Review: The Last Seance by Agatha Christie

Kerry Hammond is here today with her review of a newly published short story collection by the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie.

The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural is a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie. Each story has an otherworldly theme, chosen to fit the compilation that was published on September 24, in Trade Paperback, by William Morrow Paperbacks.

The book is just in time for Halloween and contains the spookiest of Christie’s stories. It’s got a little bit of everything: a Poirot story where he investigates the death of a man who was having strange dreams, a medium who dares to perform one last reading, and Miss Marple solves what seems to be an impossible murder, just to name a few.

Most of the stories appear in other anthologies, but there’s just something about having these all in one place. For those of us who enjoy everything Christie, it’s a new book for the collection with a great theme. Of the twenty stories, one has never before been published in the U.S., which makes this a must have book.

This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the publisher. The review was fair and completely independent.

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Review: The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah

Sophie Hannah has a new Hercule Poirot mystery out and Kerry Hammond is eager to give us her review.

The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah is the third in the series featuring Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. It was published on August 28, in hardcover by William Morrow. The first in the series, The Monogram Murders, brought back one of the most famous sleuths in literary history. Fans of Agatha Christie and the traditional British mystery were able to revisit with an old friend and read a new story. Closed Casket was the second in the series and continued to follow Poirot’s investigations, this time the detective is present when the murder takes place but is unable to stop it.

In The Mystery of Three Quarters, the reader immediately feels like they have entered an Agatha Christie story. Four people have received a letter accusing them of the murder of a man named Barnabas Pandy, all signed by Hercule Poirot. There are two problems with this: 1) Barnabas Pandy did indeed die, but the police believed there was no foul play, and 2) Poirot didn’t write the letters. Each of the four people confront Poirot, with differing levels of outrage. He continues to explain his innocence, but his interest is piqued and he begins to wonder if Mr. Pandy’s death is more than what the police originally thought.

Poirot, with the help of Scotland Yard detective Edward Catchpool, looks into Pandy’s death as well as the background of each of the people who received a letter containing his forged signature. He finds the puzzle to be especially difficult to understand and the more he investigates, the more he wonders just what each of the suspects has in common and why they were targeted. Catchpool is our Hastings-like narrator, following along as Poirot uses his little grey cells to solve the case. The Scotland Yard detective takes on more of an investigative role than Hastings ever did, but his skills still pale in comparison to the great Hercule Poirot—as they should!

I’ve read each of Hannah’s Poirot mysteries and can honestly say they get better and better as the series continues. I love the plots and characters, which remind me so much of Christie’s work. There is enough of Hannah’s own voice that still make the books hers, and that’s somehow comforting. She’s not trying to impersonate the Queen of Mystery, she is merely carrying on in her absence with enough skill to please Christie’s fans and honor her legacy. I hope to see many more books in this series.

This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the publisher. The review is fair and independent.

Miss Marple Goes to Tea Ornament

Our Christmas in July tree has an Agatha Christie theme. Our last ornament, created by Lorraine Masonheimer, is inspired by Agatha Christie’s famous amateur sleuth Miss Marple, her love of tea and solving crimes. 

The ornament’s design mimics the shape of a tea bag complete with the tea, the string, and the tea tag. The tea bag side of the ornament is held together by torn pages of book. The front sports a color copy of a cover from a Miss Marple book—in this case—A Caribbean Mystery. 

The burlap-like ribbon is tucked behind the cover to give an island feel to the design. A metal keyhole represents Miss Marple’s snooping detective skills. As a nod to Agatha, a color copy of her eye is lurking behind the keyhole. The tea tag has Miss Marple enjoying a cup of tea and the string is replaced with rope sporting a hangman’s knot. This is one ornament that hangs on the tree as two.

Supplies

Bulldog clip 1.25”

Foam core ¼”

A chipboard tag

Vintage patterned cardstock, a coordinating solid color, cream cardstock

Book pages

Color copy of a Miss Marple book cover

Color copy of Agatha Christie,

Rope trim (thin and ½” wide)

Metal scroll embellishments (small & large 1 ½” – 2” wide), metal keyhole embellishment,

Multi-medium matte

Pop-up squares

Flower punch, round punch ¼”

Glue dots, scissors, x-acto blade, black pen, color pencils, thin wire, black self-adhesive pearls

Step One: Ornament Base

Cut the foam core into two 2 ½” x 4” rectangles. Cut the top corners at an angle as shown. Punch a ¼” hole in the center of the top of each triangle as shown. Cut the vintage paper to two 2 ½” x 4” cutting the top two corners at the same angle as the foam core. Cut the chipboard tag to 1 ½” x 2 ½”.  Trim the coordinating paper to 2” x 3”. Also, cut two 1 ½” x 2 ½” rectangles from the same coordinating paper. Set aside.

