Vassals of Kingsgrave

In this spoiler-free episode Bina007 reviews the novel Agatha Christie struggled with before her disappearance, The Mystery of The Blue Train. In later life, she complained it was commonplace, but I find it to be a compelling Hercules Poirot murder-mustery set aboard a luxurious train, complete with a reckless heiress and her stunning jewels. A spoiler-filled discussion of the solution is after the closing music.

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In this spoiler-free episode Bina007 reviews the compendium mystery novel The Big Four, published by Agatha Christie in the wake of her mysterious disappearance in 1926 when she desperately needed money. She hated it, the critics hate it, but it’s actually a rather fun and satisfying set of mysteries with a bizarre James Bond twist – complete with secret evil lairs, poisoned darts and international criminal conspiracies!

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In this brief episode Bina007 critically discusses Agatha Christie’s mystery-thriller-adventure-comedy mash-up, The Secret Of Chimneys, originally published in 1925. It’s a story of blackmail, murder, hidden jewels, and royal coups! The novel is great fun and incredibly silly but tells us a lot about Christie’s attitudes toward men, and gives us a more grown up version of her New Woman. More negatively, it tells us about a certain kind of lazy racial prejudice circulating at the time. Spoilers after the end credit music.

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In this brief spoiler-free episode Bina007 critically discusses Agatha Christie’s fourth novel and first standalone adventure, The Man In The Brown Suit, originally published in 1924. Smart, beautiful, courageous Anne Beddingfield sees a man murdered at a tube station and follows the clues all the ways to South Africa and romance! The novel is great fun and slightly silly but stars both my favourite Christie heroine AND my favourite villain. That said, it is of its time when it comes to depicting racial attitudes and has some rather bizarre things to say about marriage.

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In this brief spoiler-free episode Bina007 critically discusses Agatha Christie’s third novel and second Hercules Poirot murder-mystery, published in 1923. The novel is flawed and doesn’t repay a reread other than to show us Christie in debate with herself about what kind of detective novelist she wants to be – and that is very much NOT a Gaston Leroux or Arthur Conan Doyle but rather someone who focuses on logic and psychology rather than material clues.

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In this brief episode Bina007 continues her brief introduction to the full-fledged VOK Agatha Christie reread by reviewing Christie’s second novel and first Tommy and Tuppence thriller, The Secret Adversary, published a hundred years ago. It is a fast-paced fun novel that reads like a cross between John Buchan and PG Wodehouse with a side order of Evelyn Waugh’s Bright Young Things. It reflects the economic travails of post-war England – the rise of the New Woman – and the fear of communist revolution.

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