2027 Reading Challenges #1 - Agatha Christie et al

As I work through my reading challenges for this year, I've started thinking about what my challenges might be for 2027. I think I've pretty well sorted them out, although it's only October so the books I pick are subject to change. What I'm tentatively planning is 3 12 + 4 Reading Challenges and 5 Individual Challenges. Ove the next while, I'll periodically look at these challenges. Let's start with my first 12 + 4 Reading Challenge. (That means that I'll choose 16 books, 12 main ones and 4 alternates)

The Queens of Crime - Christie, Marsh, Sayers and Allingham

My first challenge features the 4 women crime writers, nicknamed the Queens of Crime during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. They were Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L. Sayers. I've been working through their works since I moved out to the West Coast in the early 2000's and at some point I hope to read all of their books. I've probably had more success with Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh, but this challenge will let me focus on the books I've got on my book shelf.

Agatha Christie is best known for her Hercule Poirot (39 books) & Miss Marple series (13 books) But she also wrote other series; Tommy and Tuppence, Colonel Race, etc., plus many standalones and short stories. Thus far, I've managed to read 23 of her books and I plan to read another ten in 2027. Margery Allingham is the creator of another sleuth, Albert Campion, and wrote 21 books in the series, mainly novels, some short story collections. Thus far, I've completed 12 of the series and plan to read two more in 2027. Ngaio Marsh is a New Zealander but set most of her Inspector Roderick Alleyn books in the UK. A few, set during the war years, were set in New Zealand. She wrote 33 books in the series and I've completed 20. I plan to read 2 more in 2027. The final member of the quartet is Dorothy L. Sayers who wrote the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series. It consisted of 15 books and while I've acquired quite a few of the series, I've only completed 4 of the books. Once again I plan to read two of the books on my shelf.

As a matter of interest, each author's characters have been subject of movies and TV series and they are all worth checking out. Below are the books I currently plan to read from the 4 authors.

12 + 4 Reading Challenges - Agatha Christie and Other Golden Age Authors (Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh & Dorothy L. Sayers) (This will be all of the Agatha Christie books on my shelves and 2 of each of the others) 

1. The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #6 / 1928).

"Bound for the Riviera, detective Hercule Poirot has boarded Le Train bleu, an elegant, leisurely means of travel, free of intrigue. The he meets Ruth Kettering. The lovely American heiress--bailing out of a doomed marriage--is en route to reconcile with her former lover. But by morning, the young bride's private affairs are made public when she's found murdered in her luxury compartment. The rumor of a strange man loitering in the victim's shadow is all Poirot has to go on. Until Mrs. Kettering's secret life begins to unfold . . ."

2. Hickory, Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #34 / 1955).

"A most unusual series of crimes at a student hostel intrigues Inspector Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s Hickory Dickory Dock, especially when a simple case of kleptomania paves the way to murder.

Hercule Poirot doesn’t need all his detective skills to realize something is troubling his secretary, Miss Lemon—she has made three mistakes in a simple letter. It seems an outbreak of kleptomania at the student hostel in which her sister works is distracting his usually efficient assistant.

Deciding that desperate times call for desperate measures, the great detective agrees to investigate. Unknown to Poirot, however, desperation is a motive he shares with a killer. . . ."

3. Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #37 / 1972).

""The Ravenscrofts didn't seem that kind of person. They seemed well balanced and placid..." And yet, twelve years earlier, the husband had shot the wife, and then himself--or perhaps it was the other way around, since sets of both of their fingerprints were on the gun, and the gun had fallen between them. The case haunts Ariadne Oliver, who had been a friend of the couple. The famous mystery novelist desires this real-life mystery solved, and calls upon Hercule Poirot to help her do so. Poirot is now a very old man, but his mind is as nimble and as sharp as ever and can still penetrate deep into the shadows. But as Poirot and Mrs. Oliver and Superintendent Spence reopen the long-closed case, a startling discovery awaits them. And if memory serves Poirot (and it does!), crime--like history--has a tendency to repeat itself."

4. Nemesis by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple #12 / 1971).

"In utter disbelief, Jane Marple read the letter addressed to her from the recently deceased Mr. Rafiel - an acquaintance she had met briefly on her travels. He had left instructions for her to investigate a crime after his death. The only problem was, he had failed to tell her who was involved or where and when the crime had been committed. It was most intriguing. Soon she is faced with a new crime - the ultimate crime - murder. It seems someone is adamant that past evils remain buried..."

