Years ago, in 2012 to be exact, I planned to read the entire Agatha Christie Crime Collection in 23 months and blog about it. I loved it while it lasted, but it fell off my to do list as I became too accustomed to Christie’s work and figured out all the endings before the endings while also getting derailed by a toddler. That toddler is now in high school. I have new toddlers now. But the Crime Collection is the same and sits on my shelf, waiting.
Last night I read N or M? with a friend and was introduced for the first time to Tommy and Tuppence. Previously, I’ve mostly read Hercule Poirot novels, Tommy and Tuppence were a breath of fresh air and I will definitely revisit them soon.
My favorite thing about Agatha Christie is that she gives you all the clues you need to solve the puzzle. My least favorite thing about Agatha Christie is that she give you all the clues you need to solve the puzzle. It’s a conundrum. I love that her stories make sense and you can track the pieces falling together. I hate that I always know the end before the end, therefore I enjoy that they are at least short.
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In this particular puzzle, the protagonists must discover who is spying for the Germans during WWII. (Christie actually wrote this novel during the war, so it would make a fun novel for a student studying the era in history as well.) The opening sequence of Tuppence cleverly pulling one over on her boss and husband tickled me pink and let me know that Tuppence would likely be the one to solve the crime. I adore her character. Tommy is wonderful too, but he set a prescendent in the opening of the story to have the wool pulled over his eyes a bit.
The pieces of the puzzle being delivered via fairy tale metaphors delighted me. The first suspect is compared to the big bad wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, what big teeth she had, the better to eat with. The second suspect has a room that smells like peppermint and gives Tuppence a feeling akin to the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Nursery rhymes and children’s fairy tales walk us straight into an unexpected kidnapping. Add to that a suspicious “miracle” and a vague mention of Solomon in the Bible and I realized immediately that the true adversary had to be the one associated with the true story.
Christie brilliantly spoon fed us everything we needed to know and then we just had to ride out the waves to see how Tommy and Tuppence would piece it all together as well.
So wonderful! Well done, Agatha.
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from Guest Blogger Angelina JoiAnn
Title: Blood Myth
Author: Stacy Moran
I did not know there was a glossary at the end of the book because I tend to just jump into books… I don’t even read the back cover. So at first it took me awhile to understand what was going on. (Words of Wisdom = Read the glossary first)
It was very interesting and unique. I enjoyed the dom/sub relationship, the broken past that Zakan had and dealt with, and the passion. While reading my kept going back to Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. The mystical parts with witches and shape shifters, “little rabbit” blood and gore took my mind to the Anita Blake series by Laurel K. Hamilton. (If you like those books, you’ll like this one)
There is definitely a lot going on in this book. Not just the dominate/ submissive relationship, but good vs. evil, sex, violence, drama, myth, family history, and more.
It took some time for me to wrap my head around everything that was happening, but it did end with a decent shock. And the best way I could describe Blood Myth is “interesting.”
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