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A review by thaurisil
The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie
4.0
While I read through Agatha Christie's novels with the Appointments with Agatha group, I'm putting a templated synopsis of each novel in my review. It has spoilers!
Book: 5 of Christie's novels, 1 of Superintendent Battle novels
Setting: Chimneys
Detective and Companions: Anthony Cade, Virginia Revel, Superintendent Battle
Crime: People want to steal a manuscript and a bundle of letters. A waiter is shot, then Prince Michael of Herzoslovakia is shot in Chimneys. King Victor, a criminal, is thought to be behind the events, but which one of the suspects is King Victor?
Suspects:
- Hiram Fish, an American collector of first editions
- Herman Isaacstein, a British oil businessman
- Mademoiselle Brun, a French governess
- Monsieur Lemoine, Sûreté detective
- Anthony Cade
- Baron Lolopretjzyl, representative of the Loyalist Party of Herzoslovakia
- various Comrades of the Red Hand
Sort of suspects but never suspected:
- Lord Caterham, owner of Chimneys
- Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent, his daughter
- George Lomax, a British politician
- Bill Eversleigh, Lomax's secretary
- Boris Anchoukoff, Prince Michael's valet
Twists and Turns:
- Who expected Anthony Cade to be Prince Nicholas Obolovitch, Prince Michael's cousin and heir to the Herzoslovakian throne? I certainly didn't.
- Mademoiselle Brun's name is seemingly cleared when Anthony Cade gets her credentials from her former employer and she hardly appears in the rest of the novel, but she turns out to be the former Queen Varaga of Herzoslovakia who staged her death, and an accomplice of King Victor.
- The bundle of love letters supposedly written by Virginia Revel are not written by her at all. Instead of being an innocent bundle of letters, they turn out to be letters that Queen Varaga wrote in code to King Victor.
- The suspicious peeping Frenchman who seems to be a suspect turns out to be Monsieur Lemoine, a French detective. But there's a second twist. He's not the detective after all, but King Victor himself. The real Monsieur Lemoine was kidnapped.
- Hiram Fish's actions are rather suspicious, and being a collector of first editions is a masquerade. But he turns out to be an American detective.
- All those Comrades of the Red Hand who appear at the start are thugs, but they barely feature in this story that focuses on royalty and aristocracy.
- Both the loyalists and the revolutionists want to steal Count Stylptich's memoirs, apprehensive of the secrets they will reveal, but they turn out to be boring reflections on statecraft.
I really enjoyed this book. The plot is rather silly, but so are the plots of several of the other early Agatha Christie books like The Secret Adversary and The Man in the Brown Suit. I just take the silliness in my stride, not overthink things that would be serious to us but that Christie treats with frivolity, laugh at the quirky characters, accept that racism was widespread and accepted in that era, and just enjoy the books as cozy reading.
I really liked Anthony Cade. He's another one of the Christie's early over-confident characters, but unlike some of the others who are arrogant, Anthony is just a brave, talented and daring fellow. Virginia Revel, with her brains and wit, made an excellent companion. I can't imagine the two as King and Queen of Herzoslovakia, but they seem up to the task!
Book: 5 of Christie's novels, 1 of Superintendent Battle novels
Setting: Chimneys
Detective and Companions: Anthony Cade, Virginia Revel, Superintendent Battle
Crime: People want to steal a manuscript and a bundle of letters. A waiter is shot, then Prince Michael of Herzoslovakia is shot in Chimneys. King Victor, a criminal, is thought to be behind the events, but which one of the suspects is King Victor?
Suspects:
- Hiram Fish, an American collector of first editions
- Herman Isaacstein, a British oil businessman
- Mademoiselle Brun, a French governess
- Monsieur Lemoine, Sûreté detective
- Anthony Cade
- Baron Lolopretjzyl, representative of the Loyalist Party of Herzoslovakia
- various Comrades of the Red Hand
Sort of suspects but never suspected:
- Lord Caterham, owner of Chimneys
- Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent, his daughter
- George Lomax, a British politician
- Bill Eversleigh, Lomax's secretary
- Boris Anchoukoff, Prince Michael's valet
Twists and Turns:
- Who expected Anthony Cade to be Prince Nicholas Obolovitch, Prince Michael's cousin and heir to the Herzoslovakian throne? I certainly didn't.
- Mademoiselle Brun's name is seemingly cleared when Anthony Cade gets her credentials from her former employer and she hardly appears in the rest of the novel, but she turns out to be the former Queen Varaga of Herzoslovakia who staged her death, and an accomplice of King Victor.
- The bundle of love letters supposedly written by Virginia Revel are not written by her at all. Instead of being an innocent bundle of letters, they turn out to be letters that Queen Varaga wrote in code to King Victor.
- The suspicious peeping Frenchman who seems to be a suspect turns out to be Monsieur Lemoine, a French detective. But there's a second twist. He's not the detective after all, but King Victor himself. The real Monsieur Lemoine was kidnapped.
- Hiram Fish's actions are rather suspicious, and being a collector of first editions is a masquerade. But he turns out to be an American detective.
- All those Comrades of the Red Hand who appear at the start are thugs, but they barely feature in this story that focuses on royalty and aristocracy.
- Both the loyalists and the revolutionists want to steal Count Stylptich's memoirs, apprehensive of the secrets they will reveal, but they turn out to be boring reflections on statecraft.
I really enjoyed this book. The plot is rather silly, but so are the plots of several of the other early Agatha Christie books like The Secret Adversary and The Man in the Brown Suit. I just take the silliness in my stride, not overthink things that would be serious to us but that Christie treats with frivolity, laugh at the quirky characters, accept that racism was widespread and accepted in that era, and just enjoy the books as cozy reading.
I really liked Anthony Cade. He's another one of the Christie's early over-confident characters, but unlike some of the others who are arrogant, Anthony is just a brave, talented and daring fellow. Virginia Revel, with her brains and wit, made an excellent companion. I can't imagine the two as King and Queen of Herzoslovakia, but they seem up to the task!