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 ?

The Secret of Chimneys (published in 1925) - A book by celebrated detective author Agatha Christie

'The Secret of Chimneys' is one of the early works of Agatha Christie, with the word Chimneys referring to a mansion, used in more works by Agatha Christie. Like some of the other books written by Christie, it incorporates political intrigue of that time, with assassinations, spying, monarchies, double identities, and so on. If you read the plot in one go, it can seem somewhat outlandish and out of this world, but if you get into some pleasure book reading and watch the plot twist and turn, then the book can be very interesting. In this case, the book deals with a monarchy of the fictional country of Herzoslovakia located in the Balkans, which had overthrown the king some time back and setup a Republic, but now wanted to restore the monarchy and had identified a relative of the murdered king, and had extended him an invitation to come back and take the throne (although in modern times it is difficult to find a country which would do something like this, unless it is setting a king for ceremonial purposes).



The cause of the uprising in the country was primarily due to the queen, who was a dancer, was of common stock, and was propped by a revolutionary organization to trap the king, but she double-crossed the organization and instead married the king. She was the primary cause of the uprising in which both the king and queen were killed by a mob. But, in a turnabout, the people want a distant cousin, Prince Michael Obolovitch, to take over, and the British are broking this deal (and since no one does something for free, they are looking for oil concessions in the country). However, this entire situation is mixed with some memoirs that could prove embarrassing, and which are being sent for publication. Mix this with some lady's letter up for blackmail, and political discussion in the mansion of Chimneys, and you have a very interesting tale.

The Big Four (published in 1927) - written by Agatha Christie - a series of short stories

By this time of publication of this novel, Agatha Christie had developed a huge reputation, and a large number of fans. However, when this novel was published, Agatha Christie had gone through a major upheaval in her life, with her husband declaring that he wanted to divorce her (in late 1926) after stating that he was in love with somebody else, and in December, Agatha Christie had vanished for a period of 11 days after a fight with her husband, with a massive manhunt (and till now, there is no credible story of what happened in those 11 days).
'The Big Four' stars the famous detective Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings, and Inspector Japp, the familiar figures from the Hercule Poirot series. This book is not one single long book involving a crime, but instead a series of short crimes, all of them involving the Big Four villains (and these are in turn linked to a series of short stories that appeared in a magazine called 'Sketch'). The novel however depicts characters that are very cliched, such as the Chinese villain characterised as a Fu-Manchu type of villain, a French charming and dangerous girl, and an American multi-millionaire.



The novel starts with Hastings going to meet Hercule Poirot, who is going to America after an invitation from millionaire Abe Ryland, who is a soap king. At this time, Poirot asks whether Hastings has ever heard of a group called 'The Big Four', but Hastings has no idea. Then a man comes in and starts describing the various members of the The Big Four:
- Number 1 - A Chinese mastermind called Li Chang Yen, the person behind The Big Four
- Number 2 - No Names, but represented by the sign $, so most likely an American
- Number 3 - A charming French lady
- Number 4 - Just the destroyer
Poirot and Hastings faked their departure, but when they come back to the house, they find the man to be dead; the man was identified by Inspector Japp as a member of the Secret Service. And then they get into more adventures, fighting with The Big Four, including more murders.

The Man in the Brown Suit (published in 1924) written by Agatha Christie

This was another book of Agatha Christie that was written without her main characters of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. The book was published in 1924, and is more like a thriller than a detective novel, following the adventure of a young orphan girl who gets into a mystery after encountering an accident on the London tube station where she encounters a man who fell onto the track, and a doctor then tends to the man. While leaving, the supposed doctor drops a note which the young girl (Anne Beddingfeld) picks up, and so starts her adventure. She could have been like other people, dropping the note into a trash can, and not thinking about it again; in which case there would have been no novel, and no story. However, she did pick it up, and so started a major mystery story that crosses several countries, thrilling escapades and encounters with diamond robbers, murderers and political intrigue. Mixed in is the tale of a former international criminal called the Colonel, who organizes terrorism and who is hanging up his boots; what happened to his former agents ? Nothing, since he decides to leave them as they are and they have to tend for themselves now.



