Peril at End House: Agatha Christie

Description from the back of my paperback edition:

End House was most appropriately named. Its young mistress nearly met her end… three times in three days. It was the fourth near-fatal “accident”, witnessed by Hercule Poirot, that convinced Miss Buckley that someone was trying to kill her. But who, and why? Now the celebrated crime-solver is dedicating himself to crime prevention. That is, until an unexpected—and successful—murder attempt carries Poirot’s investigation to the bitter end…

Captain Arthur Hastings is companion and friend to Poirot in some of the earlier novels. In this one he is also the chronicler of the tale. Poirot and Hastings are staying at a Cornish resort, the Majestic Hotel. Hastings describes the area:

No seaside town in the south of England is, I think, as attractive as St. Loo.  It is well named the Queen of Watering Places and reminds one forcibly of the Riviera. The Cornish coast is to my mind every bit as fascinating as that of the south of France.

In one of my earlier reviews of a novel featuring Poirot, I said: "I find the Poirot character to be smug and irritating..." At this point, having read several more, I no longer feel that way. He is much more charming in this one.

I enjoyed this one especially because Arthur Hastings was narrating it. I loved some of the scenes between Hastings and Poirot. Poirot says, in response to a question about his retirement:

To step from your pinnacle at the zenith of your fame – what could be a grander gesture? They say of me: “That is Hercule Poirot! – The great – the unique! – There was never any one like him, there never will be!” Eh bien – I am satisfied. I ask no more. I am modest.

Hastings thinks:

I should not myself have used the word modest. It seemed to me that my little friend’s egotism had certainly not declined with his years.

Inspector Japp shows up late in the book to help with the investigation. In my  recent rereads of Christie's novels, I have not read many books with Inspector Japp, so that was a pleasant surprise.

This is the sixth novel featuring Hercule Poirot that I have read since I started blogging. It is probably the one I have enjoyed the least, and I think it was mostly that it seemed such an obvious ending and left me less satisfied. However, even though I felt that the culprit was obvious almost from the beginning, the motivation behind the crimes was well hidden (from me, at least), although there were definitely clues.

Yet that is just a minor quibble; the book was still entertaining. Sometimes I wonder if what is obvious to an experienced mystery reader would be obvious to someone who is new to mysteries. And it also depends on what one is looking for in a mystery.

Robert Barnard says in A Talent to Deceive: "Some creaking in the machinery, and rather a lot of melodrama and improbabilities, prevent this from being one of the very best of the classic specimens."

See other reviews at: Mysteries in Paradise, The Game's Afoot, In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel, and Letters from a Hill Farm.

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Publisher:  Berkley Books, 1991. Orig. pub. 1932.
Length:     182 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      Hercule Poirot, #7
Setting:     UK, Cornish coast
Genre:      Mystery
Source:    Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale, Sept. 2007.

Johnny Under Ground: Patricia Moyes

Patricia Moyes wrote nineteen mysteries starring Inspector Henry Tibbett between 1959 and 1993. Inspector Tibbett and his wife Emmy were a well-known fictional sleuthing couple at that time, and many readers still enjoy the books. I read most of the books during that time period, and loved them all. Rereading this book was a joy.

If I remember correctly, most of the mysteries in this series do not start out as normal police investigations. Often they originate during or from some event in the Tibbett's lives.  They may be on vacation and a murder occurs, that type of thing. That is not always true, however, as in Murder a la Mode (covered here and here by Moira at Clothes in Books).

In this mystery, Johnny Under Ground, Emmy Tibbett plays a much larger part than usual. The mystery revolves around an event in her past. Emmy attends the reunion of officers, RAF and WAAF, who served at Dymfield. She was just nineteen when she was stationed there, and had a crush on one of the RAF officers, who later died tragically. After the reunion, Emmy is asked to help write a history of Dymfield. Her partner in the writing project dies, possibly a suicide but maybe not. It is assumed that someone is trying to keep a secret from the past buried. Henry, of course, is concerned for Emmy's safety and gets involved in the investigation.

