Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

Title: Hallowe'en Party
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: Harper
ISBN: 978-0-00-712068-0
Pages: 336
Series: Poirot #36
Type: Adult Mystery
Source: Purchased
Goodreads


Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver is at a children's Halloween party where rather unpopular girl named Joyce boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no one believes her she storms out of the party in a temper, but then her body is discovered a few hours later drowned in an apple bobbing tub. Ariadne calls in her dear friend Hercule Poirot who leaps at the chance to investigate the crime that could be a murder, or a double murder.

As a fan of both Halloween and mysteries I grabbed a copy of this last month in hopes of a seasonal read and was not disappointed. Admittedly I didn't read it until after I had watched the recent ITV adaption, which stuck pretty true to the book, but I still found the book really enjoyable. The plot was well thought-out and full of twists and turns. Some of the descriptions of what the teenage boys wear are particularly amusing 'a rose-coloured velvet coat, mauve trousers and a kind of frilled shirting.'

I haven't read many of Christie's books so I was a little thrown by references to past cases (The Labours of Hercules and Mrs McGinty's Dead in particular) but these weren't too prominent nor did they give spoilers. There are two returning characters: Superintendent Spence and Ariadne Oliver. Ariadne is my favourite character from the book. She teases Poirot continually and makes some great sarcastic comments, like "Put that in your moustache and smoke it".

The one thing I didn't really enjoy about the book was the intermittent references to the relaxed nature of the criminal justice system (it was written shortly after the abolishment of capital punishment) and criminals being sent to psychological institutions rather than prisons. It doesn't detract from the book, but it is a recurring theme that most of the characters express an opinion on at some point.

Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 10/10

Overall: 48/50

Missing Rebecca Book Tour

I've been lucky enough to take part in the Book Tour for Missing Rebecca, and as a part of that I've interviewed the author John Worsley Simpson.

What do you enjoy most about being an author?

I enjoy discovering and exploring characters and their lives and adventures. While it may seem that I, as author, create the characters, the reality is that they make themselves known to me — as characters do to all writers. If you “make them up,” they won’t be real, they won’t be true, their stories will be yours, not theirs.

Which authors inspire your writing?

I’m inspired indirectly by Shakespeare and Flaubert and Dickens, et al. More directly, I’m inspired by Elmore Leonard, Rex Stout, Eric Ambler, RossMacdonald, Colin Dexter, Dorothy Sayers, Georges Simenon and G.K. Chesterton.

What are you favourite books?

Madame Bovary, Maigret Hesitates, The Moonstone, Jude the Obscure and the Nine Tailors.

What was the inspiration behind Missing Rebecca?

It began with a fantasy: man goes to the mall with his wife and she vanishes. That takes on a particular slant if it’s a comedy, and an entirely different one if it’s a mystery. In the first, the man can conveniently let the missing wife stay missing; in the second, despite his wishes, he has to look for her, or he must have bumped her off, or arranged for her removal.

What is next for you as an author?

I’m working on the fifth book in my Harry Stark, detective series. Stark, retired from the Toronto police service, is in England, workingas a private detective, charged with investigating the robbery of a million-pound ruby.

Missing Rebecca by John Worsley Simpson

Title: Missing Rebecca
Author: John Worsley Simpson

Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN: 978-1475266603
Pages: 217
Series: N/A
Type: Adult Mystery
Source: Received for Review
Goodreads


After a whirlwind romance, Liam and Rebecca marry despite knowing barely anything about each other's backgrounds. A few short months after their wedding in the middle of an afternoon shopping trip Rebecca vanishes, seemingly abducted leaving a miriad of questions in her wake. Who would want to abduct Rebecca? Or did she willingly disappear? Was the marriage a sham? Is Liam a dupe?

This is one of those books which sounds really interesting and you can't wait to start reading. A whirlwind romance cut short when the girl suddenly disappears, leaving her heartbroken husband to discover why? It sounded exactly like the kind of book I'd love so I was disappointed when my enjoyment fell short. I really struggled with the author's writing style which has long sentences and chunks of dialogue where I had to keep checking who was who.

The character development was unusual in that it relied mostly on info-dumping their pasts while failing really tell you who the characters were. It was easy to see the facts of their life - the cop who joined the Marshals rather than continue on to law school - but it didn't really show their motivations. This meant I never really felt engaged with the characters and didn't feel connected enough to be more than a little interested in why Rebecca disappeared.

A big flaw in the book is that the romance between Rebecca and Liam, the supposed driving force behind his desperation to find his wife, is covered in a few paragraphs. A short while after her disappearance and he's already calming talking about the possibility he was conned. For a whirlwind romance I'd have expected his emotions to be a lot higher rather than the oddly unemotional way he acts after the first couple of chapters.

I did enjoy the mystery as it was cleverly written and packed with more twists and turns than I thought could fit in a single book. The author has deftly created layer upon layer of plot that undermines the reader's assumptions at every turn. The drug industry angle was well handled, creating a believable manipulative force underpining the central mystery. Unfortunately that was the only part I did enjoy.

All in all this was an okay read but I'm not sure I'd read anything else from this author.

Plot: 6/10
Characters: 4/10
Ending: 5/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Cover: 5/10

Overall: 24/50