Mrs. McGinty’s Dead

I finished reading Mrs. McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie. There was a movie loosely based on the book called Murder Most Foul. I had seen the movie a long time ago and I watched it again recently.

Big Warning: there is some violence.

In this book, Hercule Poirot is asked by a sergeant to look into a case that he feels brought the wrong man to justice. The “wrong man” was already tried and sentenced, but the sergeant was convinced that James didn’t kill his landlady. So Poirot interviews James and is also convinced that he didn’t do it. So Poirot goes into the town where the crime occurred and looks for clues that were missed. He finds two important clues that the police missed. An ink bottle and a newspaper clipping. The newspaper clipping had photos which lead to another killing to happen.  Poirot ends up finding out who the real killer is.

Differences between the movie and book:

1. The movie has Miss Marple instead of Poirot
2. In the movie, Miss Marple finds a clue of a theatre and she becomes a member of the play to find the killer.  Poirot does find a clue about a theatre, but it wasn’t the focus of the book.
3. One of the players of the theatre gets killed in the movie. In the book, the second murder was a playwright’s mother.
4. In the book, the niece doesn’t get the house. In the movie it was the sister that gets the house.

I did like the book and the movie. Now I’m reading Dead Pets Don’t Lie by Joe Ardis and Donna Lee Howell. It’s a non-fiction book about pet food.

Postern of Fate

I finished reading Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie. It is the fifth book of the Tommy and Tuppance book series.

Big Warning: there is a little bit of violence.

In this book, Tommy and Tuppence are getting old and they move into a new house to “retire.” But retiring they don’t do exactly. The previous owners of the house left a lot of books in a upstairs room. Most of them are children’s books. Tuppence was getting down the books and reads some of them. One of the books has a secret message that she writes down. The owner of the book was a boy who used to live in the house many years earlier. The message was that Mary Jordan didn’t die naturally. It was one of us. Tuppence tells Tommy and they decide to find out who Mary Jordan was and why she died. Tuppence hears a lot of hearsay of what happened and Tommy enlists help from some important people. They end up putting together what happened from a lot of clues and they learn that the past becomes the present.

I did like this book. Now I’m listening to The Third Secret by Steve Berry.

By Pricking of my Thumbs (book)

I finished reading By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie. It is the fourth book of the Tommy and Tuppence books series. There are five books in the book series.

Big Warning: there is a little bit of violence.

In this book, Tommy’s aunt is a nursing home. Tommy and Tuppence decide it was time to visit his aunt. The aunt is rude to Tuppence so she goes to sit in the waiting room where she meets a nice old lady (so it seems). Tuppence stares at the fireplace and the old lady says something strange. She asks Tuppence was it your poor child dead in the fireplace. Later on Tommy’s aunt dies and Tuppence wants to go back to the nursing home to see if she can ask the old lady what she meant by the dead child in the fireplace. She doesn’t get to ask because the old lady was taken away by “family.” Tuppence notices a picture on the wall in the aunt’s room. It was supposedly given to the aunt by that old lady.  Tuppence says she knows that house in the picture. She had seen it from a train. Tommy goes to a conference so Tuppence goes looking for that house. She does find the house, but she doesn’t find a dead child in the fireplace. She asks around to find the old lady, but no one knows her. But she does hear of tales of missing children that turned up dead. Then Tuppence gets hit in the head. Tommy comes home to find Tuppence gone. He goes looking for her and finds out about a criminal gang who robs banks and hides the loot in houses. When Tommy gets back with Tuppence, they find some of that loot. Later on Tuppence does find out who is the child murderer (which is a complete surprise to me and her).

I did like this book. I told my mother about this book and she likes it too. Now I’m reading Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie. It is the fifth book of the Tommy and Tuppence book series.

N, or M? (book)

I finished read N, or M? by Agatha Christie. It is the third book of the Tommy and Tuppence book series. There are five books in the book series. The second half of the show Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime is based on this book.

Big Warning:  there is a little bit of violence.

