Review of "The Christie Affair: A Novel" by Nina de Gramont

 

Agatha Christie

Every mystery book lover knows Agatha Christie, the best-selling English author who crafted ingenious plots for her many whodunits. Christie had a mystery in her own life as well.

The facts are as follows: In December, 1926 Agatha's husband Archie Christie announced he was divorcing Agatha to marry his mistress. The next day Agatha vanished, and her car - containing a suitcase with her clothes - was found perched above a chalk quarry.

There was a hue and cry throughout England, and a massive police search for the missing writer. Eleven days later Agatha was found in a hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire, claiming she couldn't remember what happened.....and Agatha stuck to that story for the rest of her life

In this book, author Nina de Gramont fashions a fictional tale about Agatha's disappearance.

*****

The story is narrated by Nan O'Dea, the 'other woman' in Archie Christie's life.

Agatha Christie's husband of twelve years, Archie Christie, is besotted with Nan O'Dea - with whom he's been having an affair for a couple of years.



In December 1926 Archie tells Agatha he wants a divorce, as he's determined to marry Nan. Upper class British women like Agatha are expected to keep a stiff upper lip, but Agatha is devastated. The next day Agatha vanishes, leaving the Christie's school age daughter Teddy in the care of her nanny.


Agatha Christie when she was a young woman


Agatha Christie with her little daughter

Agatha is already a famous writer, and her disappearance reverberates throughout Great Britain. Police around the country are put on alert, and Agatha's picture is in newspapers everywhere. Many people, including Archie, fear that Agatha is dead, perhaps having taken her own life.


The police use dogs to hunt for Agatha Christie, fearing she might be dead

Nan is fully aware of the pain she's caused Agatha, with whom she's well acquainted. Nan and the Christies travel in some of the same social circles, and Nan has been a guest in the Christies' home. Nevertheless Nan purposely set out to wrest Archie away from Agatha, for reasons of her own.



Much of the book is Nan's backstory, which is rather tragic. Nan was raised in a working class family in England, and spent many summers with relatives in Ireland, working on their farm. As a girl, Nan lost a beloved older sister and fell in love with an Irish boy called Finbarr, who went off to fight in World War I.



Finbarr survived the fighting but came down with the terrible Spanish Flu, and - for various reasons - this was dreadful for Nan. Nan uses this history to justify breaking up the Christies' marriage.

In any case, Nan makes herself scarce when Agatha disappears, since Archie doesn't want Nan drawn into a public scandal. So Nan checks into a classy hotel/spa in Harrogate.



As luck would have it, a husband and wife in the resort die under suspicious circumstances while Nan is in residence. A policeman named Chilton, who's in the area searching for Agatha Christie, is assigned to investigate the deaths of the couple, which at first glance looks like a murder-suicide.



Meanwhile, Agatha also happens to be in the vicinity of Harrogate, having an adventure of her own.



Agatha tries to stay under the radar, but some people think she looks a lot like that writer whose photo is in the newspaper. 😃 After eleven days Agatha is found, none the worse for wear except she has 'amnesia' about her disappearance. To say more would be a spoiler.



In some ways the plot mimics a REAL Agatha Christie story, with plenty of surprises and twists, and an unexpected murderer revealed at the climax.

I enjoyed the story but didn't like most of the main characters - including Agatha, Archie, and Nan - who are self-serving and badly behaved. I do applaud the book for addressing problems faced by women of the time, many of whom had little control over their own lives.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Lucy Scott, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Nina de Gramont, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Wild Bunch: Gods, Guns & Gangs" by John H. Sibley

Author John Sibley lives on the Southside of Chicago, where the Black Disciples street gang was formed in 1958, in response to other violent gangs in the area.

Black Disciples street gang

Lawlessness is still common in Chicago's west and south sides, as evidenced by the constant crackle of gunfire at night, and the shootings that take the lives of both adults and children.


Family members of a shooting victim console each other outside Chicago's Stroger hospital


Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Chicago on July 4, 2020

Gang violence in America is not limited to rough neighborhoods, however. This is demonstrated by the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn Joe Biden's election.




Insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021

Sibley notes that The Black Disciples worship Satan while the January 6 insurrectionists are radical Christian Nationalists, as shown by their banners, flags, crosses, signs, t-shirts, and prayers. On both sides, the militant groups take inspiration from their view of God.


The insurrectionists are radical Christian Nationalists

Is violence an intrinsic characteristic of human beings? The author suggests that it well may be, as seen in brutal films like Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969), Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), and James Samuel's The Harder They Fall (2021).




Scenes from The Wild Bunch




Scenes from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood




Scenes from The Harder They Fall

For macho viewers, these motion pictures hark back to "the good old days" when "men were men." Movies like these make Sibley think of Dylann Roof killing black churchgoers and the deaths of Michael Brown and George Floyd - the kinds of crimes that are currently tearing the country apart.


