Playing Detective - Part 2

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Playing Detective - Part 2

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1AnnieMod
Ago 24, 2009, 3:34 am

Continuing from http://www.librarything.com/topic/44507

The rules are easy - a line or passage is given from one of Agatha Christie's stories. After somebody correctly identifies which story it is from, they post the next quotation.

Here is the next line:
"He bowed.
He shook hands ceremoniously.
There was something in his eye that was unusual. One would have said that this chance encounter awakened in him an emotion that he seldom had occasion to feel."

2AnnieMod
Editado: Ago 26, 2009, 4:52 pm

Noone is around or simply noone has an idea where the sentences are from?

3mstrust
Ago 26, 2009, 8:08 pm

It isn't ringing a bell for me, but I've only read about half of A.C.'S books. Don't worry, someone will get it.

4AnnieMod
Ago 27, 2009, 5:39 am

I'll give it a few days and post a better clue but for now - it's one of the novels.

5AnnieMod
Sep 1, 2009, 6:06 am

A clue: one of the Hercule Poirot novels

6sqdancer
Sep 1, 2009, 12:51 pm

It's not ringing any bells with me, but I'll make a wild guess so Annie doesn't feel ignored. :)

Cat Among the Pigeons ????

7AnnieMod
Sep 1, 2009, 1:24 pm

Annie felt very ignored :(
But nope -- it's not this one...

OK... another clue - the number of the detectives is the same as the number of the suspects and is the same as the number of something else which is kinda important in the novel (or at least its name).

8sqdancer
Sep 1, 2009, 1:34 pm

9AnnieMod
Editado: Sep 1, 2009, 1:48 pm

Nope... No number in the title - not directly anyway - one of the things in the title has the same number of options as is the number of the other 2 (the number of detectives and the number of suspects) (and option is not the correct word here but I do not know how to say it otherwise). :)

10readafew
Sep 1, 2009, 2:17 pm

Ha, I had my suspicions, Cards on the Table? with the Mephistopheles? ;)

11AnnieMod
Sep 1, 2009, 2:20 pm

Yep :)
4 detectives, 4 suspects, 4 colors in the cards :) Your turn.

12readafew
Sep 1, 2009, 2:59 pm

I have to try to remember to place a clue this evening when I get home.

13readafew
Sep 1, 2009, 10:19 pm

Ha! I remembered on the same day!

Quote

"Quite so. Why? I admire you economy of speech. This is a private committee--a committee of inquiry. An inquiry of worldwide significance."

14readafew
Sep 3, 2009, 1:29 pm

is it still early or should I give another hint?

15AnnieMod
Sep 3, 2009, 1:35 pm

I cannot place it at all even though it sounds really familiar... I keep thinking Evil Under the Sun for some reason but I am almost sure that is not it... So I would like a clue if possible.

16readafew
Sep 3, 2009, 1:42 pm

a little hint,
It came from what I consider to be her worst novel.

17AnnieMod
Sep 3, 2009, 1:52 pm

A wild guess: The Big Four? Because of the worldwide significance...

18readafew
Sep 3, 2009, 1:54 pm

nope, none of the 'detectives' are in it. Also it was much worse than the Big Four. but good guess though.

19AnnieMod
Sep 3, 2009, 1:58 pm

No detective, worldwide... Passenger to Frankfurt?

20readafew
Sep 3, 2009, 2:00 pm

yep, don't know what she was thinking when she wrote that one.

21AnnieMod
Sep 3, 2009, 2:07 pm

:) Well - it's goofy and all but it has its charm... mainly showing how not to write this type of book :)

Next one:

"How are you, old boy?"
He smiled patiently at me. "I exist, my friend, I still exist."
"Not in pain?"
"No - just tired - " he sighed - "very tired."

22sqdancer
Sep 3, 2009, 7:32 pm

23AnnieMod
Sep 4, 2009, 4:48 am

Yes. your turn.

24sqdancer
Sep 4, 2009, 10:57 am

"I ought to have been killed," she said with complacency. "I told you it was about time for the second murder. The cistern was a rotten place to hide those letters. I guessed at once when I saw ----- coming out of there one day. I mean he's not a useful kind of man who does things with ball taps or pipes or fuses, so I knew he must have been hiding something."

25readafew
Sep 4, 2009, 12:00 pm

26sqdancer
Editado: Sep 4, 2009, 12:11 pm

I knew it was too easy :)

27readafew
Sep 4, 2009, 12:18 pm

Ack! now I need to wait until I'm home again to post another.

28AnnieMod
Sep 7, 2009, 4:20 am

ping :)

29readafew
Sep 8, 2009, 8:50 am

Sorry, I thought about it twice this long weekend and got distracted both times before I could look up a quote. I will try again tonight.

30sqdancer
Sep 11, 2009, 11:05 pm

So Annie, do you think readafew is going to have another wild weekend? ;)

31readafew
Sep 12, 2009, 2:27 pm

I really should be more careful when I answer to that the rest of you don't have to keep waiting on me.

"This is nothing to do with cats," said ________, raising his voice. "I came to talk to you about the unfortunate affair which happened next door. You have probably heard about it."
"Next door? You mean Mr. Joshua's dog?"
"No," said ________, I do not. I mean at Number Nineteen, where a man was found murdered yesterday."

