book challenge

Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case (Read Christie Challenge, August 2026): Book Containing a Beloved Duo

28th August 2026 by claireladds Leave a Comment

August is the month for reading an Agatha Christie book containing a beloved duo, if you are participating in the Read Christie 2026 challenge. If you’ve been following my posts on ‘Read Christie’ this year, then you’ll know that I have been doing precisely that.

Beloved duos in Christie novels as they appear repeatedly over the course of the Christie canon are, at least for me, really distinct: Poirot and his loyal sidekick, Captain Hastings, the often underrated and forgotten about Tommy and Tuppence Beresford (on whom I wrote my Masters dissertation), and Poirot and the force of nature who is the novelist Ariadne Oliver. There are other amateur detective pairings who appear as one-time partnerships throughout Christie’s novels, too, of course, but in choosing my beloved duo, I could not help but respond viscerally with my own very personal emotions with regard to my choice. I remembered the very first time I, personally, encountered Poirot and Hastings together, which was in The ABC Murders, the first Christie novel that I ever read at the age of ten (there’s a link at the bottom of this post if you want to read more about how that came about). Quickly, at the time, I realised how much I adored this duo and sought out their first ever adventure together, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. And so began a lifelong literary love affair for me with Poirot and his long-suffering narrator sidekick. I have been reading and re-reading their mysteries for over 40 years. So it it fitting that I have chosen Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case as the book I read for August, as it returns both Poirot and Hastings, both much older, to the original location of their first novelised murder case.

In Curtain, Poirot is already ensconced at Styles, no longer a family home where a murder took place but now bought up by an elderly couple as a place for paying guests. Poirot invites Hastings by letter as a matter of some urgency to come and stay there with him. Because there is a murderer once again at Styles, and Poirot needs Hastings to help him catch this terrifying person before this person kills again.

Bringing Poirot and Hastings full circle in this way brings with it a heavy weight of memory, a remembering (and misremembering) of the past, and the realisation that much has happened since this duo first teamed up in a detecting capacity. A huge sense of loss bears down upon the book throughout: that of time, of Hastings’ now deceased wife, and most particularly of Poirot’s physical capability, for he is seen to be now suffering with a severe heart problem. Styles was once Poirot’s place of refuge as a refugee, injured in World War One, and he returns here, once again physically vulnerable and reliant on others, now biding his time until death comes to claim him. I feel that this weighs heavily on, not just the characters of Poirot and in particular Hastings, but also on the reader if, like me, they have spent a lifetime (either in real time or in character time) with this pair. We know their banter of old, their foibles and nuances, their zest for life, and experience it having been ripped away from them both due to the longevity of time.

In many ways, this is an emotionally difficult novel to read, as well as for the characters to participate in. Maybe this also has something to do with the reasons why Christie wrote the book, and when she wrote it, too. It was written during World War Two, at a time when the author herself did not know if she would come out of the war alive. In writing it, she ensured there was a definitive end for Poirot’s detecting work, which ultimately was locked away and not released until the mid-1970s. It is also reported that Christie had had enough of writing about Poirot, and so this book clearly marks the end of her desire to write about the detective (although her readership had a very different view, and so the stories continued. In this, there are obvious parallels to this author-character relationship to that of Conan Doyle’s relationship with Sherlock Holmes; I find this particularly ironic as Christie very much followed intentionally in the footsteps of Holmes and Watson with the characters of Poirot and Hastings.

The emotional nature which permeates Curtain is utilised to its utmost in the premise for the crimes in which Poirot and Hastings are entwined in this book, expertly and meticulously created and executed in the plot by Christie. We learn from Poirot that, historically, there have been emotionally-led murders around the country for which only the person accused could possibly have been responsible, yet something was clearly amiss: either the perpetrator was acting completely out of character, or evidence stacked up against them and led other to believe that they were responsible, even if they were not convicted. And now, at Styles, where an atmosphere of death and evil seems to overhang the place from the crimes committed here before, there is a distinct possibility that some of the guests just might kill, as emotions get the better of them. Emotions can be volatile and manipulated, and this can lead to the very real danger of otherwise perfectly innocent and placid people murdering to appease the emotions that have been riled up in them.