Dylann Roof shot nine members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina

Sibley was particularly struck by Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, which was inspired, in part, by the bloodshed Peckinpah saw when his Marine Corp battalion was stationed in China after WWII. The battles between the Maoists and the Kuomintang, and the devaluation of Chinese life, profoundly affected the future director. The Wild Bunch also reflects the horrors of the Vietnam War and presages civilian use of assault rifles for mass murder. The author observes that the film "shows us the reality of violence as an unholy but unavoidable truth."


Chinese Kuomintang forces fire on Communist Army forces


My Lai Massacre in Vietnam (1968)

Sibley compares Peckinpah - who changed the way we view violence - to artists like Goya and Picasso, musicians like John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and boxer Muhammed Ali, all of whom "touched our humanity with their vision, sound, or word."


Fight With Cudgels by Francisco Goya

Sibley goes on to analyze violence from a spiritual point of view, noting the Elizabethan belief that, when God wants to punish humanity, he chooses the worst people - like scourgers and sinners - to carry out the task. For believers, this could explain the shooters who carried out the mass killings at Columbine High School (1999), Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012), Pulse Night Club (2016), Parkland High School (2018), and other places. The perpetrators, whatever their reasons, are almost always young men, who Sibley views as "the most dangerous people on the planet."


Eric Harris (left) and Dylan Klebold perpetrated a massacre at Columbine High School


Omar Mateen carried out a mass shooting at Pulse Night Club

The author notes that America has a preoccupation with violence that can be found in music, movies, television, and video games. Sibley further posits that this tendency may be rooted in epigenetics - the phenomenon of behavior and environment influencing the way genes are expressed. Sibley suggests the characters in Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch did not have a genetic predisposition for violence, but became brutal because of environmental determinants.


Video games demonstrate America's preoccupation with violence

Violence isn't the only problem facing humanity today. The author cites social theorist Jacques Attali, who believes our future is also jeopardized by climate change; increasing obesity; the use of drugs; scarcity of food, water, and oil; financial crises; damaging technologies; waves of immigrants; the moral bankruptcy of the wealthiest; and other factors.



In Sibley's opinion, climate change in particular should be seen as "a civilization wake-up call." The author thinks we must change everything about our economy to avoid climate disaster, which means reining in the greedy minority and redistributing wealth.

The narrative is insightful and provides much food for thought. Does the human propensity for violence, greed, racism, xenophobia, etc. doom our future? Can we better ourselves? That remains to be seen.

Thanks to John Sibley for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "The Darkness Knows: A Detective Konrad Mystery" by Arnaldur Indridason

 

This review was first posted on Mystery and Suspense. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/th...


In this first book in the 'Detective Konrad' series, the retired detective looks into a very cold case.

*****

Konrád, a retired police detective in Reykjavík, Iceland has been brooding about a case for 30 years.



Three decades ago an entrepreneur named Sigurvin disappeared, and Detective Konrád was an investigator on the case.



The prime suspect was Sigurvin's former business partner Hjaltalín, who was heard to argue with Sigurvin and threaten his life.



Hjaltalín was detained, but he loudly proclaimed his innocence, and - with no corpse - there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. So Hjaltalín walked free, but his life was blighted by a cloud of suspicion.



Now, 30 years later, Sigurvin's body has been found by tourists hiking on the Langjökull glacier.





The medical examiner determines Sigurvin was killed by blows to the head, the murder case is reopened, and Hjaltalín - now suffering from end-stage throat cancer - is arrested once again. Hjaltalín insists on speaking to retired Detective Konrád, who agrees, thinking Hjaltalín wants to confess and clear his conscience.

Konrád visits Hjaltalín in jail, where the sick man is weak, frail, and confined to his bed. Instead of confessing, Hjaltalín insists he's innocent, and asks Konrád to find the real killer and make him pay.



Since Konrád is retired he has no authority to investigate Sigurvin's death, but the case still haunts him. Moreover, the discovery of Sigurvin's body triggers people's memories, and a woman named Herdis comes to Konrád with a story about her brother Villi.



The tale goes as follows: When Villi was a child, he liked to play around the abandoned water tanks on Öskjuhlíd Hill, in central Reykjavík.



One night, nine-year-old Villi encountered a stranger on Öskjuhlíd, who chased Villi off and threatened to kill him if he spoke about the encounter. Soon afterwards Sigurvin vanished after being seen arguing with a man on Öskjuhlíd. Villi didn't realize he may have seen the killer until many years later, when he watched a true crime documentary about Sigurvin's disappearance.

Afterwards, in 2009, Villi was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Now that Sigurvin's body has been found, Herdis speculates that Villi's death may be connected to Sigurvin's murder, and she asks Konrád to look into it. This gives the retired detective a good excuse to poke around in the Sigurvin case, which he does with the help of friends and contacts in the police department.



