DOA On TV February 16, 2025

 

A big week for TV.  All good episodes, and a peek at an FX series called The Old Man.

 

NCIS Origins:  Monsoon

 

Monsoon is another largely Franks episode.  He steps in to help a homeless veteran whose friend is "gone".  The man leads Franks to a homeless encampment where they find his friend has been murdered, hit in the head with a brick.

As the team fans out trying to piece together what happened, we see in flashback Franks running drugs after his return home from the war.  His motorcycle and the stash are stolen at a gas station and he starts the long walk home.  He meets Tish as she needs help with a flat tire, and afterward she helps him with a haircut as she's a stylist.  

In the present day, he's been stalking a laundromat trying to find the man who attacked her, lying about being at work.  When that all comes out, she packs her things and leaves him.

For Gibbs, a lot of memories of his time overseas come up while working with the homeless vets, and he takes a brochure about a support group where vets can talk about their experiences, then sits in with the group  at episodes end.  For all he's been through, and all he's been learning working at NCIS, there's still a vulnerability and a type of innocence about Gibbs.

 

Will Trent: No Faith In Second Chances

This was an action packed episode, full of twists and turns.  At the end I'm going, oh no, you're not ending with that.

I have to note there are two cases this week, with Will and Faith trying to identify a completely burned body, and winding a narrative through a tale of a man who wants another man's wife.

The key story is a shocking episode opening with a farmer who hears pounding on his door, so he gets his gun and calls 911 to say someone is breaking in.

Next we find Angie and Ormewood at the farm, trying to figure out why someone broke in and killed the farmer.  Fanning out across the property looking for evidence, and they find a girl dead, her tongue cut out.

The scene mirrors the crime scene where John Shelly's high school girlfriend was raped and murdered identically, the crime he was sent to prison for.

Though warned not to get too involved in cases anymore, Angie digs in on the case, and John tells her he was innocent, and that he confessed because his mother was dying.  A box of notebooks kept by John's mom are what makes Angie think he may be innocent, but there's another killing, identical to the others.  John tries to escape his apartment with a cooler with a tongue in it.

In side bits, Will and Marion, his new love interest share a salmon dinner at Will's place.

Sunny defies Amanda and invites her dad to the apartment for dinner. When Amanda busts in, there's a huge confrontation.  You invited him into my home, she says.  This is laden with, all his enemies could find her place and come for Sunny and Amanda.  I love Sunny and her dad and wish they could be together.

 

So, at episode's end Angie asks Will for help.  She feels the answer is in the notebooks and she missed it.  She tells Will she never felt anything off about John when she met him, and her instincts would have told her he was a bad guy. 

It seems obvious to me John's brother in law is the culprit in the old killings and the new ones.  There's a possibility its a lawyer who is a dark and sketchy guy, but nah, the Brother in law has means, motive and opportunity.  Let's just fast forward to next week and take that man down.  Bingeing is simpler. Just keep going till the end!

 

Elspeth: Tiny Town

I've caught up to the weekly release of episodes.  This Valentine's Day episode is completely charming! 

There's a street installation in NYC  called the Iris which gives New Yorker's a peek at a street in a small Scottish village, and the village a peek at a busy New York street.

A musician sits and watches the NYC street and he and the waitress from the pub nearby have been watching a couple meet and hope their romance will thrive. Instead, another man enters the scene and appears to threaten the woman who falls and drops a heart shaped box of chocolates, then suddenly she's choking and falls dead. The musician can't get anyone's attention to help her.  

Soon enough the NYPD is on the scene, with Kaya, Detective Edwards, and Elspeth leading the investigation.  It's totally charming the way Angus is watching this scene anxiously, when suddenly Elspeth does what she does, suddenly peeking in from the side of the screen.  She's in pink with a fuzzy hat with hearts.

 

Angus is smitten immediately, and as they communicate by phone, each from their own side of the screen, Elspeth begins to be charmed as well.

