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ashleylm 's review for:
The Listerdale Mystery
by Agatha Christie
It's a high 3 (I almost came close to 4, but thought better of it). I enjoyed it much more than her last collection of short stories (the wretched Hound of Death), but not quite enough to claim I really enjoyed it. I experienced simple enjoyment with no extra modifying adverbs required!
These stories (not even cases) were in general much more light-hearted than the usual ones, to the point of virtually being light comedy in some cases. (Nothing you'd laugh out loud over, but that seems the author's intent). The darker stories are almost Hitcockian, by contrast. There's not really a dud, but nothing made me shout "wow, that's one for the ages." There is quite a lot of coincidence and good fortune (again, the stuff of light comedy), as opposed to the normal expectation for a mystery: clues, fairplay, and a solution. These aren't those kind of stories.
I don't think I've read these before, by the way (I really had thought I'd read every Agatha Christie novel and collection before I'd turned 13), so they're either new to me, or even more unmemorable than I believe them to be. If you're a completist, fine, read them, you'll survive, but if you're mentally stable enough to skip so-so stories, I don't think you have to commit yourself to this volume.
Oh, and she did that thing again—I just hate this—where people are talking, and there's a question, and then "after several minutes" someone answers. It's like she has no idea how long a minute is, and thinks it means the same thing as "moment," but it doesn't. In no conversation ever would a questioner contentedly sit for several minutes waiting for an answering without some intervening concern for the health or wits of the silent respondent!
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
These stories (not even cases) were in general much more light-hearted than the usual ones, to the point of virtually being light comedy in some cases. (Nothing you'd laugh out loud over, but that seems the author's intent). The darker stories are almost Hitcockian, by contrast. There's not really a dud, but nothing made me shout "wow, that's one for the ages." There is quite a lot of coincidence and good fortune (again, the stuff of light comedy), as opposed to the normal expectation for a mystery: clues, fairplay, and a solution. These aren't those kind of stories.
I don't think I've read these before, by the way (I really had thought I'd read every Agatha Christie novel and collection before I'd turned 13), so they're either new to me, or even more unmemorable than I believe them to be. If you're a completist, fine, read them, you'll survive, but if you're mentally stable enough to skip so-so stories, I don't think you have to commit yourself to this volume.
Oh, and she did that thing again—I just hate this—where people are talking, and there's a question, and then "after several minutes" someone answers. It's like she has no idea how long a minute is, and thinks it means the same thing as "moment," but it doesn't. In no conversation ever would a questioner contentedly sit for several minutes waiting for an answering without some intervening concern for the health or wits of the silent respondent!
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)