But how have their emotions got to this state at this guest house? And, more to the point, who is manipulating these people in order to commit the most perfect of murders: one in which the murderer has literally no connection with the murder at all? Poirot believes this is the most intriguing case he has ever encountered, and also the most perfect of crimes. Human emotion of ‘victim who could become murderer’ is pitted against the cruel and psychological game play of the killer. And, mirroring that, is Poirot’s dogged intellectual pursuit of this evil inhuman form, and the more active and emotion-led investigation of Hastings, who can move around in a way that the aged and decrepit Poirot can now no longer do. In this way, the intellectual, the physical and the emotional act as separate and individual thematic elements, almost characters in their own right, within the book.

If you have anything like the heartfelt attachment to this detecting pair of Poirot and Hastings that I have acquired over the decades, then I urge you to read Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case at some point in your life of reading Christie books (and, if you can bear to do so, to watch the TV film of the same, starring David Suchet, but with a handkerchief ready). In some ways, this novel makes for heart wrenching reading, an experience threaded with sadness and the impending sense of loss beyond that already documented in the pages of the book. But it completes the circle of this beloved duo’s lives together, in setting, in detecting, and in their unwavering loyalty to, love for, and need of, each other. Equally, it allows for this to stretch even beyond the grave.

And, if you want to know what I mean by that, you’ll need to read the book…

And Then There Were None (Read Christie Challenge, July 2026): Book Containing the Best-Kept Secret

25th July 2026 by claireladds 1 Comment

We are in the second half of the year, and I continue to pursue the Read Christie Challenge for 2026. This seems like an apt description for it this month, as the characters in my chosen book for July are precisely that: pursued. And, more specifically, pursued by a completely unknown psychopathic murderer, who has no intention of stopping until every single person is dead.

The book I am talking about is probably one of the most iconic Agatha Christie novels of all: And Then There Were None. The story takes place on an island off the coast of Devon, England, where a group of seemingly disparate people have gathered at the invitation of the mysterious U.N. Owen, who has bought the island. Each one of these individuals has been invited via letter supposedly from an employment agency, or a friend, acquaintance, and so forth. Taken to the island via ferry, they are left to their own devices, together with a married couple who have recently been employed as staff to accommodate the party. But something unites these people: On the first evening, when everyone is gathered, a record begins to play on a hidden gramophone, accusing every single one of the island’s inhabitants of murder. And it is true, in varying degrees, for each one of them, calling into question where one draws the line between blatant murder, and culpability for a death, and where active blame could be construed as passive or indifferent lack of care for another human life.

The pseudonym of their mysterious host, as the people marooned and captive on this stormy island soon come to realise, is terrifyingly close to spelling out ‘unknown’. And this anonymity of the murderer, whose sole intention, it quickly becomes apparent, is to destroy everyone on the island one by one, is at the heart of the plot, and of the essence of the novel. Once victims of U.N. Owen begin to fall, the paranoia of each accused inhabitant, the fear over who will be next, and also the intellectual pursuit of those fighting for survival become the driving force throughout the book for those under threat, and for reader alike. Christie has no intention of letting the reader in on the secret of who the killer is. We also have to suffer the agonies of slow discovery, red herrings, blind allies and the certainty that no one is escaping alive.

The claustrophobic nature of an island they cannot escape, dichotomously housing the ultra-modern home where they are sitting ducks, and the violence of the sea and the storm they prevent them escaping, sets the tone for the real terror of the situation. For, once the ten people have searched the island and found no one else there at all but themselves, it becomes excruciatingly clear that the murderer has to be, and can only be, one of the ten people on the island. And this is the reason I have chosen And Then There Were None as July’s ‘book containing the best-kept secret’. Because it must be one of them. Yet, every time they are sure they know who it is, they are wrong in the most devastating of ways.