There are romantic side stories for the Captain who has been taking dance lessons to surprise his wife for Valentines Day, and for Kaya, whose hunky new Coroner roommate brings her a cupcake from "work".  

Matlock: A Traitor In Thine Own House

Sarah is still angry at Matty's betrayal last week in giving her case to Billy at the last minute.  She teams up with Shae, who'd like to lay Matty out on The Rack and get a few secrets from her.

 

While working on a case of corporate espionage, the two do everything they can to make Matty uncomfortable.  Matty fights back by reporting Shae to HR for harassment and ageism.  Edwin and Alfie help set up a ruse that has Shae flying to Georgia to talk to an old coworker of Matty's, only it's Edwin in disguise.

In another twist, Edwin and Matty are wanting to try to find Alfie's father.  They've no leads or clues, except Edwin does have one, which he lies to Matty about.  It looks like Edwin wants a case of his own.

 

 The Old Man

 

Jeff Bridges play the titular old man.  When we meet him, the show emphasizes his age by having him get up to go to the bathroom multiple times a night,  he has trouble putting on his socks, and he constantly makes what I call "old man noises".  Don't ask Mr DOA about those, nope. 

He calls his daughter, and he says something feels "off" lately.  He sets up a string trap with cans outside his bedroom door. That night, he hears something downstairs and carefully makes his way down. His two rottweilers have a man cornered in a hall downstairs.  Dan just pulls out a gun and kills the guy, then calls 911.

After talking to police, he gets a go bag ready and leaves the house with his two rottweiler dogs.  Dan gets a call from an old fellow spy, John Lithgow's Harold Harper.  Harper appears to want Chase to go to ground, disappear, and never be heard from again as it would bring up a past Harper doesn't want known.

I only watched the first episode but I liked it. Fast paced. Fun to see Bridge's character take down much younger men, with the help of his faithful dogs.  Lithgow's character is hard to read. Is he really helping or is he just trying to shut Dan Chase up.  I like how Chase refuses a deal that includes never contacting his daughter again, because they're important to each other, clearly, and it sounds from their conversations as if she know his past.

 

Review: An Act of Villainy (An Amory Ames Mystery #5) by Ashley Weaver

 

Amory and Milo Ames run into an old friend on a night out who invites them to come to the dress rehearsal for a new play he has written and produced called The Price of Victory.

Starring rising talents Christopher Landon and Flora Bell, Gerard Holloway is hoping for a great success.  He asks to see Milo at his club for a drink the next day. There he divulges that his star and mistress Flora Bell has been getting threatening letters.

There are a number of cast members who have some level of jealousy towards Bell, both for her success and for her relationship with Holloway.  Bell agrees to let Milo and Amory, who have solved a number of mysteries in the past, try to discover who wishes her harm. No police, though, she's adamant.

Awkwardly, Amory is friends with Holloway's wife, and has had some experience herself with a wandering husband.  As she and Milo attempt to investigate, old memories come between them, and Amory doesn't share quite as much as she should about her half of the investigation.

Opening night comes, the play is a rousing success, and Amory has to admit Flora has a rare talent. There's a gala afterward for charity, and then Flora is found, in the theater, dead.  

Despite the tensions from past problems in their relationship, I thought Amory and Milo worked well together as a crime solving team. Both are smart and observant, and wise about people and their behavior.

There's a lot of light witty banter among all characters, and the glamour of the stage.

This is our April book group book, or you know I never would have started in the middle of the series.  Definitely likeable characters, and a pleasant step into the lives of the wealthy in 1930s London.

https://www.ashley-weaver.com/

Review: Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie

 

This is one of those odd Poirot novels where he barely appears at all in the story till the second half of the book.

Most of the story is told from the point of view of members of the Boynton family.  There are three adult children and a teen, and reigning them all in, a mother who is an absolute beast of a human being.

She's described as a tyrant, as sadistic, taking pleasure in controlling and tormenting her children.  The family rarely left the house, back in the United States, no friends were allowed.  Yet here her family is, on vacation in Jerusalem.

