Reading Recommendations: A Double Christie Month

Dear listeners,

We're back with more reading updates! I hope this month has brought you some good crime fiction. This time, we have a fairly classic line up for you, with both Shedunnit production assistant Leandra and I revisiting some Agatha Christie. You can catch up with our previous recommendations here and share your own reading plans in the comments here.

Caroline Has Read: Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

This is the Shedunnit Book Club's book for October and, at the time of writing, Leandra and I are about to record our members-only episodes about it. It hadn't been long since I last read this 1944 mystery, as it was part of my marathon reading pile for the episode about Brand from last year, but I was pleased to have a reason to revisit it. I ranked it second out of all this author's books, which I feel is high praise given how much I like London Particular, my ultimate favourite.

My appreciation for Green for Danger only grew stronger upon this re-reading. The plot is very good, but what struck me this time around was the detailed yet deft descriptions of setting and atmosphere in this WW2 hospital where an accidental surgery death spawns a murder investigation. The fug of the Irish stew in the canteen was very real to me, as was the overpowering disinfectant of the operating theatre. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading this book yet, I highly recommend doing so as soon as possible.

Caroline Will Read: Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

I'm usually too disorganised to read this haunting later Christie novel at the seasonal moment, so this year I'm determined to enjoy it before 31st October rolls around. And if you have any favourite Halloween moments in other detective novels, do reply and let me know — I'm making a collection!

Leandra Has Read: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

I reread Death on the Nile for the first time since my original reading of it, and I think I enjoyed it even more the second time around. I found myself fascinated by the interactions between Poirot and Jackie de Bellefort, as well as the feud between Jackie and Linnet over a man who leaves much to be desired compared to the two extraordinary women. Having read this in a book club, my favourite part was seeing others engage with the text for the first time as well as the discussions that arose while watching the various film adaptations. It was fun to see which characters were sacrificed or combined, and which plot points changed entirely, in each film.

Leandra Will Read: The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa

Originally published in 1995, this is the first book by Nishizawa to be published in English. The book's translator is Jesse Kirkwood, who also translated Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto which was read by the Shedunnit Book Club in June 2024. I was first drawn to The Man Who Died Seven Times by its description as a "slick, funny murder mystery which adds a sci-fi twist to an age-old setup: a murder in a wealthy family with an inheritance at stake."

When his grandfather dies under mysterious circumstances, Hisataro falls into a time-loop in which he is obliged to re-live the same day over and over as he attempts to solve the mystery before time runs out. As a huge sci-fi mystery fan, I look forward to trying out this Groundhog Day-esque narrative.

Caroline here again, with two further updates. First, I wanted to highlight that Shedunnit Book Club members can listen to an exclusive interview with Jesse Kirkwood all about his process for translating crime fiction from Japanese to English. And secondly, following up on Leandra's "will read" book from last month, How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin, I regret to say that I started reading this myself after being gifted a copy and decided to give up on it after less than fifty pages. Not for me, but perhaps Leandra fared better and can update us next time!

That's what we've got coming up reading-wise. What are your plans for this month? Let us know by replying directly or by leaving a comment to join the conversation with other readers. If you'd like to follow our reading adventures in between these posts, I (try to) publish monthly reading updates on my blog/newsletter and Leandra documents what she's reading on her YouTube channel.

Until next time,

Caroline

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