Reviews: The Rose and the Yew Tree (2)

There are too many Agatha Christie books to review individually.  Some which don't fit the following author review will be done as individual reviews but most will have this review added. I'm going to split this into sections. It will cover the main categories of Christie's work. First though I have to say I love Christie's books. Even when one is a poorer story the writing still makes me happy to read it. Christie's ability to craft good characters shines throughout all of her work and it's character that drives the stories. Her plots on the whole are intriguing mysteries. Some work better than others but considering the length of time she wrote for, over 50 years, it's hardly surprising.  One thing I enjoy is the humour. The books have a lightness of touch that brings the quirks out in characters such as Poirot. Her books aren't blood-soaked horror fests but death is still the constant character that sidles throughout picking off victims as required.  I've enjoyed the vast majority of her books. From her detective novels through her short story collections, her plays, her standalone crime/thrillers novels to her biographical books and her "romance" dramas I've found very few I disliked and certainly none I thought were terrible. The rating on the books is an indication of whether I think it's good or decent. You won't find anything under 3 though. Not for me. Ok a bit more about the various groups.

Hercule Poirot.
 Probably her most famous creation. Poirot is an interesting character.  Fussy, self important,  arrogant at times but brilliant and determined.  The stories are among her best with classics to numerous to mention. Think the murder of roger ackroyd, murder on the orient Express, death on the Nile, evil under the sun, appointment with death and then add many more. The Poirot books are comprised of novels and short story collections. Most I thoroughly enjoyed. The plots are good on the whole and the characters are uniformly well drawn. Poirot's books are international going from England,  France on to the middle east which gives a variety to the stories. One little note here. There are two versions of the novel the big four. One, the first published, has a framing structure that combined what were originally 12 short stories into a novel. This is one of the weaker Poirot books. Written at a trying time for Christie it has more in common with the likes of sax rohmer than her normal material.  A new version, comprising of just the short stories as originally published was printed a few years ago. Its essentially the same book but without the framing material.  It doesn't really mention that though! But that's the publisher not Christie's fault. Back to the books. Several of the later books feature what would now be referred to as cold case stories. Poirot investigates old crimes from the golden age of crime era which of course Christie is undoubtedly expert at. From the first to the surprising final book and bar very few the Poirot books are one of the best detective series in print.

Miss Marple
There are surprisingly few marple books. 12 novels and 2 short story collections.  The are very good though. Miss marple is an example of the armchair detective.  Although she's not a strict example as she does have stories set both around England and abroad. Its more in the way her character works. She takes in information and her own observations of the suspects then uses her knowledge of people to work it all out. She's a great character and the books are strong ones for me.   As with Poirot some of the the later books are cold cases. Christie's final book, published posthumously was a marple case and one I loved.

Tommy & Tuppence beresford
Just four novel and a short story collection for these two memorable characters. I enjoyed these books. The lightness of touch, that subtle humour is in evidence in their short run of books. Great fun and great stories. 

Short story collections
Christie wrote a large amount of short stories. There are 50 odd Poirot stories alone. Miss marple and Tommy and Tuppence also have short story collections.  But there are many more. I like her collections. Books such as the hound of death, the listerdale mystery and the the later collections featuring rarer stories and alternative versions are all of good examples of short story writing. One to look out for though is an American publication.  Due to Christie's wishes a novella, three blind mice is no longer available in print in the UK.  Three blind mice of course is the novella Christie adapted into the record breaking play the mousetrap. Look out for it as it's a favourite story of mine. Both in its original form and the play version.
 
Other novels
There are lots of standalone novels and a few which do feature some recurring characters, such as the detective, battle. Some are brilliant (and then there were none, one of my all time favourite novels) some are good (death comes as the end)  and some are weak. One of the weakest for me is  they came to Baghdad but despite its weaker story I still enjoyed the writing. From the ancient Egyptian setting of death comes as the end, via the creepy pale horse to the more traditional crime novels Christie's general novels are as entertaining as her more famous characters books.

