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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

PS, also wouldn't the killer's suicide make people, and especially Caroline, realise he did it? So many things to think about at the end.

Yes, it must have been amazing to read this when it was first published!

I'm just trying to work out how early on Poirot arrives at the solution - it sounds from his comments at the end as if he suspects the truth early on, and just lulls the killer into a false sense of security.

It looks as if Poirot will hush things up once the killer has 'done the decent thing', but I'm wondering if that is fair on Ralph - wouldn't it mean that people still suspect him, and indeed others who are innocent of any crime too?

I've just finished my reread and, this time around, really appreciated just how brilliant the plotting is.

The first time I read this book, I'll admit I was fuming over the twist, but that was partly because it seems old hat these days as it has been copied so often - at the time, it caused a sensation. I still don't really think Christie plays fair with the reader, but does that matter when the writing is so clever?

Jackie wrote: "I'm done so I need to listen to the Secret Life podcast and head for the spoiler thread."

Me too, Jackie! I've just finished so I'll be over to the spoiler thread soon.

I was confused by the bit where a lot of the characters are playing Mah Jong, as I didn't have a clue about this game. I found a site with a simple explanation, just sharing it in case anyone else shares my confusion...
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-t...

Thank you, Susan - I've listened to the latest Shedunnit podcast and must say this author sounds very interesting!

I love this comment by Flora, which makes me wonder what Christie would have thought of fans who pay a fortune for literary keepsakes:

"That pen that George Eliot wrote The Mill on the Floss with - that sort of thing - well, it's only just a pen after all. If you're really keen on George Eliot, why not get The Mill on the Floss in a cheap edition and read it."

I've started rereading this and am enjoying it - I think Christie is very good at first-person narration, as in The Murder at the Vicarage. I'm enjoying the dry humour about Caroline's nosiness - I can see how her character helped to inspire Miss Marple, as Christie said it did.

Thank you Susan, interesting nomination. It's good to read some of the different authors published by British Library.

Yes, of course, nothing is set in stone!

Thank you very much, Susan, that all looks good.

Hi Numi, welcome to the group. We have lots of Christie fans here :)

It's time to nominate for our July group read! We have a change this month, as we're now allowing books which were either written in the Golden Age, or a little earlier or later, or are set in that period (ie historicals set in the GA are now OK to nominate.) If in doubt whether a title is eligible, just ask.

Only one nomination per group member, and 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 is fine to re-nominate.

Thanks for letting us know about Peter Lovesey, Jan. That's sad news.

Thank you for the info about the podcast, Susan, I will give it a listen!

Looking forward to rereading this one.

The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thank you for opening up the threads, Susan. I read this a few years ago and remember enjoying it, but don't remember much else about it.

I've enjoyed other books by this author since, and am looking forward to a reread. Who is joining in on this one?

The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...--

I use both my phone and laptop but agree the app isn't much use! A little while ago, I did find the app kept asking me to sign in, but I was actually signed in already and could get to the groups etc without doing so.

That's interesting that he hasn't changed much, thanks, Sandy. I haven't stayed with this series but am interested to hear about the short stories revisiting young Bobby - I'm tempted to give those a look.

Thank you, Susan! Looking forward to the new discussions.

Frances, that's an interesting question about the killer. Given just how cold-blooded she is, I do think it's worth stopping her, as she might kill anyone else who gets in her way - plus the fact that she deserves justice. I do wonder if it might be possible for her to be arrested earlier in the story though, to stop the further deaths. Wouldn't there be anything she has definitely done that she could be held for?

Thanks for mentioning that episode of Shedunnit about gay-coding in GA mysteries, which I remember being very interesting. As you say, I think Peter is definitely supposed to be irresistible to women in general, something which becomes more the case as the series goes on!