One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Starring Hercule Poirot) - Published in 1940 - Written by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known as the best selling novelist of all time, and she has a large number of books under her belt - having written a total of 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. The 2 primary characters she created live on long after her - both the Belgian egoist egg-headed detective Hercule Poirot and the elderly village spinster Miss Marple have their set of followers; their books have been taken to television and have been made into movies. Many of these novels have become very famous, such as 'Murder on the Orient Express'. There are many twists and turns in the plots, and in many cases, there is no such obvious criminal.
Agatha Christie had a big controversy in her life itself. When her husband told her that he loved another and wanted to divorce her, she suddenly went missing for 10 days and was finally found booked in a hotel under the name of her husband's lover. There was relief when she was found, but there were also people who thought that this was a publicity stunt or maybe some way to implicate her husband in some conspiracy. These 10 days have never been really explained.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe is another of those mysteries that are not so easy to pinpoint right in the beginning - I am sure that there will be few who will be able to peer through the mist and say, this person does it. You follow Poirot as he goes the case, with supreme confidence. It is a bit hard to look at the final set of guilty people and say, "Of course I knew these were the guilty ones". The story line does not involve too many people (I will provide a brief about the plot, but will hopefully not be revealing any spoilers - you should read the book or watch the TV version). If this is your first Poirot book, then you will wonder at his brilliance - if you have already these before, then you know that he will solve it, it is just the explanation that you are looking for as to how he figured out the guilty party.
Hercule Poirot comes back from a visit to the dentist, Henry Morley and meets the former actress Mabelle Sainsbury Seale, and in this encounter, he helps her with a buckle that has fallen from her shoe. Later in that day, his police friend, Inspector Japp tells him that the dentist he visited that day has been found dead, shot. Poirot is not a suspect, since there were more patients after Poirot before the dentist was found dead. There was a big name banker, Alistair Blunt, a person known as Amberiotis who is a Greek spy - he is later found dead of anaesthetic. There is a suspicion that the dentist killed himself because he killed Amberiotis in a medical mistake and felt horrible about it.
In a further twist, the dentist's secretary had been called away by a telegram, which was fake.
Soon after Mabelle goes missing, and is found later in the apartment of a lady, Mrs Albert Chapman, who is also not to be found. Now, it is upto Poirot to figure out what is happening, who killed the dentist and why the others were also killed. And of course, this being Hercule Poirot, he managed to find the truth. There is already a suspect, but is he the one who did the murders ?
The book was released under a couple of other names - "The Patriotic Murders" and "An overdose of death".

Sad Cypress (starring Hercule Poirot) - By Agatha Christie - published in 1940

Agatha Christie is known as the great dame of detective fiction, having written a large number of detective novels, primarily in the nature of murder mysteries. The plots she spun could be complex, with the end sometimes in a twist that was not so easy to figure. Over the course of several decades, she produced a large number of such novels - these were incredibly popular; enough that she is the third largest seller of books, being beaten only by The Bible and by the works of William Shakespeare, which is an amazing feat. Her books have been converted into plays, into audio readings, into multiple TV series, and into movies.
Her life was also a bit complex; her first husband fell in love with somebody else and declared his intention to marry his lover. During the course of this controversy, she suddenly vanished, could not be found, sparking a nation wide frenzy. She was found 10 days later, with the room booked in the name of her husband's lover; at her being found, there was relief but there was also criticism that she was either trying to setup her husband or doing a marketing stunt.




Sad Cypress is one of those books where there is a spectacular twist in the end, with almost no clues during the course of the book (revealing anything about the twist would be like a spoiler, so I shall desist from that, but will detail a bit of the plot of the book).
It is the age old story; a couple in love, Elinor and Roddy, engaged to be married, not very rich but the rich aunt looking on lovingly on the couple and happy with their decision. And then the boy comes into contact with another girl, one who stays with the aunt and he falls for her (and about whom the couple is warned about, that she is threatening to steal the affections of the aunt and inherit the money). The engagement gets broken off, and in the meantime the health of the aunt declines. She asks that money be settled onto this orphan girl, Mary. Soon after the aunt dies, leaving her fortune to Elinor, while Roddy gets nothing.
And then suddenly, when Elinor is clearing the house after the death of her aunt, Mary dies of morphine poisoning and the most obvious person is suspected and on trial. Poirot is engaged, and the rest of the book is about his sleuthing to find who actually committed the murder and whether the person arrested by the police were indeed guilty. Most of Poirot's books don't really show court proceedings (in some cases, the coroner investigation is shown), but in this book, the case is shown in court.
For Agatha Christie fans, a book certainly worth reading; if you haven't read Christie before, then a good book to start with.

