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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
I thought that I had it worked out! I had the right motive but the wrong person.
I liked the story structure very much. In the first book, we have the death followed by one chapter per suspect -- feelings about the dead woman and their potential motive for murdering her.
As always, Hugh Frasier's narration is superb.
I liked the story structure very much. In the first book, we have the death followed by one chapter per suspect -- feelings about the dead woman and their potential motive for murdering her.
As always, Hugh Frasier's narration is superb.
I would have given it 4 stars, but we were told who the killer was in the first few chapters? I think I missed something at the beginning and need to reread it, but I still enjoyed the book!
This is considered the fourth book in the Colonel Race, Agatha Christie mysteries. I of course am reading these books out of order. I already read "Cards on the Table" (5 stars) and "Death on the Nile (ditto 5 stars) so apparently my streak continues with Race and I gave "Sparkling Cyanide" 5 stars as well.
This book had a great cast of characters with plenty of people who had a motive. I loved the why and the how in this story and I definitely did not catch on until the very end when all is revealed.
"Sparkling Cyanide" has the family/friends/others who have known Rosemary Barton getting together a year later on the anniversary of her death. Rosemary many believed committed suicide, but her husband George has been receiving notes saying that Rosemary was murdered. He decides to bring everyone back together in order to flush the murderer out.
We have the sister (Iris), the loyal secretary (Ruth) , the former lover (Anthony), the other former lover (Stephen), the lover's steadfast wife (Alexandra) and the widower (George). Then we follow up with these people on the day of the party, follow up on the aftermath of the party with Colonel Race becoming involved with this whodunit as well.
I honestly suspected each and everyone of the above at one point (except for Race) since they all had wonderful motives for wanting to get Rosemary out of the way.
The writing was very good and I loved that Christie paid attention to all of the potential suspects in individual sections. There is that subtle/not so subtle racism at play in Christie works (slur word against Italians and the less said about the Negro music, the better). Easy enough to ignore though due to the story-line.
The setting of the world of the rich and not so rich was interesting to see play out. I would love to see what happened with some of the characters (too bad) just because there was enough there to definitely want to see some of them in other Christie works. We know Race shows up again in the Hercule Poirot stories, but technically, this one is the last book that he shows up in since the other stories take place before the events shown in this book.
I did love the ending since of course when Christie spells out who did what and why it all makes sense. I did go back and re-read a few parts with that in mind. Very clever.
This book had a great cast of characters with plenty of people who had a motive. I loved the why and the how in this story and I definitely did not catch on until the very end when all is revealed.
"Sparkling Cyanide" has the family/friends/others who have known Rosemary Barton getting together a year later on the anniversary of her death. Rosemary many believed committed suicide, but her husband George has been receiving notes saying that Rosemary was murdered. He decides to bring everyone back together in order to flush the murderer out.
We have the sister (Iris), the loyal secretary (Ruth) , the former lover (Anthony), the other former lover (Stephen), the lover's steadfast wife (Alexandra) and the widower (George). Then we follow up with these people on the day of the party, follow up on the aftermath of the party with Colonel Race becoming involved with this whodunit as well.
I honestly suspected each and everyone of the above at one point (except for Race) since they all had wonderful motives for wanting to get Rosemary out of the way.
The writing was very good and I loved that Christie paid attention to all of the potential suspects in individual sections. There is that subtle/not so subtle racism at play in Christie works (slur word against Italians and the less said about the Negro music, the better). Easy enough to ignore though due to the story-line.
The setting of the world of the rich and not so rich was interesting to see play out. I would love to see what happened with some of the characters (too bad) just because there was enough there to definitely want to see some of them in other Christie works. We know Race shows up again in the Hercule Poirot stories, but technically, this one is the last book that he shows up in since the other stories take place before the events shown in this book.
I did love the ending since of course when Christie spells out who did what and why it all makes sense. I did go back and re-read a few parts with that in mind. Very clever.
A well-crafted mystery. It tended to drag at times. The Christmas rush could have colored my overall impression.
Huge Christie fan, but this one...
I really enjoyed the story, so I can't say too much without ruining it. However, the key to the second death was so far-fetched that it ruined the story. I wish I could say more, but seriously, this was so unbelievable (especially given what we knew about everyone and the location) that I literally laughed out loud.
There are so many other great Christie books, so this one will go near the bottom of my list. That said, the rest of the story is entertaining so it still gets 3 stars.
(Not sure if what I said is actually a spoiler, but checked the box to be safe!)
I really enjoyed the story, so I can't say too much without ruining it. However, the key to the second death was so far-fetched that it ruined the story. I wish I could say more, but seriously, this was so unbelievable (especially given what we knew about everyone and the location) that I literally laughed out loud.
There are so many other great Christie books, so this one will go near the bottom of my list. That said, the rest of the story is entertaining so it still gets 3 stars.
(Not sure if what I said is actually a spoiler, but checked the box to be safe!)
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
medium-paced
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This Christie book is a classic example of early cozy-mystery novels. The characters are clearly outlined so is the plot leading to the usual unexpected ending of Agatha Christie's books.
Light read for a cold day.
Light read for a cold day.