Skip to main content

Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery

Review

Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery

Dame Agatha Christie may have passed away in 1976, but her legacy lives on forever in the hearts and minds of her readers. Another film version of one of her most popular novels, DEATH ON THE NILE, is set to be released in 2021. In the meantime, we are treated to a collection of “fireside tales from the Queen of Mystery,” all set in and around the winter season.

The first and best story here is "Three Blind Mice," which readers and fans of the theater will recognize as being the impetus for "The Mousetrap," which remains the longest-running show in the history of the British stage. I was privileged to have played Detective Sergeant Trotter in a production of this play a few years ago. A guest house is being run by two very wet-behind-the-ears owners whose first-ever group of guests come during a horrible snowstorm. Knowing that they are going to be snowed in and out of contact with the outside world for at least a few days, Mr. and Mrs. Davis are just hoping that everyone arrives safely and that the heat and canned rations hold out.

"It is a pleasure to spend some cold winter nights in the comfort of Agatha Christie's special stories, where the holiday spirit is helped along by some expert detectives who make sure that things remain merry and all is made right again by Christmas Day."

DS Trotter arrives on a pair of skis and shortly thereafter indicates that he is there to prevent a murder. Everyone had read or heard about Mrs. Lyon, who was strangled to death in her London flat just days earlier. Trotter informs them that she was actually part of a scandal that took place at a farmhouse years earlier when her adopted child died. Allusions to the nursery rhyme are employed throughout, and when Trotter reveals that the culprit is already amongst them, readers will be chilled to the bone. My only commentary for those not familiar with the story is that a key character from the play is not included here.

"The Chocolate Box," which serves as an introduction to Detective Hercule Poirot, recounts one of his few failures in detection, and the plot is ingenious. During the Christmas season, someone at a household he was visiting died mysteriously. The only possible clue he could think of was that the box of chocolates the victim enjoyed partaking in each evening had a mismatched lid and bottom --- although he still could not tie that to a killer. The reveal is a special one!

We are introduced to Christie's other famed detective, Miss Marple, in "A Christmas Tragedy." Those attending a small Christmas gathering have decided to share stories with each other that are intended to shock. When someone actually is victimized, Miss Marple must use the clues available to her as well as what she heard in a certain story to find the killer.

"The Plymouth Express" finds Hercule Poirot on another train (one of Christie's most famous Poirot novels is MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS). This time, the body of a young woman is found stuffed underneath the seat of a passenger. She ends up being the daughter of an American millionaire who calls upon Poirot to find out who killed her. In "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge,” Poirot is in bed with influenza but needs to get himself together to solve a suspicious murder that requires his unique skills and little gray cells.

The last piece in MIDWINTER MURDER, "Christmas Adventure," is a short story that was never before published in its original form in the U.S. Once again, Poirot is in the middle of a Christmas party that turns murderous. The body of a young woman is found in the freshly fallen snow the morning after, and he must identify a second set of footprints that should reveal the guilty party.

It is a pleasure to spend some cold winter nights in the comfort of Agatha Christie's special stories, where the holiday spirit is helped along by some expert detectives who make sure that things remain merry and all is made right again by Christmas Day.

Reviewed by Ray Palen on December 11, 2020

Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery
by Agatha Christie

  • Publication Date: October 20, 2020
  • Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories
  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
  • ISBN-10: 0063030365
  • ISBN-13: 9780063030367