The Final "Curtain" for Hercule Poirot

Curtain: Poirot's Last Case by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finished another Agatha Christie's mystery novel, yeay! It is a sad one, though ... for this novel is about Hercule Poirot's final case. Fin, last, finale. Poirot has aged and ill, yet he is so adamant to finish this one final case that is so different from any of his other cases before. A foreseen crime soon to be committed, but by who or to whom, we do not know about. Yet Poirot know it will happen because it is linked to 5 different cases that happened before, and only he can see the link. The story is being narrated by Col. Hastings, Poirot's very dear friend. It's a mind-blowing guessing game, reading this and although this is one of the best cases, it ends in a sombre tune.

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Let sleeping murder lie....

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aku mula mengenali novel-novel Agatha Christie hampir 16 tahun yang lalu, di sebalik timbunan buku-buku lama di kedai buku-buku terpakai di tingkat atas Bazaar Chowrasta, P.Pinang. The dusty and crowded shop was my heaven during those days. Sehingga ke hari ini sudah banyak buku beliau aku dah baca, namun sejumlah lagi hasil tulisannya belum aku baca. Dan judul ini salah satu daripadanya. Kisah Gwenda, seorang suri rumah yang baru berpindah ke rumah baru di Hillside dan mula mengesyaki ada tragedi pembunuhan yang berlaku di rumah tersebut hampir 2 dekad yang lalu setelah dia diganggu oleh bayangan-bayangan dan aura yang menyeramkan. Dan rumah tersebut rupa-rupanya pernah diduduki oleh mendiang ayahnya bersama ibu tirinya suatu masa dahulu. Jane Marple ialah penyiasat Christie dalam judul ini dan beliau membantu Gwenda menyelesaikan misteri tersebut sama ada pembunuhan sememangnya terjadi atau ia hanya bayangan Gwenda semata-mata. Novel Agatha Christie sememangnya tidak pernah jemu dibaca dan peneman yang sesuai dalam perjalanan pergi balik kerja menggunakan LRT!

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recent indulgence

Hola ... oohh, it felt so wonderful and nice to be able to indulge myself in some books after so many months of not doing it. I don't know why I deprived myself from reading ... maybe too much distractions coming my way. However, it's time to hit the library and let's take a look at my recent accomplishments in the reading department, which consist of  2 very familiar authors in my book archive, Jeffrey Archer and Agatha Christie.

Honestly, I have never read a full novel from Jeffrey Archer, but I have enjoyed several of his short stories collections instead. New additions to the list are "A Quiver Full Of Arrows" (1980) and "A Twist In The Tale" (1988). Most of his short stories are inspired by true events, while a few are his own creation. The most common experiences of reading these stories are (for me) are, one, it's like reading a person's whole life biography, where a story could tell a tale encompassing decades of years, and two, the tales are often normal and bland in the beginning but smack you with a twist or something surprising or unexpected in the end. In these two short stories collections, I have several favourites i.e. from the "A Quiver Full Of Arrows"; The Luncheon, The Coup, Old Love, The Perfect Gentleman, One-Night Stand, Henry's Hiccup and A Matter of Principle. In "A Twist In The Tale", my favourites would be The Perfect Murder, A La Carte, Just Good Friends, The Steal, Honor Among Thieves and A Chapter of Accidents.

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Next, my favourite crime novelist, Agatha Christie. I have read so many of her books, yet there are still many more that I haven't read. Hallowe'en Party (1969) might not be as grand as her other stories that I've read, but it's still one of the best. And it's a bit dark story, when the victim is a child. Now that is quite different because there's never been a child victim in the books that I've read so far. In this book, Hercule Poirot is helping his novelist friend Ariadne Oliver to figure out who and why a 13-year old Joyce Reynolds is murdered in a Hallowe'en party.

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There, those were my recent conquests. And right now, I'm just starting to read a fourth book, all in one week. Perhaps, I'll write about it in my future post. Till then, au revoir.

UTube : Inspector Mislan & the UTube Serial Rapes

Title : UTube : Inspector Mislan & the UTube Serial Rapes

Author : Rozlan Mohd Noor

Publisher : Silverfish Books, 2012, 298pgs

ISBN : 978-983-3221-41-7

Genre : Crime-thriller, fiction

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As I was browsing the English fiction shelves in a bookstore, among the loads of James Patterson, Jeffrey Archer, Dan Browns et cetera, my eyes caught one local name, Rozlan Mohd Noor (funny that I caught the smaller fonts of the author's name first before I saw the book title's bigger fonts...), and I was thinking...an English fiction book from a local author? That's nice! Picked it up and I remember being so much more intrigued when I found out that it's a crime-thriller, detective story-like...just my thing! Of course, I would give it a try.