The book starts with one of the former agents, Nadina, who acts like a Russian dancer, and also another agent called Count Sergius Paulovitch, both of them agents of the Colonel, who are pondering their future. The Colonel has decided to leave them as they are, without any financial support or protection against their enemies; and they have to take care of their own future now. There are multiple people involved in this adventure, besides Anne, and as would be expected from such a book, one can never be sure about who is on the right side and who is a villain. Some of the people involved in the book are:
- Sir Eustace Pedler, MP, who is also 'The Colonel', a criminal mastermind
- Guy Pagett, Sir Eustace Pedler's secretary
- Anita Grünberg, alias Nadina, alias Mrs de Castina – one-time agent of 'The Colonel'
- Arthur Minks, alias the Rev. Edward Chichester alias Miss Pettigrew, alias Count Sergius Paulovitch - an agent of 'The Colonel'
- Mr Flemming, solicitor, and his wife: Anne's landlords after her father's death
and many others.
This was a pretty interesting book, and well worth reading.

The Secret Adversary (published in 1922) - a detective novel by Agatha Christie

Agatha Cristie had started with her first book published in 1920 (The mysterious affair at Styles), and wrote a number of books during her career. 2 of her main characters were the detectives - Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, but she also had novels that did not have these 2 characters. One of these was an early book of hers, called 'The Secret Adversary', published in 1922. The book introduces the character of Tommy and Tuppence who also features in other novels of hers. The book met with praise from critics on its release, and was later turned into a movie released in 1929, and also into a TV drama. One small problem was the book that there were a lot of cliched characters in the book, with many characters being obvious villains. The book was set in 1919 in London and other locations in Britain. It depicts a young couple Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley, who offer themselves out as adventurers, since they have no money and no work. And there starts the adventure.



They soon find themselves stuck in a political and spying game, when they use the name of 'Jane Finn' for Tuppence; using this name Tuppence is rejected for a job (and they had over-heard this name in a conversation earlier); a person named Whittington hears scraps of their conversation and believes that they are blackmailing, and pays them some money for them to stop using their information (information that they do not possess). However, when they realize that they can get more information from Whittington, they find that he has vanished. Knowing that the name of 'Jane Finn' seems to be causing this search, they put an ad in the paper with the same name, and get a response from a Mr. Carter, who tells them the background to what Jane Finn actually was, and the significance of the name to intelligence agencies. They are contacted by more people, including police officials (and they realize that they had also been contacted by a villain earlier). The rest of the story is about contact with these secret agencies, with bolshevik agents out to topple the British government, and so on.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles - The first book by Agatha Christie (introducing Hercule Poirot) (published in 1920)

In 1920, a phenomenon showed up in the literary world, by the name of Agatha Christie. She soon became a prolific creator of detective novels, and created 2 incredible characters in the shape of Hercule Poirot (the egoistical Belgian detective) and Miss Marple (the elderly spinster). It was in this novel (written in 1916 and published in 1920), "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", that Hercules Poirot was first introduced to the public, the start of what was to become a number of novels. The novel also introduced the other characters that seem to accompany Poirot in all his novels, in the shape of Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp and Lieutenant Hastings (later, Captain), and the story is told by Hastings (who is on sick leave from the ongoing war). The book got good reviews and critical acclaim. Like many of her other novels, this one was also adopted as a TV drama and as a BBC radio adaption.



The novel was set in a typical Christie set, in an old manor, with many suspects, of whom many of them could have a motive for the murder. This novel was set in a manor at Essex. Mrs. Cavendish, a wealthy widow, had become wealthy after the death of her husband, with inhering an estate and also much wealth. She had recently remarried the younger Alfred Inglethorp, and she lived at Styles along with her step-children (the children of Mr. Cavendish from an earlier marriage), and in the event of her death, Styles would pass to Mr. John Cavendish, her eldest stepson. Lieutenant Hastings, is a guest over there when Mrs. Emily Inglethorp dies from strychnine poisoning; and Hastings calls his friend, Hercule Poirot. Alfred seems to be chief suspect, but was not present when Emily died. Most damning, he had to gain from his wife's death, and had also purchased strychnine in the village earlier. But Poirot clears him, and then John is arrested. But who did the murder ?