Slowly, chapter by chapter, the reader joins the anguish and desperate, paranoid attempts to discover who the killer must be, as the number of accused people reduces, one by one, and in a particular order, dictated by a nursery rhyme which hangs on every inhabitant’s bedroom wall. The tension increases with every death for both the characters and the reader: we are closer to the truth, yet not close enough to prevent more murders. At a basic, human level, it is devastating.

The secret of ‘whodunnit’ is kept right until the very last pages of the novel, and I defy anyone who is encountering this book for the first time to detect the killer on the island. It seems the murder is impossible to discover, unless, of course, as the people stranded on the island believe, that eventually only one will remain: the murderer. Surely? This could quite easily have become a book with no known ending. Thankfully for the reader, Christie adhered to all the rules of fiction as a member of The Detection Club, most notably to play fair with the reader. It is not because Christie broke the rules of mystery fiction that we, as readers, cannot solve the secret of this story. It is because it is meticulously plotted, and the the dialogue and thoughts of the characters are placed there for us to help in finding this secret, if only we know what to do with them.

From a personal standpoint, I have to admit that I find the last few pages of the novel a bit of a stretch in believability with regard to how the secret is revealed, and prefer the revelation, and indeed the clever ending engineering, of the three-part TV film version starring Charles Dance, Sam Neill, Toby Stephens, et al. (if you have not seen it, then I recommend it as a modern-day thriller which equally retains the historical necessities of Christie’s book). This is a personal preference, and takes nothing away from the fact that Christie’s set-up for this incredible, baffling series of deaths perpetrated by ‘unknown’ is an impenetrable as the sea would be in an escape from the island. This book is a masterclass in the fatalistic and unsolvable thriller. Clues are laid to the mindset of the murderer, yet it is phenomenally difficult, even with re-reading, to pin these revealed thoughts to the individual who exacts a form of ‘justice’ meted out meticulously to everyone on the island guilty, but never convicted, of the part they played in someone else’s death. And I mean every one.

If you were the murderer, can you think of a better way to keep the secret of ‘whodunnit’ than that?

Sad Cypress (Read Christie Challenge, April 2026): Beloved Book in my Collection

30th April 2026 by claireladds 1 Comment

Image shows Sad Cypress book cover facing outwards on a bookcase filled with Agatha Christie books. Text on the image reads: Agatha Christie Challenge 2026, April. My choice for beloved in my collection, Sad Cypress.

I am still reading my way joyously through the list of books I have chosen for the Read Christie challenge this year. During April, participants were tasked with choosing a book which is beloved in their Agatha Christie collection. Now, there are many that I really like, and some that I absolutely adore. There are also one or two of Christie’s novels which have captivated a part of me and won’t let me go. So, actually, this became a really tricky choice, as I had to decide where to place other books, and in which months, for the challenge. Ultimately, my choice came down to the two novels which captured my heart from the moment I first read them: Sad Cypress or Endless Night. I will certainly be discussing Endless Night later in the year for a different month’s premise. Today, it is Sad Cypress that I have chosen as ‘beloved in my collection’.

I remember more vividly than most of my reading exploits the day that I began reading this novel for the first time. I was a teenager of about fourteen, and one with a huge capacity for imagination. I read this book in our back garden but before long, if you had asked me where I was, I would have described a very different place. So absorbed was I in the world of Sad Cypress that I was reading in the gardens of the ancestral home inside its pages, a rose trellis close to me with the breeze cascading the aroma of red roses all around my head, as I sat at a little table which held a plate of fish paste sandwiches, and indoors, when I went to continue reading out of the sun and sat on the imaginary giant wooden spiral staircase, a black medical bag magically opened, revealing a tube of Morphia. Only something about it did not seem quite right…

Now, I feel, this bizarre description might need putting into some sort of sensible context. Here is a brief summary of the book, in case you have never come across it before (there are no spoilers regarding ‘who did it’, but there are details which appear further into the book, so please skip this part if you want to read it with no preconceptions of the plot):