The author - Rozlan Mohd Noor was a police officer with the Royal Malaysian Police for 11 years as an Investigating Officer and a Magistrate Court Prosecuting Officer in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan. This info is available on the book cover. Being fascinated with the evolution of crime solving technology, he became passionate in writing crime stories, hence the production of some crime novels under the character 'Inspector Mislan' series. After leaving the force, he worked at several major corporations and multinational companies, before starting his own human resources and security consultancy business.

The story - The story started with a rape case of a woman at her own home whereby the rapist videoed the rape act and later uploaded the video in 'UTube'. The case is thus put under investigation of the D11 (Sexual & Child Abuse Investigation Division) where Insp. Sherry is the lead investigator. When another woman was raped with the same MO and her housemate was murdered at the same time, Insp. Sherry has to put up with the challenges of working with the tenacious Insp. Mislan under the D9 (Special Investigations) division. Along the way, 2 more rape videos went viral in UTube and the teams are hellbent on solving the crime although receiving a lot of heat from many aspects; bureaucracy, politics and smart-ass hard-to-get criminals.

Apparently, they discovered that the crime wasn't just a simple rape case but involving a more serious issue of hate crimes regarding the gays and lesbians. The author is tackling a what was once (and maybe still) a real-life issue of the nation in this book in such a way that I think he is maybe fictionalizing a non-fiction or maybe parts of the story was very similar to what really happened in real-life investigations.

The review - It's a good crime story, especially if you are a fan of such genre. The book is written in English but there's also a glossary of the local language and speech expressions at the back of the book to help non-Malaysian readers to understand certain terms that are used. The ending, however, is quite subtle. It left me with the impression of 'so is he the real culprit or not?'. A little annoying I suppose, in leaving suspense on the reader's mind at the finale. I tend to think that Insp. Mislan really nab the culprit but what's left hanging is the actual nabbing act and the question of 'will the criminal be prosecuted'?

As much as I admire this book for being one of the non-mainstream genre of novels written by a local author, I couldn't help but questioning the author a little bit about this; why should he needlessly portray local  'hero' characters as persons who embrace 'faithless' lifestyle as if all personnel in the crime solving department are like that? (I don't know if you readers can understand what I mean, 'coz it's difficult to try to explain a certain thing without being specific.) Maybe because I had hoped a local author could do the nation prouder by writing good stuff without the influence of a culture that does not come from this region. Anyway, this book is still a good read and entertaining.

Parker Pyne Investigates

Title : Parker Pyne Investigates

Author : Agatha Christie

Publisher : Harper, 2003 (Agatha Christie Signature Edition)

Originally published : Collins, 1934

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I have truly enjoyed the serious business of crime and murder of various nature investigated by Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, the two very different yet equally sharp and efficient detectives of Agatha Christie's creation. But this time is the first time I get to know Mr. Parker Pyne, who by profession is not a detective but more like a consultant of the human nature. He runs a business of settling his clients' 'unhappiness' as advertised in the Times newspaper: "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne, 17 Richmond Street."

Parker Pyne has retired from the civil service's statistics department for 35 years, and from his statistical experience he has studied a whole lot of the human nature. With that kind of knowledge and interest, Parker Pyne and his team set up this business of solving various problems of the people; from unhappy marriage, boredom in life and some other problems of serious nature that comes up in his travelling adventures.

This collection of 14 short stories really is really entertaining and very suitable to read while you are travelling. 

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

a pale horse with spaghetti on the side

The Pale Horse is one of the novels from the Queen of Mysteries, Agatha Christie, that doesn't employ the witty Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot as the detective. In its stead, the novelist of detective stories, Ariadne Oliver appears but only as a minor role. Most of the story is told by narratives of Mark Easterbrook, a scholar and historian, who is the main character of this book.

The enigma revolves around an old inn by the name of The Pale Horse, which is then converted as a residence and occupied by three middle-aged ladies; an occultist, a medium and a witch. Whether it's the house itself, or the occupants, but there's something going on there, something dark and sinister...or maybe black magic? Mark doesn't really know, but he sure wants to find out.