32ChocolateMuse
Sep 14, 2009, 12:08 am

Am I allowed to jump in? I just found this thread, and am fairly certain that readafew's quote is from The Clocks.

33readafew
Sep 14, 2009, 8:50 am

32 > Correct, your turn.

34ChocolateMuse
Sep 15, 2009, 1:02 am

Cool, I'll get back to you tomorrow. =)

35ChocolateMuse
Sep 17, 2009, 12:14 am

Sorry about the delay:

"That prim Englishwoman! Do you think that I will support that for one moment? Ah, no." Her beautiful lithe body quivered. "Listen, _____, do you remember that conversation we had in London? You said the only thing that could save you was the death of your wife. You regretted that she was so healthy. Then the idea of an accident came into your brain. And more than an accident."

37ChocolateMuse
Sep 17, 2009, 7:35 pm

You got it! :) Over to you.

38AnnieMod
Sep 18, 2009, 4:42 pm

Next one:

"Poor devils," he said as he sank down in a worn easy-chair. "So scared and so stupid - no sense. Had a painful case this evening. Woman who ought to have come to me a year ago. If she'd come then, she might have been operated on successfully. Now it's too late. Makes me mad. The truth is people are an extraordinary mixture of heroism and cowardice. She's been suffering agony, and borne it without a word, just because she was too scared to come and find out that what she feared might be true. At the other end of the scale are the people who come and waste my time because they've got a dangerous swelling causing them agony on their little finger which they think may be cancer and which turns out to be a common or garden chilblain! Well, don't mind me. I've blown off steam now. What did you want to see me about?"

39sqdancer
Sep 18, 2009, 5:23 pm

Arrgh! I KNOW this, but I can't pull the title out of my rapidly shrinking brain.

40ryn_books
Sep 19, 2009, 6:11 am

I know it too! but will have to mull over the title.
Mind you, this quote reminds me of a Ngaio Marsh book too....

41y2pk
Sep 19, 2009, 4:04 pm

42AnnieMod
Sep 20, 2009, 8:35 am

It's one of those paragraphs that kinda screams Christie - and I decided not to post only part of it :)

y2pk,

Yes - 4.50 from Paddington it is. :) Your turn

43y2pk
Sep 20, 2009, 10:08 am

I hope this suits. ;-)

"Here's our stain," said __________, indicating the mark with his foot. "Right up against the skirting board at the opposite side of the room to the writing table. Under what circumstances would a man drop a pen just there?"

"You can drop a pen anywhere," said ___________.

"You can hurl it across a room, of course," agreed _______. "But one doesn't usually treat one's pen like that. I don't know, though. Fountain pens are damned annoying things...."

44y2pk
Sep 21, 2009, 2:51 pm

Should I post a clue? or give it a while longer?

45mstrust
Sep 22, 2009, 11:30 am

Sometimes it takes a couple of days for someone to figure it out. I thought I knew the answer, but now I'm stumped. ;)

46sqdancer
Sep 22, 2009, 2:13 pm

I remember the bit about the pen, but I can't seem place it in context.

47AnnieMod
Sep 23, 2009, 3:39 am

*offtopic* Moving your library is not fun */offtopic*

Three Act Tragedy ?

48y2pk
Sep 23, 2009, 3:47 pm

Yes, that's it!

Sir Charles Cartwright is acting the part of a great detective as Mr. Satterwaite observes.

Your turn.

49AnnieMod
Sep 24, 2009, 4:41 am

OK, something weirder:

"There was the lady who gave such wonderful prices for castoff clothing. "Ladies' wardrobes inspected at their own dwellings." There were the gentlemen who bought anything - but principally teeth. There were ladies of title going abroad who would dispose of their furs at a ridiculous figure. There was the distressed clergyman and the hardworking widow, and the disabled officer, all needing sums varying from fifty pounds to two thousand."

50AnnieMod
Sep 26, 2009, 5:24 am

Someone? A small clue: this is a short story.

51ninjapenguin
Sep 27, 2009, 4:17 pm

I am pretty sure this is from The Golden Ball and Other Stories. "Jane in Search of a Job," perhaps?

52AnnieMod
Sep 27, 2009, 4:59 pm

Spot on, ninjapenguin. Your turn. :)

53AnnieMod
Sep 27, 2009, 5:11 pm

Spot on, ninjapenguin. Your turn. :)

54ninjapenguin
Editado: Sep 28, 2009, 5:23 pm

Hope y'all don't mind a long one:

"Well, out with it. What's the interesting point? I suppose, like 'the incident of the dog in the nighttime' the point is that there is no interesting point?"

____ disregarded this sally on my part. He said quietly and calmly: "The interesting point is the date."

"The date?"

I picked up the letter. On the top left-hand corner was written April 17th. "Yes," I said slowly. "That is odd. April 17th."

55y2pk
Editado: Sep 28, 2009, 8:34 pm

Is this Poirot Loses A Client ? It's the story where an old lady dies and her maid finds a letter months later and mails it to Poirot.

(Corrected so that it's a letter, not Poirot, that the maid mails.) ;-)

56ninjapenguin
Sep 30, 2009, 4:46 am

Ding ding ding! Also known as Dumb Witness. Your turn.