Elinor Carlisle, heir to to her aunt’s fortune, stands in the dock, accused of murdering Mary Gerrard. An anonymous letter suggests that Elinor and her fiancé, Roddy, (also a relation to old Mrs Welman by marriage) need to watch out for Mary, who is becoming all together too close to Mrs Welman and may make trouble where inheritance is concerned. But, once Elinor and Roddy head to their aunt to see what all the fuss is about, things get much worse. Roddy’s visceral and sudden love for Mary Gerrard causes the engagement to be broken off. Worse still, their aunt dies. Meanwhile, Mary, now with a small provision made to her by the very honourable Elinor, has made a will – so now it seems she has something to leave to its recipient. Elinor, too, has made a will, leaving everything she inherits to Roddy.

While clearing out the house before its sale and also that of the associated lodge where Mary’s father lived, Elinor makes fish paste sandwiches, and invites Mary and nurse Hopkins who has taken a shine to Mary and is helping out, to have lunch with her. An hour later, Elinor and nurse Hopkins find Mary dead.

Did Elinor poison Mary Gerrard by adding Morphine to the sandwiches? The police are so convinced by this theory, and the evidence which backs it up, that she is in the dock for murder. Or could someone malign be framing Elinor to suit their own ends? Doctor Lorde, who attended to old Mrs Welman, is determined to get Elinor off at all costs, and enlists the help of his friend, Hercule Poirot to do so. Poirot, being Poirot, intends to seek out the truth, even if that might mean he discovers that Elinor is actually guilty of murdering Mary Gerrard – and of other atrocities along the way. But sometimes there are things even Poirot does not want to know…

So, why exactly is it so beloved in my collection? The answer is threefold: Christie’s use of structure, her treatment of character, and the thematic undercurrent that pervades every aspect of this book.

Firstly, structure. The story itself is cyclical and I truly love a cyclical story. We begin in the courtroom, where Elinor Carlisle is being accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard. And, to be honest, as readers, we do not know if she did or not. So Christie takes us back to the beginning of the whole event: to the point when Elinor and her fiancé, Roddy, receive an anonymous letter warning them that someone may be trying to get their hands on the inheritance. We follow the whole process to the murder, and then to Elinor’s arrest. And so begins a separate section – the investigation by Poirot, with everything a reader can expect, from the questioning of suspects through to Poirot’s own quirky ways of finally bringing his findings to a conclusion, which he always states will be the truth, regardless of what that is. We are pulled this way and that over who might be guilty throughout the entire middle section of the novel. Finally, we return to the courtroom, where the excitement mounts and justice is delivered – and we, the readers, finally discover whether Elinor is guilty or innocent.

I will look at character and the thematic undercurrent together, as they are intricately linked. The people in this book have a great deal of hidden depth, which I absolutely love. Christie is excellent at hinting at what is below the surface through events that happen or have happened in the past, or through partially thought-out ideas of her protagonists. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the character of Elinor Carlisle. She can appear as someone rather lacking in passion on the surface, but when we spend time reading between the lines of everything Elinor does, says and in particular thinks, we find a woman who is extremely emotionally aware of herself and of the devastation that love, and betrayal, can cause a person. Her thoughts are powerful, passionate, sometimes dangerous and take her to the brink of murder (whether she goes through with it I will leave you to discover for yourself).

The hidden emotional depth appears to run in the family. One of the most powerful features of this novel, for me, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the murder mystery. I have always been fascinated by the painful undercurrent of the tragedy of love and, indeed, I think this has always appealed to me the most about this book. The emotions, particularly those which are buried from everyone but the reader, and those which have been hidden due to years of societal expectation, are strong and carry the motivations of certain characters throughout (I am being careful to avoid spoilers here). Mrs Welman has a past which she has been holding close to her heart for decades. When we discover what this is, I think it is impossible not to feel anguish for the old lady’s plight, and a distaste for the social, political and legal situations which prevent a deep and enduring love from being fulfilled. Poirot, however, with his astute and sympathetic understanding of the intricacies of the human heart at its most passionate, loving, vulnerable and, indeed, dangerous, shows himself to be so much more than the quirky little Belgian detective who uses order and method and collects facts alone. He shows himself to be human. For me, the ones in which Poirot is sunk into the grey areas of the guilty and the innocent are always the best Poirot stories because it adds a level of complexity to the vehicle for crime-solving. Poirot’s detection is impeccable here. While reading I am both rooting for him all the way, and also hoping against hope that he finds something which will acquit Elinor, as the evidence is stacked ridiculously high against her.

