Reviews

The third of my readchristie2024 choices this year is The Seven Dials Mystery, first written in 1929, we are back at Chimneys and the joyous and plucky Bundle Brent features again.

What starts as a bit of a caper between friends ends with a corpse. Eight alarm clocks set as a joke but in the morning there is a body and one of the clocks is chucked out the window. A letter mentioning Seven Dials sets Bundle on a trail, with more death to follow. But she is nothing but determined to unravel false trails and bewildering evidence.

‘Don’t you see? Seven dials!…it can’t be coincidence.’

It’s quite stereotypical upper class high jinks initially, giggling girls, toffs and silly pranks plus Tredwell, the unassuming butler all at Chimneys, a big posh house. It’s a perfect setting for murder - but is it? Initially Gerry Wade’s death is thought accidental but after Bundle almost runs over his best mate Ronny, who turns out to have been shot, it seems darker forces are at work.

This story was so much fun! I love Bundle Brent, and I feel I’m always using this word, but she has Gumption! It’s such a perfect descriptor for her, she is super posh but has such a streak of bravery and determination to her, she is one of my favourite characters.

It also features Superintendent Battle, another of Christie’s recurring characters, he comes up against Bundle and initially is taken aback by her, but he knows what she is like.

‘I have one advantage over you. I can work in the dark.’

I really enjoyed this one and I am loving my return to Christie’s earliest works. I got totally blindsided by this one, led up the garden path and did not figure it out at all!

If I can, I’ll squeeze in a couple more twenties reads through the year, I am loving this years reads so far!

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4.0

Not an ordinary mystery, this one is more "international spy" thing :-D

I didn't expect the twist. Good :-)

Reminds me a lot of Wodehouse. Slightly silly boys, very accomplished girls. I like that. :-D (Though, of course fatherly men try to keep girls out of the action, being such gentle, fragile things. Fainting and all.) Agatha didn't keep the girls safe, nor out of action. I like that, too :-D