Agatha, you slay me...

Question: is there just one Agatha Christie mystery that I can solve before it is explained to me?

Answer: not yet, damn it.

Gah. As I merrily roll along with the Agatha Christie Read Along (hosted by Book Club Girl) this summer, I vacillate between moments of sheer joy with Christie's brilliant plotting and utter frustration with my seeming inability to get ahead of her twisted mind. My dogged determination to solve just one Agatha Christie mystery before the Big Reveal was thwarted yet again with Dead Man's Folly, a 1956 Hercules Poirot story originally written as a short story but later fleshed out into a full length novel.

Dead Man's Folly begins on the lightest of notes. Adriane Oliver, a popular mystery author (and recurring character for Christie) has been hired by a wealthy couple to design a murder mystery scavenger hunt for a large party being held at their estate: "...it's all much harder to arrange than you'd think. Because you've got to allow for real people being quite intelligent, and in my books they needn't be." Oliver, embodying all of the flighty characteristics of a mystery writer ("Don't bother about me, I'm just remembering if there's anything I've forgotten"), becomes convinced - sans any real evidence - that some sort of foul play is imminent and calls her old friend Hercule Poirot to help her out, tout de suite. 

Of course, no foul play has yet been committed, but we are introduced to a cast of potential wrong-doers anyway. There is the estate owner and his beautiful, young wife whose elevator doesn't quite reach the top floor (or does it?). There is the titled but bankrupt former owner of the estate now reduced to living in a cottage on the grounds. An angry, unstable architect who might be having illicit relations with the beautiful mistress of the house. A jealous secretary. And at least a half dozen others for good measure...and this is before the murder even takes place. Whew. After the murder occurred, I was hopeless.

With enough red herrings to fill an aquarium, Dead Man's Folly had me baffled. So baffled, in fact, that when our dear Poirot finally explains who did the dastardly deed and why, I found it necessary to read the explanation TWICE to understand it. Gah. Clearly, I need a detective's notebook and a decoder ring.

Interestingly, Dead Man's Folly wasn't critically well-received upon it's original publication. The Times called it "flat and facile" with "disastrous" dialog (ouch), while the Times Literary Supplement that same year criticized the sheer volume of characters, calling all of them "very, very flat."  The one bright spot was The Observer, who was generous enough to offer: "Stunning but not unguessable solution." Hmmmm...not unguessable, you say?  Screw you, Observer.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Masterpiece Theater's latest installment of Hercule Poirot this past weekend was, in fact, Dead Man's Folly. I managed to catch the episode and, as usual, Masterpiece Theater did impeccable work. Aside from some major foreshadowing, I was quite impressed with their faithfulness to the novel...worth the watch and it's available, of course, online at pbs.org

********************

Title: Dead Man's Folly

Author: Agatha Christie

Publisher: William Morrow

Date: 2014

Pages: 226

Source: Book Club Girl & William Morrow

The Summer of Agatha Christie: Part I

There are few things more pleasurable in the summer than a good Agatha Christie mystery. Bookclub Girl likely knew this when she decided to throw together an impromptu Agatha Christie Readalong for the summer, beginning with Christie's immortal, classic mystery AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

Unlike her famous mystery series featuring her famous detectives Miss Marple and Hercules Poirot, And Then There Were None (1939) is a standalone novel with no featured protagonist. Yes, you read that correctly: this novel has no protagonist. Instead we have ten strangers who find themselves invited to the mysterious and secretive Soldier Island, a privately owned isle tucked off the coast of England. Each of them eagerly arrive, believing the false pretenses that led them them there, only to find that the only thing they have in common with one another is a dark deed in their past....and the day for accountability is finally at hand. One at a time, the guests at Soldier Island die for their past misdeeds. But who is killing them on this completely deserted island?

For Christie, And Then There Were None was one of her most challenging novels: ten people lured to a deserted island on false pretenses. One by one, they die. She later reflected, "I had written this book because it was so difficult to do that the idea fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious." She succeeded only too well. In her determination to keep the murderer's identity a secret, it was necessary for Christie to write an epilogue explaining whodunit because no reader would ever be able to guess.

But aside from the impossibility of guessing whodunit (go ahead, try it...I dare you), Christie infused her novel with dark themes of innocence, guilt, and accountability. Each one of the ten characters she traps on Soldier Island has committed a crime for which they cannot be legally convicted. Yet law or no law they are still guilty. Someone has decided to impose justice. Christie develops a psychological drama that would give any modern thriller a run for it's money as each character grapples with their past crimes and imminent death.

Further heightening the psychological frenzy is the 1869 Frank J. Green poem found framed in each guest's room entitled "Ten Little Soldier Boys."* One by one each guest dies as foretold in the poem....talk about tension.

All things considered, this really is one of Christie's best novels, widely considered her masterpiece. Even for those readers who don't normally venture into the mystery genre, And Then There Were None should be required reading. If you're unfamiliar with the mystery canon, it's helpful to know that Christie broke a major rule of the genre by making it impossible for the reader to solve mystery before the end of the book. Those well-versed in the genre have definite opinions on this breach of accepted etiquette. For those who don't read a lot of mystery novels, this is something to keep in mind as you read the novel so you can form your own opinion on the matter. Personally, I loved not knowing, but others feel quite different.

Just put the book on your pile and read it this year. Then come back and talk to me --- because you will want to talk about it!


*Foot note of interest: Frank J. Green's poem was originally titled "Ten Little Nigger Boys." (This was the original title of And Then There Were None.) This was - for obvious reasons - later changed to "Ten Little Indian Boys" for UK editions while US editions were titled And Then There Were None. By 2007, the poem had again - for the purposes of Christie's novel - been changed to "Ten Little Soldier Boys" and some of the original lines modified to meet the types of murders committed within the novel.