If you have never read Sad Cypress, if you love Agatha Christie books, or if you are trying them out for the first time, if you are a Hercule Poirot fan (as I am, as you will most certainly know if you have read other posts of mine or are in my Readers’ Club), or if you find intrigue in the complexities of love, passion and secrets which society prevents women from revealing while also being embroiled in solving a mystery and all of it flanked by the courtroom drama which plays out over the Accused (and yes, I am aware there was a lot there), then I heartily recommend this novel. You can then read it for yourself and see why it is my Read Christie choice for April.

You might also like:

The ABC Murders (Read Christie Challenge, March 2026): Book that made the biggest impact on me as a young reader

Death on the Nile (Read Christie Challenge, February 2026): My choice for ‘beloved characters’

Spell the Month in Books: August

7th August 2021 by claireladds Leave a Comment

It’s August and here in the UK it’s the height of summer (as I write this it’s pouring with rain!). When I was a kid, I was often encouraged to go outside and play in the lovely weather. Truth be told, all I really wanted to do was to curl up in a corner and read a book, hoping that the summer holidays would pass quickly and I could go back to school. I absolutely loved school, and I couldn’t stand the hot weather, so six weeks off was like torture. Luckily, I loved being at home, too, and I created reading areas in the shade. One year, my neighbourhood friends and I used my dad’s trailer shelter as a den. It was pretty good reading in there, too, if somewhat dark! (This same den is fictionalised in my Hearts & Crimes novel, The Secrets That Haunt Us).

Suffice to say that summertime became a reading frenzy for me. If you’d like a bit of mystery-oriented summer reading, then just maybe I can help you out with my August Spell the Month in Books list.

Anthem for Doomed Youth – Carola Dunn

This is the 19th Daisy Dalrymple book, and I am hooked on them! I have really enjoyed following Daisy’s exploits and the developments in her life. Daisy herself is perfectly feisty and astute, while maintaining a great wit and managing her relationships with her “interesting” family members, and her romance with DCI Alec Fletcher.

Anthem for Doomed Youth sees Daisy visiting their daughter at school – to the relief of Alec’s boss who warns Alec to keep Daisy from meddling in their newest case. Three unidentified bodies have turned up in Epping Forest, shot through the heart and Scotland Yard wants it cleared up ASAP. But just because Daisy isn’t there, doesn’t mean she’s not entangled in murder. And she can’t really help herself because a teacher at their daughter’s school ends up dead…

If you like 1920s murder mysteries with a light-handed touch, then the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple might just be your cup of aristocratic tea.

Unexpected Guest (The) – Agatha Christie (play novelised by Charles Osborne)

I became a real fan of Agatha Christie’s plays a number of years ago, some of which I have as an original stage play, and some which have been novelised. My version of The Unexpected Guest is a novelisation of Agatha Christie’s play, written by Charles Osborne, but I’ve linked above to the original stage play.

A man manages to send his car into a ditch in South Wales on a dreadful foggy night. Having escaped the car, he seeks out shelter and finds an isolated house. When he enters through the patio doors, he discovers a woman standing over her exceedingly dead, wheelchair-bound husband, complete with a gun in her hand. The man says he will help her create a cover story. But it’s clear that the woman is not guilty of murder – so who is she protecting? There are a whole house-full of suspects, and it must be one of them. But who?

I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this book. Christie’s original play is fantastic and this novelisation has been exceedingly well written by Charles Osborne. The mystery runs hand-in-hand with suspense. What I particularly love about this is that the narrator is not completely clean cut and innocent – after all, he does offer to concoct an alibi for someone who appears to be a murderer! I’m really glad I chose this book for my August list as the play itself had its debut performance on 12th August, 1958 and it’s been performed many, many times since!

