Talkie Tuesday: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

 

"Perhaps one day, when this terrible war is ended, 

we shall work again together, eh?

And Poirot will explain it all to you."

 

Hello everyone!

 

My, but it's been a WHILE since I've done one of these.

 

It's a shame really, because this piece tonight happens to be part of one of my all-time favourite series ever made, and I'm talking EVER.

 

There is nothing out there that can compare to it.

 

Basically, I'm someone who grew up watching Jeremy Brett play his way through Sherlock Holmes stories, then once I was old enough, I switched to this.

 

But apparently all I've ever done have been snippets and vague looks into the series, which won't do!

 

It's time to be more serious about it, possibly even gotta-catch-em-all serious.

 

So without further ado, let's hop straight into The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

 

Tome Thursday: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

 

Hello everyone!

 

This week's book is just a little bit different in the sense that it's not all happy-go-lucky, merry, or bright. Well, some of it certainly is, but for the most part ... not really.

 

Obviously you can have all the sweetness and Christmas-y adorable feelings whenever you pick a book up, but every once in a while there can also be another thing happening, and it's kind of fun to deviate a little.

 

Plus, I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan, so naturally I'll try and sneak in one of her books if I possibly can along the way.

It doesn't help that watching His Dark Materials and hearing David Suchet's voice as he portrays one of the daemons is one of the best things that's happened in a while, because honestly, I LOVE this man, and his portrayal of Hercule Poirot is probably one that will last for all time.

 

The fact remains there is only one REALLY good Belgian detective.

 

And he also had an interesting Christmas a couple of times.

 

Hercule Poirot's Christmas covers just one of those adventures.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

 

"Hercule Poirot is a detective, not a bodyguard."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back.

 

Tonight, we're taking a look at another slightly less Christmas-y entry, although it's STILL just festive enough to warrant being added to our list on here.

 

I seem to be on a detective kick lately, and who can blame me?

 

You gotta have some of the nitty-gritty alongside all the fluff that usually surrounds the holidays!

 

Hercule Poirot is just the right man for the job, too, if you can't get your hands on some Sherlock Holmes (although come to think of it, I might dig up one of Jeremy Brett's entries into the series and see if HE made a Christmas one ...).

 

And you just can't say no to the tiny detective, really, you can't.

 

He's impossible to resist.

 

Which is why we're having a look at Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

 

Talkie Tuesday: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

 

"There is but one Hercule Poirot, and I am he."

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome, once again, to the Christmas extravaganza that takes over this blog every single year, and has for, well, literal years already.

 

It's that time again, or 'tis the season, really, which means that for the remaining month of December, the only theme of the blog posts will be Christmas and everything Christmas-related you can think of. That's just the reality, sorrynotsorry.

Ahem.

So what better way to start off than with a little mystery, eh?

Sure, I tend to gravitate towards Hallmark and whatnot when it comes to these seasonal movies, particularly and especially for the end-of-the-year holidays, but I figured, why not try for something different?

After all. There's only one Hercule Poirot.

And he has just the one wish for the holidays, but alas, it doesn't get granted in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.

Talkie Tuesday: Death on the Nile (2)

 

"It takes two." 

Hello everyone!

 

You thought I was done with this, didn't you?

 

Think again!

 

Inevitably, it seems, whenever I end up watching one of Kenneth Branagh's remakes, I also end up digging out the good old David Suchet interpretations.

 

Now, I have nothing personally against Branagh - in fact, there are several movies of his which I thoroughly enjoy, Thor among them - but unfortunately he's trying to flex and take creative liberties in a canon setting where these liberties might in the end confuse people more than make the cases clear and presentable.

 

And after all, that's what Agatha Christie was all about, in the end.

 

Murder mysteries, or mysteries as a whole, and the rather psychological way our detective solves them.

 

So one last time then: we're on a trip to Egypt. Death on the Nile it is!

 

Tome Thursday: Cards on the Table

 

Hello everyone!

 

It's been a while since I touched on anything Agatha Christie-related on this blog, so I figured, why not go back to what are essentially my roots, for a spell?

 

I've been doing all kinds of fantasy and sci-fi jumping about, but haven't done a good ole murder mystery in what feels like forever.

