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lesserjoke 's review for:
Parker Pyne Investigates
by Agatha Christie
Honestly, a better name for this 1934 collection might be "Parker Pyne Instigates." In less than half of these stories does that fellow do any real investigative work; the majority of the time he instead constructs elaborate confidence schemes to make his patrons feel happy again, like staging a fake robbery to be foiled by someone doubting their courage, or a romance to rekindle the attentions of a jealous spouse. Only in the last section of the book, presenting a loose series of incidents this strange hero encounters while traveling abroad, does author Agatha Christie reenter her usual wheelhouse to justify the actual title (or that of the American edition: Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective).
The change of pace is interesting, but a lot of the resolutions here are outlandishly baroque, and as ever with this writer, it's not as fun when we're not given the tools necessary to attempt to solve a mystery for ourselves. So although I'm glad her fame by this point was enabling more experimentation in structure, I can't say I'm entirely satisfied by the latest result.
[Content warning for gaslighting, sexism, and racism including blackface and slurs.]
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The change of pace is interesting, but a lot of the resolutions here are outlandishly baroque, and as ever with this writer, it's not as fun when we're not given the tools necessary to attempt to solve a mystery for ourselves. So although I'm glad her fame by this point was enabling more experimentation in structure, I can't say I'm entirely satisfied by the latest result.
[Content warning for gaslighting, sexism, and racism including blackface and slurs.]
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter