Book #71 Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My first read of MOTOE was in the early 1970s with a second punt in the 1990s. This latest paperback edition is exclusive to Waterstones and it is a pity that the wonderful art-deco cover has not been reproduced. It was this that drew me to the novel, once again. It has been published to coincide with the latest screen adaptation directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot. He will find David Suchet a difficult act to follow!

There cannot be many, if any, in the Goodreads fraternity, who have not read Murder on the Orient Express so I won't dwell on the plot. It was a joy to read once more and reacquaint myself with the characters. Needless to say there were passages and events that I had completely forgotten and to follow the clue trail once again proved to be - difficult, even though I knew 'Who did it'!

Christie's evocation of the golden age of travel is sumptuous and it remains a desire of mine to travel on the Simplon-Orient Express, although I doubt that the romance, so endearingly described by Christie, could ever be the same.

I find myself now on a mission to revisit Christie's back catalogue. I have read most of them during the last forty years but the thrill, I am sure, will be the same. How about 'The Mystery of the Blue Train'. Anyone?

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Book #28 An Event In Autumn

An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In May 2014 I finished reading The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell, the last in the wonderful Wallander series that had gripped me since the 90s. Mankell said in October 2012: “There are no more stories about Kurt Wallander”. And I reluctantly had to believe him, made all the more sad by Mankell’s early demise in 2015 from cancer.

It was by pure happenstance then that I came across this novella entitled An Event In Autumn. The story was written many years ago for a reading campaign in the Netherlands. Everybody who bought a crime novel in a certain month would receive a free book. This was one of them. Years later the BBC discovered the story (I thought it rang a bell) and made it the basis of a manuscript of a TV episode in which Kenneth Branagh played the part of Wallander. Subsequently the book was translated into English and published in 2015 by Vintage.

Chronologically it dates to the period just before The Troubled Man and once again I have had the absolute pleasure of following Kurt in a short thriller, beautifully crafted. Wallander wants to move to the country from the apartment in Ystad that he shares with his daughter Linda. His police colleague, Martinson, tells him of a property owned by his wife’s cousin, that is for sale. It appears to be just what Wallander is looking for; the location is perfect. What he finds buried in the garden though, isn’t. A human hand poking through the soil leads to the discovery of a skeleton of a middle-aged woman, buried long ago. What follows is a perfect, frustrating investigation. A perfect ‘Wallander’. Something for any fan of Wallander to luxuriate in - for one last time.

Don’t miss it.

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