Judy’s Comments (group member since Oct 01, 2015)

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I'm enjoying the Henry Tibbett series but I don't think all the books are in print, in the UK anyway.

Group Reads:

September
Lonesome Road (#3 Miss Silver Mysteries) by Patria Wentworth
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie (Challenge Title)

October
Murder Included (#1 D.I. Price) by Joanna Cannan (1950)
A Murder Is Announced (1950) by Agatha Christie (Challenge Title)


Buddy Reads:
August/Sept
Brought to Light (Bobby Owen #32) by E R Punshon
A Dead Liberty (Sloan and Crosby #12) by Catherine Aird
The Terrorists (Martin Beck #10) by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (last book)
The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond by Charlotte MacLeod (Professor Shandy #6)
White Nights by Ann Cleeves (Shetland #2)

Sept/Oct
Vale of Tears (Bradecote and Catchpoll #5) by Sarah Hawkswood
Special Assignments by Boris Akunin (Erast Fandorin #5)
Mrs Pargeter’s Point of Honour (Mrs Pargeter #6) by Simon Brett
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell (Kurt Wallander #1)
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey #5)

Oct/Nov
Dark is the Clue (Bobby Owen #33) by E R Punshon
One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis (Falco #11)
Willful Behaviour by Donna Leon (Brunetti #11)
Gently By the Shore (Inspector George Gently #2) by Alan Hunter

Nov/Dec
Postern of Fate (Tommy and Tuppence #5) by Agatha Christie (last book)
The Vanishing Box (Brighton Mysteries #4) by Elly Griffiths
The Blood-Dimmed Tide (#2 John Madden) by Rennie Airth
The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr (Bernie Gunther #2)

Dec/Jan
The Night of Fear (#2 Hugh Collier) by Moray Dalton (Christmas buddy read)
Triple Quest (Bobby Owen #34) by E R Punshon
The Body Politic (Sloan and Crosby #13) by Catherine Aird
Vane Pursuit by Charlotte MacLeod (Professor Shandy #7)
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves (Shetland #3)

Jan/Feb
Faithful Until Death (Bradecote and Catchpoll #6) by Sarah Hawkswood
The State Counsellor by Boris Akunin (Erast Fandorin #6)
Mrs Pargeter’s Principle (Mrs Pargeter #7) by Simon Brett
The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell (Kurt Wallander #2)

Feb/March
Six Were Present (Bobby Owen #35) by E R Punshon (last book)
Ode to a Banker by Lindsey Davis (Falco #12)
Uniform Justice by Donna Leon (Brunetti #12)
Gently Down the Stream (Inspector George Gently #3) by Alan Hunter


Our 2025 Challenge is Christie's Detectives: Poirot vs Marple

Jan: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
Feb: The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
March: The Murder on the Links (1923)
April: The Body in the Library (1942)
May: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
June: The Moving Finger (1942)
July: The Big Four (1927)
August: Sleeping Murder (1976)
September: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
October: A Murder Is Announced (1950)
November: Black Coffee (1930)
December: They Do It with Mirrors (1952)
aka Murder with Mirrors

I thanked Susan in the other thread but will say thank you here too :)

Hi Susan and Susan, yes we're doing The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club in September/October, looks like it dropped off the list here but we're still doing it :)

The full list of buddy reads for September/October is:

Vale of Tears (Bradecote and Catchpoll #5) by Sarah Hawkswood
Special Assignments by Boris Akunin (Erast Fandorin #5)
Mrs Pargeter’s Point of Honour (Mrs Pargeter #6) by Simon Brett
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell (Kurt Wallander #1)
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (Peter Wimsey #5)

Hi Susan, thank you for this! Looks like the Lord Peter Wimsey book has dropped off (The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club) - it should be one of the reads for September/October, so the list of buddy reads for that month is:

Vale of Tears (Bradecote and Catchpoll #5) by Sarah Hawkswood
Special Assignments by Boris Akunin (Erast Fandorin #5)
Mrs Pargeter’s Point of Honour (Mrs Pargeter #6) by Simon Brett
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell (Kurt Wallander #1)
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (Peter Wimsey #5)

I've just changed the list in the 'upcoming reads' thread to add that book back in, otherwise just a copy of yours.

Nominations so far:

Susan: Post After Post-Mortem by ECR Lorac

Susan in NC: Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery aka The Mystery at Lovers' Cave by Anthony Berkeley

Sandy: No Game for a Dame by M Ruth Myers

Any more? Last call as I'll put the poll up this weekend.

No Game for a Dame is free in the UK too. Thank you for that one, Sandy!

Thank you very much for the updates, Susan. Lots of lovely books coming up.

Welcome, Anubha, must agree re The Big Four, fortunately not typical of Christie!

Thank you Susan, and thank you Sandy for checking. Great nomination.

Susan, thank you for the info about the TV version - it sounds as if there are quite a few changes from the book so I'm not sure whether to watch it or leave it for now in case I confuse myself, as you say.

I'm wondering if this was one of the first detective novels with a setting on board a train? Not that much of the book actually takes place on the train, but it definitely makes a strong impression.

Surely not, Susan! ;)

One of the issues I had with the plot was that it was hard to believe Rachel would allow her faithful servant to stay after it turned out she was organising things like the poisoned chocolates and even snakes in the bed!

Surely even the kindest employer would have had enough by this point, however much the servant insists that she is only trying to look out for her and warn her she is in danger! I found this a quite amusing and unexpected twist, anyway.

For anyone who wants to know more about the Blue Train, here are a couple of websites with interesting details and pictures:

https://www.purefrance.com/en/blog/le...

https://simanaitissays.com/2013/11/11...

It all looks very glamorous!

I think I'll watch the TV version of this one too, Franky, as, although I enjoyed it, I'm finding it starting to fade. Hopefully that will refresh my memory.

It's time to nominate for our November group read. Please nominate books which were either written in the Golden Age, or a little earlier or later, or are set in that period. If in doubt whether a title is eligible, just ask.

Usual rules apply. Only one nomination per group member. Only one book by any individual writer can be nominated per month, and authors can't nominate their own books. If you aren't sure whether we have read something, the group bookshelves may help, or just ask. If it was at least 3 years ago that we read it, it's fine to re-nominate.

Agreed re the tropes! I'm trying to remember which other book I read recently where someone had been left money to administer for the whole family, as Rachel has to in this one - does anyone remember a similar set-up?

P.S., I suppose this is the nearest we ever get to a Marple/Poirot crossover!

Intriguing that St Mary Mead appears in this book - I was slightly confused by this initially, and wondered if I was reading a Miss Marple book rather than a Poirot one!

Although this is the first book to mention St Mary Mead, the first Miss Marple story set in the village, 'The Tuesday Night Club', was (just!) published first, in a magazine in December 1927, a few months before 'Blue Train' came out in March 1928.

So they must have been written around the same time, and clearly the village was taking shape in Christie's mind. I think it feels very similar in this book to the village we know and love from the Miss Marple stories.