 

So here we go!

 

I think I actually have Death on the Nile on here somewhere, book version, though I may do a more updated review in the style I use nowadays when writing them. It seems fair given that the movie is releasing soon enough - not that I'm expecting much, but it should at least be SOMEWHAT entertaining, maybe.

 

We'll have to wait and see.

 

In the meantime, we delve into another rather fabulous case of Hercule Poirot - and one in which ALL FOUR SUSPECTS could have done it!

 

But the question is, which one DID? Cards on the Table answers that, and more.

 

Tome Thursday: The Mystery of Three Quarters

 

Hello everyone!

 

For a little while now I've been on a sort of mystery kick, and whenever this happens to me I usually start snooping around my Agatha Christie collection, because, really, who else to read but two of the most famous sleuths of all time?

 

Okay, Sherlock Holmes is also a distinct possibility, but I'll admit I need a special type of weather for him.

 

Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple, however, don't give me those hangups.

 

Besides, there are still some books I never managed to get to even though I've more or less gone through the entire collection before, a number of times.

 

BUT.

 

I'm not talking about an Agatha Christie original tonight, oh no.

 

No I'm going with a Sophie Hannah Poirot resurrection, of which there are now four new books altogether.

 

Tonight's pick is thus titled The Mystery of Three Quarters.

 

Tome Thursday: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

 

Hello everyone!

 

This week's book is just a little bit different in the sense that it's not all happy-go-lucky, merry, or bright. Well, some of it certainly is, but for the most part ... not really.

 

Obviously you can have all the sweetness and Christmas-y adorable feelings whenever you pick a book up, but every once in a while there can also be another thing happening, and it's kind of fun to deviate a little.

 

Plus, I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan, so naturally I'll try and sneak in one of her books if I possibly can along the way.

It doesn't help that watching His Dark Materials and hearing David Suchet's voice as he portrays one of the daemons is one of the best things that's happened in a while, because honestly, I LOVE this man, and his portrayal of Hercule Poirot is probably one that will last for all time.

 

The fact remains there is only one REALLY good Belgian detective.

 

And he also had an interesting Christmas a couple of times.

 

Hercule Poirot's Christmas covers just one of those adventures.

 

Murder on the Orient Express (Booktober)

 

"I do not approve of murder."

 

 

I once again saved the very best for last, at least in my opinion, but who can deny that Agatha Christie really remains the Queen of Mystery? And the silly movie with Kenneth Branagh aside, Murder on the Orient Express remains one of her best works to this day. What happens when an American household is shaken to its core by a senseless brutal act, and the staff decide to take matters into their own hands? As they have just the luck of finding themselves on the fabled Orient Express alongside Hercule Poirot, famous mustachioed detective extraordinaire, we have the privilege of experiencing it all first-hand. And if reading about it isn't enough, I highly recommend the television series starring David Suchet!

 

 

 

Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer—in case he or she decides to strike again ...

(from Goodreads)

 

xx

*image not mine

 

The Avalon Café Mysteries (Booktober)

The Lost Legion (Booktober)

The Bourne Trilogy (Booktober)

Becoming Mrs. Lewis (Booktober)

Lord John Grey (Booktober)

The Last Wish (Booktober)

The Inheritance Cycle (Booktober)

His Dark Materials (Booktober)

The White Queen (Booktober)

The Thorn Birds (Booktober)

The Bourbon Kings (Booktober)

Cop of the Year (Booktober)

Nefertiti (Booktober)

Timeline (Booktober)

The Murder at the Vicarage (Booktober)

Persuasion (Booktober)

The Longest Ride (Booktober)

Midnight Sun (Booktober)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians (Booktober)

The Chronicles of Narnia (Booktober)

Atlantis (Booktober)

Origin (Booktober)

Quo Vadis (Booktober)

Death on the Nile (Booktober)

The Little White Horse (Booktober)

The Sign of Four (Booktober)

Harry Potter #2 (Booktober)

Troublemaker (Booktober)

The Lord of the Rings (Booktober)

Death on the Nile (Booktober)

 

"Gott im Himmel! What is there now?"

