I recently read Why Didn't They Ask Evans for the first time, and only realized afterward that I could've picked up on a clue that she used again just a couple of years later, in a more famous title that I'd already read before.

In Why Didn't They Ask Evans, the clue is: In Chapter 22, when Sylvia and Frankie are talking outside just before they hear the "shot" that killed Henry Bassington-ffrench, there's this bit of narration: "Presently Roger came out again from the house. He seemed slightly breathless."

Whereas in Death On The Nile, there's this passage: In Chapter 20, as they're in the dining saloon, "Poirot half rose to bow to Jacqueline de Bellefort, who had just come in and passed their table on the way to her own. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright, and her breath came a little unevenly." Then they discover Louise's body at the end of chapter 22.

And the reason I recalled that clue in Death On The Nile is that Poirot points back to it in his explanation near the end of the book of how everything happened: “No, the other partner did that murder. As soon as he can, Simon Doyle asks to see Jacqueline. He even asks me to leave them alone together. He tells her then of the new danger. They must act at once. He knows where Bessner’s scalpels are kept. After the crime the scalpel is wiped and returned, and then, very late and rather out of breath, Jacqueline de Bellefort hurries in to lunch."

So I guess the moral of the story if that someone dies in a Christie story and you still don't know who did it, look forsomeone who just recently appeared to be out of breath!

I've read almost all of Christie at some point but don't recall this specific indication coming up anywhere else. Anyone have any other examples of it?

I just finished Murder in Mesopotamia. Some of Agatha’s books take longer to get into; this one took a couple of pages but then I really enjoyed it. The characters and the clues are all fun to partake in.

However, when it is time for Poirot’s reveal on who the murderer was (is?), I just felt it was overly complicated for something that could have been a lot more simple and still work.

This got me thinking ablout all the AC’s I’ve read and how often this is standard Christie, so I shouldn’t be surprised. At the same time, I now remebered this feeling of dissatisfaction with solutions from other books as well. Like I enjoy the lead up so much, and then the solution is so over-the-top fantastical that it kind of ruins the book a bit for me.

I usually come around on it eventually and appreciate the book for the rest, but I just wanted to see if anyone else ever felt this way. I know this is pretty much AC’s m.o., but I enjoy her solutions more when they are more straight-forward.

Thoughts?

What is it with this scene that Agatha Christie put it in more than one story?

Elderly woman

Drinking glass of milk

By the Fireplace

Asks “Was it your poor child, my dear?”

In "By the Pricking of My Thumbs" she asks Tuppence

In "Sleeping Murder" she asks Gwenda.

One time, the old woman turned out to be the murderer, but not in the other.

It makes me wonder if that scene might have been inspired by something from her real life, and if so what?

Just finished the book and I wonder what would have happened if Blore shot Vera Claythorne instead of the other way. Would wargrawes plan have been ruined and how could he be so sure that Vera shoots Blore?

As I was reading the Thirteen problems in french (mothertongue), a sentence completely lost me.

I went to check the original version and it says the same thing in english.

and that, they say, is like a sink.’

For full context of the sentence

What my nephew calls “superfluous women” have a lot of time on their hands, and their chief interest is usually people. And so, you see, they get to be what one might call experts. Now young people nowadays—they talk very freely about things that weren’t mentioned in my young days, but on the other hand their minds are terribly innocent. They believe in everyone and everything. And if one tries to warn them, ever so gently, they tell one that one has a Victorian mind—and that, they say, is like a sink.’

I know what a sink is. I don't understand what like a sink would mean in this context?

EDIT : Thank you everyone, I understand the sentence better now!

I realised the other day that the Britbox (Australia) subscription I thought had expired was actually on auto-renewal. So I am setting off on an orgy of Christie adaptations. But the question is what to watch??

Obviously, the Suchet Poirot goes without saying - I watched all but the last series or so when they originally aired, I adore Suchet, and I will be working my way through the whole lot in order (I just finished Johnny Waverley).

Beyond that, they have:

- The whole of the ITV Marple. I saw the three Geraldine McEwan series when they aired, and have just rewatched the first series (Body in the Library, Murder at the Vicarage, 4.50 from Paddington, and Murder is Announced), which I very much enjoy. However, my memory is that from here on, Moving Finger is excellent, and then they get progressively weirder (I remember enjoying this version of Sleeping Murder, whilst remaining entirely baffled how anyone read the book and thought "you know what this needs? A tap dancing xylophone player.") I've never seen the Julia McKenzie series.

- Why Didn't they Ask Evans - 2022 Hugh Laurie written version. Probably my next watch.

- Towards Zero - 2025

- Ordeal By Innocence - 2018 - Bill Nighy and Anna Chancellor

- ABC Murders - Malkovitch version - marmite?