5. Third Girl by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #35 / 1966).

"In this breathtaking Agatha Christie mystery, the Third Girl sharing a London flat with two others announces to Hercule Poirot that she’s a murderer and then disappears. The masterful investigator must figure out whether the missing girl is a criminal, a victim, or merely insane.

Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient secretary. The second is an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot’s breakfast confessing that she is a murderer—and then promptly disappears.

Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumors surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family, and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before the great detective can pronounce her guilty, innocent, or insane.…"

6. Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective by Agatha Christie (Parker Pyne 1 - 12 / 1934).

"Agatha Christie once again demonstrates her mastery of the short form mystery with Parker Pyne Investigates—short stories of crime and detection featuring Parker Pyne, certainly one of the most unconventional private investigators ever to pursue a hot lead.

Mrs. Packington felt alone, helpless and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in the Times that read: "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne."

Equally adept at putting together the fragments of a murder mystery or the pieces of a broken marriage, Mr. Parker Pyne is possibly the world's most unconventional private investigator. Armed with just his intuitive knowledge of human nature, he is an Englishman abroad, traveling the globe to solve and undo crime and misdemeanor."

7. Remembered Death by Agatha Christie (Col. Race #4 / 1945).

"A beautiful heiress is fatally poisoned in a West End restaurant…

Six people sit down to dinner at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary – in solemn memory of Rosemary Barton who died at the same table exactly one year previously.

No one present on that fateful night would ever forget the woman’s face, contorted beyond recognition – or what they remembered about her astonishing life."

8. They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie (Standalone / 1951).

"She fell head over heels for the charming young man one afternoon. And by nightfall, Victoria Jones had conspired to follow him to Baghdad.

But no daydream of love could match the real life adventure that unfolded: a stranger was stabbed in her bed, someone issued a hushed warning, and her rival for Edward's affections neatly arranged her kidnapping. From the steamy Arab marketplace to the vast and arid desert, Victoria was pursued by an unknown power that threatened not only her, but the fate of the entire world ..."

9. Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #19 / 1938).

"A repugnant American widow is killed during a trip to Petra! Among the towering red cliffs of Petra, like some monstrous swollen Buddha, sat the corpse of Mrs Boynton. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist was the only sign of the fatal injection that had killed her. With only 24 hours available to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalled a chance remark he'd overheard back in 'You see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?' Mrs Boynton was, indeed, the most detestable woman he'd ever met!"

10. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #18 / 1937).

"The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything...until she lost her life.

Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: "I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger." Yet in this exotic setting nothing is ever quite what it seems."

11. Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham (Albert Campion #5 / 1933).

"Way back during the Crusades, Richard I presented the Huntingforest family with the tiny Balkan principality of Averna but since then the kingdom has been forgotten, until circumstances in Europe suddenly render it extremely strategically important to the British Government. They hire unconventional detective Albert Campion to recover the long-missing proofs of ownership - the deeds, a crown, and a receipt - which are apparently hidden in the village of Pontisbright. 

On arriving in Pontisbright, Campion and his friends meet the eccentric, young, flame-haired Amanda Fitton and her family who claim to be the rightful heirs to Averna and join in the hunt. Mr. Campion and his two young friends, Eager-Wright and Farquharson, posted as the Hereditary Paladin of Averna and his entourage! Unfortunately, criminal financier Brett Savanake is also interested in finding the evidence of the oil-rich state's ownership for his own ends. 

Things get rather rough in the village as Savanake's heavies up the pressure on Campion to solve the mystery before they do. In the course of the hunt, Campion dresses in drag, takes refuge in a tree, is nearly drowned in a mill race, and his friends find themselves bound and gagged in sacks, shot at, and witnesses to a satanic ceremony led by the local doctor. The rural calm of Pontisbright is well and truly shattered."

12. More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham (Albert Campion #13 / 1948)

"In a masterpiece of storytelling, Margery Allingham sends her elegant and engaging detective Albert Campion into the eccentric Palinode household, where there have been two suspicious deaths.

And if poisoning were not enough, there are also anonymous letters, sudden violence and a vanishing coffin. Meanwhile, the Palinodes go about their nocturnal business and Campion dices with danger in his efforts to find the truth."

Alternates

Alt 1. Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh (Inspector Alleyn #11 / 1941).

"The party's over when murder makes an entrance...

With the notion of bringing together the most bitter of enemies for his own amusement, a bored, mischievous millionaire throws a house party. As a brutal snowstorm strands the unhappy guests, the party receives a most unwelcome visitor: death. Now the brilliant inspector Roderick Alleyn must step in to decipher who at the party is capable of cold-blooded murder"

Alt 2. Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh (Inspector Alleyn #12 / 1943).

