emmie come into it cold and try to puzzle it out.

As a long-time Christie fan, I figured my odds were better than Emmie’s. After all, I already knew that I had to rule out the mysteries with Christie’s most iconic twists: And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and Curtain all had shocking reveals, yet were all too memorable for me to try to play detective myself. Personal Christie favourites like A Murder is Announced, Sleeping Murder, Murder on the Links, Death on the Nile, ABC Murders, Crooked House were also out of the question. Surely, I thought, the mysteries that remained for me to try solving should be somewhat easier to tackle?

Enter the Miss Marple mystery The Moving Finger. A series of poison pen letters results in a(n apparent?) suicide and then a murder. I’ve had the ebook for years and must have read it at some point, but I could no longer remember who the letter writer or killer were. Small town, lots of gossip, an anonymous and malicious letter writer? Sounds like exactly the kind of soap opera-ish mystery melodrama I love!

Detective hat on, little grey cells at the ready!

And so, armed with my trusty detective notebook (an unused AGO notebook that’s been gathering dust since I can’t even remember when), a ballpoint pen, and my little grey cells, I set to work. Within the first few chapters (16% of the book), I had pages of notes, strong theories about the poison pen writer’s identity and motives, and a renewed appreciation for Christie’s craft in creating complex, psychologically textured characters. I also had a bit of a headache from actively paying attention to the characters and their backstories, rather than just sitting back and waiting for Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot to tell me what actually happened. Detective work is harder than I thought!

By the 60% mark, I had two really strong (or so I think) theories about the murderer and their motive. It was around this point that I started to feel really smug: the Queen of Crime thought she was being clever, but here I was already outsmarting her at barely even past the halfway point.

Then I kept reading. At some point Miss Marple shows up and starts making cryptic little side comments about things that are apparently “interesting” and actions that are supposedly “brave.” And then my confidence falters. Because suddenly, I realize that my two very strong theories don’t really make all that much sense. And while they address some aspects of the mystery, they also create some big gaping logic holes. So I tried thinking through both theories, and testing out a couple alternative theories that maybe fit the puzzle a bit more fulsomely. By the 74% mark, I realized that I had a whole mess of new clues, theories, and suspects, and zero idea what had actually happened.

My detective notebook, with all my notes and theories.

It was at the 87% mark that I realized I needed to stop reading. Things were coming to a head, and I could tell the big reveal was coming up soon. I figured it was time for me to take a pause to study all my clues and come up with a final theory about who the letter writer and murderer is/are. At this point, I had about four rather wild (and no longer strong) theories, and close to zero confidence any of them made logical sense.

Conclusion

So: did I solve the mystery? Can I now brag that I’ve outsmarted the Queen of Crime?

The answer, I’m afraid, is no, not even in the least bit close. Yes, this suspect flitted through my mind at one point while reading the book, but to be honest, all the characters flitted through my mind as suspects at one point or another, and this particular one barely made a dent.

Bah. So much for my impeccable little grey cells.

Onward and upward then, and on to find another Christie mystery to solve. Go, little grey cells, go!

The actual solution, along with my wild theories, are all beneath the spoiler tag below. Read on if you’re curious; skip if you want to read this book for yourself. (It’s much more fun coming in cold!)

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

My Theory / My Detective Big Reveal:

Continue reading →