This book is one of my favorite of the series because of the the focus on Britain during World War II and how the war affected peoples lives. The book was published in 1965 and looks back at a time twenty years earlier.

The review of Johnny Under Ground at In Reference to Murder gives some of Patricia Moyes' background, including her work during the war as a flight officer in the WAAF. Obviously Moyes used her experiences in writing this book. At Rue Morgue Press, there is an article with even more information about her life, written by Katherine Hall Page.

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Publisher:  Henry Holt and Co., 1987. Orig. pub. 1965.
Length:     253 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      Inspector Henry Tibbett, #6
Setting:     UK
Genre:      Mystery
Source:    I purchased my copy. 

Double Indemnity: James M. Cain

This is a very short book; in my edition, just 115 pages. The story is told from the point of view of Walter Huff, an insurance salesman, and he reveals everything about himself, not prettifying the picture of his plotting and conniving to commit a crime.

Walter visits the home of a man, Mr. Nirdlander,  who has purchased car insurance from him. His policy is up for renewal and Walter wants to get that moving. From the beginning the narrator implies that something bad has happened. He talks about the references to the "blood red drapes" in the newspaper accounts. And then we meet Phyllis, Nirdlander's wife. And Walter soon gets the sense that she is going to be trouble for him.

Later he comes back to visit:

Three days later she called and left word I was to come at three-thirty. She let me in herself. She didn't have on the blue pajamas this time. She had on a white sailor suit, with a blouse that pulled tight over her hips, and white shoes and stockings. I wasn't the only one that knew about that shape. She knew about it herself, plenty. We went in the living room, and a tray was on the table. "Belle is off today, and I'm making myself some tea. Will you join me?"

Walter is very smart in some ways, but dumb enough to let Phyllis lead him into crime. In hindsight he sees where he could have made better decisions, but at the time he actively and willingly colludes with her.  It is chilling to share this experience with Walter.

Along the way, we get a pretty interesting look at the way insurance salesmen and insurance companies worked in the 1930's.

And all of this in 115 pages. Amazing.

The story is very bleak; there is no expectation of a happy ending. I thought I would not like this story of depravity and greed, but I was wrong. I would not say I empathized or sympathized with Walter, but I did not find him or his story horrifying either. The book was much more enjoyable that I expected it to be. I plan to read The Postman Always Rings Twice (Cain's first book) and Mildred Pierce.

We have the movie adaptation of this book and my husband assures me that it is very good. I am looking forward to watching it soon.

See other reviews at Yet Another Crime Fiction Blog, The Game's Afoot, Vintage Pulp Fictions, and Scott D. Parker.

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Publisher:   Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, 1992 (orig. pub. 1936)
Length:      115 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Setting:      Los Angeles area
Genre:        Mystery
Source:      I purchased my copy.

Death of a Ghost: Margery Allingham

Summary from the The Margery Allingham Society website:

John Sebastian Lafcadio, one of the greatest painters of the Edwardian period, left twelve pictures to be exhibited, one every year, after his death. But there is an unexpected event at the unveiling of the eighth painting -- murder. Albert Campion must employ all his tact as well as his formidable intelligence to trap the killer. The author's observation of the art world, both aristocratic and bohemian, ensures that Death of a Ghost is a remarkable novel as well as a compelling mystery.

I was tentative about rereading Margery Allingham's books, because I reread Sweet Danger several years ago and wasn't as taken with it as I had been the first time around. Still, I had decided to start from there and reread all of the books up to The Tiger in the Smoke, and the choice of 1934 for the Crimes of the Century meme  was the perfect motivation to get started on that.

I needn't have worried about liking this book. I liked the story and the way Allingham tells it. Campion is an old friend of Belle's, thus he is present when the first murder occurs at the unveiling of the painting when the crime occurs. And of course he brings in his friend Stanislaus Oates of Scotland Yard and gets involved in the investigation.