And then there were none (published in 1939) - Written by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known as the grand dame of detective fiction, being known as the author who is literally the highest selling author in recent times, only beaten by The Bible and the works of William Shakespeare. She has created 2 of the most famous detectives in modern fiction, in the form of the more popular Belgian egg-headed Hercule Poirot as well as the elderly village bound Miss Marple. However, there are some detective works of Agatha Christie that do not feature either of these 2 characters, and her bestselling book, "And then there were none" does not feature either of these 2 detectives, and is not really a detective book either, more like a crime novel in which the reader could try to figure out what is happening and who is doing the murders. In a sign of how different the age in which the book was written was, the book was initially published as "Ten Little Niggers" after the name of a minstrel song (the song also serves as a key part of the overall story plot); it is impossible that any book could have such a name now.




The plot of the book has been made into several television episodes and into movies in several languages and there is this sort of morbid appeal that the plot has; with people being punished for those crimes that have gone undetected; that somebody has decided to judge them.
For this book, one can describe the plot to some degree without providing any spoilers, given the number of characters in the book. Eight people get an invitation for a small island off the coast of England, off Devon. For some, it is the offer of an holiday, for others, it is the offer of a holiday. These people are an assorted group, comprising young people, old people, males, females, professional people in the shape of a Doctor, a former police inspector, a retired judge, etc. In addition to these eight, there are the butler and his wife who is also the housekeeper. Strangely, the couple who had invited them to the islands are not present, but the butler mentions that they have detailed instructions about what to do.
In each guests room is a framed copy of a nursery rhyme (later called by different names, but originally called as "Ten Little Niggers"), and on the dining room table, there are 10 figurines. These figurines also play a macabre role as they keep a count of the deaths on the island. And deaths there are plenty, since the visitors on the islands have been invited to die, with the judgment of the unknown killer being that all of them have killed somebody in their past and not been convicted of that, so the unknown killer will remedy that problem and dispatch them, as a just punishment for their past crimes.
It is also a horrible waiting, as you find people dead, dying based on what the nursery rhyme says is the manner of death, and with the figurines on the dining table getting smashed as people are dying. People are getting killed, there is only the group on the island, so one of the people right next to you is the killer - are you really safe any minute or if you turn your back or go to sleep, will the person next to you kill you ? This kind of feeling is traumatic, and this is what makes the murder mystery so gripping, and this is why this is a book worth reading.

Murder Is Easy (1939) - Written by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known as one of the most eminent writers of the 20th century, not in terms of classics, but in terms of what is called detective fiction. And when you find that the sales of books that an author has written are only beaten by those of The Bible and Shakespeare, then the rating of the author should go up another notch. When the author has created two endearing characters, those of Hercule Poirot (the egoistical egg-headed Belgian detective who is also very successful at solving crimes) and that of the elderly village spinster Miss Marple, you do know that the books would be interesting to read.
However, what do you do when you get a book that does not feature either of these 2 characters. Agatha Christie had written books that involve other characters other than these 2 main detectives, but not too many and they are not really as famous as the ones involving Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. The one exception could be this book - Murder is Easy. The book takes the main character to be Luke Fitzwilliam, returning after his job overseas in the police. Now, if Hercule Poirot was cerebral, Luke is nowhere in the same league. Be far from it for him to sit in an armchair and wait for the plot to come to him, for the little grey cells to work.

