Tag: Book Blog

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (Review)

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie 

Blurb

‘I want a change. To be in the midst of things – exciting things – even if I’m only the looker-on. You know, things don’t happen in St Mary Mead.’

When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again – for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing.

The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie re-enactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board…

Review

I read quite a lot of this book sat on a very fancy train and yes I chose to read this book because I knew I would be sat on said train.

I must be honest I remembered seeing this one on TV but the TV version is nowhere near as good as the book. The TV versions just never get Poirot right or should I say Papa Poirot! 

Christie starts to set the scene with Van Aldin getting the renowned rubies and giving them to his daughter Ruth Kettering. Once Ruth gets on to the Blue train things soon take a sinister turn. Ruth is found dead in her cabin with her head so badly smashed in she is unrecognisable and the rubies are gone. Then Poirot appears on the scene to help the French police solve the crime because as he happily tells people he is possibly the greatest detective in the world. 

As the story progresses there are a lot of red herrings that the reader and Poirot have to work through and with this story Poirot doesn’t have his usual Hastings to rely on and bounce ideas off. However, Poirot does find a new sidekick to help him solve the crime. Miss Grey has been a companion most of her adult life and now she has come into a fortune she is free and wants her life to start so she leaves the quiet little village of St Mary Mead and goes on the Blue Train to start her first adventure. Poirot befriends Miss Grey and they work together to get the answers they need. 

I really enjoyed how this story developed and how Poirot worked through all the clues and also used some careful guesswork to get the answers he needed. All this builds up to the very dramatic ending which has you sitting at the edge of your seat. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Miss Grey as I really liked her character but I really enjoyed how she and Poirot interacted. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could not put it down so I give it the full 5 out of 5 Dragons. 

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Book Depository | Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She also wrote the world’s longest running play, The Mousetrap. She also wrote 6 novels under the name Mary Westmacott.

Etsy

Friday Poetry: Harold Munro

Happy Friday!

The poem I have chosen for today is a new poet for me. Harold Munro (1879-1932) was an English poet. As the owner of the Poetry Bookshop in London, he helped many poets to get their poetry into the public light. 

Overheard on a Saltmarsh

Nymph, nymph, what are your beads?
Green glass, goblin. Why do you stare at them?
Give them me.

No.

Give them me. Give them me.

No.

Then I will howl all night in the reeds,
lie in the mud and howl for them.

Goblin, why do you love them so?

They are better than stars or water,
Better than voices of winds that sing,
Better than any man's fair daughter,
Your green glass beads on a silver ring. 

Hush, I stole them out of the moon.

Give me your beads, I want them. 

No.

I will howl in a deep lagoon
For your green glass beads, I love them so.
Give them me. Give them.

No. 

Harold Munro

Happy Reading

Etsy

Lyra’s Pawsome Books #4

Hello!

I have been busy with Lyra’s Pawsome Books over the last couple of weeks. I have a Christmas stall next week to get ready for and of course I am busy making sure I have plenty of stock for my Etsy site. I know I am still in the very early stages of my little business but I am really enjoying thinking up ideas for products and putting them on my Etsy site.

I have started working on developing Christmas and Birthday cards which I hope to release in the next few days and I am finding the making of the cards and wrapping of the books quite therapeutic in an evening.

Anyway, here are the latest products on my Etsy site.

Christmas Book Box

This book box was inspired by some of the things that I love at Christmas. I love curling up with a Christmas themed book and a mug of mulled wine near Christmas and perhaps some chocolate to snack on later. I also love a Christmas candle and hot chocolate in the evening.

Cat Lover’s Book Box

Each box contains:

– Brand new paperback book (genre of your choice)
– Cat themed puzzle book
– Dancing Cat pen holder
– Bookmark
– Dreamies (flavours vary)
– Hot chocolate spoon
– Tea bag
– Coffee bag
– Popcorn
– Lotus biscuit
– Border biscuits (flavours vary)
– Cat shaped post it notes (colours vary)
– Black biro

This book box was obviously inspired by Lyra. There are lots of cat themed goodies within this box including a bag of Dreamies for your feline friend. My personal favourite item is the Dancing Cat pen holder and I must admit I have had to stop my husband from pinching them for himself. A percentage of the proceeds from these box sales is also going to Lyra’s favourite charity which is Cats Protection.

Happy Reading

WWW Wednesday: 16/11/2022

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I am having another busy week and don’t even get my day off tomorrow but hopefully I will get some reading time in this week.