There are many other eccentric characters to enjoy here. Belle, Lafcadio's wife, is central to the story. I loved her goodness, the way she felt responsible for the women who live with her and others who have cottages on the grounds of Little Venice, her home. They all depend on her generosity to live in comfortable circumstances. There is Donna Beatrice, who was a model for Lafcadio and sees herself as more important to his work than she was. There are the Potters, an artistic couple, and Fred Rennie, the man who made Lafcadio's secret paint recipes.

Max Fustian is the art dealer who represented Lafcadio before his death and was commissioned, along with Belle, to handle the exhibition and sale of each of the twelve pictures. He is another unusual character, affected and self-important.

The plot is complex, but in a good way. This did not feel like a whodunnit. For almost half of the book, the killer is known to Campion and Inspector Oates. However they can find no proof. And they both fear that more deaths will occur if they cannot unmask the murderer.

I like what Patrick of At the Scene of the Crime says about Allingham's books and their reception:

It seems that, of the traditional “Crime Queens” (Christie, Sayers, Marsh, and Allingham) Allingham provokes the most extreme reactions. It seems that half the people who approach her books absolutely love them, and the other half despise them and wonder how anyone could enjoy them. I personally belong to the first camp: I really like Allingham, but not for her plotting ability (which is limited). No, I tend to read Allingham for her style, her characters, and her writing.

Other reviews of this book:

• John Grant's review at Goodreads
• Puzzle Doctor's review at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
• Moira's review at Clothes in Books

As noted above, this book is my submission for Past Offences' monthly Crimes of the Century feature. This month the year chosen was 1934.

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Publisher:  Bantam, 1985. Orig. pub. 1934.
Length:     206 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      Albert Campion, #6
Setting:     UK, mostly London
Genre:      Mystery
Source:    I purchased my copy. 

Ride the Pink Horse: Dorothy B. Hughes

Introduction from the Mysterious Press site:

It takes four days for Sailor to travel to New Mexico by bus. He arrives broke, sweaty, and ready to get what’s his. It’s the annual Fiesta, and the locals burn an effigy of Zozobra so that their troubles follow the mythical character into the fire. But for former senator Willis Douglass, trouble is just beginning.

Sailor previously worked as an assistant to Douglass (the Sen) and is the only one who knows what happened when the Sen's wife died in an apparent robbery at their home. He has come to Santa Fe to extort money from the former senator, who has political ambitions at the state level. Also in town is MacIntyre, a cop. All three have come by different routes from Chicago. MacIntyre wants Sailor's help in taking Douglass down.

Sailor has come to town unaware of the Fiesta celebration. He cannot find a room to stay in, not even the cheapest, rattiest room. MacIntyre and Douglass have been in Santa Fe for a week. For the next few days after Sailor's arrival the three keep running into each other, the Sen trying to avoid Sailor and Sailor trying to avoid Mac.

Sailor is befriended by an old man who runs the merry-go-round. He calls him Pancho Villa.

'This is a spic town. Why'd the Sen pick a spic town?' He didn't know he'd spoken aloud until the brigand answered. 

'Spic?' He said it 'speec' like a spic. 'Spic? I do not know that spic?'

Spic. Hunkey. Mick. Kike. Wop. Greaser. Sailor felt for translation. 'Mex,' he said.

Pancho was solemn. Big and sweaty and shapeless, he was dignity. 'No,' he said. 'This is not a Mex town. This is an American town.'

'Then why does everybody talk—' He halted at the word. He supplied, 'Spanish?' 

Pancho was no longer offended. 'It is Spanish-American. The Fiesta, it is Spanish. It tells of my people who come so long ago and conquer the Indian. So long ago.' His sigh wasn't unhappy now. It was the leaf falling.