Instead, he gets stuck in the murder mystery by sheer luck, when he meets a lady on a train who tells him that she is going to Scotland Yard to tell them about a series of murders in her village and who the next victim will be. Poppycock indeed, except that Luke reads the next day that the lady has died and then next, the person she had named who would be the next victim. This intrigues Luke who tries to find a contact in the village so that he can stay there, and he promptly is declared to be the cousin of a local lady.
Talking to villagers, talking to the family members of the victims (although the circumstances of the deaths were such that local villages believed that these were accidents rather than murders - somebody who confused paint with cough syrup, an infected cut, falling from the roof and so on - all of these are accidents that could happen to anyone).
After arriving there, there is one more murder. Because of  what has been happening, they suspect a series of people, but when they finally find the murderer, is too late ? Will there be one more murder ? This is a book that is worth the suspense, but if you are looking for a cerebral splash like Sherlock Holmes or Poirot, it is not there. However, the reviews at the time that the book was published were overall positive. In my opinion, a different Agatha Christie book, but still a good novel.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938) - Starring Hercule Poirot - written by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known as one of the most prolific writers of detective novels, and certainly the top selling author. She write during the early years of the 20th century and wrote for several decades, creating 2 of the most famous detectives (the more famous egoist Hercule Poirot and the village elderly spinster Miss Marple). These 2 detectives, in their individual stories delved into human nature unerringly, pointing out the evil being done by people, and finally pinpointed the people behind the murders (in most of these cases, these were murders although there might be several other crimes mixed in with them).
Agatha Christie had somewhat of a colorful life herself, atleast in parts. Her first marriage fell apart when her husband fell in love with another lady and told Agatha that he wanted a divorce; this in turn caused the mysterious lost days of her life when she disappeared for 10 days until she was finally found in a hotel room, under the assumed name of her husband's lover. Her second marriage was far more successful, involving some travel as well, lasting through her life.
Hercule Poirot is probably the more well known of the 2 detectives (she created some minor other characters as well, but they did not become so famous as these two). For comical effect, she also would add sequences when he would get affronted if somebody did not recognize him, or in the later novels, where the person thought that he would be so old that he would have died by now.




Hercule's Poirot Christmas was later published in the US under the name of 'Murder for Christmas', and a much later edition was sold as 'A holiday for murder'. Without getting into spoilers, the book is an interesting one where the enter detecting work is done in a house, with the murder having taken place in a closed room with the impossibility of anybody getting into the room.
Simeon Lee is very old, and very rich, and also very autocratic. He surprises his family by hosting a grand family get-together at Christmas where he even invites his long separated son, Harry, whom the others in the family really don't like - but hey, if the old man wants it done, then it will be done and he does not brook any opposition. He also invites his grand-daughter, she of Spanish descent, who has lost her parents and who knows that her grandfather is a very rich man. And yet another guest, Stephen Farr, the son of Simeon's former partner in the mines. And then the family hears him talking to his lawyer on the phone about how he wants to update his will.
And on Chrismas Eve at night, after dinner, there is an almighty commotion from the old man's room, with the upturning of furniture as well as a horrible scream. The door is locked from the inside, and when they break open the door, they find the room to be in a mess, as well as the murdered body of Simeon with large amounts of spilled blood. The police Superintendent was also there, having come earlier in the evening to meet Simeon and he takes charge of the house and the proceedings, him having apparently been called by Simeon because of some diamonds missing from the locker.
Any further details will take away from the mystery, just one line, not everybody is whom they claim to be, and Poirot has to unmask people as well as prevent further murders. A detective novel worth reading.

Death on the Nile (1937) - Starring Hercule Poirot - written by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known as probably the most famous detective novelist, atleast in terms of the overall number of books she has sold. Her books are outsold only by the Bible and by the works of William Shakespeare, which is saying a lot. Although it is also true that she has written a large number of detective novels spanning a time of multiple decades. Some are truly exceptional, with just a few that may be considered below her standard.
She is most famous for creating 2 famous detectives - the egg headed Hercule Poirot, who is also seen as egoistical and very much in awe of his own abilities, and the quiet elderly spinster Miss Marple who seems to have an incredible grasp of human nature and the evil that resides in many people (and an stubborn ability not to take anyone's words at face value).
Agatha Christie also had a real life mystery in her own life, at the time when her first husband wanted a divorce from her for marrying his mistress. She disappeared for a period of 10 days despite an extensive hunt, with outrage from a public that by now was an avid reader of her books. She was found in a hotel under the name of her husband's mistress and seemingly suffering from amnesia. After she was found, the public opinion turned negative, with the belief that either she was looking to frame her husband, or this was sort of publicity stunt.
However, she had a lot of writing left in her and went onto write some of her most famous works, including the novel 'And then there were none' as well as 'Murder on the Orient Express'.


