Agatha Christie/Bibliography: Difference between revisions

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* ''Towards Zero'' (1944). Fifth and last novel featuring Superintendent Battle, but the only one where he is clearly the protagonist. The story introduces his wife Mary and teenaged daughter Sylvia. And mentions he has at least four other children. Battle's And nephew and partner for the case, Inspector James Leach, is also introduced.The novel explores the premise of "the murder is the end" of the story, and that "the story begins long before that -years before, sometimes with all the causes and events that bring certain people to a certain place at a certain time on a certain day. All converging towards a given spot... And then, the time comes... Zero hour." So the murder happens relatively late in the novel. Readers instead get to see events in the lives of the victim, the suspects , the investigator, and other characters entangled in the case. Leading up to the murder of Lady Camilla Tressilian. At the heard of the mystery is a somewhat unusual [[Love Triangle]]. Nevile Strange, the main heir to the victim, and his two wives: Audrey Strange and Kay Strange. Somehow all three are vacationing together and their emotions on the subject are explored in depth.
* ''Towards Zero'' (1944). Fifth and last novel featuring Superintendent Battle, but the only one where he is clearly the protagonist. The story introduces his wife Mary and teenaged daughter Sylvia. And mentions he has at least four other children. Battle's And nephew and partner for the case, Inspector James Leach, is also introduced.The novel explores the premise of "the murder is the end" of the story, and that "the story begins long before that -years before, sometimes with all the causes and events that bring certain people to a certain place at a certain time on a certain day. All converging towards a given spot... And then, the time comes... Zero hour." So the murder happens relatively late in the novel. Readers instead get to see events in the lives of the victim, the suspects , the investigator, and other characters entangled in the case. Leading up to the murder of Lady Camilla Tressilian. At the heard of the mystery is a somewhat unusual [[Love Triangle]]. Nevile Strange, the main heir to the victim, and his two wives: Audrey Strange and Kay Strange. Somehow all three are vacationing together and their emotions on the subject are explored in depth.
* ''Absent in the Spring'' (1944). Third romance novel by Christie, using the alias Mary Westmacott. Joan Scudamore, the protagonist, is the middle-aged wife of a solicitor. Seemingly content with her self and proud of her virtues. But a visit to her daughter in Syria leads to an identity crisis. Joan is stranded in an abandoned train station, somewhere in the desert. Waiting for the arrival of a train, any train to get her out of there. With no one to talk to, nothing to read, and nowhere to walk to or go sightseeing, Joan is forced to find some other way to kill time. She now contemplates aspects of her past and her interactions with the various people in her life. And for the first time sees them in harsher light, arguably more objective. The darker aspects of her life and her personal responsibility for them become evident.
* ''Absent in the Spring'' (1944). Third romance novel by Christie, using the alias Mary Westmacott. Joan Scudamore, the protagonist, is the middle-aged wife of a solicitor. Seemingly content with her self and proud of her virtues. But a visit to her daughter in Syria leads to an identity crisis. Joan is stranded in an abandoned train station, somewhere in the desert. Waiting for the arrival of a train, any train to get her out of there. With no one to talk to, nothing to read, and nowhere to walk to or go sightseeing, Joan is forced to find some other way to kill time. She now contemplates aspects of her past and her interactions with the various people in her life. And for the first time sees them in harsher light, arguably more objective. The darker aspects of her life and her personal responsibility for them become evident.
* ''Death Comes as the End'' (1944). A mystery novel set in [[Ancient Egypt]]. Renisenb, a young widow, returns to the estate of her father. Bringing along Teti, her own young daughter. She has to reacquaint herself with her brothers, sister-in-laws, and elder relatives. Having the illusion that nothing much has changed, though there are clearly tensions among the family members. Something does change when Imhotep, the widowed pater familias, introduces his new concubine to the family: Nofret, a 19-year-old beauty from Memphis. She does not get along with the other family members and tensions turn to regular fights. When Nofret is found murdered, it is only the first of many deaths in this closed family setting. There are two basic questions: "who is responsible?", and "who is next?". This book is considered the first full-length novel in the [[Historical Whodunnit]] sub-genre, a combination of [[Historical Fiction]] and [[File talk:Mystery Fiction]]. The main criticism of this novel has been that it has a rather high body count, second only to [[And Then There Were None]], and that the suspects keep getting eliminated. By the time the mystery concludes, there aren't many viable suspects available.