The family sees how freely others live their lives, and they begin to feel a desperation to be rid of her. In a campsite in Petra, days outside of Jerusalem, the old woman dies.  Her death seems natural, yet a doctor among the group is missing a syringe, and some medicine.  The mother has a syringe entry point on her wrist.

Enter Poirot, back in Jerusalem, as he's called upon to see if the family either as a group planned the mother's death, or if individuals in the family took it upon themselves to end her life and free them all from nightmare.

There are other parties in the expedition. Is it possible these outsiders had motive?

I thought it was interesting one of the family asked Poirot if he might not do what he did in the case of the Orient Express, just let the evil person who died go to rest and be gone.

Poirot continues to probe, however, and of course determines the guilty party.

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

 

Secretly you live for my epiphanies as to the killer as I'm halfway through a mystery.  Well, by page 106, I knew that the killer was the dead mother!!!!

Incorrect, of course.  I could see it all, though. 

Shea Collins has a blog called The Book of Cold Cases.  On it, she discusses cases famous and not so famous, really digging into known facts and speculations.  Her blog includes a forum where cases are widely discussed.

In her day job, she's a receptionist in a medical clinic.  One day, she recognizes a local crime celebrity (a celebrity to her true crime loving self). 

This woman, Beth Greer, was accused of killing two men in cold blood.  The killings were completely random. There were no connections of any kind between Beth and the victims.  There was a witness who saw her driving away from the second killing. No physical evidence.

State and local police did everything they could to try to win the case that Beth was that unusual thing in the 1970s, a female serial killer.

She was acquitted, and remained defiant, and thus guilty in many eyes.

Shea boldly takes a break after Beth's appointment and follows her and asks for an interview. She's granted the interview, then gets access to some of those involved in the case.

As happens, digging into this old mystery changes Shea's life, and puts her in danger she couldn't have imagined when she asked for that first interview.

Another thrilling mystery from Simone St. James

http://www.simonestjames.com/

Review: Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

 

"I really could not say who you suspect, Hastings! Everybody in turn, I should imagine!"

 

Arthur Hastings isn't the only one who veers from one suspect to another as the story unfolds.  The possible criminal is surely this person, oh, wait! No, it's that person.

I was convinced I knew the killer all along.  Not even close.

Poirot receives a letter from Miss Emily Arundell asking for his help.  She's very vague in her suspicions, and there are many words crossed out.  Even so, Poirot is interested in the case.

To his chagrin, he finds that the letter he just received was written a couple of months ago, while the writer of it was still alive.

Determined to see if there was foul play, he talks with everyone involved in her last days.  It appears she died of liver disease, which she'd had for a long time.

The family are already angry that they were left out of Emily's will and all was left to her companion.  To have Poirot suspect murder, and he rapidly does, shocks and disturbs them even further.

The motive, says Poirot is gain. Just about everyone thought they'd gain a hefty inheritance when Emily died.  Did someone help her along?

Memorable characters, deft plotting, and a charming dog are all that's needed for another enjoyable mystery.

Review: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

 

Sometimes when you really like a book, it's hard to write about it.  That's the case here, or I would have had this written this morning.

I bought The Thursday Murder Club when it came out, based on reviews.  I took a peek at it, but it wasn't what I was in the mood for at the time.  I also had read reviews, and somehow thought it might be a cutesy look at funny old people who totter around talking about crimes and mysteries.  Somehow the thought of it being vaguely like the movie Cocoon entered my mind. I thought Cocoon was a depressing movie.

The Thursday Murder Club consists of four individuals who happen to be in their seventies and eighties.  They live in a retirement village in the English countryside with lovely views, plenty to do, and the wine flows freely.

They meet Thursdays and go over the case files of a former member, trying to solve some of the unsolved cases.  Joyce was a nurse for forty years. Ron was a bit of a rowdy labor organizer.  Ibrahim was a psychiatrist. Elizabeth appears to have been a government operative, likely working for MI5.

