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.

 

Tome Thursday: Death on the Nile

 

Hello everyone!

 

As I spent my Tuesday blog post talking about the recent remake of Death on the Nile, I figured it's only fair and proper if I have a look at the original book that inspired all these adaptations.

 

I'm thinking of doing the same as I did with Murder on the Orient Express and also blogging about the David Suchet version, but we'll see.

 

For now, suffice to say that there are differences between the original book and the Kenneth Branagh remake.

 

However, the differences themselves aren't a glaring problem as far as I'm concerned - well, other than the case being presented poorly without REALLY asking the pertinent questions that might help move it along, but overall it isn't BAD.

 

The BAD part comes at the end and with Branagh's desire to change canon, so without further ado let's have a look at the ACTUAL story, shall we?

 

After all, Agatha Christie devoted her whole life to writing these things.

 

Death on the Nile is just one of her many successes.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Death on the Nile

 

"It takes two."

 

Hello everyone!

 

We return to the world of old Hollywood glamour, murder mysteries, and great mustaches.

 

No, seriously, we do.

 

You may have noticed that this blog features works by Agatha Christie rather often, and that's on purpose given that I thoroughly enjoy anything and everything that woman has ever written.

 

So when there are adaptations, you can bet I'll be somewhere close, or at least not far behind!

 

I'm a sucker for a good murder mystery, okay?

 

That said, I wasn't that much of a sucker for Kenneth Branagh's remake of Murder on the Orient Express, but I wanted to give this sequel to it a go because ... well, I'm a glutton for punishment.

 

And it wasn't even TOO bad, overall, if not for the blasted ending.

 

Hold on to your hats, we're taking a cruise through Egypt in Death on the Nile!

 

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: The Perfect Sister

 

Hello everyone!

 

So for tonight's blog post, we're going back into the past a little bit and working through a murder mystery, some political intrigue, and a whole lot of character drama, because we're just that cool.

 

LOL.

 

If you know me (and if you've been following this blog, you probably do at least a little by now) then you'll know I enjoy looking through any and all mystery books. I've been an Agatha Christie fan since I can't even remember when, but the Queen of Mystery (and murder AND mayhem, usually including harmless looking little old ladies or egg-head shaped detectives with big mustaches) tends to make her way onto my reading list often enough.

 

When I see something that might resemble that, I go all for it.

 

BookSirens is definitely a good place to be in that regard as there are quite a few mysteries like that around, and when I saw the title I'm working with tonight, I knew I had to read it. I didn't end up liking it quite as much as I'd hoped, but it was still entertaining to a degree.

 

The Perfect Sister isn't quite as perfect as the title says. Then again they never are.

 

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.

 

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)

The Shadow of the Wind (Booktober)

"Soon afterward, like figures made of steam, father and son disappear into 

the crowd of the Ramblas, their steps lost forever in the shadow of the wind."

 

Carlos Ruiz Zafon is the kind of author that I probably never would have picked up if someone hadn't recommended him. But I ended up reading his Shadow of the Wind and INHALING it. The tragic story of a doomed couple interspaced with a tale of growing into adulthood by the boy who initially starts the research is so well done, and the terrible ending still gives me chills today. It's one of those things you just can't read too many times, or you might even go a little bit mad yourself ... 

All in all, however, when the wind picks up to blow through the streets of old Barcelona, this is the book to read.

Barcelona, 1945. Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. And before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love ...

(from Goodreads)

xx

*image not mine

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)

Sepulchre (Booktober)

"For in truth, this story begins not with the absence of bones in a Parisian graveyard, but with the deck of cards: the Vernier Tarot."

 

If you're looking for something appropriately spooky and thrilling to make your way towards Halloween, I strongly suggest Sepulchre, by Kate Mosse. The second in her Languedoc trilogy, you don't necessarily need to read the first book to understand it, but it does bring the magic of Occitan France, tarot cards, intrigue, some ancient spells, and a centuries-old vendetta. 

It's been a while since I've read it myself, but I remember well enough how high into the air I jumped when the tomb itself (sepulchre, natch) started doing things it wasn't supposed to.

The best part, however, is that it FEELS real!

1891. Seventeen-year-old Léonie Vernier and her brother abandon Paris for the sanctuary of their aunt's isolated country house near Carcassone, the Domaine de la Cade. But Léonie stumbles across a ruined sepulchre - and a timeless mystery whose traces are written in blood.

2007. Meredith Martin arrives at the Domaine de la Cade to research a biography. But Meredith is also seeking the key to her own complex legacy and becomes immersed in the story of tragic love, a missing girl, a unique deck of tarot cards and the strange events of one cataclysmic night a century ago ...

(from book jacket)

xx

*image not mine

Pride and Prejudice (Booktober)

Tempting Autumn (Booktober)

Harry Potter (Booktober)

The Hobbit (Booktober)