12 Key Ingredients of the Agatha Christie Crime Soup That Spice Up the Flavor Every Single Time
Fancy a cup full of murder? Be prepared for these unmissable Christie elements…
When I first read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd — arguably the greatest traditional ‘whodunit' ever— I remember getting so hooked I decided to read every single Agatha Christie mystery.
By the time I got to number 12, I could almost predict the sequence of events (the body in the study, the suspects with a wide range of motives, the subsequent interviews, the second murder, the confessions) and…
…still not be able to solve it!
And granted, when you’re no more a youthful teen hungry for some weekend mystery, you don’t actually feel like picking up something the cover page of which says: ‘One, Two, Buckle My Shoe’.
Still, I like to read one Agatha Christie mystery every summer just for a little nostalgia-drip in its crime pool.
And you realize the author is an expert on crime when she starts naming her books by the peculiar circumstance of the murder. In fact, she might as well have used every place conceivable as a crime site.
Take a look. We’ve had Murder…
- (Death) In the clouds
- (Evil) Under the sun
- (Death) On the Nile
- (Peril) At end house
- In the Orient Express
- In Mesopotamia
- At the Vicarage
….and so on.
Not called ‘Queen of Crime’ for nothing. Indeed, you get so used to armchair detection in a cozy atmosphere, you can almost introduce your 12-year old to the concept of murder with one of these books.
So, on the back of reading more than two dozen of her books, what I have done is bring to you some of the most recurring themes of a typical Christie murder plot.
You know you’re holding a Christie in your hands when you’ve got some of these elements in the story:
1. EGGS AND BACON
When there were just six people left in And Then There Were None, guess what did all of them do first thing in the morning?
Damn right…have some eggs and bacon!
Apart form that, if you ever wanted a tour of some of the English county villages, some ‘inclement weather’, and lots of tea, simply grab a Christie classic and you’ll be fine.
2. REFINED ENGLISH ARISTOCRACY
Traditional novels always have the ability to make you time travel and these books are no exception.
Be it the sophisticated intricacies of English ladies of the 30s, the very refined manners of gentlemen with their fedora hats, the calculated rebellion of the young (with lots of S.A.), or the overall atmosphere of the whole village exuberating leisure.
You could only think of murder as the last thing that could happen in a place like that.
In fact, many of her novels begin with a lot of her characters bored with the mundane and desperately hoping for a scandal; many of them even voicing playful predictions of a murder!
So much is a crime unexpected in these places.
3. PLOT PLOT PLOT
Christie was often criticized to sacrifice other elements of fiction like character depth for plot. But that is exactly what makes it so entertaining to read.
In fact, it’s pretty much like watching a silly movie fully knowing that it is going to be silly. You always have a great time then.
Christie’s novels are puzzle pies more than anything else. And apart from Endless Night — Christie’s own favorite mind you — I haven’t read a book of hers which is very rewarding purely from the literary point of view.
4. BAD GUYS DIE
Bad guys become the victims, and more often than not, are done away very early in the piece for moral relief. Lord bless his soul, but he really was such a devil!
And because the victim was a baddie with lots of enemies, there emerge a million people with potential MOTIVES — righteous or not. Happy sleuthing now!
Money, women, jealousy, adultery, or plain burglary… where there is a way, there is a will.
And of course, not to forget — the will! With heirs: legitimate and illegitimate.
5. GOOD GUYS NARRATE (WELL…NOT ALWAYS)
Narrators are nice and dumb, including Mr. Hastings, not just to accentuate the capabilities of the real detective by contrast, but also to put forth a reliable account of the whole case.
That is the case until…
…it’s not the case when Dame Agatha Christie decides to playfully backstab her readers by incriminating the holy narrator himself! Blasphemy, I know.
And she got her share from literary circles when she did it for the first time (I ain’t spoiling anything, though :-). Fair or not, but it sure made for one hell of a climax.
6. THE NOT-SO-SPICY SLEUTH
Christie’s detectives are, to put it mildly, not very charismatic on the first glance. Compared to the predecessor — the dynamic Sherlock Holmes — or the handsome contemporary Lord Peter Wimsey, or the hardboiled badasses like Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe who followed…
…Christie creates the little Belgian (nope, not French!) with an egg-shaped head, the nosey spinster Miss Marple, and the family duo of Tommy and Tuppence (one of whom I used to think was a pet till very recently).
Even if we compare personalities, the resume of the two most popular fictional detectives ever don’t quite match up:
- Sherlock Holmes: Boxer, bare-knuckle fighter, singlestick expert, Baritsu, ability to ‘forget’ unwanted information, elephantine memory, violin player, cryptanalyst, forensic expert, disguises, coke addict, eccentric lodger, aversion to women (still only takes half a day to get engaged with a complete stranger), one family member in government intelligence (Wooh!).