In this book, Tuppence is bored. She wants to work for the government, but they aren’t taking in middle aged people. Tommy and Tuppence have two children who are twins (one daughter and one son). Then Mr. Grant arrives asking Tommy to do some “desk work.” Tuppence listens in to the secret work that Mr. Grant wants Tommy to do. So Tuppence ends up being part of that secret work too. The secret work is to find out who N and M are. M is a woman who is secretly working for the Germans. N is a man who is secretly working for the Germans too. Mr. Grant puts Tommy working in a house called Sans Souci. They suspect the owner and a chemist who is guest there. Then a little girl goes missing. A disturbed woman had kidnapped the little girl. One of the guests kills the disturbed woman who was threatening throw the little girl over the cliff. Then Tommy gets kidnapped too. His kidnapper, a general, might be N.  Tuppence gets Albert working on finding Tommy. Then she is approached by a man who supposedly works with her daughter. He tells her that Tommy is fine and she is needed to help stop the people behind the kidnapping. She does it, but she realizes it was a trap. Albert does find Tommy and they hitch plan to find out who M is. Tuppence does find out who M is and it is someone they (and me) doesn’t suspect.

Differences between show and book:

1. The chemist isn’t kidnapped in the book. It is a little girl who is kidnapped first.
2. There are no bombs in the book.
3. Mrs. Sprot has a little girl in the book.
4. Carl is a German and I don’t think he looks like he does in the show. And in the book he is the chemist (who isn’t kidnapped in the book).
5. Mr. Carter recommends Tommy to Mr. Grant in the book. He is retired in the book.
6. Tommy and Tuppence have twins in the book. In the show they have one son.
7. Tommy is alone when he is kidnapped in the book.
8. There are some characters that aren’t in the book that are in show.
9. Tommy doesn’t sell wigs or is a bee keeper in the book. In the book, he was an secret agent.
10. Mr. Carter wasn’t Tommy’s uncle in the book.
11. Albert was a shoe shine boy in the book, not a teacher as in the show.

I  liked this book more than the show. The book has a better plot. Now I’m reading By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie. It the fourth book of the Tommy and Tuppence book series.

The Secret Adversary

I finished reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. It is the first book in the Tommy and Tuppence book series. There are five books in the book series. Like I said earlier, I’m reading this book because of a new show on Ovation network called Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime.

Big Warning: there is a little bit of violence.

In this book, Tommy and Tuppence want to be adventurers.  They put out an announcement. Tuppence gets an offer by a man named Mr. Whittington. He wants her to go to Paris. When asked for her name, she gives a fake name (of a real girl) Jane Finn. Jane Finn was a girl who was on a boat which was sinking. A man standing next to her hands her some important documents because women and children are off the boat first. Jane Finn goes missing. Mr. Whittington was wanting to use Tuppence as a fake Jane Finn. When Tuppence uses that name, Mr. Whittington pays her off. Then Tommy and Tuppence meets a man who is a secret agent who tells them about who Jane Finn is and about the important. He hires them to find Jane Finn. Then they meet a cousin of Jane Finn who wants to find her too. They do eventually find Jane Finn and find the important documents.

The difference between the show and book:

1. Jane Finn is on a train on the show and not on a boat like the book.
2. Tommy and Tuppence aren’t married in the book. Tommy does ask Tuppence get married in the Partners in Crime book (the short stories book).
3. Tommy and Tuppence doesn’t have a kid in this book.
4. Albert is a shoe shine boy that lives near Rita in the book. In the show, he is teacher and Tommy’s friend.
5. Mr. Carter is not related to Tommy in the book.
6. Julius is Jane’s cousin in the book and he does proposed to her. In the book, Julius has much bigger part in the book. He helps Jane and Tuppence escape. I think he is much younger in the book and he’s not black.
7. The house in Solo is not a peep show place. It was actually a meeting place with many important people.
8. Mr. Brown wasn’t an assassin in the book.
9. Rita isn’t an opera singer in the book. Tuppence, Peel, and Julius witness the murder of Rita. She wasn’t hanged.
10. Jane faked being Annette in the book. Jane had documents in the book and not a tape recording as in the show.
11. Tommy doesn’t owns bees in the book and I think he was a secret agent in the book.

I did like the book better than the first part of the show. Now I’m reading N, or M? by Agatha Christie. It is the third book of the Tommy and Tuppence book series and the second part of the Agaths Christie’s Partners in Crime show.

Partners in Crime

I finished reading Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie.  This is the second book of the Tommy and Tuppence book series. There are five books in the book series.

Note: I wanted to read this book because Ovation network has a new show called Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime. I thought the show would be based on the book, but it’s based on this book, but two other books in the series which I am going to read.

This book is a short stories book. In this book,  Tommy and Tuppence take over the Brunt Detective Agency. Since no one knows who the real Mr. Blunt is, Tommy becomes Mr. Blunt. They solve some interesting crimes. One was of a missing pearl, one was solving alibi issue (which I solved before they did), a switching of a suitcase, etc.