When murder comes to the community they live in, they perk right up and prepare to dig in and find out who the murderer is.  The expertise and friends and acquaintances of this group is a force to be reckoned with.  Kindly, they take two local police detectives under their wing.

The murders begin when the developer of their community decides to expand.  He owns the land upon which a cemetery for the nuns who lived where Cooper's Chase now stands are buried.  He plans to remove all of the bodies (carefully, he says publicly) and create a new community there.  This is a case of literally knowing where the bodies are buried, as all sorts of things from the past, not just nuns, are in that graveyard.

The daily lives and concerns of these folks and others in the community are just tossed in.   However, if you are getting up there yourself, or know someone who is, the story can hit hard.  Losing someone slowly to dementia. Secrets that come out when time runs out. People who are lonely wondering how they ended up this way. That awful time when someone you love isn't communicative any longer and you talk to them and don't know if they hear or understand you at all, but you try because it keeps them with you somehow.

The backstory of one of the suspects just made me cry. Maybe all of the other stuff softened me up.

Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

 

It occurred to me today that often when I read a mystery, I have an "epiphany" about halfway through when I know exactly what's going on.

While reading The Woman In Cabin 10, I was convinced that the story would turn out to be a form of Murder On The Orient Express.  The narrator would be the actual victim, killed essentially by everyone on the yacht because she was so incredibly annoying.

Laura Blacklock is a travel journalist who has the opportunity to be on the maiden voyage of the Aurora.  It's a large yacht with some grand features, that is going on a luxury cruise along the coast of Norway.

Just before the trip, Lo (as she prefers to be called) has a terrible experience with an intruder in her home in the middle of the night.  He's a burglar, but when she's roused from sleep she finds him in the hall outside her bedroom, dressed in a hoodie, mask, and latex gloves.  She's injured when he slams the door shut on her.

Beginning her journey having had no sleep for several days, then drinking large amounts of alcohol when she gets on board leave her in a bad state psychologically.  

Even so, in the middle of the night, she is awakened by a scream and the sound of a splash. Running to her cabin's balcony, she sees a body in the water, she thinks, and blood on the glass between her room and cabin 10 next door.

She's assured by staff that no one is staying in that room at all, number one, and number two, there's no sign of a disturbance.  Lo had borrowed a tube of mascara from the woman next door hours before, so she knows the room was occupied.

Within the tight confines of the ship, Lo tries to get to the truth. She uses no journalistic technique of any kind during the trip.  There are no travel notes taken by her, though she sees that her fellow travel writers on board are doing all of the mixing and mingling and interviewing you'd expect.

She becomes increasingly paranoid and obsessed with her theories.  Angry at everyone on board, she's rude and hard to take seriously.  You can't tell if she really did see or hear anything.  Then there are a couple of incidents that make you wonder.  What if she's right. What could possibly be going on?

I suppose it's the classic case of an unreliable narrator.  Unless it's not!

Nice twists, very suspenseful till the end.  

The hardcover cover has a nice texture to it like rain on the cabin window.

Review: Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie

Am I imagining things, or do the plots of the Hercule Poirot novels become more twisty as time goes on? Who could possibly guess whodunnit with all of the characters and motivations, and means?

 

In Death On The Nile, a large cast of characters are on holiday taking a cruise up the Nile.  

The stars of the trip are a newly married couple named Linnet and Simon Doyle.  She's got everything, beauty, wealth, business acumen, charm.  He's a puppy dog of a man who doesn't seem to have much more than his looks and boyish ways to recommend him.

Unfortunately for the couple, they're being stalked by Simon's old girlfriend, who was also Linnet's best friend.  Her disappointment in losing Simon has left her a bit unhinged with jealousy.

Poirot and his old friend Colonel Race observe the passengers, and try to make out who on the ship is actually a threat to Linnet, who confides to Poirot that there are many who hate her.  Colonel Race is also onboard to find a killer who has been ruthless in his underworld dealings.

The pleasure cruise takes a dark turn as there are murders, thefts and other dark crimes uncovered.

Once again Poirot, the romantic, cannot help but be moved by young love. Will this keep him from exposing the killer?

