Agatha CHRISTIE : The secret of Chimneys (Superintendant Battle #1)

A bit of adventure and quick cash is all that good-natured drifter Anthony Cade is looking for when he accepts a messenger job from an old friend. It sounds so simple : deliver the provocative memoirs of a recently deceased European count to a London publisher. Little did Anthony suspect that a simple errand to deliver the manuscript on behalf of his friend would drop him right in the middle of an international conspiracy, and he begins to realize that it has placed him in serious danger. Why were Count Stylptich's memoirs so important ? And what was "King Victor" really after ? The parcel holds ore than scandalous royal secrets - because it contains a stash of letters that suggest blackmail. Someone would stop at nothing to prevent the monarchy being restored in faraway Herzoslovakia.

Wherever ravishing Virginia Revel went, death seemed sure to follow. First her husband died. The next to perish was a foreign prince whose ruthless power was matched by his scandalous passions. Then a bungling blackmailer followed them into the grave. Murder, blackmail, stolen letters and a fabulous missing jewel : all under the not always co-operative eyes of Scotland Yard and the Sûreté. All threads lead to Chimneys, one of England's historic country house estates, where a master murderer mingled with the aristocratic guests. Virginia could turn to only one person to prove her innocence and end her nightmare, and she could only pray that she had not put her life into the hands of the man who was out to take it...

 

 

I completely forgot this one in last week's sunday wrap up. Maybe because I was still wondering if I liked it or not - I settled for a medium rating.

What surprised me at the very beginning of this book was the racism : Jewish are yellow faced people with hooked noses and I learned the word "dago", which I'd never encountered before (Italian, Spanish or Portuguese people). The anti-French racism in British literature, I'm used to it - as I've already mentioned, the reverse can be found in French literature. The Jewish character' s intelligence later received some praise, but I guess that's how British men back then (nowadays still ?) would consider a wealthy, powerful man, whatever his origins. So that bothered me, but I guess I'll have to put it on those days and age... But what surprised me most is that I didn't remember this from my first reading.

That being settled, let's move on to the story. The novel was published in 1925 and we're still in Agatha Christie's pulp period. Espionage, Arsène Lupin-type uncatchable thief, twists and turns and all that. Not my favourite period of hers. My feelings toward the end of the book were lukewarm : I remembered how it ended, no surprise for me, in typical "pulp" style.

However, in the middle, I enjoyed myself, especially with the caracter of Lord Caterham (a sort of comic relief) and his daughter. The other characters were not extraordinary original but they fitted the plot.

So, not my best Agatha Christie experience, but the best is yet to come ! My next re-read will be "The murder of Roger Ackroyd" : I remember who the murderer is, but I expect to have fun with it !