To form the teabag shape, glue the bulldog clip to the foam core as shown. Let dry.

Step Two: Tear, Copy & Glue

Tear several pages from a book or photocopy pages from a book. Use the multi medium matte to glue the torn pages around the bottom, sides, and top of the ornament base and set aside. 

 

Make a color copy of the cover of a favorite Miss Marple book. Reduce the cover to 1 ¾” x 2 ¾” and cut out. Make a color or black & white copy of Agatha Christie. If your book doesn’t have a photo of Agatha, make a copy of any face you have available. Reduce the copy to fit one eye into the round part of the metal keyhole and cut to fit. Glue to the back of the metal keyhole. 

Step Three: Connect & Assemble Bag & Tag

Cut about 14” of thin rope trim. Thread each end through the holes and tie a hangman’s noose knot using glue dots to secure the trim.

Glue the vintage paper onto both sides of the tea bag. Glue the coordinating paper to the front of the tea tag. Reserve the remaining piece for later. Glue the Miss Marple cover onto the 2” x 3” coordinating paper. Place several pop-up squares onto the back of the 2” x 3” coordinating paper. Cut two 1 ½” pieces of ½” wide rope trim and pull apart as shown. Glue to the back and adhere to the front of the tea bag.

Step Four: Create Miss Marple & Tea Cup

Using cream cardstock, draw a 1 ½” x 2 ½” Miss Marple. Draw a tea cup ¾” x ½”.  If desired, place your cursor over this image, right click, scroll to Save Image As and place it onto your computer's desktop. Open a word document, draw a text box and insert the image into the box. Size Miss Marple and the tea cup to the sizes given above, print onto cream cardstock, cut out and glue to the front of the tea tag.

Step Five: Color & Assemble

Then, glue Miss Marple to the front of the tea tag. Using the vintage paper scraps, cut out Miss Marple’s coat, hat and hat band and glue to her cutout. Color her face flesh with pink cheeks. Draw her eyes and mouth with a black ink pen. If desired, use small black pearls for her eyes. Using a flower punch, cut a flower from pages of a book, glue to her hat band & place a small pearl into the center of the flower.

Color the teacup using color coordinated pencils. Place a pop-up square on the back of the teacup and glue to Miss Marple as shown.

Step Six: Metal Embellishments

Type, size, cut and glue the words Miss Marple to the front of the metal scroll embellishment. Thread the fine wire through both sides of the metal piece. Glue the two wires to the back of the tea tag as shown. Take the remaining 1 ½” x 2 ½” coordinating cardstock and glue to the back of the tea tag. Glue the metal keyhole to the tea bag overlapping the cover art. Center and glue the small metal scroll embellishment at the top of the ornament.

Step Seven: Hang

Drape the ornament over a few branches to hang.

Poison Bottle Ornament

Every July we get our Christmas on in time to truly prepare by making ornaments for a mystery-themed tree. This year our chosen theme is Agatha Christie. Kerry Hammond is here today making poison bottle ornaments, because what would an Agatha tree be without poison. 

Agatha Christie was a poison expert from her time as a war-time nurse during and many of her murderers used this method to dispatch their victims. No tree would be complete without these easy to make ornaments.

Materials:

Clear glass square ornaments

Paint: I used black, green and rust

Dixie cups

Ribbon

Scissors

Stamps: I used a skull and crossbones and “Poison”

Black inkpad

Mod Podge

Paintbrush

Paper

Step 1: Paint Inside of Bottles

Remove the end of your ornament and pour your poison colored paint into your glass ornaments and swirl around. Once the inside is completely covered, rest the ornaments upside down in a Dixie cup to let the paint drain out.

Step Two: Poison Stamps

Stamp your poison stamps onto plain white paper and cut out. Using your paintbrush, cover the back of the paper with Mod Podge and place on one side of your ornament. Paint over the top with Mod Podge, making sure to paint where your paper edge and the glass ornament meet. Allow to dry.

Step 3: Attach Ribbon

Cut a piece of ribbon and tie it through your ornament end, creating your hanger.

Last year we make a Sherlock themed tree. The year before that the theme was Crime Scene. And the year before that was books in general.