Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1934) - A book by Agatha Christie, a murder mystery about the murder of an unknown man

This is another book by Agatha Christie which does not have either of her main 2 detectives, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. This book was also published in the United States under a different name - The Boomerang Clue. The book got a good review from the press upon its release.
The book is about a man found murdered near a cliff at the seaside resort town of Marchbolt, who dies shortly after being found by the hero of the book, but before dying, he utters the words "Why didn’t they ask Evans?". He also has a photo in his pocket, that of a young beautiful girl. The book is about the quest of the person who found the dead man, Bobby Jones (the son of the vicar) to explore the mystery of the dead man. In this quest, he runs into danger himself, with an attempt made on his own life through poison. He has a friend, "Frankie" – Lady Frances Derwent, who helps in the quest to first identify the man who died, then find out the overall mystery about why the man died, and who was the person who killed the dead man. As always, Christie does not put too much of romance in these books, but by the end of the book, the lead pair realize that they are indeed in love with each other and get engaged.



Bobby is playing golf with a friend, and when the ball goes over the cliff, he finds a man on the ground who is unconscious, and clearly in a bad way. The man dies, but just before dying, he utters a few words to Bobby. Bobby also has an immediate alternate assignment, and to stay with the dead body, another man known as Roger Bassington-ffrench steps in. Soon, the photo in the dead man's pocket comes forward, identifies herself as Amelia Cayman, and identifies the man as Alex Pritchard.
Bobby gets a job offer from Buenos Aires, but declines. Soon after, he is struck by poisoning when drinking beer, but the police don't find any clues. Soon after, he sees the photograph again which was used for the identification, but realizes that the photo he saw and that in the paper was different (so Roger must have changed the photo). This ensures that Bobby now wants to investigate further, and the best way (as decided and Bobby and Frankie) was to find Roger Bassington-ffrench. Do they manage to find Roger, who was the murdered man, and why was he killed ? Is there any movie involved ? Read the book to find out.

Lord Edgware Dies (1933) - A work starring the detective Hercule Poirot, and written by Agatha Christie

By the time that Agatha Christie wrote this book, Hercule Poirot was a character who had made his mark in many of her previous books and had a huge set of fans. This book also had an alternate name, 'Thirteen at Dinner', based on the belief that if there are thirteen guests at the table, bad luck would follow the first guest who arises from the table (and there is a scene in the book where there is a dinner with 13 guests). The book's central theme is of the confusion where the accused has a solid alibi for the time of the murder, and how can a person be in 2 places at the same time, something for Poirot to solve and resolve. The book also features the other 2 companions, Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp.
Like many of her other books, the dedication of Christie's books reveals something about her personal life. The book was dedicated to Dr. and Mrs. Campbell Thompson, with Dr. Reginald Campbell Thompson being the archaeologist who was employing her husband, Max Mallowan, to work at the digs in Ur, and let Christie also accompany Max (where she could continue working on her book).



Poirot gets a letter from a lady who wants him to convince her husband to agree to a divorce. This kind of work is not something that Poirot enjoys doing, but he does, but to his surprise, the husband says that he has already agreed to the divorce and sent her the letter, which she claims not to have received. This lady is Jane Wilkinson (an actress) who is married to the peer, the fourth Baron Edgware. And then the Baron is found dead, and she is accused of murdering the Baron so that she can get married to her lover, Duke of Merton. She had arrived at the house, the butler had let her in, and the next morning, the Baron was found dead. But there is a problem, since she was also seen in a dinner party on the previous night (the night of the murder), and how can a person be at 2 different places at the same time.
Then Poirot gets to know of the death of an actress called Carlotta Adams is found dead, dead due to an overdose of Veronal, which she had apparently been using for some time (since there was a small box of it with her). Then an actor called Donald Ross is stabbed just when was going to tell Poirot about something interesting he witnessed at a dinner party. It is now upto Poirot to figure out what is happening, and whether Jane is really the murderer.

Peril at End House (1932) - A book by Agatha Christie - murder for money

By this time, Hercule Poirot was a pretty common character in the novels by Agatha Christie, and in this novel by Agatha Christie, he made his 7th presence (along with Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp). The novel was published in 1932, and was received well with good reviews by newspapers and magazines. The novel was sufficiently complicated with twists and turns that the general public would not be able to figure out who the villain was, and this was what makes a successful book; and so it was with this book. The adventure takes Poirot and Hastings to the Cornish resort of St. Loo, with them having taken up residence at the Majestic Hotel. The main character in the novel, the damsel in distress, stays at place called the 'End House', which is why the name of the novel is as it is.
In this book, Christie also makes reference to some of her earlier novels that featured Poirot, with some of them being The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Mystery of the Blue Train, and a couple of others.