57y2pk
Sep 30, 2009, 5:05 pm


"I like a good detective story," he said. "But, you know, they begin in the wrong place! They begin with the murder. But the murder is the end. The story begins long before that - years before sometimes - with all the causes and events that bring certain people to a certain place at a certain time on a certain day..."

58AnnieMod
Sep 30, 2009, 5:11 pm

59y2pk
Sep 30, 2009, 5:31 pm

Such a speedy answer - it took me longer than that to type it. ;-)

Correct! It's Mr. Treves in the prologue of Towards Zero.

60AnnieMod
Sep 30, 2009, 5:40 pm

:) Had read it at least 10 times (the first few pages I mean - every time when I reorder it). Next one:

"I slept badly that night.

I think that even then, there were pieces of the puzzle floating about in my mind. I believe that if I had given my mind to it, I would have solved the whole thing then and there. Otherwise why did those fragments tag along so persistently?

How much do we know at any time? Much more, or so I believe, than we know we know! But we cannot break through to that subterranean knowledge. It's there, but we cannot reach it."

61ninjapenguin
Oct 4, 2009, 7:52 am

I'm just posting a wild guess to hopefully kickstart other people into replying. The Pale Horse?

62AnnieMod
Oct 5, 2009, 3:36 am

Nope. A clue: it is with one of the two main detectives.

63Porua
Editado: Oct 5, 2009, 12:52 pm

It is from The Moving Finger. Jerry said it.

64AnnieMod
Oct 5, 2009, 1:20 pm

Yep. Your turn.

65Porua
Oct 6, 2009, 8:21 am

"He felt faintly irritated with himself as he spoke. The reasons he advanced, though genuine enough, had the sound of excuses. He wondered if they sounded that way to the girl who sat opposite him. And why was she suddenly so keen to go to America?"

66MysteryWatcher
Oct 7, 2009, 9:49 am

Sounds like The Case of the Missing Will.

67Porua
Oct 7, 2009, 9:55 am

No, sorry. Not from The Case of the Missing Will.

68AnnieMod
Oct 7, 2009, 9:59 am

Taken at the Flood I think. Rosaleen and David at the breakfast table if I am not wrong. Or I am totally mixing up two different stories which won't be unheard of. :)

69Porua
Oct 7, 2009, 10:57 am

Yes, you are right. Your turn.

70AnnieMod
Oct 7, 2009, 11:24 am

"Down the steep track into the village a car was coming. A car so fantastically powerful, so superlatively beautiful that it had all the nature of an apparition. At the wheel sat a young man, his hair blown back by the wind. In the blaze of the evening light he looked, not a man, but a young God, a Hero God out of some Northern Saga."

72AnnieMod
Oct 7, 2009, 12:21 pm

Yep - thought that it might be easy :)but had only this book around here. All yours

73sqdancer
Oct 7, 2009, 9:55 pm


"If you know a thing," he said, "it is always a great temptation to show that you know it; to talk about it, in other words. It is not that you want to give information, it is not that you have been offered payment to give information. It is that you want to show how important you are. Yes. it's just as simple as that. In fact, everything in this world is so very, very simple. That's what people don't understand."

74AnnieMod
Editado: Oct 8, 2009, 4:47 am

Passenger to Frankfurt ?

(Fixing the touchstone)

75sqdancer
Oct 8, 2009, 9:29 am

Well done! Over to you.

76AnnieMod
Oct 8, 2009, 9:47 am

"'Well, try to see things my way. There I am, looking over the corpse of a stranger. There's something looking out of his pocket. I take a look. By an amazing coincidence it is the picture of a woman I know, a married woman, a woman who doesn't seem very happy in her marriage. What's going to happen? An inquest, publicity, maybe the name of the poor woman in all the papers. In an impulse I took the picture and tore it up."

77mstrust
Oct 8, 2009, 12:01 pm

78AnnieMod
Oct 8, 2009, 1:07 pm

yes. all yours

79mstrust
Oct 8, 2009, 4:49 pm

"And how would you dispose of your enemies,____?" asked _____.
"I should be very kind," said ______ in a gently contemplative tone. "It would be more difficult, but I'd rather have it that way because I don't like hurting things. I'd use a sort of drug that gives people euthanasia. They would go to sleep and have beautiful dreams and they just wouldn't wake up."

80Porua
Editado: Oct 9, 2009, 3:03 am

The passage is from Hallowe'en Party. It is a coversation between Poirot and Miranda.

81mstrust
Oct 9, 2009, 12:55 pm

Yes! Your turn.

82Porua
Oct 9, 2009, 1:52 pm

"He spoke rather impatiently. He was essentially a man of action. At this very moment I felt sure that he was fretting to be out and doing things- directing the search for ____'s body, or alternatively sending out parties for his capture and arrest."

83Porua
Oct 12, 2009, 3:43 pm

Helllloooo!!! Anyone out there? Do I need to post a clue or what?

84AnnieMod
Oct 12, 2009, 4:19 pm

Murder in Mesopotamia? Talking about Captain Maitland if I recognize it properly.

PS: On a business trip with crappy internet so if I am right, it might take me a while to post the new one.

85Porua
Oct 12, 2009, 4:39 pm

Yeah, it's Murder in Mesopotamia. Your turn.

86AnnieMod
Oct 12, 2009, 5:01 pm

That was fast so here is the next one:

"The newspapers were full of nothing else. All sorts of "clues" were reported to have been discovered. Arrests were announced to be imminent. There were photographs of every person or place remotely connected with the murder. There were interviews with any one who would give interviews. There were questions asked in Parliament."