Death on the Nile was a novel featuring the detective Hercule Poirot, in one her typical trademark fashions. I will try and not reveal too much of the story so that if you have not read it, there is some suspense involved. There are some twists and turns, else why would you like the book once you have finished reading it; what I can promise is that most of you would not have anticipated the twist in the novel. A couple of the characters in the book, besides Hercule Poirot have made their appearance in other books.
The people depicted in the book depict mostly typical upper class British citizens, as well as some Americans. As was there in that time, the locals (the Egyptians in this case) really don't have any power or authority, and are overseen by the visiting Englishmen. However, do keep in mind that this was a book written from that time period, and the power and authority equations from that time have been depicted in the book.
The book is a story all about a vengeful women and how she tries to get her revenge. Jacqueline de Bellefort was poor but had a delightful and loving fiancee Simon Doyle, for whom she was trying to get a job. She has a very rich friend Linnet Doyle, who agrees to help her by giving a job to Simon. Fast forward some time, and there is a massive betrayal by both, since Simon breaks his engagement and gets married to Linnet.
What does a vengeful women do ? Well, try and make their life hell. So when they try and escape from her on a steamer river cruise in Egypt, they find that their plans were of no use since Jacqueline was also on the ship and proceeded to mock and taunt her, giving them no respite. Linnet asks for help from Poirot, but he declines, although he does try and caution Jacqueline about the path she is taking. There is an usual an odd assorted set of characters on the steamer, some of whom have their own small stories in the book.
Linnet suffers an attempt on her life during a shore excursion, and then on the steamer, she finally meets her end, being found in the morning, having been shot to death. Poirot now takes up the matter, trying to figure out what really happened and who killed her. The novel does make an interesting reading.

Nuclear accident: Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

Nuclear weapons are immensely powerful, with the potential damage from an explosion being of much higher levels than all previous such weapons. The explosions of a nuclear weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan that caused the end of the second world war showed the immense power of nuclear weapons, and those were on the smaller scale. Modern nuclear weapons, especially the hydrogen bombs, are of a scale that is much more powerful than the ones that were used in Japan. And the number of these weapons (stored in missile systems) are in the thousands, spread all over the country. Most people staying near to these missile silos are totally unaware of how close they live to such destructive power; although these warheads are supposed to be designed that they will not explode unless a specific series of processes are carried out, and hence the risk of detonating accidentally is ruled out.
This book showcases that while even a powerful explosion next to the warhead did not explode it, there is always some amount of uncertainty when dealing with such a weapon. Even the fact that the missile has a large amount of very dangerous fuel adds to the complication in dealing with such matters.




The Titan missiles were a significant part of the US strategic missile fleet and were mated to a 9 megaton warhead, the most powerful warhead in the US stockpile of nuclear weapons. These were sited in silos across many parts of the country and were loaded with a fuel that was more stable than previous (although stability is always a relative measure - these propellants were far more dangerous and unstable than the petrol or gasoline we use in our normal vehicles). One of these silos was near Damascus in rural Arkansas, close to Little Rock. A missile is essentially a metal pipe that contains a lot of high explosive power propellant with a much more explosive warhead on top.
Imagine a regular maintenance of the missile, and a socket drops from the personnel who are doing the maintenance. They watch in horror while the socket plummets down into the silo, finally hitting the body of the missile and cause the fuel to start gushing out from the hole. From then on, it becomes like a real life high speed film, with disaster starting everyone in the area, conflicting scenes of responsibility, local authorities knowing that some disaster is unfolding but not having control of the area (that control was with the military), and finally sending in volunteers to control the situation, followed immediately by such a huge explosion that the warhead was thrown some distance away (and recovered).
The incident has been covered in books and in documentaries, and when you see the documentary, the theory that a warhead is totally safer even under these circumstances seems like theory, not something that you really want to see being under test.