Hastings and Poirot are at relaxing at a resort, when they read the story of a lost adventurer called Captain Seton (lost when trying to do a round the world flight); then they run into a young girl called 'Nick' (Magdala) Buckley who loves in End House. Then she mentions something that would totally interest Poirot, since she mentions that she evaded death three times in the past 3 days. Then, when she has gone, Poirot examines her straw hat and finds a bullet hole in it, and is convinced that she is in danger, and decides to save her life.
He talks to her later, and finds out the circumstances where she claimed her life was in danger; she is not taking it seriously, but then he mentions the bullet hole in her hat which was made from a Mauser. She owns a Mauser, but is now unable to find it, and this convinces her that her life is in danger. He finds out from her about her life, and what all she owns, including her strained financial circumstances. He finds out more about her friends and relatives, including who would stand to gain from her death.
He gets more involved in a case, and is horrified when one of her cousins, Maggie Buckley, is shot dead (wearing a shawl that Nick was supposed to be wearing); then he finds out that Nick was supposedly engaged to Michael Seton, and could get his estate if he died (which he did), and if Nick died, then all this property would also go to whoever was in her will. And this leads to further investigations by Poirot, and of course, eventually he finds out the truth.

The Sittaford Mystery (also known as The Murder at Hazelmoor) (1931) - A book by Agatha Christie

First things first, why 2 separate titles ? Well, this was the first book by Agatha Christie that had 2 different titles, with a different title for the US version of the book - The Sittaford Mystery in England, and The Murder at Hazelmoor in the United States. It is also the first book in which Agatha Christie introduced some amount of angle dealing with the supernatural, in terms of an Ouja board (also known as a seance in which a spirit is called to answer questions). And when a spirit is called, what do they get to know ? Well, the spirit tells them that Captain Trevelyan, owner and landlord of the house is now dead. A friend of Captain Trevelyan, who is there at the house at that point of time, Major Burnaby, does not really believe in the supernatural, but is worried enough that he decides to go to check on the Captain, even thought it is 6 miles away, and there is a proper winter storm ongoing. But when they get there, they find that the captain is lying dead, murdered. And of course, there are many suspects.
The book got decent reviews when it was published, being compared in terms of mystery and suspense with her other books. The book was dedicated to her second husband, Max Mallowan, whom she married in 1930 after her divorce from her earlier husband.



However, when the novel was made into a television production, it was modified to include Miss Marple, with another major difference, Captain Trevelyan was shown at the seance. In the end, the killer was modified to be different from the book.
Captain Trevelyan, who owned a large mansion known as Sittaford House, was actually staying in a smaller house in Exhampton, since a South African lady and her daughter (Mrs. Willett and her daughter Violet) were wanting to spend a British winter in the house, and had been so insistent that he had moved away and leased the house to them. Once the murder was discovered, the investigation is done by Inspector Narracott, and the relatives of the dead man were all suspects. One of them is Jim Pearson, the nephew of the dead man, who has a girlfriend called Emily Trefusis (a bright spark in the story) who refuses to believe that her boyfriend was involved, and who tries to investigate to get him cleared.

The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) - A detective novel by Agatha Christie, starring Miss Marple

The Murder at the Vicarage was published in 1930; till that time, the novels by Christie had stand alone characters, or she had Hercule Poirot. This was the first novel in which she introduced the character of the elderly lady, Miss Marple (Miss Marple was there in earlier published short stories, but never in a novel length book). Miss Marple was very different from Hercule Poirot, this was an unassuming lady who was elderly, living in a small village, and yet like Poirot, who could understand the human nature and figure out how and why crimes were committed.
Miss Marple lives in St. Mary Mead, and it is in the vicar's study that the body of Colonel Protheroe was found, murdered by being shot in the head (he was despised by the villagers, and 2 people confessed to the crime). And this was where the start of Miss Marple's detective abilities is showcased. However, this first introduction to Miss Marple was not taken so well, with the story of a quiet village, with gossip, and with this lady who seems to know everything not being so engrossing.



The book is narrated by the Rev. Clements, and keeps the tale of the book tight and interesting. When Col. Protheroe is writing a note in the Vicar's study, he is shot from the back and in the head; but nobody seems to have seen or heard anything happening. Nobody liked him, and there were 2 quick confessions to killing him.
As things start to run in the story, you start to discover that almost everybody had a motive for killing him, and there were enough unknowns to suspect everybody. Some of the characters in the book are Mrs. Price Ridley, Colonel Melchett, Dr. Haydock, and others. Things otherwise move slowly in the village, with gossip occurring everywhere. But Miss Marple does eventually find out who did it (even though the village policeman really does not believe her initially).

