The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha ChristieMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I know that a lot of people don't care for Christie's thrillers, preferring the murder mysteries. I guess I'm in the minority, because I find them highly entertaining. The main character in this one, Anthony Cade, reminded me a bit of Anne Beddingfeld’s love interest in The Man in the Brown Suit. I suppose even the shady characters of the world need a bit of love. I must confess to rather adoring Victoria Revel, who describes herself as a wicked widow and professes polyandrous tendencies. Her sharp intelligence and adept handling of the men in her reach is delightful.
I enjoyed Cade's dialog a lot, his many wryly humourous observations on the matter at hand. It makes me anxious to read another biography of Christie to see if I can get a better estimation of the woman. If one was to believe her autobiography, she just bumped along, being surprised by the actions of those around her. This I just do not believe of the woman who created the ultra-observant Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. It is my belief that she hid behind a façade, much as Miss Marple pretended to be a dotty older woman.
If my calculations are correct, with this book copyrighted in 1925, it would have been written during the turbulent period just before Christie's divorce. In both this novel and the previous one, the female characters pledges themselves to men with murky histories and remain tremendously loyal. By all accounts, Agatha did not want a divorce and felt her own loyalty had been abused. Perhaps that accounts for some of the dramatic pairing up that occurs in these novels? If you can't have it, at least your main characters can?
At any rate, this was a secret well worth reading for. And I pat myself on the back that I figured out M. Lemoine, even if I missed the significance of Boris.
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