Reading the Detectives discussion

For October we have two short stories. As they are indeed very short, I think we can keep one thread for each book, and not have two other spoiler threads. Unless you disagree?

This one is for: The Second Gong: A Short Story

which is available as stand-alone ebook for all ereaders.

The story can also be found two collections, but check the contents before buying them because various variations are around "The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories" and "Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories."

I have Dead Man's Mirror: A Short Story in my collection which I think is similar-that is what I will be reading.

I found The Second Gong as a single story kindle book.

Having read this, I can see easily why it was later extended. The short story does seem quite unfinished, as though Christie had more to say. I liked the idea of the garrulous old man, insisting that people turn up for dinner on the dot, there were a good cast of characters and some interesting motives. I look forward to re-reading the longer version, if we get to it. I am sure I have read it before anyway!

I think I've read the longer version somewhere as the plot/clues seemed familiar - but have to say that even in a short story, Christie manages to create vivid characters and a puzzling er... puzzle! Her brain must have been teeming with plots, she's so prolific.

I read the short version and felt it was too short like Susan said, and there seemed there was more left unwritten .

Also, having re-written it, she could then sell it to another magazine. Certainly, magazines were her bread and butter.

I had this in the collection The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories, and enjoyed it - it really does feel like a mini-novel, so I'm interested to hear that there is a long version, and will look forward to trying that in the future.

The version I read was divided into chapters and felt complete. I enjoyed the story and felt the mystery was well-done. The “crazy aristocrat” felt a bit cllched, but perhaps Christie was one of the first to use that trope. It’s also quite common to have people getting their couples wrong-in this case assuming the daughter was in love with the secretary when it was a cover for the agent. I guessed the adopted daughter was in fact an illegitimate daughter, but just assumed it was of the Baronet, not his brother. (Would the former have been to risqué for the when this was written?)

Looking forward to reading our second story soon.

One of the downsides of listening to books on audio is that is not always easy to keep characters straight, especially in a story this short, which doesn't have an opportunity to get fleshed out. Somehow all of the ladies and all of the gents meshed together in my mind, I couldn't tell which was which. It seems like an interesting plot though, and I look forward to reading a longer version later on in the challenge.

I, initially, had the audio version, only to find the story that I wanted wasn't included, so had to download the book!

From Frances' comments, it sounds as if there are some additional plot elements and revelations built into the longer version of the story.

Yes, she certainly enlarged the story later.

Oh dear, sorry if I’ve given away any spoilers for reading the longer version later!

Thanks Frances, but I think we'll be OK as long as we don't read the two versions straight after one another :)

Yes, don't worry. I am sure I have read it anyway. These different versions tend to merge :)

There is an interesting line in my version, particularly as we do our chronological read. In the opening paragraph Poirot is described as a small elderly man . If the Baronet was born in 1878 (again, in my version) and is also referred to as an elderly man, this would place the story sometime in the 30's or 40's, and would also suggest that Poirot was born well before the turn of the century. We'll see how he "ages" through the series.

I suspect he might stay around the same age, or age very slowly, as with Miss Marple!

He is retired and growing marrows by the time of Roger Ackroyd, so I think Christie wrote herself into a corner in terms of age!

I read the short version (I assume - it was very short) and it seemed rushed and incomplete. And, like Tara, I had trouble keeping even this short list of characters straight. I am looking forward to the extended version to see how Christie develops it.

And, yes, Christie shouldn't have introduced her two main detectives in their twilight years.

Good point, Sandy - both Poirot and Miss Marple are fairly elderly, which is an odd decision, when you think about it.

I presume that Agatha did not really foresee how successful her two elderly detectives would be and how long she would need to keep them in the running! I remember reading somewhere that she very consciously chose to use older leading characters as she was fed up with all the frolicking youngsters everywhere.

I think with this short book it was the first time that reading too many iterations of the same story bothered me somewhat. I remembered a lot of things from the longer story and yet somehow they didn't fit or happen here at all, which threw me off. The solution here is very different too, but it works just fine.

I think many of Christie's books are quite harsh on the young, although Poirot does sympathise with young love :)