The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

The Man in the Brown Suit has been on my list to read for a while. I've read a lot of Agatha Christie's, but this is a Colonel Race book, and he has never been my favorite of her characters. Honestly, I should have read it earlier. Anne Beddingfield, our amateur sleuth, is awesome. She's practical, but full of grit and she doesn't frighten easily. She's also a hopeless romantic. Anne was raised by her anthropologist father, a well-known academic but a poor man more wrapped up in the dead than the living. After he dies, Anne refuses a more "suitable" arrangement and determines to find adventure. Then it happens - a man on the train platform near her falls to his death after seeing something that frightens him. The doctor who tends to the man wears a brown suit, and after he leaves hurriedly, Anne has her suspicions as to whether or not he is actually a doctor. She...
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Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh

Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh

This is the second boat mystery I've read recently. This one is a river cruise that Alleyn's wife, Troy, has booked on a whim. David and I have talked before about doing a cruise on the Mississippi before and I started looking at options the other day, thinking that planning a vacation is always a good way to pass the time, especially when we're all stuck inside. Looks like we could do a 5 day round trip in from New Orleans for between $2000-$3000 per person. I requested a brochure. We could plan one around Amber's school schedule I think. But, of course, the river cruise in Clutch of Constables includes a murder. All along, Troy has felt that something odd is going on. Granted, the folks on the ship are an unusual lot, as any random group of people in murder mysteries is, but even at that, she keeps getting strange feelings. I like Troy. She's a well-known painter, smart,...
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Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile is a classic Poirot mystery.  Poirot is on vacation in Egypt, taking a cruise on the Nile - and of course a murder occurs. Happily, Colonel Race is on board too and the two of them take up the investigation. We've got a lot of people on board the cruise, including a young couple on their honeymoon who are being stalked by the husband's ex-girlfriend, a young society man and his mother, a romance author and her daughter, an elderly kleptomaniac and her travel companions, a couple questionable men, a maid, a doctor - so many that it can get a little confusing on audio. The narrator did a good job with all the voices, but it's still a lot. The characters are all interesting and have their own personalities and motives. And Poirot likes them all, or almost all of them. He gives several people passes on their less serious crimes. It's the "hush, hush" house....
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