This is a cold case police procedural that feels very authentic, with Konrád diligently following clues that lead from place to place and person to person - clues that sometimes provide useful information and sometimes fizzle out.



The book is also a character study of Konrád, who has a thorny past. Konrád was born with a withered arm, to a brutal father who abused his mother. When Konrád's mother had enough and fled with his sister, Konrád's father insisted the boy stay with him. The dad - who was a smuggler, thief, and fraud - made Konrád participate in his illegal activities, and Konrád became a juvenile delinguent who committed crimes, skipped school, and drank. Then Konrád's father was stabbed to death and his murder was never solved.

The homicide spurred Konrad to clean up his act, get an education, and join the police force. Konrád married, had a son, became a grandfather, and was doing well until his wife got terminal cancer and Konrad retired to take care of her. Konrád's story is filled with events from his life, like the time he was bullied at school; his rare visits with his mother; how he met his beloved wife; and more.



The atmosphere and landscape of Iceland make a fine backdrop to this compelling Nordic noir, which is expected to be the debut of a new series from award-winning author Arnaldur Indridason.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Apollo Murders: A Novel" by Chris Hadfield

This review was first posted on Mystery and Suspense. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/th...

Chris Hadfield is a Canadian former military test pilot and astronaut with a string of accomplishments in space, including being a mission specialist, operating the first Canadian robotic arm, doing spacewalks, flying on a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, visiting the Russian space station MIR, and commanding the International Space Station. Hadfield even made a video of himself singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on the International Space Station (available on YouTube).


Astronaut Chris Hadfield


Chris Hadfield singing on the International Space Station

Hadfield uses his space experience to good purpose in this thriller, a superb blend of fact and fiction set in the midst of the Cold War.

*****

After World War II the United States and the Soviet Union were in a race to conquer space, for national security reasons, foreign policy objectives, and bragging rights.



The Soviets were frustrated when the United States was the first to land a man on the Moon, and closely followed America's subsequent space program, especially Apollo 18 - which was to be America' s last manned Moon flight, scheduled for Spring 1973.

Navy test pilot Kaz Zemeckis was well on his way to being an astronaut when a collision between his F-4 Phantom and a seagull took his left eye, which is now a glass prosthesis.





So Kaz became an expert in space-borne electro-optics and is currently the crew military liasion for Apollo 18, America's first all-military spaceflight.



The designated Apollo 18 astronauts are Tom Hoffman, Luke Hemming, and Michael Esdale, and the benign goal is for Tom and Luke to walk on the Moon and collect samples while Michael pilots the lunar orbiter.



The astronauts repeatedly practice in NASA's simulator, as well as in planes and helicopters, to prepare for their mission.



Meanwhile, the Soviet Union isn't sitting idle. The Russians launch the Almaz Space Station, an armed spy station with enough resolution to see everything America does.



Russia also lands a sophisticsted lunar rover called Lunokhod, which seems especially interested in a particular site on the Moon.




When the military gets wind of these developments Kaz is instructed to convey new instructions to the Apollo 18 astronauts. In the strictest secrecy, they're to sabotage Almaz in Earth orbit before they head for the Moon. And on the lunar surface, the crew is to destroy Lunokhod and take samples from its area of interest. These new goals require complete rejiggering of mission preparations as well as flight plans, landing site, space walks, and so on.



During rehearsals for the Apollo 18 mission there's a deadly incident that results in a change in the crew, and the subsequent investigation - while the astronauts are in space - leads to suspicion of murder.



Moreover, additional ominous things are happening. The disabling of Almaz has unexpected developments; the Soviets are blackmailing an Apollo 18 astronaut; and Russia can communicate with Apollo 18 without NASA's knowledge.



All this results in a cat and mouse game between Apollo 18, the United States, and the Soviet Union, with each trying to outmaneuver the other.

Kaz notices small oddities during the Apollo 18 mission, but nothing immediately rings alarm bells in his mind. Thus, for most of the expedition, Kaz believes things are proceeding as scheduled. But a test pilot is trained to trust his instincts, and Kaz has excellent intuition.



The story includes real-life structures, such as the Almaz Space Station and the Lunokhod rover, as well as real people, including President Richard Nixon; NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz; Apollo Program Director Sam Philllips; American astronaut Al Shepherd; KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov; Almaz designer Vladimir Chelomei; Lunokhod specialist Gabdul Latypov; and many more, whom Hadfield lists at the end of the book. Hadfield also includes scads of technical details about the helicopters, planes, rockets, spacecraft, and equipment in the story, as well as descriptions of things like g-forces; weightlessless; re-entry; and vomiting, peeing, and pooping in space. Science and engineering nerds will be entranced while lay readers may be tempted to skim a bit, but it's all quite informative.

The book is fascinating alternative history and is so authentic, one can almost believe it really happened. There's room for a sequel, and with luck Hadfield will write one.

Rating: 4 stars