"It was a horrible death – Maurice Questing was lured into a pool of boiling mud and left there to die.

Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn, far from home on a wartime quest for German agents, knew that any number of people could have killed him: the English exiles he’d hated, the New Zealanders he’d despised or the Maoris he’d insulted. Even the spies he’d thwarted – if he wasn’t a spy himself…"

Alt 3. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey #5 / 1928).

"Ninety-year-old General Fentiman was definitely dead, but no one knew exactly when he had died—and the time of death was the determining factor in a half-million-pound inheritance. Lord Peter Wimsey would need every bit of his amazing skills to unravel the mysteries of why the General's lapel was without a red poppy on Armistice Day, how the club's telephone was fixed without a repairman, and, most puzzling of all, why the great man's knee swung freely when the rest of him was stiff with rigor mortis."

Alt 4. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey #6 / 1930).

"The elegant, intelligent amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey is one of detective literature's most popular creations. Ian Carmichael is the personification of Dorothy L. Sayers' charming investigator in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation.

When mystery writer Harriet Vane is accused of the murder of her lover, the evidence seems pretty damning. But Lord Peter Wimsey is not convinced and when, five hours later, no verdict has been returned, it seems the jury may not be either.

But if Harriet didn't murder Philip Boyes, who did?"

More to follow in the near future.

A Midweek Reading Update

Happy Wednesday. It's cloudy and cooler today. Jo is at work and the puppies and I are relaxing on the sofa, watching Deadline White House, the continuing saga of the Trump criminal conspiracy in Georgia. Yada yada.

Since my last update, I've completed 3 books and got a few more in the mail. I'll update those and also the latest books I've started reading.

Just Finished

1. The Sandman, Fables and Reflections; Vol. 6 by Neil Gaiman. It's become one of my favorite graphic novel series.

"I continue to enjoy this excellent graphic novel series. Each volume is different and seems to get better. Fables and Reflections is Volume #6 of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. Most enjoyable.

As the title indicates it consists of fables and historical reflections. Each story follows a different character (for the most part). There is a 3 chapter portion featuring Sandman's son Orpheus and his journey to Hades to find his dead wife, Eurydice. It's a sad story for the most part. 

The other stories feature diverse characters such as a werewolf, Caesar Augustus, Marco Polo, Joshua Abraham Norton, the only Emperor of the US of A, Haroun Al Raschid (King of Kings). Dream (aka Sandman) appears in each story but you also get to meet some of his family in others, Despair, Death (my favorite), Eve, Cain, Abel, etc. 

Each story is interesting, well - crafted and drawn. The stories are rich and actually provide you with some history / mythology. Neil Gaiman has such a fantastic imagination and he really knows how to tell a story that holds your interest and attention until the very end. I'm looking forward to Vol #7), Brief Lives. (4.0 stars)"

2. Quiller Barracuda by Adam Hall (Quiller #14 / 1990). An interesting spy series that I've been reading not in any particular order.

"I haven't been reading this series in any particular order. I've read two previous books in this spy series. Quiller Barracuda by Adam Hall is the 14th book in the series and finds Quiller on assignment in Florida. His mission is to  find and bring home an agent, Charles Proctor, who seems to have gone off the radar, after starting to act irrationally. Quiller will find himself involved in political intrigue and also with Florida drug dealers as he gets involved in this story.

The Quiller books are quite different in tone from other spy series I've read. Quiller spends much of the book in his own self-analysis, at the same time moving the story along. I also find it interesting how they conduct the 'administration' (wrong word, I think) of conducting a mission. Quiller is the Executive, his name on the big board at MI6, assigned to Barracuda. Ferris is his Controller, sent to Florida to debrief Quiller, to assign followers, to maintain security and to provide the link back to London. The whole process is fascinating.

Quiller finds himself in an international plot, a group that wants to affect an upcoming Presidential election, affect the World order. Proctor is involved, he's hooked on drugs, he wants Quiller dead and has set a contract out with the local drug lord. The Russians may be involved. It's a complex, interesting plot. There are various intelligent, independent, beautiful women who help Quiller in various ways to advance his investigation. There is a terrifying episode involving a shark.

It's an interesting take on the spy story and I will continue to explore the series. (4.0 stars)"

3. Gun Honey Volume 2, Blood for Blood by Charles Ardai. I'm getting hooked on these pulp crime series.

"Gun Honey, Vol. 2: Blood for Blood by Charles Ardai continues the adventures of gun smuggler, Joanna Tan. In Vol 1 of this Hard Crime graphic novel series, she discovered who murdered her family. In this volume, Joanna is a target of an assassin. She and her new partner, Brook, hunt for a female assassin (she used to work with Brook in the 'CIA'), who is trying to frame Joanna for murders.