And Mark would've left all the business about the Pale Horse alone if it's not because of a strange list of names he saw from his police-surgeon friend, Jim Corrigan. A reverend was found murdered on the way home from visiting a dying woman who before drawing out her last breath, revealed an important secret along with the list of names to the reverend. What is the secret...and what's with the names? Whatever it is, it is something the murderer doesn't want others to find out, however the list finally lands on Detective-Inspector Lejeune, who then starts an investigation by finding out about the names and looking for witnesses of the murder.

Everything about the case is happening close to Mark. One of the names on the list is his recently demised godmother, another name - he happens to saw the owner at a bar and later knew of her death from the obituaries, and another - Corrigan! Is it connected with his friend? The Pale Horse is mentioned by one of his dinnermates and then his cousin brought him to the place itself. There's the hushed stories of a business in removing unwanted rich relatives ... and it all leads to the Pale Horse and the intriguing characters around the village. Most of the names in the list are rich people who already dead but the cause of deaths are nothing but natural ailments. Mark is torn between his believe for real evidence and the influence of the black magic theory weaved by the Pale Horse occupants. With Lejeune and an acquaintance, he's determined to find the truth and solve the case before the last name on the list becomes a victim.

Title : The Pale Horse
Author : Agatha Christie
First published : 1961, Harper Collins, UK

Brilliant story. I know there must be some sort of physical evidence just I couldn't think of what it is until the end chapter. And I got my criminal wrong too! You can feel the dangerous risk Mark is going through in uncovering the murderous scheme because the character Mark is not a cool detective like Poirot or Miss Marple whom we already know their roles and who they are. He's just a normal person who wants to be certain of things. Love it!

Sherlock Holmes The Complete Novels & Stories

When I was a young girl, I've read a few stories of the most famous fictional detective in the world, Sherlock Holmes. Just not so long ago, I watched the Sherlock Holmes movie directed by Guy Ritchie and starred by Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law as the detective and his doctor companion, and I thought, "Is this real?" Of course not, the movie is a mixture or a concoction of the bits and parts of the many stories Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had written about him. And so, it roused my interest to enjoy Holmes's eccentric manner and wonderful methods of investigation once again, and read up the other stories that I haven't read.

Title : Sherlock Holmes The Complete Novels and Stories (Volume 1) - the Bantam Classic Edition

Author : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (with an Introduction by Loren D. Estleman)

Publisher : Bantam Dell (first published in 1986) 

Pages : 1,059

Price : Bought for RM29.90 at Popular Bookstore

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Bantam Books has reissued the stories in 2 volumes and so far I only managed to lay my hands on Volume 1. Hopefully I can start on Volume 2 very soon. In Volume 1, you'll be entertained with the collections arranged in chronological order of the publishment. There's the 2 first novels where the first one, A Study of Scarlet (1887) introduces Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson together as roomates in the famous 221B Baker Street. Then continued with The Sign of Four (1890) where Dr. Watson met his wife. The rest are short stories as compiled in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891), The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1892) and The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1903). All this brilliant works of Holmes are portrayed as if it is chronicled by Dr. Watson about his roomate and from all of Holmes successes, we also get to read when Holmes is kind of beaten in his investigations by the equally sharp Irene Adler in A Scandal in Bohemia, his little blunder in The Yellow Face and his dangerous assignment involving Prof. Moriarty in The Final Problem.

A valuable collection indeed. And in my wishlist is Volume 2.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows...hmmm, what can I say about this movie. I am familiar with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved detective, having read quite a number of his Sherlock Holmes stories and enjoy them so much. I haven't seen the first Sherlock Holmes movie in 2009, being a little doubtful about whether it's a direct adaptation from the books or non-related at all (I'm talking about the ones Guy Ritchie directed, played by Robert Downey Jr.). However, I've come to terms with it, so direct adaptation or not, I'll watch it anyway.

True, the characters, the settings, the base of the story has its grounds on the actual series of books but the storyline itself is stand-alone and independent from the previous movie or any of Sherlock Holmes' stories. It's action-packed, smart and funny (on Holmes' eccentricity). In this one, Holmes and Watson face Prof. Moriarty, an evil professor in his attempt to take monetary advantages through the instigation of a world war.

For me, I like the cinematography and The Matrix-like slow-mo (forgive my lack of movie-technical knowledge) in certain parts of the movie. One of the slow-mo scene enhances the portrayal of Holmes' sensitive observation and another scene that I enjoyed was when Holmes and Moriarty is fighting on a balcony, referring their every moves to chess game and then Holmes make a mental analysis on how the fight would end up by considering his disadvantages (due to his injury) and his adversary's strength. I think it's brilliant.