87Porua
Oct 13, 2009, 3:53 am

It is from The ABC Murders.

88AnnieMod
Oct 13, 2009, 1:21 pm

yep. back to you

89Porua
Oct 15, 2009, 3:49 am

Sorry for taking so long to post the next quote. I was kind of swamped.

'Yes-the slump in pictures has hit them badly. And antique furniture too. All this modern continental stuff coming into fashion. They built new premises last year and -well- as I say, they're not far from Queer Street."

90MysteryWatcher
Editado: Oct 15, 2009, 10:32 am

91Porua
Oct 15, 2009, 10:50 am

Yes. Your turn.

92MysteryWatcher
Oct 18, 2009, 7:58 am

"In the light of the powerful torch, several clearly defined footmarks could be seen. They seemed to be those of shoes with rubber studs in the soles. One particularly clear one pointed inwards, another, slightly overlapping it, pointed outwards."

93Porua
Oct 18, 2009, 8:45 am

94MysteryWatcher
Oct 19, 2009, 12:33 am

Yep. It's yours.

95Porua
Editado: Oct 19, 2009, 6:18 am

"It was always the same way-people would keep things back! Usually quite unimportant things, but until they were cleared out of the way, impossible to pursue a straight path."

96Booksloth
Oct 19, 2009, 6:24 am

Just a guess - is it The Hollow?

97Porua
Oct 19, 2009, 6:29 am

No. It's not from The Hollow.

98AnnieMod
Nov 5, 2009, 4:22 am

I am reasonably sure it is from One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

99Porua
Nov 5, 2009, 7:33 am

Yes. It is from One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. Your turn.

100Porua
Editado: Nov 5, 2009, 8:03 am

Sorry, this was a double post.

101AnnieMod
Nov 6, 2009, 3:03 pm

(traveling so might be a bit slow to answer)

"We needn't take very many people - not at first. It's an easy house to run - it's got hot and cold water in the bedrooms and central heating and a gas cooker. And we can have hens and ducks and our own eggs, and vegetables."
"Who'd do all the work - isn't it very hard to get servants?"
"Oh, we'd have to do the work. But wherever we lived we'd have to do that. A few extra people wouldn't really mean much more to do. We'd probably get a woman to come in after a bit when we got properly started. If we had only five people, each paying seven guineas a week -"

102readafew
Nov 6, 2009, 3:10 pm

The mouse trap?

103AnnieMod
Nov 6, 2009, 3:13 pm

That would be a yes and no - the right direction, the wrong work. :)

104mstrust
Nov 6, 2009, 5:27 pm

105AnnieMod
Nov 8, 2009, 10:36 pm

Yep - the short story. Your turn

106mstrust
Nov 8, 2009, 10:53 pm

"Arsenic in a cup pf tea-a box of poisoned chocolates-a knife-even a pistol-but strangulation-no! It is a man we have to look for."

107Porua
Nov 9, 2009, 9:55 am

It is from Evil Under the Sun. One of my favorite Poirot mysteries!

108mstrust
Nov 9, 2009, 11:30 am

You're right! Your turn.

109Porua
Nov 9, 2009, 11:54 am

"On the morning after my arrival our host showed us all over the place. The house itself was unremarkable, a good solid house built of Devonshire granite. Built to withstand time and exposure. It was unromantic but very comfortable. From the windows of it one looked out over the panorama of the moor, vast rolling hills crowned with weather-beaten tors."

110AnnieMod
Nov 10, 2009, 10:55 pm

The Idol House of Astarte from The Thirteen Problems/The Tuesday Club Murders collection I think.

111PossibleUnderscore
Nov 11, 2009, 12:29 am

You beat me to it!

112Porua
Nov 11, 2009, 12:38 am

You are right, AnnieMod. Your turn.

113AnnieMod
Nov 11, 2009, 7:52 pm

"My dear, you can't be of any use down here. You're known - very well known by now. You've announced that you're going - what can you do? You can't stay on at Merroway. You can't come and stay at the Anglers' Arms. You'd set every tongue in the neighbourhood wagging. No, you must go. "

114PossibleUnderscore
Nov 12, 2009, 12:32 am

Could it be 'Why didn't they ask Evans'? It was the first of her stories that I ever read.

By-the-way, are the quotes allowed to come from films, or the TV series?

115Porua
Nov 12, 2009, 1:45 am

#114 Oh no please don't do that! I never watch any of the movies or TV shows. In fact I absolutely hate those TV shows! It would really ruin things for me. I mean you guys can do it if you want to but I would really, really appreciate it if you didn't!

116AnnieMod
Nov 12, 2009, 5:35 am

>114 PossibleUnderscore:
Yep, that's it.

Please - no films and tv series :( But you can ask for strange short stories.

Porua,

The Poirot series (the one with David Suchet) is actually quite good. The Miss Marple ones are strange although I like some of the episodes.

117Porua
Nov 12, 2009, 6:15 am

#116 Yes, some of the Suchet ones are pretty good and don't mess around with the stories too much, but I just want to destroy the Marple series!

