The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie

Yes, a Christie again. (This time I travelled to Coorg).

In the tiny village of Sittaford, Mrs Willett and her daughter, the new tenants, have invited some guests for tea. After tea, someone suggests a game of table turning and during the game the "spirit" declares that Captain Trevelyn, Major Burnaby's friend is murdered. Major Burnaby is very disturbed by this and  decides to go and see his friend, in spite of the heavy snow fall.  And yes, The "spirit" was true, Captain Trevlyn is murdered! In the next two days, James Pearson, Captain's nephew is arrested for murder. Enter Emily Trefusis, his fiance, who is determined to solve the mystery and save her love. This amateur sleuth soon encounters many suspicious characters which turns out to be mere red herrings.

This is a typical Christie mystery. A good plot, well etched characters, enough amount of suspense but sadly most of these falters towards the end.  The story is still good but surely Christie has written better mysteries.

You can guess the murderer if you have read a good amount of Christie novels. 2.5 out of 5.


Trivia: This novel was adapted for television as a Miss Marple mystery.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The fact that this book is being made into a movie with Julia Roberts in it, was enough reason for me to buy this book. But by the time I started reading, the movie had come and gone and I had resisted my temptation to watch the movie.

The tag line of this memoirs read "A woman's search for everything". Can you search for everything you need in one year? Apparently, Elizabeth Gilbert thought so and started on an year-long journey across Italy, India and Indonesia, searching for pleasure, spirituality and love respectively. Her life before this journey was not going through a good phase, after a bitter divorce and a failed love affair.  So she considered these three aspects of her life to be those that will make her life balanced.

The journey,  started with Italy, where Liz ate a lot of pizza, learned Italian and watched soccer. What a way to unwind after a bitter divorce. Then she traveled to India to search her inner spiritual self. I felt this part of this book was a little dragging. Well, Liz did find inner peace. Next she reached Bali, in search of balance. Can she find love there? Even if she finds someone to love, is she ready for further complication in her now-peaceful life ?

The memoirs started great and engaging but later became dragging at places. Towards the end, there is a struggle to somehow make the journey eventful. There are many touching moments, like when Liz and her friends signing a petition to God. The book is worth reading for such tender moments. And who knows, may be this will be an inspiration to start your own soul-searching journey.

Worth reading once, 3 out of 5.

Trivia: Gilbert's travel was funded by the publishing house.

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

A long stressful week and I know I have to pick up a mystery from Christie in the weekend.

Gwenda, a newly married girl, is searching for a house  to settle down in England. She is new to England and finally finds her perfect home in an English countryside. Everything was going on well till she understands that she seems to know much more about the house than she should know. She almost believes that she is mad when she remembers seeing a dead body in the hall. It is now that Miss Jane Marple comes to her rescue. She helps Gwenda to realize that she had actually lived in the house as a small child and that is how she knows about the house so well. And the next important question is : Was a murder  really committed in the house?. Miss Marple tries to discourage them from digging into the "sleeping murder" but Gwenda and her husband are very enthusiastic about it. Unknowingly, they were inviting danger to their doorstep. But there always is Miss Marple to the help.

This is one of my favourite Hercule Poirot mysteries and there is no one like Christie who can handle murder-in-the-past plots. Sleeping Murder just establishes her as The Queen of Crime beyond doubt.

A good mystery from Christie, 3 out of 5.

Trivia : This is the last Miss Marple mystery, published posthumously in 1976.