Although Guy Ritchie's version of Holmes in his movie is a man of action and perhaps, adorably crazy compared to the cool, reserved, action-is-saved-for-the-last literature personality, the movie is endearing to watch, and so, I wish to see the previous movie as well. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows? Enjoyed.    

Note: This review lacks so much of worthy description due to the fact (from my point of view) that Sherlock Holmes has a very deep and complex character and personality and this movie version of him is somewhat straddling between his well-known traits and the foreign nature. Please feel free to read this other review, as I totally agree with the writer and he wrote it so well. Enjoy.

Lord Edgware Dies

agathachristie.com

Title : Lord Edgware Dies

Author : Agatha Christie

Publisher : Harper, 2007 (The Agatha Christie Signature Edition)

Pages : 351

Genre : Mystery, Detective Story

Bought at : MPH Subang Parade

Price : RM39.90 (Value Buy-double books)
First published by Collins, 1933

From back-cover synopsis:

When Lord Edgware is found murdered the police are baffled. His estranged actress wife was seen to visit him just before his death and Poirot himself heard her brag of her plan to 'get rid' of him. But how could his estranged wife Jane have stabbed Lord Edgware to death in his library at exactly the same time she was seen dining with friends? It's a case that almost proves to be too much for the great Hercule Poirot.

Method of murder, stabbed to death. Motivation, prospect of marriage to a more powerful and richer man. The tricks? Yup, once we learned of the two existence at the same time but at different places, and digested the story-line from the introduction, we would've arrived at the possible tricks executed. Only we wouldn't have known who's who and how it's actually done until the moment of truth. But sadly, so many deaths in this story, more than the usual two murders in average for Dame Christie's stories. And also, we learned that there is a kind of abnormality in a person, that he/she cannot distinguish the right from wrong, and can only think of one singular thing at a time, unable to process the mind with moral values. That kind of person can commit a crime without remorse as long as he/she can get whatever he/she wants the most at the time. The story is told as narrations by Captain Hastings which are very interesting, especially at the part where he told us about his views about Hercule Poirot idiosyncrasies. As expected, an enjoyable read as always. Love it!  

Miss Marple's Final Cases by Agatha Christie

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Title : Miss Marple's Final Cases

Author : Agatha Christie

Publisher : Harper/Collins, 2002

Pages : 240

Genre : Mystery

Bought at : MPH Subang Parade

Price : Value Buy-double books for RM39.90

First published by : Collins, 1979

This is Agatha Christie Signature Edition.

This is actually a collection of mysterious short stories from Agatha Christie. There are 9 stories in it, including 3 bonus stories, as follows...


Sanctuary
Strange Jest
Tape-Measure Murder
The Case of the Caretaker
The Case of the Perfect Maid
Miss Marple Tells a Story
The Dressmaker's Doll (bonus)
In A Glass Darkly (bonus)
Greenshaw's Folly (bonus)

Jane Marple is the 'detective' or shall I say, the master key of hints in all cases except in The Dressmaker's Doll and In A Glass Darkly, doing her wonders in the most natural way. The two aforementioned stories are rather a Hitchcock-ly kind of thriller, not that I want to compare between Christie's and Hitchcock's, but just to say that it fits the genre. All stories are brilliant, and similarly as I sad before....never believe the obvious because it may not be the real thing.

Always a thrilling read.

Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

Title : Destination Unknown

Author : Agatha Christie

Publisher : Harper/Collins, 2003

Pages : 316

Genre : Adventure, thriller, espionage, a li'l bit sci-fi too I guess ;)

Bought at : MPH Sunway Pyramid

Price : Value Buy-double books for RM39.90 (Yup! This is the double companion
of Dumb Witness.)

First published by : Collins, 1954

This is Agatha Christie Signature Edition.

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Reading this one was a new experience for me, after reading a number of AC's works in the past. It's a rare type of style, no Miss Marple, no Hercule Poirot. No gossiping 'ol dames, no hunt for family treasures, but a thrilling adventure in a punch bowl of war, ideologies and political sentiments. In it, there mentioned the term Iron Curtain several times and it has led me to find its meaning, to which I quoted from the online Britannica Encyclopedia as ...