Guilty Consciences – Ed. Martin Edwards

This is a crime collection I have had on my shelf for a while and am ashamed to say that I haven’t yet read from cover to cover. Of course, books of short stories have the advantage that you can read them (usually) in any order.

This anthology brings together seventeen stories by members of the Crime Writers Association, and includes stories by esteemed authors such as Ann Cleeves, Peter James and HRF Keating, among others. The stories I have read so far have all the hallmarks of great mysteries and I am absolutely sure that I’m going to love reading the entire collection.

I would have loved to have linked to this book for you, but I haven’t been able to find it at the time of writing. If I do come across a copy, I’ll add it in here as an update.

Unnatural Habits – Kerry Greenwood

I first came across Kerry Greenwood’s mystery novels set in 1920s Australia and which give us the exploits of the high society Phryne Fisher as a series on the TV. I enjoyed the Phryne Fisher Mysteries series so much that I began buying the novels, and I haven’t been disappointed.

Phryne and her maid-sidekick, Dot, get to investigate when young, pretty, blonde girls begin to go missing from the Magdalene laundry. All of them are pregnant and there’s a big cover-up afoot. But Phryne has no intention of allowing these girls to vanish into oblivion.

What I really enjoy about Phryne is her feistiness and her refusal to give up on anyone, regardless of race or class. She treats everyone equally and, despite social tensions, she has the ability to cross those invisible borders and isn’t above investigating the most heinous and lowlife of crimes. Her sense of justice is profound. She is one of my favourite high society female sleuths.

Something Wicked – David Roberts

Originally, I think I bought this book for two reasons: firstly, I had just completed my Masters dissertation which I wrote on Agatha Christie, and the main text that I worked with was the Tommy and Tuppence novel, By the Pricking of my Thumbs; secondly the title reminded me of the Ray Bradbury book, Something Wicked This Way Comes. It was a bit of a foregone conclusion, therefore, that I’d end up buying Something Wicked!

However, I have not actually read this book (hence no recommendation link), but I can tell you what it is about. This is book 8 of a 10 book series about Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne. Verity has returned to England with suspected tuberculosis, and also now engaged to Lord Edward. She checks into a clinic where – surprise, surprise – Edward has to go and investigate a series of murders. He’s there because his dentist has died rather suspiciously, and so have two other patients. As war approaches and hangs over them all, Edward and Verity need to find out what, or who is casting a shadow of threat over them.

Two for Sorrow – Nicola Upson

This novel is part of the series of mysteries which fictionalise the author Josephine Tey as sleuth. In this novel, Josephine wants to write about the perpetrators of a thirty year old baby farming case. Her friend, Inspector Archie Penrose, is on a case involving the murder of a seamstress which at first glance seems to be part of a domestic fight. But it becomes clear that her death is linked to another murder – and someone wants the past to remain buried.

I find the Josephine Tey books to be extremely in depth and darker than a lot of “cozy” mystery fiction set in between the wars. Personally, I like this more sinister element of the cozy. To my mind, cozy crime fiction does not have to be light-hearted; its defining feature is that it does not have bloodshed “on the page”. Nicola Upson’s series delves deeply into the darker motivations and means of criminals, and it feels to me very much like historical crime fiction. Maybe it’s because my own work has a dark edge that I like the Josephine Tey series as much as I do.

Well, there you have it: my Spell the Month in Books for August. As always, for transparency, some of the books I mention contain my affiliate links for US readers. I only ever use affiliate links on books I have personally read and have enjoyed. You can search for the books without clicking through on this post, of course! 🙂

I hope that a book or two that I’ve mentioned here might encourage you to try a new author or a new crime and mystery-filled book, be it a novel or a short story collection. Have you read any of my August list, or are any of them among your favourites? Be sure to tell me in the comments.