 

 

 

With the new movie coming out (and by the looks of the trailer it might even be good) it's time to take a look at one of Agatha Christie's beloved mysteries again. Let's take a ride down the Nile alongside the egg-head-shaped detective who attracts problems like a magnet. And if you have the stomach for it, let's investigate the murder of a beautiful young woman - a crime of passion if there ever was one. Because when tempers run hot under the Egyptian sun, what else can you expect?

 

 

 

 

 

The tranquility of a cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful. A girl who had everything ... until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: "I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger." Yet in this exotic setting nothing is ever quite what it seems ...

(from book jacket)

xx

*image not mine

The Little White Horse (Booktober)

The Sign of Four (Booktober)

Harry Potter #2 (Booktober)

Troublemaker (Booktober)

The Lord of the Rings (Booktober)

Hallowe'en Party (Booktober)

"Some memories are better buried."

 

And finally, the grand finale. The big bang. The curtain call. Of course I would have saved the best for last, especially when it comes to books you should read around Halloween time. And what better book is there than Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party? It has Poirot, it has mystery, it has murder, and it also features our favourite egg-head detective mincing around in his patent leather shoes. Out of all the books this month, this one has to be among my top favourites for autumnal reads, because it simply brings out the very best of the season.

Okay yes, it also brings you murder, but that's just Christie's thing.

At a Hallowe'en party, Joyce—a hostile thirteen-year-old—boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no-one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the 'evil presence'. But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer ...

(from Goodreads)

xx

*image not mine

All Souls Trilogy (Booktober)

Cobweb Bride Trilogy (Booktober)

These Old Shades (Booktober)

Term Limits (Booktober)

Boudica (Booktober)

The Lady of the Rivers (Booktober)

The Name of the Wind (Booktober)

The Red Knight of Germany (Booktober)

The Kommandant's Girl (Booktober)

Nemesis (Booktober)

Outlander series (Booktober)

The Conqueror Series (Booktober)

The Lost Symbol (Booktober)

The Host (Booktober)

The Bridgertons (Booktober)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Booktober)

The Infernal Devices (Booktober)

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (Booktober)

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Booktober)
Broken Sky (Booktober)

The Shadow of the Wind (Booktober)

Dracula (Booktober)

Life and Death (Booktober)

ACOTAR series (Booktober)

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (Booktober)

Sepulchre (Booktober)

Pride and Prejudice (Booktober)

Tempting Autumn (Booktober)

Harry Potter (Booktober)

The Hobbit (Booktober)

Talkie Tuesday: Hallowe'en Party

"Old sins cast long shadows, Madame."

Hello everyone!

One day before Halloween evening on the 31st, and a big, big holiday in my country which has nothing to do with Halloween and everything with the Reformation period in Europe, and here I am with a VERY witchy, Halloween-y movie review. 

I think the only thing that could be more on-point would be the Addams Family.

As it happens, however, I have quite the fondness for a certain Belgian detective.

Yes, he's BELGIAN people, he's NOT French!

And of course Agatha Christie was more than kind to focus one of her books right around the time of Halloween and the festive period.

Then it got adapted and the marvelous David Suchet portrayed the detective in question, so what more could you ask for at this time of year?

Let's dig our teeth right into Poirot's Hallowe'en Party!

Talkie Tuesday: Murder on the Orient Express (2)

"I do not approve of murder."

Hello everyone!

So a little while back I sat down to watch the re-make of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, helmed by Kenneth Branagh and some other famous film stars. 

Unfortunately, you may also know that one did NOT go off without a hitch.

In the spirit of trying to cleanse my taste buds from that foul thing, I ended up rewatching the David Suchet version with my friends (and then to top it off a couple of days ago, I also hunkered down for Death on the Nile, also with Suchet playing the titular role of the Belgian detective). Needless to say, the final consensus was that the Suchet apparition was much better than the Branagh one.

This does not necessarily have everything to do with the role of the sleuth, however, but with everything else happening around him, and how it's portrayed.

And while I will agree that, story-wise, there weren't that many differences between 2010 and 2017, the presentation of said story remains wildly opposite.

Back on the Orient Express we go!

Saturday Snippet: Poirot Problems

xx

*images not mine