Sailor in turn befriends a young Indian girl, treating her to a ride on the merry-go-round.

Pila walked to the horses, put out her hand to one, to another. He saw beyond her the old withered man encasing his fiddle. He dug for another dollar. 'With music. Gay music.' Sailor called to Pila. 'Ride the pink one.' 

He felt like a dope after saying it. What difference did it make to him what wooden horse an Indian kid rode? But the pink horse was the red bike in Field's, the pink horse was the colored lights and the tink of music and the sweet, cold soda pop. 

In my review of the first book by Hughes that I read, The Davidian Report, I noted that the best parts of the book were the characters and setting. This book was the same for me. Dorothy Hughes lived and worked in New Mexico, so I assume the depiction of the area is authentic.

I liked the story, although it is at no point a happy story. It is not really a whodunit, more of a character study, following Sailor through his journey. I kept hoping for a "happy" ending but was pretty sure I was not going to get it.

I also enjoyed the depiction of Fiesta in Santa Fe. Santa Barbara also has a Fiesta celebration for a week in August. It started in 1924. Per the Old Spanish Days website, the mayor declared Fiesta week "one of festival and gaiety, during which period, which shall be known as 'Old Spanish Days,' the spirit of old Santa Barbara shall be lived again and again..." I experienced most of the Fiesta festivities in our first years in Santa Barbara, but we avoid the crowds that Fiesta brings nowadays.

Kate Laity has this to say in her review:

This is a gritty and atmospheric novel that showcases Hughes skill at rendering lost men struggling to find their way without the traditional cultural handholds. As usual, she’s brilliant as she allows the downward spiral to snake all the way down.

The longer version of her review is here.

There is a lovely Dell mapback edition but the only copy I had was a later Dell paperback that was falling apart.  I am going to have to get a better copy so I can reread it later.

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Publisher: Dell, 1958 (first published 1946).
Length:    223 pages
Format:    Paperback
Setting:    Santa Fe, New Mexico
Genre:      Mystery

Source:    Purchased at Planned Parenthood Book Sale, 2010.

The Maltese Falcon: Book and Film

I put off reading The Maltese Falcon for years because I was certain it would be too hard-boiled for me. Now that I have read the book and loved it, I think the problem was with my understanding of the definition of hard-boiled. I thought it was primarily about violence, brutality, and very unlikeable characters.

There are many useful references on the definition of hard-boiled fiction on the internet, but I found Gary Lovisi's article titled The Hard-boiled Way very helpful.

He says:

Some may think it’s only fiction about violence, often very brutal violence, but that’s not a necessary ingredient.

And..

Authentic hard-boiled fiction is also about real people trying to live their lives, to make it in the day-to-day and getting smashed down inch by inch, lower and lower. But they still hang in there. They refuse to go down for the count. 

There is a lot more to the article and I highly recommend it.

I am sure some hard-boiled fiction is too brutal, violent, or dark for me, but this book was not. Most people will be familiar with the plot, so I will include just a brief synopsis. The story is set in San Francisco, in the late 1920's. Sam Spade is a private detective hired by a beautiful and mysterious woman to help her find her sister. Very shortly there are two murders, and the police suspect Spade in at least one of those crimes.  Spade gets mixed up with a strange group of people hunting for an elusive statuette of a falcon.

I loved every word of this book. I could have been biased by my love for the film adaptation (the 1941 version with Humphrey Bogart). After reading the book, I watched the film again. Feeling that I just cannot do justice to either the book or the film (and especially if I avoid spoilers), I am keeping this short and sweet. Both the film and the book are very, very good.

John Huston's adaptation starred Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. Two other actors I especially liked were Ward Bond as a police detective and Elisha Cook, Jr. as the gunsel.

Although the Sam Spade of the book is a different physical type than Humphrey Bogart, I put Bogart in the role as I read the book. I only noticed a few scenes in the book that were omitted from the movie. They were no great loss to the film, but they did add more depth to the characterizations and relationships in the book.  Otherwise the film is pretty much a straight adaptation of the book, with the dialog matching Hammett's writing very closely.

