Evil Under The Sun – Agatha Christie, 1941 ★★★

Score Another for Monsieur Poirot

Characters who employ multiple secret identities, dialogue scenes that turn out staged for a listener, red herrings, U-turns, left-field clues, secondary characters who portend nothing but offer strategic diversion at critical intervals: These are devices one not only expects but comes to appreciate reading Agatha Christie novels.

Masterpieces Of Mystery: The Golden Age, Part I – Compiled by Ellery Queen, 1977 ★★

What Was So Golden about the Golden Age?

Detective fiction long ago moved from the whodunit to the whydunit; today it often employs a complicated, psychological approach. So what can be learned from this anthology of mystery writers from its simpler Golden Age?

Do any of them still stand up to modern scrutiny, apart from Agatha Christie, still the reigning Shakespeare of the form? After reading through these 350 pages, I’m still wondering.

The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie, 1926 ★★★★½

Murder Most Sharp

Diabolical is the word to describe this wonderful mystery novel, as twisted as a vine and as charming as a cuckoo clock. Those who might question the notion of a tea-cozy mystery blowing a reader’s mind (much like me, back when) will most likely enjoy this happy rebuke.

Critics have called this the best of the Christie novels; many place it in the top ten of crime fiction overall. In terms of mechanical skill, there’s nothing to argue with there. Nor will I do too much explaining, it being a matter of spoilers. More even than most mysteries, you have that issue here.