Wednesday 13 March 2024

Towards Zero [#books #reviews]

by Agatha Christie

Superintendent Battle
← Cards on the Table


When you read the account of a murder―or say, a fiction story based on murder, you usually begin with the murder itself. That's all wrong. The murder begins a long time beforehand. A murder is the culmination of a lot of different circumstances, all converging at a given moment at a given point. People are brought into it from different parts of the globe and for unforeseen reasons. [...] The murder itself is the end of the story.
It's Zero Hour.
[...]
It's Zero Hour now.
Superintendent Battle
(Page 223)

Tuesday 27 February 2024

The Moving Finger [#books #review]

by Agatha Christie

Miss Marple
The Body in the Library
A Murder is Announced


God doesn't really need to punish us [...]. We're so very busy punishing ourselves.
Jerry Burton
(Page 88)

Saturday 17 February 2024

L'Allegria [#books #review]

by Giuseppe Ungaretti


M'illumino
d'immenso

I illuminate (myself)
with immensity

(English translation found HERE)

Sunday 11 February 2024

Five Little Pigs [#books #review]

by Agatha Christie

Poirot
Evil Under the Sun
?


Hercule Poirot looked with interest and appreciation at the young woman who was being ushered into the room.
[incipit]

Sunday 14 January 2024

The Body in the Library [#books #review]

by Agatha Christie

Miss Marple
The Thirteen Problems
The Moving Finger


Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid spinsterish face, and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it as all in the day's work. Her name's Miss Marple. She comes from the village of St Mary Mead, which is a mile and a half from Gossington, she's a friend of the Bantrys—and where crime is concerned she's the goods.
Sir Henry
(Page 103)

Tuesday 2 January 2024

N or M? [#books #review]

by Agatha Christie

Tommy & Tuppence
Partners in Crime
By the Pricking of My Thumbs


Tommy Beresford removed his overcoat in the hall of the flat. He hung it up with some care, taking time over it. His hat went carefully on the next peg.
[incipit]

Tuesday 26 December 2023

Evil Under the Sun [#books #review]

by Agatha Christie

Poirot
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Five Little Pigs


It is peaceful. The sun shines. The sea is blue. But you forget, Miss Brewster, there is evil everywhere under the sun.
Poirot
(Page 12)

Towards Zero [#books #reviews]

by Agatha Christie Superintendent Battle ← Cards on the Table Rating: 8.5 /10 When you read the account of a murder―or say, a fic...