Mary Astor played the role of the femme fatale perfectly. From the beginning, Spade is not sure how much he can trust her. In my opinion, Astor kept that suspense going to the very end. Having seen the movie so many times, I cannot remember my reaction the first time I viewed the movie. And every time I see it again, I find new things to love about it.

The book was the basis for two other film versions prior to the 1941 version. The first adaptation, released in 1931, was also titled The Maltese Falcon and starred  Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels. The second, released in 1936, was titled Satan Met a Lady, and starred Bette Davis and Warren William. I have seen both earlier films. They do not come close to the level of the 1941 adaptation, but they are still interesting. There is a great post on Satan Met a Lady at Davy Crockett's Almanack.

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Publisher:   Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, 1992 (orig. pub. 1930)
Length:      217 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Setting:      San Francisco
Genre:        Mystery
Source:      I purchased my copy.

Books of 1936: A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey

A Shilling for Candles was the second mystery novel published by Josephine Tey, and the second book in the Inspector Grant series. I re-read this book for the Past Offences Crime Fiction of the Year Challenge for 1936 and I enjoyed it so much I want to re-read all of her mysteries.

In this novel, the dead body of a young woman is discovered on a beach, and is at first assumed to be a suicide or accidental drowning. It takes awhile to identify the victim. She had been vacationing at a cottage nearby under an assumed name, and the man staying with her claims to know her only by her first name. Eventually the police discover that she is the famous movie actress, Christine Clay. Inspector Grant shows up when evidence is uncovered that points to murder.

I like Josephine Tey's novels because they focus more on the characters, and less on the crime and the solution. Inspector Grant is not your usual police detective, although he is well known and has a good reputation for his work. He agonizes over decisions and how to approach the investigation. In this novel, Erica Burgoyne, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the Chief Constable, and Jammy Hopkins, a reporter, are key characters who give us another view of the world of England in the 1930's. Christine Clay's is also a very well-developed character, even though we don't  encounter her until she is dead. Through the accounts of acquaintances, family and friends, we see a full picture of her and the drawbacks of a life of fame and fortune but little privacy. I cannot leave out Robert Tisdall, the man who was living with Christine at the time of her death. Because of the unusual circumstances, he is immediately a suspect.

Another interesting aspect of this novel is the picture of the world of actors and the theater, which Tey had much experience with. This is a slow-paced but entertaining novel (if the mystery plot is not your major concern), and I am eager to re-read more of the books in the Grant series, to see how they compare. The remainder of the novels were written after World War II and it will be interesting to see how they reflect the differences of that period in England also.

Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by Elizabeth Mackintosh. She was born in Scotland in 1896 and died in 1952.  She also wrote plays and non-mystery novels under the name Gordon Daviot. Nicola Upson has written a mystery series featuring Tey as the main character. There is an interesting page at Upson's website which talks about Tey's life.

This book was made into a movie, Young and Innocent, by Alfred Hitchcock, which was released in 1937. Based on book reviews I read, the adaptation is very loose but may be entertaining.

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Publisher:   Collier Books, 1988 (orig. pub. 1936)
Length:       226 pages
Format:       Paperback
Series:        Inspector Alan Grant, #2
Setting:       England
Genre:        Police procedural
Source:       I purchased this book.

Books of 1955: Murder in the Raw by William Campbell Gault

William Campbell Gault started out writing stories for pulp magazines. According to the entry for this author in Paperback Confidential by Brian Ritt, he was writing for the "spicy" pulps and sports pulps in the 1930's and wrote for the detective pulps in the 1940's and 1950's.

