Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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A Poirot without Poirot

The Hollow by Agatha Christie

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I thought I had read every Agatha Christie there is, but I came across one I hadn’t read (or don’t remember having read): The Hollow. It is a Hercule Poirot novel, but he hardly features in the story at all. He appears a few times, including the end, but the book really centers on the characters/suspects. Lady Lucy Angkatell and her husband Lord Henry have an estate called the Hollow. At a weekend gathering (it’s always a weekend gathering, isn’t it?), an unfaithful doctor is […]

“The case does look very black against you. Nevertheless, I accept your assurance.”

The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie

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Last year I read my first ever Agatha Christie novel and enjoyed the experience so much that I put another on this year’s list. Without a better idea of where to start I hunted up works published by Christie in 1925 and the short story now known as The Witness for the Prosecution fit the bill. I didn’t know much going in about what the story contained and decided that was probably for the best.   This 50-minute audio (read by the incomparable Christopher Lee) is an excellent example of how Christie honed in on the mechanics of writing to tell her […]

Should A Classic Be Discounted Because of the Racist Origins of its First Title?

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

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As a teenager, I was a huge Agatha Christie fan. There’s a reason she ranks among the most widely published authors of all time (behind only Shakespeare). The lady can spin a yarn! I’m proud to say I guessed the murderer in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd when I first read it, though I recently reread And Then There Were None and did not guess said murderer. (I haven’t read the book in twenty-plus years, so it feels brand-new). The title has been changed twice […]

Quick Questions with a Cannonballer: a Classic mystery

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Hi, Classic! Thanks so much for agreeing to participate in our interview! I see from your Cannonball Read profile that you’ve been participating in and off since CBR 9. How did you find us? I used to post on Pajiba, and reading Pajiba Love, I saw that there were often book reviews and I started to read the reviews that were linked. There were more CBR commenters back in those days, and I think it was Ms. Julien who told me about CBR and how […]

All around us are people, of all classes, of all nationalities, of all ages

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

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CBR 17 BINGO: Border, because the murder takes place just after the train passes over the Yugo-Slavian border, resulting in there being no local police onboard. Also, the collection of guests on the train cross many borders into many different nationalities. Last year I received a beautiful Folio Society edition of Murder on the Orient Express for Christmas and have been waiting for just the right time to re-read this mystery. When I planned a train trip across the Canadian Rockies, I knew the time […]

“Everything must be taken into account. If the fact will not fit the theory—let the theory go.”

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

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After I accidentally read the 4th book in the Poirot series first (which BLEW MY MIND, see review of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd). I decided to backtrack and begin at the beginnings. Not only is this the first book about Poirot, it is her VERY FIRST detective novel. The first novel does a great job of introducing us to Poirot in a way where he, and his companion Author Hastings, feel already familiar. Hastings is the Watson to Poirot’s Holmes, the foil who is […]



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