118y2pk
Nov 12, 2009, 3:54 pm

Have you seen the older Miss Marple series starring Joan Hickson? I don't care for any of the other Marple series, but these were quite good, I think. Faithful to the book storylines - and they only adapted stories that really were Marples in print.

Sorry to hijack the topic! I await the next clue. ;-)

119PossibleUnderscore
Nov 13, 2009, 12:47 am

No worries. Here's one from a book.

'"...one name's as good as another. A rose by any other name would small as sweet. Juliet said that, didn't she? Silly things sometimes Shakespeare made them say. Of course, he couldn't help it, he was a poet. Never cared much for Romeo and Juliet myself."'

120True54Blue
Nov 13, 2009, 1:28 am

Postern of Fate...

121PossibleUnderscore
Nov 13, 2009, 2:26 am

You were quick! Well done.

It's your go.

122True54Blue
Nov 13, 2009, 2:35 am

How about

"Arsenic in the soup?" suggested ***** cheerfully. "Cosh them on the head--Push them down the staircase---?"

123AnnieMod
Nov 13, 2009, 5:51 am

By the pricking of my thumbs? Although I think that the arsenic was not in the soup but in the tea or something like this, but that's Tommy for sure :)

124True54Blue
Nov 13, 2009, 12:49 pm

Indeed it is. Your turn.

125AnnieMod
Nov 17, 2009, 7:03 am

Oops - forgot to post:

"She was a tall woman, and for a singer not unduly fat. Her arms and legs were still slender, and her neck was a beautiful column. Her hair, which was coiled in a great roll halfway down her neck, was of a dark, glowing red. If it owed some at least of its colour to henna, the result was none the less effective. She was not a young woman, forty at least, but the lines of her face were still lovely, though the skin was loosened and wrinkled round the flashing, dark eyes. She had the laugh of a child, the digestion of an ostrich, and the temper of a fiend, and she was acknowledged to be the greatest dramatic soprano of her day. "

126PossibleUnderscore
Nov 19, 2009, 2:51 am

Listerdale Mystery..........? Not too sure......

127AnnieMod
Nov 19, 2009, 3:38 am

Nope. But it IS a short story.

128ninjapenguin
Nov 20, 2009, 4:13 pm

Got it! It's "Swan Song" from The Golden Ball. I knew which story it was, but I had to look up the title.

129ninjapenguin
Nov 20, 2009, 4:14 pm

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

130AnnieMod
Nov 20, 2009, 4:14 pm

:) Yep. Your turn.

131ninjapenguin
Nov 21, 2009, 8:49 am

"My dear man, why have people come throughout the ages to the necromancer-to the sorcerer-to the witch doctor? Only two reasons really. There are only two things that are wanted badly enough to risk damnation. The love potion or the cup of poison."

132Porua
Nov 21, 2009, 9:24 am

It is from one of my all time favorite Christie books and my favorite non-series book, The Pale Horse.

133ninjapenguin
Nov 21, 2009, 9:36 am

Wow, that was fast. Your turn.

134Porua
Nov 21, 2009, 10:03 am

"Strictly speaking, I am only her paid companion, but she has treated me more as though I were a daughter or a niece. She has been extraordinarily kind and, whatever her faults, I should not like to appear to criticize her actions, or-well, to prejudice you against taking up the case."

135AnnieMod
Nov 23, 2009, 4:03 am

"The Under Dog" from the The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding collection?

136Porua
Nov 23, 2009, 6:29 am

Yes, it is from the short story, The Under Dog, which may I add is a story with a powerful plot and one of my favorites. Your turn. :-)

137AnnieMod
Nov 23, 2009, 6:33 am

"He was enslaved body and soul by his new possession. It stood to him for Romance, for Adventure, for all the things that he had longed for and had never had. Tomorrow, he and his mistress would take the road together. They would rush through the keen cold air, leaving the throb and fret of London far behind them - out into the wide, clear spaces..."

138AnnieMod
Dic 16, 2009, 3:17 pm

Someone? It's a short story... If someone guesses the collection, I will also accept it as a correct answer...

139mstrust
Dic 16, 2009, 5:57 pm

It doesn't ring a bell for me but I'll take a crack at it...The Golden Ball?

140AnnieMod
Dic 16, 2009, 6:01 pm

Nope... we search an earlier collection which is published in a specific way in UK.

141AnnieMod
Dic 16, 2009, 6:04 pm

Hold on - actually you are right - the story is published in The Golden Ball in US - the story is The Manhood of Edward Robinson -- in UK it was published in The Listerdale Mystery.

Your turn.

142mstrust
Dic 17, 2009, 12:14 pm

"No, no," said Mr. Poirot. "I do not insult you. I merely ask you all to face the facts. In a house where murder has been committed, every inmate comes in for a certain share of suspicion."

143mstrust
Ene 2, 2010, 11:36 am

Have I stopped the thread in its tracks?

144AnnieMod
Ene 2, 2010, 11:42 am

145mstrust
Ene 2, 2010, 4:08 pm

You got it, Annie!

146AnnieMod
Ene 2, 2010, 4:11 pm

Happy new year everyone :)

Next one:

"Your motive, madame, I pass over. It is sufficiently obvious. As to the rest, you were wearing last night a flowered taffeta dress of a very distinctive pattern with a cape."