Soon to be a major motion picture!

Review: The Appeal by Janice Hallett

 

 

Told in a series of email and text messages between The Fairway Players, The Appeal presents a lively cast, and a show that must go on.

As the cast prepares for a new play: All My Sons by Arthur Miller, casting choices are made, practices are scheduled. 

Then, the scion of the group and the village itself Martin Hayward reveals his family has been stricken with tragedy in the form of a diagnosis of brain cancer in his two year old granddaughter.  He will not be directing this time around, as he will be devoting all of his time to an Appeal for funds to help his granddaughter get a special treatment available only in the US.

As the play practices go on, the cast goes all in trying to help raise funds for the toddler.

So much about each character is revealed as they chat about the play, the Appeal, and about their work life, as some of the cast work together.  

Soon it becomes clear that several characters have completely different motivations than you'd expect.  One character seems quite off balance.  Another seems bent on revenge.  A couple of people have an unusual desire for attention, more than even actors may be known for.  The Appeal itself seems to be drawing in undesirable types who seem to want the money for themselves.

Once all of this does lead to murder, there is another Appeal. This is a legal Appeal to try to clear the name of the person accused of murder.

A most enjoyable debut novel. I have on order the author's second novel, The Twyford Code.

Cards On The Table by Agatha Christie

 

This is the final Poirot for 2021.  I'll be continuing my readings of Christie's Hercule Poirot novels throughout 2022.

Mr Shaitana is a flamboyant and wealthy collector.  Most of his collections are of art and objects from around the world.  He also finds people of great interest, and he finds out everything about them that he can.  His parties are filled with people he's collected that he feels are interesting.

When he meets Hercule Poirot, he invites Poirot to a dinner party.  Also at the party will be one or more people who have gotten away with the perfect murder, he says.  

In an unusual introduction to the book, Christie tells the reader there are four murderers.  The narrator this time is omniscient, rather than Arthur Hastings or some other individual involved.

The Guests:

Poirot

Mr. Shaitana

Mrs Oliver, Mystery Writer

Superintendent Battle described by all as "wooden"

Colonel Race Secret Service

Doctor Roberts  Popular physician

Mrs Lorrimer   "Well informed, intelligent, excellent bridge player"

Major Despard  Explorer

Miss Meredith  "A pretty girl in her 20s"

After a dinner in which the host tosses out some cryptic remarks that may refer to murders previously committed, the group is split into two tables to play bridge in two separate rooms.

Shaitana gets everyone started, then takes a seat by the fire in the first room.

After a few hands of bridge are played, it is discovered that the host is dead.  He's obviously been killed by someone in room one, but how, why, when?  It would take a bold killer to carry out such a deed with witnesses a few feet away.

Superintendent Battle takes charge of the investigation.  With Poirot's knowledge that there were guests invited who Shaitana had thought carried out perfect murders, he delves into the pasts of the guests to see who might have committed but not been charged with a similar crime in the past.

Poirot concentrates on the players of the game of bridge, what they thought of the game played that night and what they thought of their fellow players.  He carries their score sheets around with him, noting scoring methods and handwriting.  

In one of the most twisted plots yet, Poirot finds his killers.

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

 

The Sanatorium is scary, thrilling, edge of your seat suspense.  Told mostly from the point of view of Elin Warner, a detective on leave from work after a case gone very bad, you're filled with her anxiety almost immediately.

She's not just anxious, she has frequent panic attacks.  Put her in a hotel about to be snowed in with her brother she thinks may be a murderer, and it's a perfect setting.

To be fair, everyone seems affected by the place. The hotel was once a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients.  Some of the artifacts from the former sanatorium hang or sit in glass display cases "to honor the narrative of the past".  There was a disappearance before the hotel opened, a lead architect just vanished.

 As the story opens, a staffer is on the way to her car when someone grabs her ankle.  Instead of running back to the hotel for help once she regains her feet, she runs into the woods to lose the person, because she knows the woods so well.