The adventure takes Joanna and Brook to Montana, South Dakota, Italy and even Monaco. There are drug manufacturers, the type who make ecstasy... a really powerful version. They bear some responsibility for a rave that resulted in many deaths. So, basically someone is out for vengeance, against Joanna and against the drug dealers. (maybe... )

There is action on action. There is violence. There is nudity. Hard Case crime, a thriller on high speed. Just a break from reality. (3.0 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. The Celtic Riddle by Lyn Hamilton (Lara McClintoch Archeological Mysteries #4 / 2000). It's been awhile since I read one of the stories in this mystery series featuring Canadian antique dealer who finds herself embroiled in mysteries around the world as she searches for artifacts to sell in her Toronto store.

"Toronto shopkeeper and amateur sleuth Lara McClintoch heads to Ireland to assist a friend at the reading of the will of an eccentric businessman, who sends his friends and family off on a bizarre treasure hunt, whose clues are drawn from an ancient Celtic poem, but Lara soon discovers that the grand prize could just be murder."

New Books

1. The Mask of Glass by Holly Roth (1957). I've tried a couple of Roth's spy stories and enjoy the stories and the writing style.

"Jimmy Kennemore, of the U.S. Army's Counter-Intelligence Corps, woke up in hospital and could not move for plaster casts. Twenty-four hours earlier he had been a normal, pleasant young man, working on a completely routine investigation. Regaining consciousness, he found himself injured and disfigured, and his red hair turned to white.

Now, through his pain-fogged mind, he had to begin the desperate and tortuous piecing together of the monstrous events that had led to a shocking night of violence and deprived him of identity, friends, and future. But there were other events to come, events that were to assume the proportions of a nightmare and to carry him forward into that international No-Man's Land where human life is the cheapest and most expendable commodity."

2. Money Shot by Christa Faust (Angel Dare #1 / 2008).

"It all began with the phone call asking former porn star Angel Dare to do one more movie. Before she knew it, she'd been shot and left for dead in the trunk of a car. But Angel is a survivor. And that means she'll get to the bottom of what's been done to her even if she has to leave a trail of bodies along the way..."

Women Authors Whose Work I've Been Enjoying - Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy Leigh Sayers was born in Oxford, England in 1893 and died Witham, Essex, England in 1957. She is best known as one of the four Queen's of Crime during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The other authors were Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. She is best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series. I've read four books of the 15 books series, written from 1923 - 1939. I have another 8 or 9 books awaiting my attention. It's been a few years since I visited the series so I hope to read at least one this year. I'll highlight the three books I purchased most recently to give you an idea about this entertaining series.

1. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (#4 / 1928).

"Ninety-year-old General Fentiman was definitely dead, but no one knew exactly when he had died—and the time of death was the determining factor in a half-million-pound inheritance. Lord Peter Wimsey would need every bit of his amazing skills to unravel the mysteries of why the General's lapel was without a red poppy on Armistice Day, how the club's telephone was fixed without a repairman, and, most puzzling of all, why the great man's knee swung freely when the rest of him was stiff with rigor mortis."

2. Murder Must Advertise (#8 / 1933).

"When ad man Victor Dean falls down the stairs in the offices of Pym's Publicity, a respectable London advertising agency, it looks like an accident. Then Lord Peter Wimsey is called in, and he soon discovers there's more to copywriting than meets the eye. A bit of cocaine, a hint of blackmail, and some wanton women can be read between the lines. And then there is the brutal succession of murders -- 5 of them -- each one a fixed fee for advertising a deadly secret."

3. Busman's Honeymoon (#11 / 1937).

"Society’s eligible women are in mourning. Lord Peter Wimsey has married at last, having finally succeeded in his ardent pursuit of the lovely mystery novelist Harriet Vane. The two depart for a tranquil honeymoon in a country farmhouse but find, instead of a well-prepared love nest, the place left in a shambles by the previous owner. His sudden appearance, dead from a broken skull in the cellar, only prompts more questions. Why would anyone have wanted to kill old Mr. Noakes? What dark secrets had he to hide? The honeymoon is over, as Lord Peter and Harriet Vane start their investigations. Suspicion is rife and everyone seems to have something to hide, from the local constable to the housekeeper. Wimsey and his wife can think of plenty of theories, but it’s not until they discover a vital fact that the identity of the murderer becomes clear."

You can check out all the books written by Dorothy Sayers at this link.