147Porua
Ene 3, 2010, 7:59 am

148AnnieMod
Ene 3, 2010, 2:05 pm

yep, all yours

149Porua
Ene 4, 2010, 9:28 am

"There was again the faint insinuation that a busy and important man had, very charmingly, put important affairs on one side out of chivalry to his employer's wife. And again the impression was not wholly convincing- it had a theatrical flavour."

150AnnieMod
Ene 14, 2010, 1:11 pm

151Porua
Ene 14, 2010, 1:35 pm

Yes. Your turn.

152ninjapenguin
Feb 28, 2010, 3:57 pm

Does anyone want to start this back up?

153ninjapenguin
Feb 28, 2010, 4:12 pm

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

154AnnieMod
Mar 1, 2010, 6:27 am

I dropped it, didn't I? Sorry. Here we go:

"It was good to be out of the Wrens and a free woman again, although she had really enjoyed her overseas service very much. The work had been reasonably interesting, there had been parties, plenty of fun, but there had also been the irksomeness of routine and the feeling of being herded together with her companions which had sometimes made her feel desperately anxious to escape."

155y2pk
Mar 1, 2010, 3:48 pm

That's Lynn Marchmont, back home after the war, in There is a Tide aka Taken at the Flood

156AnnieMod
Mar 1, 2010, 4:02 pm

yep. all yours :)

157y2pk
Mar 1, 2010, 4:29 pm

"But ___," she said. "That makes the whole thing perfectly extraordinary. Because when that clock said twenty past six it was really five minutes past, and at five minutes past I don't suppose ____ had even arrived at the house."

158ninjapenguin
Mar 3, 2010, 2:46 pm

Is that Murder at the Vicarage? Because the Vicar's clock was always set forward so that he wouldn't run late.

159y2pk
Mar 3, 2010, 4:50 pm

Correct!

Your turn. ;-)

160ninjapenguin
Mar 4, 2010, 8:05 am

"Why did she die?"said ____.

_____ stared at the peonies for some minutes. When she spoke, she uttered one word. It echoed like the tone of a deep bell--so much so that it was startling.

"Love!" she said.

____ queried the word sharply. "Love?"

"One of the most frightening words there is in the world," said ______.

161AnnieMod
Mar 4, 2010, 8:45 am

Miss Marple and Elizabeth Temple in Nemesis

162ninjapenguin
Mar 4, 2010, 10:15 am

You got it! Your turn.

163AnnieMod
Mar 4, 2010, 10:27 am

_______ drew on his gum boots, buttoned his overcoat collar round his neck, took from a shelf near the door a hurricane lantern, and cautiously opened the front door of his little bungalow and peered out. The scene that met his eyes was typical of the English countryside as depicted on Xmas cards and in old-fashioned melodramas. Everywhere was snow, deep drifts of it - no mere powdering an inch or two thick. Snow had fallen all over England for the last four days, and up here on the fringe of Dartmoor it had attained a depth of several feet. All over England householders were groaning over burst pipes, and to have a plumber friend (or even a plumber's mate) was the most coveted of all distinctions.

164y2pk
Mar 4, 2010, 2:02 pm

Major Burnaby in Murder at Hazelmoor, I think.

165AnnieMod
Mar 4, 2010, 2:09 pm

Known also as The Sittaford Mystery :) Yep - all yours.

166y2pk
Mar 4, 2010, 4:21 pm

Edging ________ aside, she went to the tea caddy table, raised the lid, looked at the attractive inlaid work inside. "And it is here," said ________, raising the lid of a paper-mache round canister, devised to contain Lapsang Souchong as opposed to Indian tea, and taking out a curled-up, small brown notebook.
"Here it is," she said.

167y2pk
Mar 7, 2010, 1:19 pm

I guess I've stopped the thread again. This was Ariadne Oliver looking for her old address books in Elephants Can Remember.

168crazy4reading
Mar 23, 2010, 9:51 am

I was reading this thread yesterday and didn't make it to the end. And the quote is from the first book I read of Agatha Christie, and I don't think I would have known the book either. So are you guys going to continue??

169mstrust
Mar 23, 2010, 3:27 pm

The thread goes quite every so often when people are stumped by the clue given. Sometimes it's a matter of minutes and sometimes it's weeks.

y2pk- Why don't you give it another go?

170y2pk
Mar 23, 2010, 8:12 pm

Okay, here's a new clue to puzzle on.

"Quick, go to the other wing. Stand there—just this side of the baize door. Do not move till I come." Then, turning rapidly, he rejoined the two detectives.

I followed his instructions, taking up my position by the baize door, and wondering what on earth lay behind the request. Why was I to stand in this particular spot on guard? I looked thoughtfully down the corridor in front of me. An idea struck me. With the exception of ________'s, every one's room was in this left wing. Had that anything to do with it? Was I to report who came or went? I stood faithfully at my post. The minutes passed. Nobody came. Nothing happened.

171AnnieMod
Mar 24, 2010, 10:44 pm

>169 mstrust:
Or when people are simply not around :)

>170 y2pk:
The Mysterious Affair at Style ? The missed name is Cynthia Murdoch I think :)

172y2pk
Mar 24, 2010, 11:26 pm

Yes, that's it. Poirot has stationed Hastings by the baize door.

Your turn!

