Young Agatha Christie (Family Comic Friday)

French cartoonist William Augel presents young readers with an assortment of educational graphic novels about the early lives of famous people. Commonly known by just his last name, Augel, the artist combines biographical fact with a series of funny vignettes. In Young Agatha Christie, Augel shows the acclaimed mystery writer aspiring to write crime fiction while making her way in a male dominated world. Plus, with the help of her rag doll Miss Marple, Agatha solves several mysteries in which you, the reader gets to deduce yourself, much in the vein of Encyclopedia Brown.

Humanoids Inc. imprint BiG presents this English adaptation of Augel's 2022 French graphic novel Le Petit Agatha Christie. My local library had several volumes of Augel's historical fiction accounts of notable people. I'll be reviewing another volume in February in celebration of Black History Month. This book was a library edition containing an intensive teacher's lesson guide. There's discussion questions, activity ideas, recommended further readings, and even ways in which this book aligns with Common Core education for third and fourth graders.

I thought this was a funny book. I'm a fan of Agatha Christie. I just don't read as much of it as I should. Still, I had a lot of fun catching many of the Easter eggs hidden inside this book. Plus I had a lot of fun solving those Miss Marple mysteries. I thought most of them were fair. I totally goofed on one solution not reading the whole episode fully. I did think that the mystery of finding the missing furniture in Agatha's dollhouse was a bit of a cheat. It sounds like you're supposed to only find 1 missing piece. Augel gets sneaky and hides 2 items in that mystery!

Of all the authors in the world, I'm not really sure why Augel selected Agatha Christie. I'm not complaining, as I had a lot of fun with this book. It's just that the kiddos who this book is aimed towards, ages 8-10, aren't old enough to read Agatha Christie mysteries yet. And in our current world, I feel like if a teacher decided to utilize the lesson plans in the back of the book for their classroom, I'm sure there would be some parents complaining about appropriateness. Common Core or not!

Agatha Christie was a pioneering woman who stood out in, at the time, a literary genre that was predominantly written by males. Without Christie, you wouldn't female mystery writers like Sue Grafton and Rita Mae Brown or true crime chronicler Ann Rule. Let's not forget, Agatha Christie was also an early participant in introducing surfing to the women of the world. 

If anything, this was a book that entertained as well as informed. I loved how this book was interactive and I hope that next months read will be just as fun. Maybe Agatha Christie isn't the subject you want your child to learn about at this time. But Augel has at least 4 other volumes about famous folks as youths that might meet parent and guardian approval. There's something for everyone and hopefully more from Augel on the horizon.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

The great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is attempting to holiday when he is summoned back East to consult on a murder. In order to arrive as quickly as possible, Poirot travels by rail on the illustrious Orient Express. The assortment of passengers on the train vary from an African doctor en route to England to a car salesman from the States. But the main player is an unscrupulous art dealer named Ratchett.

The businessman approaches Poirot one morning claiming that his life is in danger. Later that night, Rachett's fears come true as he is found murdered aboard the train that has become derailed in an avalanche overnight. Now with a killer on board, the world famous detective must determine the motive and find the suspect, least he strike again.

This 2017 film by acclaimed director and actor Kenneth Branagh was rather engaging. For an adaptation of the treasured mystery novel by Agatha Christie, it was pretty faithful. The first about 15 minutes of the film are brand new. But I think this is was vital to the movie as it establishes the foibles and quirks of Poirot who is a bit of a 1930s law-enforcing version of Sheldon Cooper. There was also an extra 'action' scene not really in the novel that I think was added just to speed up the pace a bit. The closing scene in which the killer is revealed differs from the book as well. It doesn't change who the murder is but it does expand the set which for the most part is confined to a snowbound train.

The film is comprised of an all-star cast. Johnny Depp is the victim Ratchett. It's nice to see him in a role where he's not portraying an odd-ball character from a Tim Burton feature or a Disney pirate film. Batman Returns actress Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Daist Ridley, and Dame Judi Dench highlight the impressive list of actors attached to this film. But the shining star of this film is Branagh who does triple duty as director, actor, and producer of the film. His portrayal of Hercule Poirot rivals that of the amazing Albert Finney's in the Academy Award winning 1974 film version. 

Murder of the Orient Express was a fun way to spend a couple of hours at the movies. It's the type of film that is best seen on a cold day, snuggled up with a wife and a couple of cats. There's a fantastic Easter egg that gives potential for a sequel and I really hope that happens because I really enjoyed the character. So much, that when the library opens tomorrow, I'm going head over to check out one of Christie's Poirot mysteries.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Poirot's Early Cases: 18 Hercule Poirot Mysteries by Agatha Christie

NOT WORTH CONSUMING

Agatha Christie’s mysteries are known for not being 100% fair with the reader. However, when you read a 200+ page work, you tend to give Dame Agatha a bit of leeway to having a highly unlikely plot twist or the fact that a pair of shoes being the key to the whole crime, despite the fact that until the mystery was solved, the word “shoe” appears not even once in the entire book.

But, when you’re given only 15 pages to solve the crime, such overlooks of important clues really insults one’s intelligence. That’s a main reason why it took me 3 weeks to finish this book. After about 7 preposterous solutions, I started to feel cheated and well, to be honest, my heart really wasn’t in it to continue. I mean, if the writer isn’t willing to devote herself to her book, why should I?

Fans of Christie will like this book. But, if you want to really get to know her for the first time, skip this collection of the early cases of her most famous character and read “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”. You’ll be glad you did. Then, after you start to understand her style a little, feel free to give these tales a try. I just hope they don’t put you off wanting to read more of her works. (If you are like me, you just may feel like a break from it for a while.)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

WORTH CONSUMING!

This is my second foray into Agatha Christie. While I liked this book very much, I prefer the narrative flow of “Murder on the Orient Express” much better. By the discovery of the wedding ring, the book gets a little too wordy and I felt like I was reading Keats or worse, Shakespeare. I chalk this up to this being an early, early work of the author’s. (This had originally been a fear of mine as to why I hadn’t read Christie’s stuff yet- thankfully, it gets better within a couple of chapters)

But, I understand why this book had to be written from the first person and I appreciate this books twists and turns. And while this book has a wild ending as well as MOTOE, this ending was much more plausible.

I also would like to tout myself as having guessed who the murderer was by chapter 10. I was clueless about the subplots. But, I got the murderer of Roger Ackroyd just right!

Worth Consuming.

Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie

WORTH CONSUMING!

This book is crazy! It’s my first foray into Agatha Christie- I’m hooked! But the way this book ends is wicked! Wild! And totally unbelievable! I love it!

Since it’s a mystery, I won’t get into spoilers. But if you dare to ride the Orient Express, be prepared for anything!!! Nothing in this book is quite as it seems.