By Mary westmacott
The six novels published under this name are very good. They are well written,  character dramas. Some have said they are romance but I found them darker than that in places. If you just like crime then don't read them but if you like good characters going through personal dramas then try them. Not my normal genre but I enjoyed them.

The plays
I enjoy reading scripts,  film, TV and theatre but they aren't to everyone's taste. Christie wrote more plays than people might think. Obviously the mousetrap is the most famous and it is a great story. But there are others that are very good as well. The Poirot plays are good, black coffee being one I enjoyed. Then you have various plays adapted from novels. Often these differ from the novel. And then there were none is a good example.  The play has a different ending and it's good but I personally prefer the novel's ending.  There are plays written for television and theatre that are exclusive to those media. Some plays were actually written before the novel. The recently printed a daughter's a daughter play is very well written and predates the novel by some years. If you like reading plays then Christie wrote some very good ones.

The Charles Osborne adaptations (plus one other)
 Charles Osborne adapted three of Christie's plays into prose form. Black coffee is a good Poirot story. Then there were two others, spider's web and the rather funny the unexpected guest. I enjoyed the opportunity to read "new" Christie novels and the books are decently written. One thing to note is that Osborne does have to place some vital stage directions into the prose. Now remember that a live audience could see what was happening whereas in prose these stage directions can seem a little clumsy.
 There is another adaptation. A novelisation of the first motion picture from 1928 based on an Agatha Christie story. Loosely based on the first Harley quin story it's an interesting if over melodramatic novel by G. Roy McRae called the passing of Mr Quinn.

Non-fiction
Apart from Christie's very enjoyable autobiography there are only two other non-fiction books. One, come tell me how you live is a humorous account of an archeological dig with her second husband max mallowen. The other is an interesting account of the British empire expedition of 1922.

So that's it. A fairly basic overview of a favourite writer. Not just mine but one of my father's favourites as well. A final note on the attitudes and language used. Remember when the books were written.  Attitudes were very different. What was acceptable then has to be looked at in the historical context of the times. The times they are written works in other ways as well. The love story elements are fascinating as authors were restricted in what they could write. So you often get a situation of characters that seem to barely know each getting married at the end of books! Attitudes we find wrong now were accepted blithely and may seem shocking to younger readers. Think of it this way though. If you could take a modern book from 2020 back in time, say to 1920 when the first Christie is published or to the mid 50's people would be shocked and offended at the bad language,  the overt sexuality of characters and at the graphic plots. Many a modern author would have found themselves in court. It's all relative.

Agatha Christie is a highly recommended author. Truly the Queen of Crime.

Agatha Christie is famous for her crime writing but under the name Mary Westmacott she wrote books that allowed her to look more deeply at human nature. The Rose and The Yew Tree is one of six novels that Christie wrote under her pseudonym. Our narrator is Hugh Norreys, whose own great love story was viciously cut short by car accident that leaves him in a wheelchair. He heads to St Loo, Cornwall to live with his brother and sister in law, and there he meets quiet, serene Isabella and ambitious John Gabriel.

Agatha Christie’s knowledge of human psychology and behaviour is vast and impressive. The Rose and The Yew Tree takes our expectations of a love story and turns it on it’s head. Quite a few times reading this I had the rug pulled out from under me! Hugh Norreys makes a great narrator, as John Gabriel states, quite viciously I felt, Norreys has very little choice but to act as listener whilst in his incapacitated state. I liked Norreys a lot and I enjoyed his narrative. John Gabriel is deeply unpleasant but early on it’s made pretty clear we aren’t meant to like him!

This book features a lot of small town gossip and politics and I feel that’s one of the things Christie does best. Everyone knows each other, everyone has an opinion and no one likes it when ambitious newcomers ruffle feathers. I adore stories that are full of gossip and loved this element. This is the third Mary Westmacott I’ve read, they are all very different and while I do spend some time expecting a murder to occur (and feeling disappointed when it doesn’t!) they are incredibly well-written stories and really do showcase clever, insightful writing from Christie.