Agatha Christie's The Murder on the Links

The Murder on the Links is the third of Christie's novels and the second featuring Hercule Poirot yet this was my first encounter with the story. The ITV series didn't air the tale (in all of its "made-for-tv-ness") until part way through the sixth season and I'm still only on the second. (I took a break from watching them on Acorn since they ARE so different and SO out of order. Still very watchable, of course, but I'd like to get more of them read before watching.)

Once again, Hastings is the narrator. In fact, he starts out the tale by breaking my heart into a million lit-crushing pieces:

Ah .... Hastings wouldn't have patience for me! Totally not his type. Of course, my Tom isn't what I ever would have considered to be my type so maybe my lit-crushing fantasies can continue ....

The woman in question Hastings meets while on a train returning to London from Paris. It is some time after The Mysterious Affair At Styles and he and Hercule Poirot were living and working together. While on the train the two talk about life, Poirot, and Styles. They part ways in much better spirits than they started (see? There's hope for my modern neuroticism!) but he doesn't get her name. She says it's Cinderella as she leaves.

Hastings returns to Poirot who is lamenting about being bored because there are no great criminals about to let him work his "little grey cells." Waiting for him in the mail, though, is a call for help from a man in France who feels he is in danger but does not wish to go to the police. He begs Poirot to come at once and, of course, the two take off for France but arrive too late. The man was murdered and his body found on a nearby golf course (the "links" from the title).

The local authorities already know Poirot and there is another detective milling around -- a French Sherlock-ish character who irritates Poirot (he refers to him as "the human foxhound"). There are also mysterious South Americans, family members household staff, a mysterious "secret," a supposed mistress and her "goddess"-like daughter (oh, Hastings ... you're such a dog sometimes. What about the girl on the train?), twins ... and the Cinderella girl and her sister.

Everyone is a suspect at one point or another, and Poirot is brilliant at picking apart what's what and who's who until everything is all solved and tidy again. Since this is told by Hastings, though, we're left quite in the dark at times just as he had been.

Oh, yes. I know the feeling well. At the same time, though, I often feel like giving my beloved Hastings a good shake because of how obvious it is that the "nothing" isn't "nothing" at all. Love him dearly, but Hastings definitely isn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree sometimes and definitely isn't in this outing.

I blame Cinderella.

Carolyn G Hart's Southern Ghost

To be completely honest with you, I'm not quite sure how to go about writing this review. It's not that I don't know how I feel about the book because I was more than happy with it and will slap 4 stars on it on GoodReads (very few get 5). It's that it's the eighth book in the Death on Demand series and I don't want to give too much away about any of the previous installments -- which you should really read before you read this one. Well, I guess it's probably not absolutely necessary but you'll understand the players better if you do.

I love the Death on Demand series. It was my first "cozy" series that I really got wrapped up in back when I was in high school. My mom's best friend owned a book store and once when we were visiting I happened to pick up the first couple in the series. A mystery series about a girl who owns a mystery book store? Yeah. Instant lit love. Of course, there are now 24 books in the series and I just finished number 8 so I'm a bit behind ... but the first four or five I've read and reread several times and now I'm determined that I WILL read the rest. Sooner or later.

Anyway, Death on Demand. Like I said, it's a series about a girl who owns a mystery book store (named, oddly enough, Death on Demand). The girl is Annie and she's married to Max. He's kind of a private investigator though not officially since he's not licensed. It's complicated. He's working a case for twenty-something Courtney Kimball involving some deaths in one of South Carolina's oldest families. The deaths happened over twenty years ago but when Courtney disappears they all appear to be related.

If you know the series it will seem like a bit of a departure in writing style and how the story all plays out. I loved the change of pace and scenery and the focus on different characters in this book than in the others. Quite a few characters met previously play major roles here, but not the usual supporting cast from the previous seven books.

Go read those ... then this ... then let me know and we can discuss!

Teaser Tuesday #4

The Meme:

The Tease:

The Book:

Alice Hoffman's Nightbird

***I received this title for free from NetGalley and Random House/Wendy Lamb Books. 

The free-ness in no way influenced my opinion.***

From time to time a book enters your life and it feels more like a hug than words on a page. For me, Alice Hoffman's upcoming Nightbird had that feel.

It's told by twelve year old Twig Fowler. She's a lonely girl living in a lonely family in a town where everyone knows everyone. No one seems to really know Twig or her family even though their family has been in the Berskhire community for hundreds of years. There are family secrets that keep them hidden in plain sight and this leaves Twig feeling as inconsequential as, well, a twig.

A "monster" is on the loose in town, a new family moves in next door, and the newspaper gets a new editor who seems to be quite interested in Twig's mother. Everything in Twig's life gets turned upside down (which, at times, is the best way to look at things).

It's part fairytale with witches, magic, and curses. It's part coming-of-age with love, family, friendship, and self. It's the kind of book that I wish I had when I was in middle school and feeling inconsequential myself. I can just picture myself curled up with it -- reading it over and over. My only complaint, in fact, is that I finished it too quickly.

Teaser Tuesday #3

The Meme:

(click on image to go to Should Be Reading!)

The Tease:

From the Soon-To-Be-Released:

(I'm 50% through it now thanks to NetGalley and it's amazing!)