Rules for The Solve
And other such silly matters.
Can She Solve It? Pt. 2
Every game has to have rules. And so too must I if I’m going to solve mysteries as I read them. So before I start reading A Carribean Mystery, this month’s Can She Solve It Book Club pick, you have until May 15th to read and solve this Agatha Christie mystery to be a part of the club. But to keep me honest, what are my rules?
The book must be a new-to-me story*
I actually don’t know about this book, so this won’t count towards my solve rate. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the Miss Marple adaptations, but I have this distinct memory of watching one and a middle aged upper class man tells Miss Marple he mistook her for a dumb old lady because she knits. IDK if that’s this book or not. I suspect it was the first appearance of Sir Henry Clithering, but I don’t actually know for sure. I remember nothing else but the knitting. I swear, the actress must’ve actually knit, because in every scene the knitting advanced and once, she switched to a new project in a different color. So end my memories of the only Miss Marple I both remember watching and story I don’t actually remember.
I will be honest about my methods.
There are two methods to solving a mystery, the reader method where you follow the clues, the literary method where I read the author’s intent. I will label each method in the solve, clue or literary.
I will give you my list of suspects at the 25% mark and the 50% mark of each book. (And who the most likely suspect is at that time.)
I will give you a timeline of the crime.
I will give you a list of clues as I spotted them.
I will lock in my culprit at some point before the denouement, but no later than the 75% mark.
I will tell you why/how I eliminated a suspect.
I will keep track of my solves.
That’s it, those are the rules I will hold myself to. The video of the solve goes live May 15th!
Feel free to leave a comment if there’s a mystery you would like to see me solve.
OMG! You guys, I just decided from watching the previous video in this series to do my own version of this! And this week Daniel Greene dropped a video on the EXACT STORY which was next up in our reviews. You can read what I thought of the book below and watch him try to solve here:
The ABC Murders, Agatha Christie
The Book
Captain Hastings is back again and on the hunt with his good friend, Hercule Poirot. With the delightfully honest and naïve Hastings as our narrator, we embark upon a one of Poirot’s most strange cases. When is a serial killer, not a serial killer? When they are just a cold, calculating murderer, who doesn’t care how many people they kill. So we have a killer who kills, an old lady whose name is Alice Ascher in Andover, the flirtatious Betty Barnard, the boring Sir Carmichael Clarke, and the random George Earlsfield. That’s not a pattern, other than the names and the taunts sent to Poirot before each murder. It leaves Hastings delightfully baffled and Poirot worried.
As the case goes along, something strange emerges. A man, almost nondescript who is a door to door salesman of stockings. Could he be our serial killer? The Inspectors certainly seem to think so, but Poirot is not convinced. The salesman is invisible, causing almost nobody to notice him. The killer of the letters is loud and boisterous? Poirot cannot account for the two separate personas. And he wants to know, what does the ABC train schedule have to do with it? The clues are there, but they are difficult to put in the correct order? Has a ruthless serial killer finally bested Poirot, or will a timely, obvious observation by Hastings put Poirot on the right scent?
My Thoughts
So I accidentally ordered the Collins English Reader edition of this book. It’s shorter, although from other reviewers I gather the book wasn’t long to begin with. This one clocks in at 25 K words, or novella length. So it was a fairly quick read. These readers are for ESL adult learners, and contain both vocabulary help and cultural notes inside of the books. For example, I knew England had abolished the death penalty, the book tells me the year it took effect was 1965, or about 30 after this book was published. And on and on, more notes this little book gives us.
Given that a century has passed since the publication of the first Agatha Christie novel, I am beginning to wonder is such little cultural notes should be published in future editions. Christie seems preoccupied with class, with servants making up a lot of characters in books. I wonder, if she were alive today, what would she be doing?
This is a delightful little puzzle mystery. But I was so caught up in the newness to me of the Collins readers, that I thoroughly forgot to try to solve the murders. I’m not sure it would have done any good. This is a story I clearly remember seeing a David Suchet adaptation of it. The only problem with a reread, or reading a mystery novel after having seen an adaptation, is I never know if I solved the mystery myself, of if I just remembered the end. Oh well. On to the next book.
How Much My Library Card Saved Me
This book was sent to me from Des Plaines. It entered their library on Jan 7, 2023. The cover is stiff, and the protective tape used to make the book more durable crinkled and cracked as I read it. The cover of this book is a paperback, but the cardstock seems to be laminated at the factory. I am certain this copy will last a long time, if the book doesn’t get lost and has gentle readers. I do not believe I am the first person to read this book, but I don’t think it’s been around the block either. This is by far the newest book we have seen to date.
Des Plaines told my library the book is worth $18.95. And considering all of the extras in it, I believe it is worth every penny.
This Book $18.95
If you would like to read my book reviews in real time, please see my side blog The Write Hobby wwww.writehobby.blogspot.com.
I’ll be back again in next week! Until then, keep on reading!
Love,
Ansley