173AnnieMod
Mar 27, 2010, 12:00 am

On the road so no access to anything besides occasional internet here and there. If someone wants, post the next one. If not - I will post it in Monday. :)

174AnnieMod
Mar 29, 2010, 7:34 am

OK, next one:

"I had just registered the impression that she was a decidedly pretty girl when my attention was drawn to Poirot who, not looking where he was going, had stumbled over a root and fallen heavily. He was just abreast of the girl at the time and she and I between us helped him to his feet. My attention was naturally on my friend, but I was conscious of an impression of dark hair, an impish face and big dark blue eyes."

175mstrust
Mar 31, 2010, 11:24 am

I don't think I've read this one. I can't recall ever seeing the elegant Poirot falling.

176ninjapenguin
Mar 31, 2010, 3:12 pm

Mmmm, wild guess here, Murder on the Links?

177AnnieMod
Mar 31, 2010, 6:45 pm

nope. :)

178kgodey
Ene 28, 2011, 4:29 pm

#174: This is many months too late, but The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?

179AnnieMod
Ene 28, 2011, 4:47 pm

I had totally forgotten about that game... Ooops.

It is Peril at End House actually...

Anyone still interested in reviving the game?

180kgodey
Ene 28, 2011, 8:22 pm

I would be :)

181sqdancer
Ene 29, 2011, 12:05 am

Sure.

182AnnieMod
Ene 31, 2011, 11:21 am

OKey.. Let's start with an easy (I think) one - the names should lead to finding the book pretty easily :)

Julius stepped forward and took her hand again.

"So long, Cousin Jane. I'm going to get busy after those papers, but I'll be back in two shakes of a dog's tail, and I'll tote you up to London and give you the time of your young life before we go back to the States! I mean it--so hurry up and get well."

183sqdancer
Editado: Ene 31, 2011, 2:06 pm

I'm pretty sure that would be from The Secret Adversary.

184AnnieMod
Ene 31, 2011, 2:49 pm

:) Yep.

All yours.

185sqdancer
Ene 31, 2011, 10:59 pm

Hmm, let's try this one:

"On certain occasions a state of animosity can arise between identical twins. It follows on a first keen protective love one for the other, but it can degenerate into something which is nearer hatred, if there is some emotional strain that could trigger it off or could arouse it, or any emotional crisis to account for animosity arising between two sisters."

186kgodey
Feb 1, 2011, 4:11 am

187sqdancer
Feb 1, 2011, 10:31 am

Sorry, not that one.

188kgodey
Editado: Feb 1, 2011, 10:45 am

Yeah, it seemed unlikely, but it has twin sisters in it.

Oh wait, A Murder is Announced?

Edit: I don't think they were twins, actually.

189AnnieMod
Feb 1, 2011, 11:31 am

That's one of the Poirot's and that passage sounds like something of one of the first books I read in English -- it tripped me before I was able to grasp it (and I kinda remember having issues with reading that book initially - the second time I loved it though ;)... Elephants Can Remember maybe (not sure - just speculation based on an old memory and the mention of the twins)?

190sqdancer
Feb 1, 2011, 1:42 pm

You've got it Annie! I was afraid that the twins bit was a little too obscure.

191AnnieMod
Feb 1, 2011, 1:48 pm

Would have been if it was not one of those transition books when I was getting used to read in English - some days I think I know some of them by heart (but I think we had discussed that in some of the old threads) :)

Next:

"We do not agree, eh?" said Poirot. "Well, let us leave it. Time will show which of us is right. Now let us turn to other aspects of the case. What do you make of the fact that all the doors of the bedroom were bolted on the inside?"

"Well " I considered. "One must look at it logically."

"True."

"I should put it this way. The doors WERE bolted - our own eyes have told us that - yet the presence of the candle grease on the floor, and the destruction of the will, prove that during the night some one entered the room. You agree so far?"

192y2pk
Feb 1, 2011, 3:37 pm

Is this The Mysterious Affair at Styles?

Poirot and Hastings discussing the murder of Mrs. Inglethorpe at Styles Court.

193AnnieMod
Feb 1, 2011, 3:48 pm

Yep - all yours :)

194y2pk
Feb 1, 2011, 4:33 pm

"Well, out with it. What's the interesting point? I suppose, like the 'incident of the dog in the nighttime,' the point is that there is no interesting point!"

Poirot disregarded this sally on my part. He said quietly and calmly:

"The interesting point is the date."

"The date?"

I picked up the letter. On the top left-hard corner was written April 17th.

"Yes," I said slowly. "That is odd. April 17th."

"And we are today June 28. C'est curieux, n'est-ce pas? Over two months ago."

195AnnieMod
Feb 1, 2011, 4:53 pm

Ah - the book that made me look up the word sally in the dictionary and left me really surprised that it is actually not a typo in the book (which is what I thought initially) - I was looking up common women names in the dictionary for days after that :)

Dumb Witness

196y2pk
Feb 1, 2011, 6:51 pm

Yes, that's it, aka Poirot Loses A Client.

;-)

197AnnieMod
Feb 22, 2011, 10:51 am

Someone smack me next time when I forgot to post a line again please :)

"Enveloped in an aura of righteousness and unyielding principles, Miss Brent sat in her crowded third-class carriage and triumphed over its discomfort and its heat. Every one made such a fuss over things nowadays! They wanted injections before they had teeth pulled -they took drugs if they couldn't sleep-they wanted easy chairs and cushions and the girls allowed their figures to slop about anyhow and lay about half naked on the beaches in summer."