Spell the Month in Books: July

6th July 2021 by claireladds Leave a Comment

A new month brings a new blog post in which I spell the month in books. There was no post for June, due to various reasons, but I’m back again now!

This is a short month – in letters, anyway, so I have just four books for you. As usual, I’m putting my own crime spin on this book challenge, and there are a couple of my favourite detectives in this month’s haul. So, without further ado, let’s see what I’ve got in my bookstack.

Jewel that was Ours (The) – Colin Dexter

I’ve said before that I love Inspector Morse, whether it’s the novels or the TV series. This novel is no exception.

Oxford is used to having international visitors, and 27 American tourists is just par for the course. But then one of them turns up dead in his hotel room. To all intents and purposes, it looks like a terrible accident. Yet an antique has been taken from the man’s pocket, and no one seems to care. No one except Morse. When two days after this dreadful occurrence, a naked and battered body is found in the river, Morse is determined to prove that there’s a link between the two deaths.

It’s great to ‘watch’ Morse at work, solving the crimes while negotiating his way around the visiting Americans. Morse’s feel for the respectable and the rumbling irritability that often lurks within him always make such quietly amusing contrasts as he goes about his detection. Oh, and if you’ve never watched the Inspector Morse series, I thoroughly recommend it. It’s not for those who want a fast-paced detective programme, but if you like your detecting to be somewhat more cerebral, and if you love the idea that Oxford – including its university – is the setting, then this is for you.

Under the Dragon’s Tail – Maureen Jennings

When an abortionist is murdered, it comes as no great surprise to Murdoch, because she was a greedy woman who held her ‘clients’ in contempt. She may have been very discreet, but she left too many people who crossed her path angry at their treatment. Then a boy is found murdered in the abortionist’s kitchen. Why? Murdoch doesn’t know, and what’s more puzzling and disturbing is that he isn’t sure if he’s on the hunt for two separate killers, or whether there’s a link between the murders and he’s searching for just one. But who could want an abortionist and a boy dead?

Victorian/Edwardian surroundings, progress and inventions fascinates me. I recommend Murdoch Mysteries to anyone who loves a cozy mystery and a great detective story with strong characters.

Love Lies Bleeding – Edmund Crispin

I have a set of half a dozen Edmund Crispin novels involving the English professor and amateur sleuth, Gervase Fen, on my shelf, and I am sad to say that I have not yet had the opportunity to read any of them. However, I have started this one and I can say that the humour woven into the Gervase Fen books has already had me sporting a wry smile while I’m reading, and sometimes laughing out loud.

Professor Fen has been invited to hand out the prizes at Castrevenford school’s Speech Day. But trouble isn’t very far away, as the night before he is due to fulfil his engagement, two staff members end up dead. Gervase Fen is asked to put his sleuthing powers to work and find out what happened, and all kinds of shenanigans ensue!

This is a classic Golden Age mystery, with the added quirkiness and comedy not always found in all Golden Age mysteries. If you like a light-hearted tone in your mystery, then Gervase Fen might be the sleuth for you.

You Let Me In – Lucy Clarke

Finally, after using this book in previous Spell the Month in Books posts (who’d have thought I’d have such difficulty finding a crime book on my shelves beginning with a ‘y’?!), I have managed to read the novel! I can most definitely say that I’m glad that I did.

Elle hasn’t felt right since she moved into her rented house. She has the creepy feeling that someone is watching her. Everything about the atmosphere feels – strange. But she convinces herself that it’s her own imagination because she’s a writer. And she’s likely to have strange imaginings because of that, isn’t she? As paranoia and terror takes over, she knows someone is out to get her…

I absolutely loved this! I have no intention of spoiling the story, but I will say that if suspenseful books are for you, then this is a book you definitely have to read!

So, there we have it, the first post about crime, mystery and dark books for the second half of the year (where is the time going?!). Next month my Spell the Month in Books post will be a bit longer. August has more letters! 😁 If you try any of these books, or you’ve read them, do feel free to let me know in the comments. As always, my disclaimer: this post contains a few affiliate links if you’re an Amazon US user, but only to books I’ve personally read and recommend.

