Which Story Would You Most Like To Have Been In

MarcWatson-Gray

This is probably a difficult one as we all appear to love so many of A.C's stories.But if you could pick one.Which of the adventures would you like to have been a character in and why ?

Would you like to  be in a village with Miss Marple ?

On the Nile with Hercule ?

In Post War London with Tommy and Tuppence ?

I would love to have been in Broadhinny (Mrs McGinty's Dead )when Poirot stirred up a hornet's nest over the fact that James Bentley ***SPOILER***may not have been the murderer after all.

The village would have been buzzing with suspicion and speculation.

I would be a local and a dog walker (as i am)

We dog walkers always see and hear things (at leasy i do !!! )

Griselda

Funny that you should say that, Marc, because I have also found the social milieu of Broadhinny very appealing, and I would have liked to have been served up with more scenes of parties and gatherings, to better enjoy the interactions of the characters. For a while it is even nice to forget the murder and just enjoy reading about the lives of the suspects. Three Act Tragedy improves on re- reading, and the Cornish village seems very enticing. Murder at the Vicarage is very cosy and wholesome - there is the sense of there being an evil imposter in the midst of those lawabiding folk. The Moving Finger presents a lovely scene of village life. I would have been happy to be just a house guest of Mrs Dale Calthorpe in that story. Dog walkers see everything, don't they, and have their group get togethers. It is a bit like what Agatha Christie says in A Murder Is Announced about the aftermath of the war, people then took their neighbours at their own valuation because in the mix up following VE Day, lots of official records had been lost, and, anyway, people were coming back from overseas and it took ages to check foreign records. Anybody could be anybody. I am sure the dog walking community accept all comers without question into their confidentiality, and a springy border terrier is a passport into intimacy, all qualms pawed aside, and the owner/ stranger is given the seal of approval, especially if he/ she patently loves his companion. What secret information and gossip could then be exchanged, and what villain could go unsuspected. Dogs find things in bushes, anyway. Didn't a Manchester terrier find a villain in Postern of Fate? I would have liked to be there with Bob the terrier in Dumb Witness. I'd be a kind villager who walked him.

MarcWatson-Gray

I really need to read Three At Tragedy again..I read it once years ago,but like you say Griselda (and others have also noted)that it improves on re:reading

As a dog walker.I once walked past a body,or rather  a part of a body !!!! (Dreadful,but true)only for a few hours later for it to be discovered by a fellow dog walker........it was a horrific murder case....and nothing like the coziness of our beloved Agatha Chrsitie !

Griselda

I suppose that might make us think that it is the good triumphing over evil which makes Agatha Christie enjoyable because witnessing the horrors of actual crime is purely an unpleasant and recoiling experience, not to say sad and traumatic. That real experience possibly gives Poirot and his fellow investigators, like Japp and Spence, their determination to triumph over murder and apprehend the criminal. You must have a very well-trained dog for them not to have gone off the path to investigate.

MarcWatson-Gray

He was an "old man" by that time and not very well unfortunately....but a great friend...

I see what you mean with regards to the continual battle of good over evil..The Japps and Poirots could either give in to the horrors of the world around them or decide to fight it which (although we are talking about fictional characters here)must have taken a lot of courage...as it does in real life

taliavishay-arbel

Interesting that everyone wants to go to some quiet village. I also thought I'd like to go to the village in "the pale horse" or "the moving finger."

Tommy_A_Jones

There are so many I would like to be in, Why Didn't They Ask Evans because I would love to meet Bobby and Lady Derwent and it is a brilliant Caper, The Bundle Books also great Capers, N or M my favourite T&T book, I would also love to be in A Murder Is Announced because I would love to be in Chipping Cleghorn and Mrs McGinty's Dead because I too would love to be in Broad Hinney, Cat Among The Pigeons because I love the book, Sleeping Murder as I could join Giles and Gwenda gadding about the Country and Evil Under The Sun because I love the Island and The Sittaford mystery as I love the idea of the House complex and the Big House and Towards Zero as I love the book infact all the Miss Marple's except for They Do It With Mirrors and all the Poirot's set in Britain and Death On The Nile, Great Question.

Anubis

Yes, great question. Very true, Marc and Griselda, about the difference between violence in reality and in fiction. My mother once walked by a police car on a country road, and when she looked inside, noticed that the officer had done himself in. Quite a shock for her. 

Anyway, I'd like to be on Indian Island in ATTWN, perhaps as a person who came to be on the island accidentally. Then were would be lots of suspense for me.

Griselda

That would be scary being on the ATTWN Island, whilst that story was being played out, but just about manageable to be on Burgh Island, where Evil Under The Sun was set, as a visitor only of course, or as one of those family members who were declared non- suspects because they had been off sailing when Arlene was done in. That location would make a great trip for an Agatha Christie club. I'd like to sit and read a series of her novels on the bench on Sunny Ledge.

taliavishay-arbel

Griselda, I'm with you. Actually, I'd like to be there with you, discussing the murder!

MarcWatson-Gray

A very good choice Anubis,but jeez.... a pretty scary one !!!!!! That was not one of Agatha Christie's "cozy"ones !!!! Ha

Griselda

I think you have the mettle and temperament to actually be a detective, Anubis!

Anubis

Well, is any character in any AC story truly "safe" until the story is over? There could be just as much danger in a cozy village as in a craggy island.

Griselda

No, as proved by the vicar in Three Act Tragedy. Perhaps the safest bet is to be Miss Lemon, or the Inspector - whichever one applies.

Griselda

No, you're right, that should say, nobody is safe at all.

MarcWatson-Gray

I know,but being marooned on an island,you are already at a major disadvantage....unless you were a very good swimmer !!!

Tommy_A_Jones

If You were the only one on the Island you would be safer than anybody

MarcWatson-Gray

Sorry Tommy.What i meant was to be character in addition to the other ten marooned characters who were being picked off one by one........

tudes

I would like to have been in Evil under the Sun. It's my favorite book and I think the story is fantastic.
I also would like to have been in A Murder in Announced. A small village and, of course, I would like to have been in the scene of crime, I mean, the first murder.  

Tommy_A_Jones

If you were on an Island with 10 others one of which is a Murderer you could disappear and be apart then you could be relatively safe because you weren't the Murderer, it is only when getting close to others you would be in Danger

MarcWatson-Gray

tudes. Re: A Murder Is Announced.....I can just imagine the child like excitement when the lights go out..only to turn to sheer terror when the gun shots are fired....quite a rush........Followed by the gossip and investigation in the village afterwards...That's why i chose Mrs McGinty's Dead.....for the village setting......

There is always the feeling of being in a moment in time that feels as if it will go on forever in the stories.As if no-one in these villages will ever grow old or if they are old,then they will always remain the same age..........Almost like being a child again,when you thought things would always stay the same......

tudes

@MarcWatson-Gray, can you image to be a suspect? Miss Marple looking at you and making deductions? Or think: I could have been killed?
And they seemed so close.Sometimes it seems that I know them, that I'm really there. They're talking to me. 

MarcWatson-Gray

I think after one look form either Poirot or Miss Marple that i'd feel so guilty that i confess to something even if it was not relevant to the case in hand !!!!

Griselda

Like the secretary in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, once Poirot has asked all the house guests to tell him what is the secret that they are keeping from him!

tudes

I would like to have been in The Murder of Roger Acrkoyd too! I would like to have been Poirot's neighbor. I could have gone to Dr. Sheppard's house and listen all the gossips about the murder! And I would have played with Caroline Sheppard!

Griselda

I think the romance between Flora and Blunt ( is Blunt?) is very nicely developed.