198mstrust
Feb 22, 2011, 11:20 am

And Then There Were None? aka Ten Little Indians?

199AnnieMod
Feb 22, 2011, 11:29 am

Yep. All yours :)

200mstrust
Feb 23, 2011, 2:41 pm

O.K., let's try this one:

"What do you come in my kitchen for, Mr. Policeman? You are police, yes? Always, always there is persecution-ah! I should be used to it by now."

201AnnieMod
Feb 24, 2011, 11:39 am

Mitzi usually makes me smile :) That's A Murder Is Announced

202mstrust
Feb 24, 2011, 11:44 am

Correct! Your turn.

203sqdancer
Mar 24, 2011, 4:31 pm

*nudge*

204AnnieMod
Mar 24, 2011, 5:06 pm

Ooops...
====

The assistant remarked that the wind was very cold today, as she wrapped up the parcel.

‘Yes, indeed, I noticed it as I was coming along the front. Dillmouth has changed a good deal. I have not been here for, let me see, nearly nineteen years.’

‘Indeed, madam? Then you will find a lot of changes. The Superb wasn’t built then, I suppose, nor the Southview Hotel?’

‘Oh no, it was quite a small place. I was staying with friends…A house called St Catherine’s-perhaps you know it? On the Leahampton road.’

205sqdancer
Editado: Mar 24, 2011, 5:16 pm

Definitely sounds like Miss Marple ... hmmm ... I think Dillmouth was the town in Sleeping Murder.

206AnnieMod
Mar 24, 2011, 5:19 pm

Yep - all yours :)
I knew it will probably be easy but I could not resist

I was planning on posting the last two paragraphs only but was worried if anyone will pick it up without the town's name.

207sqdancer
Mar 25, 2011, 12:27 am

I think I might have gotten it based on St Catherine's, but definitely not as quickly. :)

-------

"Yes - yes it is true. You are young, younger than you yourself know. Trust the train, Mademoiselle, for it is le bon Dieu who drives it."

The whistle of the engine came again.

"Trust the train Mademoiselle," murmured Poirot again. "And trust Hercule Poirot - He knows."

208AnnieMod
Mar 28, 2011, 2:41 pm

The Mystery of the Blue Train ? I need to reread that book - I think I recognise the passage but I cannot remember what the whole book was all about...

209sqdancer
Mar 28, 2011, 2:51 pm

You've got it!

(I think I need to reread it too. I don't really remember it either.)

210AnnieMod
Mar 28, 2011, 3:00 pm

The train gave it away. And Poirot making it sound as a living thing.

Ok - that should be easy enough

"Darling," she drawled, "won't that be rather tiresome? If any misfortunes happen to my friends I always drop them at once.t It sounds heartless, but it saves such a lot of trouble later! They always want to borrow money off you, or else they start a dress-making business and you have to get the most terrible clothes from them. Or they paint lampshades, or do Batik scarves."

211sqdancer
Mar 28, 2011, 3:11 pm

Oh, I remember that line, but not exactly sure from which novel .... hmm, maybe Peril at End House?

212AnnieMod
Mar 28, 2011, 3:32 pm

Nope. :)
It's memorable, isn't it? -- And the heroine is even more memorable. :)

213sqdancer
Mar 28, 2011, 10:23 pm

214AnnieMod
Mar 28, 2011, 10:37 pm

Absolutely:) All yours

215sqdancer
Mar 29, 2011, 12:02 am

She almost flung the ornament at Poirot. It was a large, rather showy chromium or stainless steel brooch with T.A. enclosed in a circle.

216AnnieMod
Mar 29, 2011, 2:28 am

Are we going through the female characters that piss someone off? :)

Dumb Witness ?

217sqdancer
Mar 29, 2011, 3:04 am

Perhaps ;)

Correct, your turn.

218AnnieMod
Editado: Mar 29, 2011, 6:48 pm

"Because I'm damned if I'll be swindled! Now then, Mr Poirot, I'm going to tell you the whole thing. The dog was stolen a week ago - nipped in Kensington Gardens where he was out with my wife's companion. The next day my wife got a demand for two hundred pounds. I ask you - two hundred pounds! For a damned yapping little brute that's always getting under your feet anyway!"

Poirot murmured: "You did not approve of paying such a sum, naturally?"

219kgodey
Mar 29, 2011, 7:41 pm

The Labours of Hercules! I think it's The Nemean Lion.

220AnnieMod
Mar 29, 2011, 7:44 pm

Right and right (and yep - we play with short stories as well) :)

All yours

221kgodey
Mar 30, 2011, 5:03 pm

‘Let me tell you,’ he said, ‘that I am not like the English, obsessed with dogs. I, personally, can live without the dog. But I accept, nevertheless, your ideal of the dog. The man loves and respects his dog. He indulges him, he boasts of the intelligence and sagacity of his dog to his friends. Now figure to yourself, the opposite may also come to pass! The dog is fond of his master. He indulges that master! He, too, boasts of his master, boasts of his master’s sagacity and intelligence. And as a man will rouse himself when he does not really want to go out, and take his dog for a walk because the dog enjoys the walk so much, so will the dog endeavour to give his master what that master pines to have.

---

Hope it's not too hard.