Gault's first novel was Don't Cry for Me, published in 1952. It won the Best First Novel Edgar for that year. In 1955, he published Ring Around Rosa, the first in a series of novels featuring Brock Callahan, an ex-LA Ram football player, who becomes a private detective in Beverly Hills, California. That novel was later published under the name Murder in the Raw. The paperback edition I read had that title.

In this first book in the series, Callahan has just started his PI business and still wonders if he has it in him to go back to a year or two more of football. Although he has some contacts with the police in the area, in general they give him a hard time. Brock is doing his best to be an honest detective and stay within the law.

The basic story is that Callahan sets up his business and the first client who walks into his office is Juan Mira, a retired Filipino boxer. Juan wants to hire Callahan to find his missing girlfriend, Rosa Carmona, a dancer in a nightclub. Callahan does not want to take his money; he thinks Juan just wants him to make his girlfriend return to him. Juan talks Callahan into trying to find Rosa and things rapidly get more complicated.

Juan stood about five-four and would now weigh about a hundred and thirty. He wore a neat and creamy tropical weave suit and white buck shoes and a big-brimmed leghorn hat with an extremely colorful band. There are not many Miras in Beverly Hills; Juan was out of his league.

The cover of my edition describes the book as a hard-boiled classic. This book seemed to have less sex and violence than many books in that genre.

Brock often referred to his car as his "flivver." I am familiar with the word but haven't seen it used a lot, in books of any vintage.

My flivver is what is known as the Victoria model and it has really deluxe upholstery in white and green plastic. Tufted and buttoned and with beaded edges, I was so proud of it. 

I opened the door and turned sick.

Somebody had really worked the upholstery over with a knife. It was slashed viciously, both the front and rear seats. It was ruined.

The definition of "flivver" from the Urban Dictionary:

A 1930s (Great Depression era) slang term for a old, dilapidated, and/or otherwise ragged-out automobiles; appears commonly in 1930s literature like Jack Conroy's "The Disinherited."

Many of the books written by Gault feature sports. In addition to football, there is boxing, racing, and golf. In the mid-1960's and the 1970's he turned to juvenile fiction, often featuring sports, which was more lucrative. In the 1980's he returned to the Brock Callahan series and other crime fiction novels.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and I am glad I finally sampled this author's work. I will be looking for more in the Brock Callahan series and also plan to try some of his other mysteries.

Resources:

• Bill Pronzini wrote an overview of Gault's work, which is featured in this post at Mystery*File.
• A post at Davy Crockett's Almanack reviews this book and showcases other covers.

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Publisher:   Charter Books, 1988 (orig. pub. 1955 as Ring Around Rosa)
Length:       191 pages
Format:       Paperback
Series:        Brock Callahan, #1
Setting:       Beverly Hills, California
Genre:        Hard-boiled mystery
Source:       Purchased at Planned Parenthood book sale, 2013.

Vintage Mystery Bingo Challenge 2015

I am again participating in the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge. The Challenge is hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. For the 2014 challenge, Bev used a bingo card format and she is continuing with that format this year.

Vintage Mystery BINGO Challenge 2015:

There are two choices, and Challengers can go for both challenges or just for one. There is a Silver Age or Golden Age Card.

For the purposes of this challenge, the Golden Age Vintage Mysteries must have been first published before 1960. Short story collections (whether published pre-1960 or not) are permissible provided all of the stories included in the collection were originally written pre-1960.

Silver Age Vintage Mysteries may be first published any time from 1960 to 1989 (inclusive). Again, Silver Age short story collections published later than 1989 are permissible as long as they include no stories first published later than 1989.

There lots of rules and explanations, so if you are interested in the challenge, click on the link above.

This year, as last year, I will attempt to get BINGOs for both Gold and Silver vintage mysteries. It will be interesting to see if I actually make any BINGOs. Last year I struggled, because I did not plan the books I read. Even so I got a total of 3 BINGOs between the two challenges.

I am including one of the BINGO cards, in case you are curious. The Gold and Silver cards are almost identical.