[fantasyfan]

Now . . I must confess that I have read very few of Agatha Christie‘a novels. I believe the last was one ( I don’t remember which) involving Miss Marple about 40 years ago. However, I have seen quite a few dramatised for film and TV. But I really don’t know how faithful these were to the books upon which they were based. But I very much enjoyed this novel.

The first thing that I noticed was the tongue-in-cheek introduction to the heroine. Anne reminded me of Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey. Both have a kind of charming innocent naivety and equate the real world with the fictional world of the books they read. In Catherine’s case it is the gothic novel. Anne sees life through the prism of the pulp adventure story. The novel was originally serialised as Anne the Adventuress and Anne frequently references the cliff-edge serials made at the time. One can’t take the parallels between Catherine and Anne too far. Part of the charm of the novel is the winning bubbly personality of the latter. Further Anne really does get involved in pulsating adventures.

I think I would agree with those reviewers on Goodreads that feel that the book is a combination of a spoof of the form and also a tribute to it. Think of the opening of the original Star Wars. That opening introduction that scrolls across the screen is a nod back to the old “Flash Gordon” adventure series.

For the most part I thought TMITBS very effective. Anne is so likeable and the very funny diary entries of Sir Eustace Pedler were always entertaining. The breathless plot doesn’t give one much time to notice the complete improbability of it all.

On the other hand, perhaps it is just a bit too long. Sir Eustace is great as a comic figure but his transformation into a subtle villain doesn’t work for me.

And the ending...? Well this is Christie’s final dig at the endings of books like the Tarzan series where the Ape-Man takes his inheritance and becomes Lord Greystoke.