...the political, military and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern European allies from open contact with the West and other non-Communist area.

However, the dark and gloomy post-war ambiance is just the background of the main plot. The main story is about the investigation of the sudden disappearance of a British scientist, Thomas Betterton, along with a number of distinguished science experts and researchers from all over Europe. The only key person in finding his whereabouts is his wife, Olive. Unfortunately, Olive is suffering critical injuries after a plane crash. Hope comes in the form of Hillary Craven, a suicidal woman who has lost her own hope to live after a failed marriage and the death of her child. How does Hillary play her role in tracking Thomas? Now that's the interesting part. The mastermind behind the geniuses' disappearance is a master genius in his own way, and the discovery of the plot? Superbly thrilling. In it there are mysterious characters, someone that might just pretend to be someone else, but you don't know who, and you don't know his/her motives and objectives. And in the end, the mystery is unraveled  one by one, and you know who is who...and then you can't help but thinking how brilliant it was told. Really, because I felt it.

This is not a usual Agatha Christie's treat and I love it!

Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

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Title : Dumb Witness

Author : Agatha Christie

Publisher : Harper/Collins, 2008

Pages : 411

Genre : Detective story

Bought at : MPH Sunway Pyramid

Price : Value Buy-double books for RM39.90

Voila! 

First published by : Collins, 1937

The detective : Hercule Poirot

Method of crime : Poisoning

The gist, as taken from the synopsis at the back cover of the book....

Everyone blamed Emily's accident on a rubber ball left on the stairs by her frisky terrier. But the more she thought about her fall, the more convinced she became that one of her relatives was trying to kill her.

On April 17th she wrote her suspicions in a letter to Hercule Poirot. Mysteriously he didn't receive the letter until June 28th...by which time Emily was already dead... 

And so, Emily Arundell was definitely murdered. But how? And why? And, by whom? When Emily's letter strangely arrived in Poirot's hands two months after her death, it has been Poirot's only mission to unravel the mystery behind the story. As in the other brilliant detective stories of Dame Agatha Christie, we can never be quick in judging who's the criminal until after arriving to the final chapter. What seems to be quite obvious in the earlier part might not be the real case, it might just be a diversion, but it can also be hint, to those who like to challenge the author and try to catch the real culprit before the final chapter. Sometimes, we might be able to have a good guess, but we can never explain the crime in detail as some facts are hidden from us readers. The joy is in having our own mind trying to solve the mysteries by ourselves while following the story, reading what's between the lines, understanding the mental state of the characters, and familiarizing ourselves with the culture of English men and women during the author's years of living.

I definitely enjoyed this one!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

A hot day, with the air feeling so stuffed, is not giving me such pleasure today. Homebound, restless, and with sore muscles, I survived the day playing in the 'farm', watching the final episode of a Korean drama (which I have no idea of what it was about before but comprehended all by this one finale episode), savouring a kimchi-like dish that my house mate made, and finally, completing reading this Agatha Christie's novel that I have bought quite a while ago but haven't been able to finish it. I dare say, this novel is the first one that I've succeeded in finishing after a long era of reading hibernation.

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Always a fan of Agatha Christie, I am. And I have read a lot of her books. As I said, I have been in hibernation in terms of reading novels lately. So, putting my dear FB to sleep (and that means my loyal Mr. LappyToppa too), picking up this book, and reading it in every possible position I could, and reading the last chapter aloud (as always...a long time ago) finally giving me a rush of satisfactory feeling. The joy that has long been dimmed by the advanced technology of virtual entertainment and plenty of other distractions.

But anyway, TMoRA is one of the many brilliant works by Mdm Christie that you can enjoy. Usually, I could never guessed who the murderer is behind the mysterious crime right until the very end, and that is usually in a gathering of all the suspects, but in this one, I am getting better....I have guessed who is the culprit just a chapter before the finale...hihi..I guess I need not to relay the plot here, interested readers can just pull it out from Google easily. This mystery case is one of the Hercule Poirot mysteries, meaning the author made this story as one of Poirot's cases and not the other popular protagonist in her novels, being Miss Marple. But even though this is a Poirot's case, it is being told from the perspective of another person being Dr. Sheppard, one of the key characters in the story. 

Need I say more? Hmm, I don't think so. It's a mystery novel and it is brilliant. There's elements of humour here and there that kept me chuckled in the effort of unraveling the case. Be prepared to be deceived. Mystery and detective story lovers, this is something that you cannot miss!