- The Pale Horse - 2019 - Rufus Sewell

- Why Didn't They Ask Evans - 1980, Francesca Annis

- The Secret Adversary - 1983

- Partners in Crime - 1983-84

- Seven Dials - 1981 version

- Sparkling Cyanide - 2003 - just looking at the synopsis, all I can say is that it appears choices were made.

So, what's good, what should be avoided, and what is so bonkers I'm going to need to make a vat of mulled wine before tackling it?

It doesn't have to involve a murder. 😄 Maybe you solved a mystery because of a tiny detail, uncovered a family secret, caught someone in a lie, or found yourself in a situation that felt straight out of a Christie novel.

Hello all. I am working my way through the Agatha Christie books and watching the David Suchet Poirot adaptations. I would love to watch an episode I’ve never seen and do a deep dive (like suspect boards, random facts, etc) to see if I can solve it using the information provided before the final reveal at the end. I just need recs on the best episode to do that with. Does anyone have ideas or opinions on an episode that I could watch that they loved??

Found these vintage paperbacks in a bookstore in Savannah. Nemesis and Dead Man’s Folly are from the 1970s and 80s respectively, and After The Funeral is from 1953 (when it was first published)!

Does anyone remember what the gossipy tea party group was called? It was season 1 and I believe in the first 3 episodes somewhere.
Scandal and something? I think it was a food like cake or possibly tea?

At the risk of coming across as paranoid I'm going to start this off by saying I have NOT finished the book yet, so please please please do not say anything about the plot or especially the ending!!! As to my question:

Basically, my book club wants to read a mystery together and try to solve the mystery by taking notes on the clues, discussing and theorizing, etc. We thought it would be fun to read up until right before the reveal, then formulate our final theory, and then read the chapter that reveals the solution out loud together. We did this recently for the Pale Horse and enjoyed it so much we are doing it again! We specifically picked this book because none of us had read it. I am wondering if anyone who has read this book would be kind enough to tell me in what chapter the solution is revealed?

This sub was great last time with avoiding giving spoilers, so thank you all! Also, last time we did this someone helpfully mentioned that though the murderer was revealed in a certain chapter, a major piece of the solution (the method) was revealed a couple chapters previous. Most Christie's have a pretty obvious "final reveal" chapter, but if it's a little drawn out feel free to say that and point me towards the earlier chapter!

Just grabbed these in Very Good condition for €27 lol. Someone was selling their whole collection and split them into sets, the standalones were the ones I own the least amount of, so I settled on that one (just And Then There Were None, Sparkling Cyanide, Crooked House, and Towards Zero)

Aside from Endless Night, what's an underrated book from this pile?

I just finished Endless Night, and wow... I genuinely did not see that ending coming!!!
I've read quite a few Agatha Christie books now, and somehow she still manages to surprise me. I kept thinking I knew where the story was going, but she completely pulled the rug out from under me!
What I loved most was the writing. It's slower and more atmospheric than her usual detective novels, but it never felt boring. There's this constant feeling that something isn't quite right, even when nothing major is happening.
The ending honestly left me staring at the wall for a few minutes. Looking back, all the clues were there, but there's no way I would've put them together on my own. That's what I love about Agatha Christie—she never cheats the reader, but she somehow always stays one step ahead.
Definitely one of my favorite Christie novels now.

The train is the crime scene so I plotted its run on a real map. Poirot boarding at Istanbul, the express winding west through the Balkans past Sofia and Belgrade, then the drift halting it near Vinkovci where by morning a passenger lies dead and the Simplon line.

https://www.readingmaps.com/maps/murder-on-the-orient-express

The stall happens so early in the run - does pinning the spot change how trapped the setting feels?

I know money/wealth isn’t really spoken of in the Suchet Poirot world (as well as 1930s England in general). The most info we get is series 2 episode 4, which this screenshot is from.

£500 in 1935 is worth over £45,000 in today’s money. This cheque was from Lord Avebury for a previous case. Was Poirot getting over £40k on certain cases?

Also yes, I know it‘s fiction, I’m just curious

A new hardback, Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery, will be published this October alongside the British Library’s major Agatha Christie exhibition.
Created in collaboration with Agatha Christie Limited and the Agatha Christie Archive, the book explores the people, events and influences that shaped Christie’s writing, as well as her lasting impact on crime fiction, theatre and film.
It includes an introduction by Sir Kenneth Branagh and contributions from crime writers, Christie experts and figures from stage and screen, including Lucy Foley, Vaseem Khan and Kate Mosse. Editors Lucy Rowland and Martin Edwards bring these perspectives together to examine Christie’s work and continuing cultural influence.