Classic horror story mistake, of course.  Her story has a bit more truly unpleasant bits to play out.

There are lots of tension builders here!  

A person in a mask with a breathing tube.

Elin's paranoid take on everything that happens.  The mirror through which she sees everything is so hard to follow at times.

Another disappearance.  Is that person the killer, now lurking in the shadows?  Someone who knows the hotel well is playing a deadly game.

Blood on the carpet in a spray pattern?

An avalanche seals in a few guests and staff. No help is coming. 

Twists and turns followed by more twists.  I had three different people pegged as the killer.  All were wrong.

Not to be read before bedtime.

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

 

Arthur Hastings is back providing narration.  He makes a point, however, to say there are some chapters included where he did not witness the events, but has very good information from sources involved that the tale told in those chapters is accurate.

Poirot has received an anonymous letter.

Mr. Hercule Poirot,--You fancy yourself, don't you, at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thick-headed British Police?

Let us see, Mr. Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be.  Perhaps you'll find this nut too hard to crack.  Look out for Andover, on the 21st of the month.

Yours, etc.,

A  B  C

Poirot's frequent companion in crime investigation, Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard believes the letter is a hoax of the sort sent to his own offices daily.  Hastings is inclined to agree.  However, something in the letter has Poirot wary.

The 21st comes and goes, and Japp is happy to tell Poirot all is well in Andover.   Shortly thereafter, Japp calls to say a woman in Andover, last name Archer, was indeed found murdered in her small shop.  It seems her husband may have murdered her, but things don't add up.  There is also the matter of a well placed, open face down to Andover's train schedule in the ABC Railway Guide on her counter.  It is not a guide she carried in her shop.

Poirot and Hastings question potential witnesses in Andover to no avail.  

They must wait for another letter, and Poirot is certain there will be one, to try to avert another murder.  Or solve it once it tragically occurs to make sense of the murderer's plan before he kills again.

Luckily they lived in an age when "chain" or "series" murders were not a common thing.  It's fascinating as always to watch Poirot at work, connecting clues that anyone would miss, looking to the psychology of the killer as much as at his work. 

https://www.agathachristie.com/

Death In The Clouds by Agatha Christie

 

On a routine flight from Paris to Croyden, England, there is a small disturbance of a wasp flying about.  As passengers prepare to land and are given their bills for in flight services, one lady is unresponsive.

It turns out she is dead.  Examined by a doctor on board, who is accompanied by a curious Poirot, they notice a mark on her neck. Poirot, bending down, finds what appears to be a small, oddly painted dart.

It is declared a murder has taken place, and all passengers are detained and questioned.  

At an inquest later it is determined that Madame Giselle, a Parisian moneylender, was killed by a poisoned dart, which was expelled via a blow pipe used by certain South American tribes, by an unknown person, though the jury wanted to charge Poirot!

In the passenger plan above, you see the victim was in seat number two.  Very few passengers had a line of sight to shoot anything at her.  No one saw anyone else doing anything so suspicious as blowing a dart at another passenger.  Few people even got up from their seats during the trip.  

Poirot and his old colleague Inspector Japp interview passengers and others of interest in England and Paris.

There's a chapter called the List which I enjoyed that showed what each passenger had in their possession.  Many of the passengers had some sort of reading material with them, from books to magazines.

One of the most interesting passengers was a mystery novelist who drew some suspicion to himself with his knowledge of blow pipes and various methods of murder.

Poirot takes a young couple under his wing and enlists their help in his investigation.

One of my favorites so far.

Nancy Drew and the Testimony of the Executed Man

 

 I hoped for a bit more from Detective Con in this episode.  It didn't look like and wasn't run like any convention I've been to.

In fact, true to the episode title, the story was about an innocent man who was executed for a crime he didn't commit.  He had confessed, though, because he didn't want to admit where he really was.  His alleged crime took place in the fifties, and his ghost still wanted to protect someone.