- Hercule Poirot: Some non-Freudian criminal psychology, mildly OCD with rich French vocabulary.
Built up almost purposefully to contrast its predecessor, Poirot is often heard about ridiculing the methods like following trails of mud prints and cigar butts.
Rest assured: There is not going to be much exhilarating action around him. More brain cells, less calories spent.
7. CHUNKS OF LIES
Christie has to allow some flexibility in the moral compass of her characters so that no one goes beyond suspicion. And that she does by making every single person a little crooked. Everyone is concealing something.
Christie’s modus operandi has been to create a plotline and then go back to tweak the threads a thousand times so that there are lots of loose ends. Lots of liars…and lots of headache for the poor readers.
Now, whether she actually allows the reader the full opportunity of detection is irrelevant as long as she makes all the characters morally suspicious. She can always bend the circumstances in the end to fit the latest narrative, provided there is a scope for the narrative.
And this is where things like pistol silencers, picric acids, liquid-filled balloons and any of the latest technological gadgets come in handy.
From ‘But how could he?’ to ‘Of course he could’ in blink of an eye.
8. SPRINKLINGS OF TRUTH
Five Little Pigs was my fifth Christie novel. And after being left dumbfounded on four previous occasions, I had decided I’d do everything it takes to solve it (yup, still a teenager).
So I pulled up tables comparing motives, opportunity, and alibi; did some psychological mapping and even tried perspective thinking from the author’s angle…
…and after all of that was still stumped because of a mere casual remark by one of the characters in the story! Needless to say, I threw the book in the grates, just as quickly retrieved it, and went out for a walk contemplating life.
But from that point on, I knew the mystery really was hidden in the trifles, the casual-sounding opinions, and the often written-to-be-ignored statements.
They don’t just tell you something is fishy, that’s where the fish actually lies. Pun or no pun!
9. ONE HUNDRED RED HERRINGS
Usually, there are at least seven to eight characters and by the end of the book, you’re sure to find out at least two different scams or misdoings other than the actual murder.
Coincidence is not coincidental in these plots. In fact, one may find different characters suspiciously involved in foul play at the same place and the same time!
Like Hilda was only there to have a rendezvous with her illegitimate lover when she saw young Dennis come out of the crime scene…but how to tell the truth without telling the whole truth!
10. IN THE HANDS OF TIME
Time is an important factor in solving any murder mystery. But when you’re reading a typical Christie mystery, better keep a log book ready.
You are going to be struck with everyone’s sense of time, their accuracy, and vagueness at the same time. Quite often, just a couple of minutes is enough for the murderer to do his job, and other times, the victims are murdered way before than they were thought be so.
Like let me just go and kill this guy, I’ll be back to dinner in a couple of minutes. Saucy timing!
What always made me wonder was how in-sync everyone’s watches were. Perks of being near church towers, I guess.
11. A MEATY CONFERENCE
Dorothy L. Sayers wrote a book called Murder Must Advertise. Very true, but surely there comes a time for the poor skillful detective to flex his muscles too.
This is where he enlightens his audience with Dr. Hall-like speech (a treatise on locked-room mysteries if ever there was one) about not just that case but the whole nature of crime and criminals.
The murder plot is one grand drama and its climax is the conference where all are summoned. The facts are put on the table where all truth shall be revealed!
We are always allowed some insights into the insides of the detective’s mind via time charts, routines, or a set of questions drawn by the him.
Don’t let these aids betray you. These are clever ploys employed by the author to lead the readers ashtray by actually directing them to look from a completely irrelevant angle.
12. THE SECRET INGREDIENT (AN IMPOSSIBLE KILLER)
The list of killers employed by Christie in her books has included the prime suspect, the victim, the deceased, the spouse, everyone, no one, the narrator, and God knows who else!
When in one of the tales she actually made the inspector in charge to do it (..like whaaat?), I began half expecting Papa Poirot to do it himself one of these days. But, no, not that bizarre yet.
The truth of the matter is that in a Christie plot, anyone could do it. Virtually anyone. And the biggest clue till date has been to doubt the least suspicious, which is a kind of hunt in itself.
Like surely not the wife again…but there is no motive at all… she wasn’t even there…and so on. If anything, look for whom the author is deliberately trying to shield.
NOW TAKE A SIP
What you essentially get with a Christie mystery is a bite-sized suspense-packed weekend read that leaves very little scars on your memories. Fans appreciate it for its brevity and conciseness critics hate it for the same reason, apparently.
But there is no denying that you can bring one Christie novel home for the weekend and you will be entertained.
So warm up your summer readings with a Christie classic to get your detective juices flowing. Even if you can almost always tell whodunit and can never tell howdunit or whydunit.
And then move on to your John Grishams and Ellroys.
And tell me, which ingredient of the soup do you fancy the most?