I love this book. Next I’m reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. It is the first book in the Tommy and Tuppence book series. 

After the Funeral

I finished reading After the Funeral by Agatha Christie. It is book 31 of the Hercule Poirot book series. I wanted to read this book because of the movie Murder at the Gallop. It was loosely based on this book and I saw it last year (and rewatched it a few days ago).

Big Warning: there is some violence.

After the Funeral takes place after a funeral. Lol. The funeral was of Richard Abernethie. After the funeral, the family meets for the reading of Richard’s will. Cora, Richard’s sister, asks if Richard’s death was murder. Which puts in everyone’s mind as crazy, but possible. The murder could have been poison. The lawyer investigates the disturbing outburst. But before he could ask Cora what she meant by Richard being murdered, Cora gets killed by a hatchet. Then Miss Gilcrest, Cora’s companion, gets poisoned by a wedding cake. The lawyer decides to get some advice and help from Hercule Poirot. Poirot does find out who the real killer is.

The differences between the movie and book:

1. One of the family members has a different name.
2. There aren’t as many family members in the movie than in the book.
3. Cora was killed with a hat pin in the movie.
4. Miss Marple is the detective in the movie.
5. Miss Marple collects for a charity when she discovers a body.
6. The family meeting place is a equestrian resort in the movie. It’s a mansion in the book.
7. George Crossfield is killed in a tack room by a horse in the movie.
8. The motive and killer is the same in the movie and book.

I did like this book. Now I’m reading The Admiral’s Mark by Steve Berry. It is a short story.

4:50 from Paddington

I finished reading What Mrs. Gillicuddy Saw! (it is also published under the name 4:50 from Paddington) by Agatha Christie.  The movie Murder She Said was based loosely on this book. I saw the movie last year. This book seven of the Miss Marple book series.

Warning: there is a little bit of violence.

In this book, a friend of Miss Marple named Mrs. Gullicully is on train to visit Miss Marple for a few days. It is nearly Christmas. She looks outside and sees another train slowly passing by her train. She sees a man strangling a woman and the woman is dead. She does report the murder, but there is no body. She tells Miss Marple and Miss Marple decides to investigate since the police think there was no murder that happened. Miss Marple asks a friend of hers to become a housekeeper of a family that owns a house near the train tracks. Lucy agrees and she does find the body. Then later on the family gets poisoned and one of them die. Then another dies by poison via pills.  Miss Marple does figure out who the killer is, and the motive behind the murders.

Differences between book and movie:

1. Miss Marple is the housekeeper and the one who sees the murder happen on the train.
2. The family name and manor name is changed to  Ackenthorpe.
3. Harold dies by shotgun, not pills as in the book.
4. One of the character’s name is changed from Alfred to Albert.

I loved this book. Now I’m going to listen to Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane by P.L. Travers.

Murder Ahoy

I watched Murder Ahoy yesterday. It is inspired by the character Miss Marple, not based on a book. I taped it when it was on TCM. It has Margaret Rutherford, Lionel Jeffries, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, William Mervyn, Nicholas Parsons, Stringer Davis, and Lucy Griffiths in it.

Big Warning: there is a little bit of violence.

In this movie, Miss Marple is part of a board of trustees of a marine training ship. One of the trustees speaks up about something, but before he says anything he dies suddenly. Miss Marple finds out the trustee was poisoned with his snuff. To kind out who was behind it, she gets on board the training vessel. She also discovers a thief ring of some of the sailors.

I loved this movie. I wish they had made some more movies. Next week I’m watching Darrow and Darrow: Body of Evidence.

Murder Most Foul

I watched Murder Most Foul yesterday. I had taped it when it was TCM. It is based on a book by Agatha Christie. I may read it sometime. It has Margaret Rutherford, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, Ron Moody, Andrew Cruickshank, Stringer Davis, Alison Seebohm, Pauline Jameson, Ralph Michael, and Annette Kerr in it.

Warning: there is a little bit of violence.

In this movie, Miss Marple sits on a jury of a murder trial. A police officer caught a man with a hanging dead woman in a room. Miss Marple ends up being the hold out. Everyone says the man is guilty, but Miss Marple thinks he’s innocent. She goes on a mission to prove the man is innocent. She auction to be part of theatre group. She finds the real killer among the actors.

I loved this movie. I wish they had made more movies. Next week is the last one they made. It is Murder Ahoy.