This ties into the convention because Nancy "borrowed" old police files for Laci, host of the Premeditated Murder podcast. Laci had a personal interest in the old murder, and she told Nancy she'd give up the name of the frozen heart killer in exchange for the box of effects from the 50s.

Laci and Nancy decide to do a panel format talking about the Frozen Heart killer, as they think he's in the crowd.  They demean him and his methods hoping he will give himself away.  On a break, Nancy "heads outside to her car" to get something through a spooky basement, and of course the killer is right behind her.

I would have preferred more time spent at Detective Con and some more cat and mouse with the Frozen Hearts killer there.

A worthy separate episode would have been the unjust death and unquiet ghost whose life came to an end in the 50s.

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

 

 Hercule Poirot appears very little in this novel, and that is mostly near the end of the story.  In spite of this, Three Act Tragedy is a highly entertaining mystery.

Thirteen are gathered for dinner (plus one) at the home of famous actor Sir Charles Cartwright.  We learn all about the various attendees from an omniscient narrator and somewhat from the observations of Mr. Satterthwaite, a fellow who is a patron of the arts and who considers himself a keen observer of human nature.

Practically before the dinner party has a chance to  get started, one of the guests, a clergyman, suddenly seems to choke on his cocktail, and in moments he's dead.

A doctor on the scene, Bartholomew Strange, pronounces Stephen Babbington dead.  Babbington had a few health problems, so it is assumed one of those took the elderly man at this misopportune moment.

Charles Cartwright, however thinks something more happened, and he discusses this theory with his friends Satterthwaite and Strange.  He also mentions his theory to young Hermione "Egg" Lytton Gore, who has a bit of hero worship for the older Charles.

A few months later, there's another dinner party, with many of the same attendees, sans Poirot.  Another death immediately after a drink is taken.

Now the game is on, with Satterthwaite, Cartwright and Egg consulting and crisscrossing the countryside to try to find out who the murderer is, for they're all certain now there were two murders.

The first murder, of the innocent seeming clergyman must hold the key.  What could be the motive, and why was there no trace of poison in the glasses used by either victim?

I wondered at the point of view and the leaving Poirot out of the hunt for the killer for much of the story.  The would be detectives have a thrilling time out asking questions of witnesses.  Was this to give the reader a viewpoint wherein they knew what the detectives knew, and they could solve the murder right along side them? Poirot himself famously holds much information back.

I, for once, actually suspected the killer, but not their motive or method.  I was a bit proud of myself.

Three Act Tragedy was formerly published as Murder In Three Acts which is a better title, all in all, I think.

Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie

 

 

 

I’ve never read Murder On the Orient Express before, and I have somehow managed not to see a single film version of it.  I’ve seen film clips over the years, and formed an impression of the story.  Going in, I “knew” who committed the crime, but not how or why.

As with all of Christie’s Poirot novels so far, (I’ve been reading one a month since January of this year), the presentation of the mystery and the interviewing of the suspects is very enjoyable.

Nothing quite adds up, even for the reader, until Poirot is ready with his reveal.

 

Poirot ravels on a packed train from Istanbul to Calais, with plans to go on to England from there.

At a snowy, unplanned stop, a traveler is murdered.  The victim has been touring Europe under an assumed name, and is in fact guilty of heinous crimes in America.

Poirot is asked to investigate by the head of the train line, an old friend, who is also traveling aboard the train.

Working with a doctor who is onboard, Poirot investigates the crime scene.

We know Poirot disdains the traditional methods of detection, such as solving the crime by some miniscule piece of evidence.  At this crime scene, however, clues are writ large upon the scene.

Stab wounds, and there are many of them, are at angles that suggest both a left handed and a right handed assailant.  Differing wound depths, suggesting frailty and strength.

An unusual flat match that looks nothing like those the victim used.  A ladies handkerchief.  A pipe cleaner.  Someone, maybe more than one person, appears to have planted clues galore.

As Poirot’s interviews begin, everyone seems to be outright lying or openly holding something back.

How will Poirot deal with all of the contradictions?

The solution to the crime and the meting out of justice was oddly touching.