[gmw]

As you may have guessed, since I nominated it, I like this book. Indeed, it is one of my favourites of the vast collection written by Agatha Christie. Almost all my favourites of hers are stand-alone novels like this one.

This book was obviously written to be fun, and I always have lots of fun when I pick it up, so I count it as a great success.

Yes, these days I can see some of the flaws (the over-convoluted plot, the various info-dumps), but I love it nonetheless. It's only Christie's fourth published novel and in this we get to see her humour shine free. Her second novel, The Secret Adversary, has a similar feel, but I never really warmed to Tommy and Tuppence, whereas Anne Beddingfeld was an instant hit with me.

I read, and re-read, Christie for her characters. She regularly has a large cast, and I think she handles them adroitly; it's what makes her books work even when you know the outcome in advance. I am really not sure what say to those that had trouble keeping track of them in this book, it's simply not a problem I've ever had with Christie's stories.

I am wondering if she let the villain go at the end in the hope that she might get to continue with Anne the Adventuress in subsequent books. Only to discover that people, for some unfathomable reason, preferred Poirot. (Don't get me wrong, the Poirot stories are often clever, sometimes fun and almost* always good reading, but - for me - none have the spark of Anne the Adventuress.)


I have not seen the movie adaptation of this, and I have trouble imagining an Americanisation of the story (as that adaptation appears to be - I mean, Stephanie Zimbalist as Anne?). In general, I find the Agatha Christie film adaptations to be quite hit and miss.

* The Big Four stand out as an exception to this rule.