What I am Currently Reading

What I am Currently Reading

Sadly, nothing has been finished this week.

What I Think I will Read Next

It isn’t looking good for my plan to read loads of books off this list this month as I just seem to be too tired all the time.

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Top 5 Tuesday: Books Set in the Future

Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, and now being hosted by Meeghan reads.

Hello!

I love this weeks topic because I do like a book set in the future as generally they are Sci-fi books and I love Sci-fi.

  1. Worst Martian Playlist by Corriea Garrett – I read this book in one sitting and I absolutely loved it. In fact I now want to reread it. It was a random find for me from a post I saw on a fellow bloggers site and I am so glad I found it.
  2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – Andy Weir is definitely one of my favourite authors and I just find his books keep getting better and better. I love the characters he creates.
  3. Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey – I include all of The Expanse series here because I just love the series. It is probably my favourite Sci-fi series.
  4. The Martian by Andy Weir – I love this Book!
  5. The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex – I saw the film of this first and loved it and for our first Easter together my husband bought me the book to read.

I could have chosen a lot more books but I went for my favourites. What are your favourite books that are set in the future?

Please drop me a link if you have taken part in Top 5 Tuesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. Here is what I have been up to on the blog.

Posts this Week

Currently Reading

I’m really enjoying these two books and I am enjoying the difference between fiction and non-fiction.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Mid Week Quote: Rita Levi-Montalcini

Happy Wednesday!

My chosen quote today is by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909-2012) who was an Italian Nobel Laureate, honoured for her work in neurobiology. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine jointly with Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor. On 22 April 2009, she became the first Nobel Laureate to reach the age of 100.

“Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them.”

Rita Levi-Montalcini

Happy Reading

Etsy

WWW Wednesday: 9/11/2022

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

Hello!

I hope everyone has been having a good week so far. I have had a very busy week so far so I am looking forward to my day off tomorrow. I have been very grateful for my bits of reading time I have managed so far this week.

What I am Currently Reading

I am thoroughly enjoying this book so far and find it so interesting. I have a list of women I want to do further research on and learn more about the amazing things they accomplished.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I really enjoyed this and plan on reading the rest of the books about Mrs Harris. Mrs Harris is a wonderful character who you can’t help but love.

What I Think I will Read Next

I have decided that my November TBR will be made up of the books I bought in Bath and I will see how many I manage to read before December. These are just some of the books I bought because the books from Persephone books are not included.

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Review)

The Big Four by Agatha Christie

Blurb

A ruthless international cartel seeks world domination…

Framed in the doorway of Poirot’s bedroom stood an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man’s gaunt face stared for a moment, then he swayed and fell.

Who was he? Was he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what was the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper? Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life to uncover the truth about `Number Four’.

Review

I haven’t read many Agatha Christie novels this year which is bad because I am trying to read all of her novels in order of publication so this one has been on my TBR pile for a very long time. 

My first impression of this book was wow what a lot of characters! Christie is a master of juggling many plot lines and lots of characters but this book is overflowing with characters. I know Christie liked to include a lot of characters because this was perfect for creating red herrings but it seemed like every chapter there were another new load of characters to get to grips with. To be honest I struggled at times to keep up with all the characters in this book but I think I managed it. 

In this story Hastings has returned which I am very pleased about because he always makes me laugh. He is always convinced he knows more than Poirot but of course he has no idea at all. It is also very clear that Poirot has been missing his good friend Hastings. 

The story begins with a strange man somehow turning up in Poirot’s bedroom and collapsing but not before giving Poirot a vital clue which will set the scene for the rest of the book. As the story continues Poirot finds just how far the Big Four are willing to go to take control of the world. The story sees Poirot travelling all over the place and encountering any number of characters from Professors to Government officials, from Criminals to Nobility. 

The one thing I did find with this story was it didn’t flow like Christie’s usual books and it felt at times like it was pieced together. After some research I found out that this book was actually made up of 12 short stories that Christie had written and published in a magazine. This made a lot of sense for me because once I knew I realised that this was why I struggled with the pace of the book and sheer amount of characters. 

Although I felt the amount of characters was overkill and struggled with the lack of fluency with the story I still thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down. Poirot was on his usual fine form and Hastings was still his bumbling self and I loved every minute of it. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons. 

🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Book Depository | Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She also wrote the world’s longest running play, The Mousetrap. She also wrote 6 novels under the name Mary Westmacott.

Etsy