All of Agatha #3: Poirot Investigates & The Man in the Brown Suit

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

This month in my quest to read all of Agatha Christie's ouvre in published order, I read the short story collection, Poirot Investigates and the novel The Man in the Brown Suit, both published in 1924.

The first is a collection of eleven stories, [eleven in the UK version, three more were added to the later US version] all very known to me, with Hastings and Poirot. Some are clearly tributes to ACD. Such as "The Case of Mr. Davenheim" being a send-up of "The Man with the Twisted Lip"; "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb" being much like "The Blanched Soldier" and "The Case of the Cheap Flat" being basically every ACD story where the client accepts a situation that is far too good to be true. And all the stock in trades, jewelry thefts, Egyptian curses, and espionage. Warning for lots of xenophobia and anti-Asian racist stereotypes in "The Adventure of the Western Star." I listened to some of them on audiobook with Charles Armstrong as narrator who does a fine job. I'm a fan of David Suchet as an actor but not an audiobook narrator.

I loved "The Man in the Brown Suit." I don't honestly remember reading it before, so maybe I didn't. I was turned off by an audiobook version which I only listened to about 30 seconds (Allison Larkin was narrating and whose voice resulted in instant revolt of my eardrums). But if you skim over the Very Heterosexual romance and noxious sentiments about Love and Marriage and,to a lesser extent, Women, it was a romping good story about Anne Beddingfeld whose academic father dies leaving her penniless and she (much like Tuppence Cowley/Beresford) is looking for adventure and she finds it by witnessing a death on the tube in London and being caught up in intrigue which takes her to South Africa and Zimbabwe. The mystery centres around missing gems and involves a long sea voyage and danger aboard ship and no one is who they seem! There were TWISTS! And much, much humour. And I loved it. There's much to learn from it about misdirection.

Some quotes:

[talking about her hat]...with the inspiration of a genius, I had kicked it once, punched it twice, dented in the crown and affixed to it a thing like a cubist's dream of a jazz carrot". I am definitely going to draw a cubist's dream of a jazz carrot.

Professor Peterson one clasped me affectionately and said I had a "neat little waist"....The phrase alone dated him hopelessly. No self-respecting female has had a "neat little waist" since I was in my cradle. Anne is no fool--except when it comes to Love!

He has the face of a fourteenth-century poisoner--the sort of man the Borgias got to do their odd jobs for them." Such a Bertie Wooster line! And I will steal a poor ficcer's version

"I can drink practically an unlimited amount of ice cream sodas." You and me, Anne!

And having lived and worked in East Africa, I did appreciate the mention of wooden animal souvenirs. They are difficult to resist.

So technically, the next work is a book of poems called Road of Dreams, but apparently only one edition was printed and so unless I have a A. Z. Fell, bookseller, who wants to grace me an ethereal peek at a rare book, I'm going to move on to the forgettable and UN-forgettable: The Secret of Chimneys and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Bring your mah-jog tiles! And start dreaming of vegetable marrows!

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I will continue to cheer you on in your endeavour. I like that poisoner line, which I agree is very Wooster-like.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ha! You are both encouraging and obstructing due to the NEW BOOKS I've just received which are very tempting. The answer is, of course, to READ THEM ALL. Plenty of superior companionship at the dreaded soccer practice.

[lunabee34]

What was your work when you lived in East Africa? (If you don't want to say, I understand.)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I was a teaching assistant at a university. Not very glamorous but interesting.

[lunabee34]

It sounds interesting!

I wish teaching was glamorous. LOL My life would be a lot more exciting.

[regshoe]

I vaguely remember reading The Man in the Brown Suit years ago—is it the one with the deeply weird romantic happy ending? Anyway, I do also remember the terribly exciting sense of drama and adventure! And those lines you quoted are brilliant—Agatha Christie is most famous for twisting murder mystery plots but she's got such a great sense of fun too, perhaps especially in these early books.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, I think you remember correctly. Anne shows so much pluck and smarts and then on board she falls love-at-first-sight with an unpleasant man who over the course of the rest of the book has at least 3 different names and identities. And they trade some off-putting and bizarre quips about marriage and love and what a woman wants and needs and it's all very eye rolling. But amputating that part, it's a very fun story and the way Anne reacts to the villain, I think, shows that the pluck isn't wholly gone from her just sort of unpleasantly fermented through the lens of a traditional heterosexual relationship.

I am struck by how funny she (Agatha Christie) can be. Lots of great lines in this one.

[luthienberen]

Whoa, The Man in the Brown Suit certainly is an entertaining ride ~ though I think I would prefer a quieter sail lol and leave the adventure to excellent Anne.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, I found it most enjoyable!

[luthienberen]

I love your icon :)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

[debriswoman]

I now want to read “The man in the brown suit” :-)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I think it would make a fine read for you. And I hear you're going to have some free time coming up... :)