* ''Death Comes as the End'' (1944). A mystery novel set in [[Ancient Egypt]]. Renisenb, a young widow, returns to the estate of her father. Bringing along Teti, her own young daughter. She has to reacquaint herself with her brothers, sister-in-laws, and elder relatives. Having the illusion that nothing much has changed, though there are clearly tensions among the family members. Something does change when Imhotep, the widowed pater familias, introduces his new concubine to the family: Nofret, a 19-year-old beauty from Memphis. She does not get along with the other family members and tensions turn to regular fights. When Nofret is found murdered, it is only the first of many deaths in this closed family setting. There are two basic questions: "who is responsible?", and "who is next?". This book is considered the first full-length novel in the [[Historical Whodunnit]] sub-genre, a combination of [[Historical Fiction]] and [[Mystery Fiction]]. The main criticism of this novel has been that it has a rather high body count, second only to [[And Then There Were None]], and that the suspects keep getting eliminated. By the time the mystery concludes, there aren't many viable suspects available.
* ''Appointment with Death'' (1945). Third theatrical play by Christie, adaptation of the 1938 novel. First produced in 1945, published in book form during 1956. Christie reworked the plot extensively. Hercule Poirot, the main investigator of the original novel, is absent in the play. There is an entirely different solution to the murder mystery {{spoiler|the "victim" committed suicide, but arranged events to have her family members suspecting each other for murder}}. While a serious suspect of the novel {{spoiler|and the actual murderer}}, serves only as a comic character.
* ''Appointment with Death'' (1945). Third theatrical play by Christie, adaptation of the 1938 novel. First produced in 1945, published in book form during 1956. Christie reworked the plot extensively. Hercule Poirot, the main investigator of the original novel, is absent in the play. There is an entirely different solution to the murder mystery {{spoiler|the "victim" committed suicide, but arranged events to have her family members suspecting each other for murder}}. While a serious suspect of the novel {{spoiler|and the actual murderer}}, serves only as a comic character.
* ''Sparkling Cyanide'' (1945). Fourth and last novel featuring Colonel Race, but the only one where he is clearly the protagonist. The story is a reworking of the short story 'Yellow Iris'', but features a different solution to the mystery. Rosemary Barton dies poisoned during a dinner at the restaurant "Luxembourg". Her death is declared a suicide. A year later her husband George Barton attempts to recreate the circumstances of the death, trying to determine if it was murder. He also dies poisoned. Iris Marle, younger sister of Rosemary, financially benefits from the deaths. But might be the next target. Race gets himself involved at this point. The books contains a straight use of the [[Murder by Mistake]] trope, which Christie typically subverted. {{spoiler|The killers were after both sisters. George was killed by mistake. The true target was Iris. }}.
* ''Sparkling Cyanide'' (1945). Fourth and last novel featuring Colonel Race, but the only one where he is clearly the protagonist. The story is a reworking of the short story 'Yellow Iris'', but features a different solution to the mystery. Rosemary Barton dies poisoned during a dinner at the restaurant "Luxembourg". Her death is declared a suicide. A year later her husband George Barton attempts to recreate the circumstances of the death, trying to determine if it was murder. He also dies poisoned. Iris Marle, younger sister of Rosemary, financially benefits from the deaths. But might be the next target. Race gets himself involved at this point. The books contains a straight use of the [[Murder by Mistake]] trope, which Christie typically subverted. {{spoiler|The killers were after both sisters. George was killed by mistake. The true target was Iris. }}.
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