From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race, #1)

Agatha Christie

Start date: April 1, 2021

Finish date: April 30, 2021

Why we're reading this: The first Colonel Race mystery is the next in our Assorted Christies challenge.
[close] The first Colonel Race mystery is the next in our Assorted Christies challenge.

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Jan 24, 2017 Nanosynergy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, mysteries-thrillers-espionage, british, fiction, 2017read, reviewed, romance, fiction-1920s

A 1924 mystery/romance by Dame Agatha Christie - who knew!? Spunky Anne Beddingfield - the young (over age 18), unmarried daughter of a scientist - loses her father. Finding herself "an orphan," she chooses to use her pittance of an inheritance to book a berth on a ship to South Africa in pursuit of adventure - trying to solve the mystery of the man in the brown suit. With smarts, persistence, dumb luck, and the help/hindrance of new-found friends, Miss Beddingfield survives several attempts on ...more

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Mar 10, 2021 Susan in NC rated it really liked it

Really a combination espionage thriller/mystery with a soupçon of melodramatic romance thrown in for good measure. A fun but very unusual Christie I had never read before - read as part of this year’s “Assorted Christies” challenge with the Reading the Detectives group.

I won’t recap the plot, amply covered by the blurb above; I will say I enjoyed this heroine Anne Beddingfeld, for her brains, competence, optimism and sense of adventure. She gets into some scrapes, but never strays into TSTL (To Really a combination espionage thriller/mystery with a soupçon of melodramatic romance thrown in for good measure. A fun but very unusual Christie I had never read before - read as part of this year’s “Assorted Christies” challenge with the Reading the Detectives group.

I won’t recap the plot, amply covered by the blurb above; I will say I enjoyed this heroine Anne Beddingfeld, for her brains, competence, optimism and sense of adventure. She gets into some scrapes, but never strays into TSTL (Too Stupid to Live) territory. After her father’s death leaves her literally a poor orphan, she heads to London from her quiet village to find adventure, and never looks back. After witnessing a suspicious death (a nearby man appears so frightened he backs off the railroad platform and dies on the tracks), Anne doesn’t panic. She makes the most of the sensational coverage by bluffing her way into a newspaper publisher’s office and wrangling an opportunity to track down the man in the brown suit of the title, seen leaving the area, and suspected of another death. Clues lead her to blow the last of her meager savings on a first class passage on a ship to South Africa - on board she meets a society beauty who befriends her; a dashing, tall, silent man of the type she’s dreamed about, who may be Secret Service; a suspicious clergyman, and a blustery MP and his secretive but efficient secretary. Things are never dull with Anne around - I really enjoyed her as a heroine.

The only thing I didn’t really enjoy was Anne’s seeming obsession with her love interest - might have been typical of the time, but she seemed a bit to into the caveman type - not my cup of tea. I couldn’t help agreeing with her longtime married friend, Suzanne, who supports Anne following her heart, but worries whether such a white-hot passion would last! Anne is indignant, I thought downright bitchy, saying her friend was just going to fat because she was a longtime married woman! I thought that was rather bizarre, out of character...I get it, Anne doesn’t want to settle for the usual “marry for security, settle into middle class respectability” route expected for young women in 1924, but didn’t see why she should say something so hurtful to her friend! Luckily, Suzanne wasn’t the type to take offense easily (quite a wonderful friend, I’d say).

It was interesting to learn about Colonel Race’s early career - I had run into him later in his life in Hercules Poirot mysteries. He is an intriguing and mysterious character here, Anne is both attracted to, but slightly afraid of, Colonel Race. Between that and her other tempestuous relationship, I realized as fun and enjoyable a character as Anne was, she and I would never see eye to eye on matters of the heart!

Other than that, I really enjoyed this adventure/thriller/mystery - there’s even a revolution in the end! I listened to the audiobook with Emilia Fox narrating, and enjoyed it for the most part, until her very throaty, almost growling voice for a young male character became too annoying. Luckily, Audible had another excellent version available. Christie packed a lot into this story, and it is a lot of fun. ...more

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May 25, 2012 Becky rated it it was ok

While I'm not sure it's exactly fair to say that this is one of my least favorite Christie novels, I'm tempted to say it anyway. Because I just didn't care for this one. The narration was a bit strange to me. Most of the novel is narrated by a young woman whose father has just died, Anne Beddingfeld. She's left with practically nothing except her good looks and charm. There's just something about her that makes everyone want to take care of her and trust her. She by chance witnesses an accident, ...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Laura Anne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, adventure, travel-planes-trains-autos-boats, sub-saharan-africa

Re-Read 2021. Very fun early Christie with humor, adventure, and romance.

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Nov 05, 2007 Bronwyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-multiple-times, title-j-r, european, novels, author-a-i, by-women, mystery-detective-suspense, 2007-reads

This was pretty good! I read this before in probably middle school, so didn’t remember anything. I think I confused it with They Came To Baghdad, too, because I was thinking it was middle eastern, not African. Anyhow.

This was a fun story. Very twisty and lots of happening to be in the right place at the right time. Anne is a fun character to be in the head of.

There’s, of course, some sexism and racism since it’s from 1924 and a lot takes place in South Africa, Botswana, and Rhodesia (they go t ...more

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Jan 21, 2020 Anna Adams rated it it was amazing

Shelves: christie

Haven't read a lot of Agatha Christie's stand-alone. Enjoyed this one! I liked the heroine, despite some shocking instalove. Loved the introduction of Col. Race. Not a lot to say, because AC is pretty much always 5-star for me! ...more

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