If you want to tell me what you’ve been reading, or are planning to read this month, you can tell me in the comments, or find me on Facebook or Instagram. And if you’ve read one of my books, I’d love to hear from you! New ones are in the pipeline. More on those very soon…

Spell the Month in Books: May

4th May 2021 by claireladds 5 Comments

Welcome to my Spell the Month in Books for May. With only three letters in the month, this is going to be a pretty short post!

Once again, I couldn’t resist including an Agatha Christie book. The film adaptation of the novel I have chosen is one of my favourites. I’ve also included a book from a lovely series of hard-to-get and forgotten mystery novels, brought back to life by the British Library Crime Classics series. And blimey, who knew I’d still be having problems finding paperbacks on my shelf beginning with a ‘y’?! Anyway, without further ado, here are my choices for this month.

Murder in Piccadilly – Charles Kingston

Bobbie Cheldon’s ideas of love and marriage vary greatly from the woman who captures his heart in a Soho nightclub. Whereas he is looking for the perfect marriage, Nancy the dancer is much more interested in the money that Bobbie will inherit from his wealthy uncle. But there is a problem – Bobbie’s uncle isn’t going to hand over ten thousand pounds a year to make Nancy’s life more comfortable, just because she thinks it’s a great idea! But there may be a solution, and it leaves the way open for murder. Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard has to untangle all sorts of scandalous Soho shenanigans in order to get to the truth.

This was my first British Library Crime Classics purchase and since then I have gathered a number of them and have really enjoyed all the ones I have read so far. It’s wonderful, being able to gain access to stories through the British Library Classics editions that you struggle to get hold of otherwise. I’m gradually working through the collection. In fact, I remember mentioning that I fancied collecting them, and, come Christmastime, found myself unwrapping half a dozen of them from my kids. If you enjoy Golden Age mysteries you may well love these books.

Appointment with Death – Agatha Christie

The American Lady Boynton is a widow, ridiculously wealthy – and also a hideous human being. So when she is discovered by members of her dysfunctional family, sitting there, surveying her surroundings, and with a puncture mark on her wrist as the only sign that she has been murdered by a lethal injection, there are plenty who are in the frame as suspects. Even Poirot thinks she was a dreadful woman, but he has just 24 hours to discover her killer.

I really loved this novel, for its characters, its plot and for the many possible reasons the truly hateful Mrs Boynton could have been murdered. It kept me guessing at every turn. I remember reading this book when I was in my twenties, and being thoroughly absorbed by it, so much so that I dreamt about the characters for weeks. I’ve also watched the film of the book starring Peter Ustinov several times. I re-read it more recently after watching the film adaptation starring David Suchet on countless occasions, and was fascinated by the differences between the original novel (and the Ustinov film) and the TV film starring David Suchet as Poirot. For me, the changes in location, plot and the motivations driving various events are just brilliant, but I won’t spoil it for you. I do believe, however, that you will get very different experiences from reading the book and watching the more recent Suchet film (and if you happen, like me, to like John Hannah, then you’ll definitely get an experience from watching the film!)

You Let Me In – Lucy Clarke

Since Elle rented her house, things have seemed strange. There is a weird atmosphere, and she has this really creepy feeling that someone is watching her. She tries to convince herself that it’s her writing job, her imagination, that is causing the problems. But as threats come in that are all too personal, and she becomes more and more paranoid, everything about her new home becomes a prison she can’t escape. Just who has found a way into her head and is doing this to her?

I still can’t tell you from personal experience what I think of this book, as it’s stuck in my TBR pile, and likely to be there for some time yet. But I bought it because it sounds creepy, and brilliant, and I can definitely tell you that I’ve read some fantastic reviews about it from book reviewers on Instagram. I’m very much looking forward to reading it.

There you go – short(ish) and sweet! Or at least short and crime-filled. 😊 Have you read any of the books I’ve mentioned this time round, or do you have any crime books that you’d love to recommend to others? Do feel free to pop them in the comments, if so.

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