The Murder on the Links (1923) - Written by Agatha Christie, a tale of romance, blackmail, betrayal and murder

The Murder on the Links was a book, written by detective write Agatha Christie, published in 1923, and starring Hercule Poirot and Hastings. The book was like many of Agatha Christie's books, written with the current societal conditions of that time, and with a large number of characters in the book. With these characters and the complexity of the plot, it was hard to make a guess as to who the actual villains are; another notable part of this book was that Hastings sort of broke with Poirot midway during the book, when it started becoming clear that a woman that Hastings loved, Dulcie Duveen, could be a suspect. At one point Hastings physically held down Poirot and let Duveen flee; but Poirot does not get side-tracked, and at the end, Poirot brings them together again. The book was more French based than English, with the crime being committed in a French location, and the investigating magistrate and detective both being French. Interestingly, this book was dedicated upon its release to her husband Archibald Christie, who later acquired a lover and divorced her a few years later.



The book starts with Hastings falling in love with a bright vivacious girl (who seems to ignore him to some extent as an old fashioned person); he tells Poirot about this when they meet, and then Poirot gets a wire (among the many mundane pieces of mail that he gets including requests to find lost dogs) from the South of France asking for help from a Monsieur Paul Renauld. Poirot is interested and decides to go there along with Hastings; they reach the villa Villa Genevieve in Merlinville-sur-Mer on the French coast where they discover that they are too late; Monsieur Paul Renauld is already dead. He was killed just a few hours ago and left in a shallow grave.
He was killed after 2 masked invaders came into the home around 2 AM, tied up his wife, and took him away wanting to know a secret, and then they killed him. However, apparently the door was open and there was no sign of forced entry. Their son Jack had been sent away on business, and there were three female servants in the house. And there is a French investigating magistrate, as well as a egoist French detective.
The story involves ladies who used to visit Monsieur Paul Renauld at night, a decades old murder crime, a fight between father and son, an altered will, an apparent second murder, a missing weapon, and many twists in the story. Read the book, it is pretty interesting.

The Seven Dials Mystery (published in 1929) - Written by Agatha Christie - a murder mystery in Chimneys

The Seven Dials Mystery was a piece of detective fiction written by Agatha Christie, and published in 1929. The book is set in the mansion of Chimneys, which featured in an earlier book by Agatha Christie, and as well as the characters from the earlier book, Lady Eileen (Bundle) Brent, Lord Caterham, Bill Eversleigh, George Lomax, Tredwell and Superintendent Battle. The book is a pure detective novel, and was converted for television in 1981 (displayed in March, 1981). However, the book did not earn the usual amount of critical acclaim, with some initial reviews criticizing the book for somewhat deserting the pure detective yarn, and presenting more information to the readers than required. The book starts with a murder in The Chimneys (but with nobody identified as the murderer), and moves onto a seedy nightclub in London called The Seven Dials where there appears to be a meeting of conspirators in a secret room.



As usual, like the other works by Agatha Christie, there are many surprises, with no one being whom they claim to be; who can you trust ? The first murder in the book is at The Chimneys where Gerald "Gerry" Wade, one of the guests, normally sleeps late; his friends want to have fun with him, and they set 8 clocks with 8 alarms (at a time gap of 30 minutes), starting from 6:30 PM. However, Wade apparently sleeps through all the alarms, to the surprise of all, and why not, since he is dead in his bed, through poison, and one of the clocks is missing. However, the inquiry cannot find out who was responsible. After Chimneys returns to its original owner, Lord Caterham, his daughter, Bundle, wants to investigate further. This intensifies when another man drops dead in front of her car, having been shot. This investigation takes her further into mystery, with a secret science plan that is very important, a secret society, and so on.

The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - by Agatha Christie - starring Hercule Poirot

The Mystery of the Blue Train was a book by Agatha Christie (published in 1928); this was written at a time of great stress for Agatha Christie, since it was only recently that her husband had declared his intention of leaving her for another woman and had sought a divorce, her mother had died recently; she was also in need of money at this point of time. Writing this novel was not easy for her, since she did a word count regularly of what all she had written. At this time, she had also seen a number of her friends deserting her, and had come up with 2 lists:
Order of Rats - Friends who had not stood by her when required
Order of Faithful Dogs (O.F.D) - Charlotte Fisher, and her terrier Peter who provided her with a lot of affection.
This book was dedicated to the second group, those who supported her. The book was based on a short story by Agatha Christie herself, a short story of 1923 called The Plymouth Express (featuring Poirot).



The Blue Train is a murder mystery set on a train. Poirot is on the 'Le Train Bleu' train, bound for the French Riveria. On board are an assortment of people, such as Katherine Grey, who has inherited a huge sum and is enjoying herself with her first trip out of England. She meets an American heiress on board, Ruth Kettering, who is escaping from her marriage (although her estranged husband Derek Kettering with the dancer Mirelle); and then Ruth is found dead, having been strangulated to death. A famous diamond is also found missing, and the dead girl's father commissions Poirot to investigate the crime.
At first glance, the husband would be the obvious suspect, but there could be more factors, since a famous diamond thief is also on board; is there more that meets the eye, and can Poirot be successful once again ?