Crooked House by Agatha Christie

Crooked House is another Agatha Christie.  I think this is only the second time I've read this omnibus of three novels (The Seven Dials Mystery,Crooked House, and Ordeal by Innocence) so this story isn't as familiar to me as some of Christie's are. 

Eighty-five year old Aristide Leonides dies after someone in his household switches Leonides' insulin for the eserine in his eyedrops.  We meet the Leonides family through the eyes of Charles Hayward.  Hayward is in love with Leonides' granddaughter, Sophia, who wants to be sure of the murderer's identity before agreeing to marry Charles.

Sophia and Charles' relationship didn't interest me -- it was never clear to me what the attraction between them was based on or what held them together during a time of great turmoil.  But, as always, Christie delivers a plot with plenty of twists and turns and manages to (almost) make you feel sorry for the independently wealthy.  :)

Friday 56 and Book Beginnings -- The Seven Dials Mystery

Hosted by Katy.
How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence.

 "That amiable youth, Jimmy Thesiger, came racing down the big staircase at Chimneys two steps at a time.  So precipitate was his descent that he collided with Tredwell, the stately butler, just as the latter was crossing the hall bearing a fresh supply of hot coffee."


A great intro -- like many of Christie's ploys, you don't realize how great til much later on.



Hosted by Freda.
Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here.

"Old diseased colonels creeping about in the sun, and active, wizened spinsters running libraries and churches."

Another re-read for me.  Something about this plot kept reminding me of a Nancy Drew mystery -- secret society, peeking through cabinet doors, etc.  Not quite motivated enough to see if I'm right, though.  :)

Beeswing -- Christy Moore

So lovely.  <3

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 -- a full and diverse day

Ready for bed

Teaser Tuesdays -- Easy to Kill by Agatha Christie

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"It's very easy to kill, so long as no one suspects you.  And you see, the person in question is just the last person anyone would suspect."

~p. 7-8, Easy to Kill by Agatha Christie

The speaker here is Miss Fullerton, speaking to Luke Fitzwilliam, her fellow passenger on a train to London, near the opening of this book.  Fitzwilliam is returning from a long stint as a police officer in Asia and is mildly amused by Miss Fullerton's story of the murders she "knows" are taking place in her small village of Wychwood under Ashe.  His amusement fades, however, when he reads, a few days later,  Miss Fullerton's newspaper obituary.  His concern increases when he learns that the very person she was worried about on the train has died as well.  He arranges to go to Wychwood under Ashe to reassure himself that there is nothing to Miss Fullerton's story.  Unfortunately, of course, there is.

I found a study hall/library pass from 1992 in this book.  :) It's interesting to think about reading it at two such very different times in my life.