Krishna
Agatha Christie needs no introduction and we have reviewed several of her books earlier – See The Secret Adversary and Murder At The Vicarage for just a sample.
This is a book in which Superintendent Battle, a lesser known hero in some Agatha Christie’s books, features. You have not heard of him, have you? Nor had I, until this book. Unlike Herculie Poirtot, the most famous character and Miss Marple, an almost equally known detective, Battle does not deduce. He simply investigates, and in this book at least, he seems to be a bystander, mostly, while others solve the issues. Interesting.
Anthony Cade, who is a kind of a tour guide for Castle Four in some hot foreign country, has taken that job for money. His heart is not in it. He meets his friend Jimmy. Now Jimmy is on a gold hunt and asks Anthony if he will carry a package for Jimmy back to England to earn a fraction (ten thousand pounds) of the rewards that Jimmy will get. Jimmy himself is too busy hunting for gold to do it himself. Anthony, who is bored of shepherding ladies, agrees readily.
Now, Jimmy also has a bunch of letters with which a Dago (yes, a disparaging term for a man of Spanish or Portuguese origin – the freedom the writers in the days of Agatha had and the insensitivity of it by today’s yardstick!) had given him for blackmailing purposes as Jimmy happened to save his life. Jimmy of course has the “English morals” and just wants to return them to the lady and asks Anthony to help since he was going anyway to England. The curious thing is that there is no address on the letters, just the word ‘the Chimneys’. Anthony, of course, knows it as a stately home in England that entertains the rich and the privileged.
Meanwhile, George Lomax and Lord Caterham talk of Jimmy arriving in England with explosive secrets in the diary he is carrying and propose to waylay him and take him to the Chimneys and introduce him to the lovely Virginia. The idea is to disarm him and prevent him from exposing the secrets in the diary to the public. That would be bad for Prince Michael who is hoping to succeed to the throne of Herzoslovakia, whose king has recently passed away.
They get the date wrong and so Anthony, posing as Jimmy, disembarks from the ship a few days earlier than they thought.
Now, Baron Lolo Pretjzyl (yes, I am not kidding – that is the name in the book) comes to see Anthony and offers him a lot of money to suppress the diaries which have damaging information on a prince of Herzoslovakia (Yes, it is in the Balkans, and how can you not know which country she is referring to? Then why change the name, you ask? There are disparaging statements about how uncivilized and chaotic ‘Herzoslovakia’ is, that is why. But I understand Agatha Christie has used this fictional country in many of her novels)
When first a ruffian comes for the diary, Anthony manages to frighten him away. Then the waiter Guiseppe shows uncommon interest in the diary. Later he manages to steal the letters while Anthony was sleeping – even though he could not get the manuscript as Anthony had moved it (to under the pillow he was sleeping on)
An unsavoury character threatens Mrs Revel with the letters and is surprised that Virginia Revel is not frightened at all. She however gives him a deposit for keeping the letters private and sends him away, promising the rest of the ransom in a few days.
Meanwhile Anthony leaves his hotel (and his disguise) and stays in another hotel under his regular name. (Yes, I know, the story is starting to drag).
He visits Virginia Revel just when she was grappling with a rogue who seemed to have been killed in her own house when she was out. He poses as a detective, and helps her hide teh body in a suitcase and puts it in a post office. (Oh, those simple days!)
Also he goes to help when Lord Caterham discovers that Prince Phillip whom they were planning to mount on Hergoslovakia’s throne was found murdered in his own castle, Anthony Cade meets Inspector Battle who has come to investigate the case. It looks bad for Anthony when his shoe prints were found outside the window of the murder, and Anthony cheerfully admits that he was there, when he heard a gunshot.
The story gets confusing with Hiram Fish hiding in bushes and lurking about, a French governess who joined the household living directly above where the murder happened, and Anthony going about as if he, and not Battle, is the detective here. Even Anthony getting invited to the Chimney is odd, as he had refused the invitation and was found skulking around the castle just when the murder was taking place. All very odd – suits the England of Agatha Christie’s times, but very odd and improbable today.
The story, though, is good. A frenchman Lomiere, is also a guest there, and they are all targets of suspicion. Now, Virginia Revel gets herself invited to Chimneys.
Suspicion falls on alternate people. They realize that Kohinoor was stolen and likely placed in The Chimneys somewhere and a number of people including the Red Hand, a terrorist group belonging to the Balkans, and the notorious criminal King Victor himself are after the gem.
The old king got married to a girl with whom he fell in love, and she, in turn, has been pinching the diamonds in the crown after becoming the Queen of Herzoslovakia. She seems to be in cahoots with King Victor. The big gem that was missing was one such pilfered at that time.
The group goes to a tunnel that they heard was near the library but all they get is a box with some cryptic clues – numbers, a string of Es and mention of some Richard.
The French governess is cleared of suspicion when Anthony goes to verify her credentials in France, where her references said that they were.
Meanwhile Lumiere is unmasked as a detective who is obsessed with finding King Victor. When the gun was found in the suitcase of the financier who was in the castle and was seen to be leaving after the inquest, it looks bad for him. This was the murder weapon with which the Prince was shot.
Anthony Cade goes off to a building, whose address was found in a sheet and finds a man who is bound and gagged there. As he is about to talk to him, Hirram Fish comes in with a pistol.
From there, the story moves on. Everyone is certain that Anthony Cade is indeed, and has to be King Victor.
The story takes many twists and turns and all is revealed – not by Battle – but by Cade when everyone is called back into the castle for one final round. He solves the riddle of the tunnel and reveals several things to the group – who killed the Prince, who was the brain behind it, where King Victor was (in the castle, in that room) and finally who he himself really is.
There is also romance where Virginia and Anthony fall in love with each other and plan for a happy ever after.
All in all, a good read, if you like the old fashioned, somewhat simplistic mysteries of the Agatha Christie’s world.
7/10
== Krishna