Reading the Detectives discussion

I'll open this up as Jessica is very busy at the moment.

This story has a WW2 setting, involving the London Blitz. Poirot has his suspicions when he is asked to find a missing person guided only by the spirit world.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread.

Who is joining in on this one? I'm intrigued by the description but I think it will take me a little while to get to it.

Apparently this is a Christie book I have never read! I will see if I can get an ebook or audiobook edition from the library...

I have the audio version, and am about a third of the way in. No one has been murdered yet (unless the second husband was murdered rather than killed by a bomb).

I am finding the description of an impoverished post-war Britain interesting - it is the year before I was born, so I remember rationing, but our family wasn't rich enough to be hit by taxes.

The snobbery also seems more blatant - I am waiting to find out if the portrayal of all the characters going on about 'not a lady', 'not our sort' is benign, or a character flaw!

Thank you Judy! I'm still stuck in music exams, they got a bit delayed by the whole viral situation that in combination with my job in the hospital increased my stress levels even more! Well mid april things will be less complicated ( I hope I hope), the next Poirot arrived on my doorstep today so I'll be ready to join you then :-)

I will get to this but likely not for a week or 2. I've finally got an online copy of The Catch so will finish that and a couple of other things first.

Take care, Jessica! I have the kindle and audiobook, will be starting this evening. I don’t remember this from the description, so I’m looking forward to it!

A little linguistic comment/question:

At one point, we have this reference to a tea-tray being brought in:

“Here’s Kathie with the catlap,” he remarked.

The scene goes on to suggest that Kathie is not too particular about making sure that the water has properly boiled before making the tea (a particular pet peeve of mine).

I wouldn't have thought anything much of it, but I was recently reading Black Sheep. This includes a scene in which Abby and Miles goes to the theatre, and she is impressed that he arranges to have tea and refreshments brought to them in their box.

Abby said appreciatively: ‘How comfortable it is not to be obliged to inch one’s way through the press in the foyer! You are entertaining me in royal style, Mr Calverleigh!’

‘What, with cat-lap and cakes? If I entertained you royally I should give you pink champagne!’

Obviously, tea=catlap in Miles's lexicon.

So now my question is: is, or was, 'catlap' a common metaphor for tea, or only for ill-brewed tea, or, given that Heyer and Christie were contemporaries, is this just slang from that day, or ...?

It's in the Oxford English Dictionary, with the first citation from 1785
F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Cat-Lap, tea, called also scandal broth.

Fascinating, Doris and Rosina - I had never heard of "cat-lap"!

It’s a weak tea or broth only fit for cats to lap, hence the name.

Yay - my library hold has already come in! I will start sometime next week.

To be honest, I expected that once I started this book I would discover that I had actually read it before. But no - this really is a Hercule Poirot story I have never read!

I am about a third of the way through and Poirot has only made one very brief appearance in the beginning. I am not sure what to think about the various members of the Cloade family yet... except that they all seem to have motive for murdering either Rosaleen or David!

I'm almost half way through, and like you Leslie, I was convinced I had read it before, but it all seems new to me.

I finished this last night - I enjoyed it, as always with Poirot, but it was a little slow at the beginning, not enough Poirot? Also, getting straight all of the Cloades, their quirks and relationships. No spoilers, but this is the only Poirot mystery I recall where he doesn’t have the entire cast of suspects gathered for his big reveal! He’s such a ham, but I adore him!

I think I did read this years ago, I remember the Shakespeare reference in the title. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t rate it as a favorite (maybe that’s why I didn’t remember much about it).

I started this last night, on audio with an electronic copy for reference. I'm impressed that Poirot remembers a name mentioned in passing 18 months ago. Quite some little grey cells he has (as he would be the first to tell you).

Goodreads tells me I've read this, but nothing is familiar so far.

Sandy wrote: "I started this last night, on audio with an electronic copy for reference. I'm impressed that Poirot remembers a name mentioned in passing 18 months ago. Quite some little grey cells he has (as he ..."

LOL -- yes, indeed! I can't remember a name mentioned in passing a week later :/

Leslie wrote: "Sandy wrote: "I started this last night, on audio with an electronic copy for reference. I'm impressed that Poirot remembers a name mentioned in passing 18 months ago. Quite some little grey cells ..."
I'm terrible with names (but pretty good about remembering faces), but perhaps he remembered it because it was such a strange story?

The post-war rationing seems like it was quite difficult, and went on far longer than I would have thought. While not at all on par, I've found the present COVID-19 struggles with getting grocery deliveries challenging. You don't realize how privileged you are until those things are taken away. First world problems for sure.

When I was a child, and wanted sweets when we were out (a chocolate cream mouse from the sweetshop!) Mum would often refuse saying she'd forgotten her ration book. That carried on rather longer than rationing, which apparently ended, for sweets, in February 1953, when I was 5.

Rosina wrote: "When I was a child, and wanted sweets when we were out (a chocolate cream mouse from the sweetshop!) Mum would often refuse saying she'd forgotten her ration book. That carried on rather longer tha..."

That is so funny-all those maternal "reasons" we come up with for not being able to get our children what they want so we're not the ones who look bad, it's the missing ration book that is at fault. You had a clever Mum!